When to update your bios? [solved]

[KingLira]

hi i just built my very first PC and i have an msi motherboard that came with something called live update 6. when i scan for updates it shows my current BIOS are at 2.0 and the updated BIOS are at 2.70. Should i update the BIOS?

From what i read online many people say no others say yes. One thing was clear and that was not to update the BIOS with live update.

So when should i update? How important is it to keep this up to date?

idk if it matters but my mothereborad is a: Z97-GD65 GAMING

Edit: I ended up updating my bios everything went great no issues at all during the update. Thanks for everyone that posted and gave this noob advice! GG guys GG!

 

[Jonas Magnusson]

Only update if you find something messed up when your using your computer.

 

[smorizio]

the bios has micro code for ram and cpu. in real world once a year is fine to check. most bios tell you what they up date or fix. a lot of times if your bios is at a high rev already you may not need to download bios update if it a small bug fix. going from bios 2.0 to 2.7. download the 2.7 bios file onto a usb stick then use the mb bios updater to update and reboot for you.

 

[Jonas Magnusson]

the bios has micro code for ram and cpu. in real world once a year is fine to check. most bios tell you what they up date or fix. a lot of times if your bios is at a high rev already you may not need to download bios update if it a small bug fix. going from bios 2.0 to 2.7. download the 2.7 bios file onto a usb stick then use the mb bios updater to update and reboot for you.

So your a motherboard expert, eh? Then you might be able to help me to. I have the AMI P07ABF with version 2.7(2013-07-04). I know there's an update for it but i can't find it on the internet, also i have a RAM problem with only 3.95GB out of GB used.

 

[Wolfshadw]

Unless a BIOS update specifically states that it resolves an issue you are currently having with your system, do not update your BIOS.

-Wolf sends

 

[Calvin7]

Use M-Flash with a USB pen drive. Don't use Windows based BIOS Updaters such as MSI Live-update. I would use a small 4GB or smaller capacity USB 2.0 flash drive in the rear USB 2.0 ports. It looks like there are some worthwhile improvements in higher BIOS versions.

 

[computertech82]

Only update the bios when you hare having issues with something. Like using the newest cpu. usb keyboard issue, getting new ram for it, etc, etc.
http://www.msi.com/support/mb/Z97-GD65-GAMING.html#down-bios

The bios version tell you what each one does. Typically go by the saying, if it's NOT broke, dont fix it.

 

[weilin]

I think I'm going play Devil's advocate for a little bit here. I'll give you a hardware designer's take on BIOS updates...

DISCLAIMER: Updating your BIOS does carry risk. If an update goes bad the board can be bricked. You update BIOS at your own risk.

BIOS contains a bunch of things including microcode patches for bugs found in silicon. Yes, the hardware has defects, what they do is use software to compensate for them. These subtle patches aren't necessarily explicitly mentioned in all release notes. If you get lucky, you get something generic like "enhanced compatibility with various memory manufacturers" or "increased compatibility with <some line of processors>". Intel Rapid Storage Technology, Management engine interface, etc. are typically updated this way, and it's usually not in the release notes.

The worst part of the generic messages is that they don't actually tell you what symptoms to look for. Some of these updates will make the controller more power efficient, others will enhance performance. Some will fix a corner case that will cause a blue screen. Honestly, short of something very obvious you may not notice the "bug". But if you've ever developed hardware/software before, you would know that many many of these little patches gets rolled up into 1 of these releases and most of them probably won't be mentioned because it's just too minor...

New BIOS also contain firmware for 3rd party chipsets that isn't always documented either (you sometimes see a "updated firmware for <controller> to <version>" in the notes). Firmware updates to Renessas/NEC USB3 controllers come to mind, the silicon for those chipsets have more or less stayed the same (only one change: 720200 to 720200a), yet the chips shipped a year later from release (still the 720200) is vastly better behaving... Some motherboard manufacturers bundled the new firmware with their BIOS updates, others didn't. But if you look at the reviews on newegg, you find certain USB3 complaints mysteriously stopped coming up, and there's no BIOS update explicitly saying "Fixed USB3 stability". These are the silent patches that I'm referring to.

Lastly, since this computer is new, if a BIOS update kills it, you have manufacturer and retail warranties/return options. And you're not dependent upon the computer yet. so while it sucks that you can't use the new system, it's not the end of the world. Updating the computer with all your data on it becomes much more risky, I become a little bit more picky once the system becomes my primary computer. Even then, I tend to update to the latest anyways...

Besides, I haven't had a BIOS update fail on me for ages now, especially not an Intel based chipset update. Just make sure you update BIOS within BIOS and not within Windows. Also, once you update BIOS, reset everything to defaults and reconfigure your settings. DO NOT load some saved configuration... Stored configs don't necessarily transfer from 1 BIOS version to another and can cause unpredictable instability.

