Upgrading Bios...

[Worf101]

I got curious and went to the Asus website. I've a socket 939 A8V Deluxe mobo. I can see that I've not updated my bios in quite some time so I've got a couple of questions.

1. If it's running right, and I've no issures, should I flash my bios?

2. Do I need to do it in steps?

3. How do I "unflash" it if I screw it up?

Thanks...

Da Worfster

If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything.

 

[fishmahn]

1) Not IMO.
2) ? Do you mean going from 1006 to 1009 do you need to do 1007, then 1008, etc.? If so, nope, just jump right in.
3) Have a copy of your old bios (used to be kept on floppy, the new web-updates may work differently, I've never used them so I haven't done it yet), flash to it.

Mike.

<font color=blue>Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside the dog its too dark to read.
-- Groucho Marx</font color=blue>

 

[RichPLS]

1: No, if it aint broke, don't fix it...

2: No, latest will cover previous ones.

3: Depends, some have dual bios's. You can flash old one back if you download it or save it to floppy before flash.

4: there is no four...
L8r

<pre><font color=red>°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°`°¤o \\// o¤°`°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°
And the sign says "You got to have a membership card to get inside" Huh
So I got me a pen and paper And I made up my own little sign</pre><p></font color=red>

 

[Starfishy]

I don't know if I entirely agree with the "if it aint broke don't fix it". I have found in the past that a new BIOS can give me something I was missing and didn't know I was missing it. I always have the latest BIOS... it is regular practice for me to update to the newest BIOS whenever I know one has come out. But this is entirely up to you. Most do-it-yourself builders always upgrade BIOS when they first get the mobo, I understand that usually the first few BIOS updates are more important but other good things might have come out since he has last upgraded... maybe its worth a try. I have flashed BIOS alot on many rigs and only had a problem once, and it was as easy to fix as putting in the floppy and flashing again.

But I agree with everything else.

<b><font color=red>Go date P4man or something, bye!</font color=red><b>

 

[Worf101]

Thanks fellahs. I think I'll leave it alone then. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Da Worfster

If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything.

 

[Starfishy]

Oh man... you let them convince you. That's no fun. Windows aint broken either... but do you update it?

<b><font color=red>Go date P4man or something, bye!</font color=red><b>

 

[RichPLS]

I flash also, and after many years and dozens of flashings, not one problem.

1: You do need to be sure floppy is formatted and in good condition, and
2: PC does not have power interuption during flash and
3: BIOS is correct for mobo, graphic card, DVD, Hard drive that is being flashed...
4: Have a backup incase this does not work for you...

<pre><font color=red>°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°`°¤o \\// o¤°`°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°
And the sign says "You got to have a membership card to get inside" Huh
So I got me a pen and paper And I made up my own little sign</pre><p></font color=red>

 

[RichPLS]

If it had failed, it would have changed the color of your face a few shades. 😉

<pre><font color=red>°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°`°¤o \\// o¤°`°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°
And the sign says "You got to have a membership card to get inside" Huh
So I got me a pen and paper And I made up my own little sign</pre><p></font color=red>

 

[RichPLS]

Are you aware of the difference between Red and Purple...









The grip!

<pre><font color=red>°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°`°¤o \\// o¤°`°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°
And the sign says "You got to have a membership card to get inside" Huh
So I got me a pen and paper And I made up my own little sign</pre><p></font color=red>

 

[endyen]

Wrong!!! Read what the updates do, then decide. You may be missing a really neat function.
BTW, if you have a dsl type connection, the update prog from asus is very safe and easy.
Hey Rich, did you actually put the update prog and bios file on the floppy? I always put it in the root directory of c drive. Much safer. Then you just use a dos floppy to boot.

 

[RichPLS]

I have done it both ways, last time (current bios) ran off hard drive after booting off floppy.


<pre><font color=red>°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°`°¤o \\// o¤°`°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°
And the sign says "You got to have a membership card to get inside" Huh
So I got me a pen and paper And I made up my own little sign</pre><p></font color=red>

 

[pickxx]

"Windows aint broken either"

WHOA, its not broke? so the BSoD is supposed to happen? Am i wrong or are they still patching XP every 2-3weeks for CRITICAL flaws? Granted some of the flaws are exposed by people who are actively looking for them, but some of the flaws are rediculous in how they could have overlooked them.

I would take an outdated bios, and a 100% perfect windows then an updated bios and this update-all-the-time crap we have now.

__________________________________________
Chaintech VNF3-250/A64 2800+/1GB(512x2) OCZ VX GOLD 2-2-2-5/BFG 6800GT/Thermaltake 420W/WD 200GB/Maxtor 300GB

 

[pat]

Flashing a BIOS is not really useful if everything is stable. First, by fixing compatibility problem with newer hardware, it can cause problem with older hardware. So, if your hardware is stable and everything is recognized as it should, then that means that your BIOS is compatible with your current hardware.

Added feature are most of the time OC related. Higher voltage, higher FSB,... If your overclock seem limited by some value in the BIOS, then a newer BIOS might give you more options. Sometime, it update the BIOS for onboard IDE/RAID controller. You can update to the new BIOS if it add feature to the controller that can worth it.

While it was true some years ago that flashing a BIOS could increase performance, by now, the motherboard compagny has more experience with chipset that still run on the same standard (DDR memory that was harder to tweak at introduction time, but now very common and well know) so you cannot expect huge performance boost from flashing, unless running into some incompatibility problem that are easily identifiable. So if your computer feels fast, then probably it is the fastest it can go stock.

I still use the same BIOS that was on my motherboard when I first got it. Everything is stable. And the only reason that would make me update would be a new CPU core.

OTOH, flashing is a fairly secure operation now and if you feel the need, or have the confidence to do it and able to deals with the problems that would arise if something goes wrong, then it is up to you. I once flashed every revision that the manuf. would put on its web site, just for fun.. Until one time, my RAID array would not berecognized and my memory could not be ran as fast as the older revision.. and added to that, some posting problem...

From that time, I use the "if it aint broken, why fix it" method ..

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