ASUS P8Z68-V PRO GEN3 - Update BIOS

[Kilgore Trout]

Hi!

Built my PC about 3.5 years ago. Don't do as much tinkering with hardware as I used to, so I'm a bit out of the loop.

Have done nothing to motherboard in terms of flashing BIOS since building. Haven't even done a clean install of Windows in that time. It's pretty much as-is as it was in Jan 2012.

Getting ready to update to Windows 10. Going to do a clean install on my hard drive.

Wondering if I need to flash my BIOS on my motherboard? I've always read that one shouldn't do this without good reason, but I figured since I'm updating and cleaning up (formatting storage drive, clean install W10, etc.) maybe the motherboard needs some attention as well.

Appreciate your input!

 

[ak47jar3d]

It's generally a good practice to have the latest bios but its not necessary. The os should work just fine. You don't have to do a clean install if you getting windows 10 as an upgrade from 7 or 8.

 

[Calvin7]

The BIOS version descriptions Asus provides don't show anything about a BIOS update for Windows 10.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Yeah, I saw that about Windows 10 and no BIOS.

Is there someone that could assist with which BIOS version I should use?

http://www.asus.com/support/Download/1/39/6/11/KDh9nqBoiqs2jqua/41/

Am I good to go with the most recent? 3802? Or do I need to update in order?

 

[ak47jar3d]

Yes, go with the most recent which 3802. No you don't have to install every update as the lastest one will have all the changes of previous iterations.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Thanks for your help - worked great - just had to adjust fan RPM in the bios after the flash. I seem to recall having to do that right after install a few years ago....

 

[Dewey650]

Thanks for your help - worked great - just had to adjust fan RPM in the bios after the flash. I seem to recall having to do that right after install a few years ago....

I have the same motherboard and was preparing to update by clean install to Windows 10 also. Had the same question about the BIOS needing to be updated. I see from your post that the BIOS update went OK. How did the rest of the clean install go? Any feed back would be appreciated.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Thanks for your help - worked great - just had to adjust fan RPM in the bios after the flash. I seem to recall having to do that right after install a few years ago....

I have the same motherboard and was preparing to update by clean install to Windows 10 also. Had the same question about the BIOS needing to be updated. I see from your post that the BIOS update went OK. How did the rest of the clean install go? Any feed back would be appreciated.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Hello -

Have had no problems since doing the clean install other than having to adjust the RPM of the fans as stated above. haven't had any problems since, either. W10 is working great! Sorry I don't have more specifics but it was painless. Good luck!

 

[Dewey650]

Thanks for the reply Kilgore. Was worried that the needed drivers wouldn't be available. Hopefully it will go as well for me.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Thanks for the reply Kilgore. Was worried that the needed drivers wouldn't be available. Hopefully it will go as well for me.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Actually, W10 did a pretty good job of grabbing the necessary drivers. I was surprised at how well that part went. Although after reading your reply, I do remember that I had trouble with my USB wireless adapter.

It was an older model: TrendSet TEW-645UB. After some googling, discovered it was discontinued. W10 didn't recognize the driver and it kept prompting me with some message...I did something within the Device Manager to make it think it had an older driver. I realize I am not being that specific, but I performed the fix awhile ago and can't quite remember the details. Since I am planning to upgrade my router and wireless receiver when I move back into my home (massive renovation going on at the moment...) figured I would deal with it then.

 

[Dewey650]

Thanks again for the feedback. I use a wired connection, so I should be OK on that front. I also figured that I'll run into some little glitches as things progress. I was just hoping not to have any real "show stoppers". It looks like those with the P8Z68 boards have had good success with doing a clean install, from what I can find online. I'm currently waiting for a new larger 500GB SSD to replace the old 180GB from the original build. That will give me a backup of Windows 7 on the old one and a totally clean drive to start with Windows 10. I'll post back in a week or two with an update for those coming along behind us. Thanks again ..

 

[Dewey650]

Report on outcome of the upgrade: BIOS update to 3802 went well ... no problems. The clean install of Windows 10 also went very well. Downloaded W10 iso and loaded it to a USB drive with Rufus. The install including updates was under 30 minutes. After using W10 for about a week now I find that the drivers loaded by W10 seem to be working quite well. Chipset, USB, LAN and pretty much everything else work perfect. I needed to load the latest Nvidia graphics drivers for my GTX680 ... and that went OK also. Surprisingly it was rather painless.

The only issue to come up lately was with Bluetooth. ASUS doesn't have updated drivers and the Windows supplied drivers don't seem to work consistently. I only use it to backup my contacts from my Tracfone, so it's not a big deal for me. All said and done I'm happy with the outcome.