Edit: I looked at your board, some things to note:
v2.7
- Updated VBIOS and GOP driver. (new firmware for intel integrated graphics VBIOS = video BIOS)
- Updated CPU Micro code to support new Intel CPU. (microcode patches, to know what these are you will have to dig deep in to Intel Errata reports)
- Improved Asmedia SATA device compatibility. (looks like a semi-silent update to asmedia firmware for the SATA controller, feel free to dig into Asmedia's Errata reports to figure out exactly what got fixed here...)

v2.5
- Removed 1024MB option in "Integrated Graphics Share Memory" of BIOS. (probably cosmetic)
- Adjusted CPU fan down time back to 0.3 sec. (no idea what this means...)
- Improved USB keyboard compatibility. (USB controller firmware got an update)
- Improved memory compatibility. (Memory controller firmware got an update...)
- Enhanced MFlash function. (sounds like the BIOS flashing tool got an update?)
- Improved some BIOS items can not be changed after clear CMOS (BIOS bug...)

Long story short, with very new generation of hardware, the controllers are getting more and more complex. It's nearly impossible/cost prohibitive to make perfect hardware. To compensate, silicon companies use firmware and drivers to patch microcode to work around newly discovered bugs. They spend a lot of time validating what they put out. Only when something absolutely can't be patched in firmware (BIOS) that they are forced to do a recall.

I would update BIOS before setting everything up, it's probably the convenient time to do it...

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

No issues no update needed.

 

[KingLira]

I think I'm going play Devil's advocate for a little bit here. I'll give you a hardware designer's take on BIOS updates...

DISCLAIMER: Updating your BIOS does carry risk. If an update goes bad the board can be bricked. You update BIOS at your own risk.

BIOS contains a bunch of things including microcode patches for bugs found in silicon. Yes, the hardware has defects, what they do is use software to compensate for them. These subtle patches aren't necessarily explicitly mentioned in all release notes. If you get lucky, you get something generic like "enhanced compatibility with various memory manufacturers" or "increased compatibility with <some line of processors>". Intel Rapid Storage Technology, Management engine interface, etc. are typically updated this way, and it's usually not in the release notes.

The worst part of the generic messages is that they don't actually tell you what symptoms to look for. Some of these updates will make the controller more power efficient, others will enhance performance. Some will fix a corner case that will cause a blue screen. Honestly, short of something very obvious you may not notice the "bug". But if you've ever developed hardware/software before, you would know that many many of these little patches gets rolled up into 1 of these releases and most of them probably won't be mentioned because it's just too minor...

New BIOS also contain firmware for 3rd party chipsets that isn't always documented either (you sometimes see a "updated firmware for <controller> to <version>" in the notes). Firmware updates to Renessas/NEC USB3 controllers come to mind, the silicon for those chipsets have more or less stayed the same (only one change: 720200 to 720200a), yet the chips shipped a year later from release (still the 720200) is vastly better behaving... Some motherboard manufacturers bundled the new firmware with their BIOS updates, others didn't. But if you look at the reviews on newegg, you find certain USB3 complaints mysteriously stopped coming up, and there's no BIOS update explicitly saying "Fixed USB3 stability". These are the silent patches that I'm referring to.

Lastly, since this computer is new, if a BIOS update kills it, you have manufacturer and retail warranties/return options. And you're not dependent upon the computer yet. so while it sucks that you can't use the new system, it's not the end of the world. Updating the computer with all your data on it becomes much more risky, I become a little bit more picky once the system becomes my primary computer. Even then, I tend to update to the latest anyways...

Besides, I haven't had a BIOS update fail on me for ages now, especially not an Intel based chipset update. Just make sure you update BIOS within BIOS and not within Windows. Also, once you update BIOS, reset everything to defaults and reconfigure your settings. DO NOT load some saved configuration... Stored configs don't necessarily transfer from 1 BIOS version to another and can cause unpredictable instability.

Edit: I looked at your board, some things to note:
v2.7
- Updated VBIOS and GOP driver. (new firmware for intel integrated graphics VBIOS = video BIOS)
- Updated CPU Micro code to support new Intel CPU. (microcode patches, to know what these are you will have to dig deep in to Intel Errata reports)
- Improved Asmedia SATA device compatibility. (looks like a semi-silent update to asmedia firmware for the SATA controller, feel free to dig into Asmedia's Errata reports to figure out exactly what got fixed here...)

v2.5
- Removed 1024MB option in "Integrated Graphics Share Memory" of BIOS. (probably cosmetic)
- Adjusted CPU fan down time back to 0.3 sec. (no idea what this means...)
- Improved USB keyboard compatibility. (USB controller firmware got an update)
- Improved memory compatibility. (Memory controller firmware got an update...)
- Enhanced MFlash function. (sounds like the BIOS flashing tool got an update?)
- Improved some BIOS items can not be changed after clear CMOS (BIOS bug...)

Long story short, with very new generation of hardware, the controllers are getting more and more complex. It's nearly impossible/cost prohibitive to make perfect hardware. To compensate, silicon companies use firmware and drivers to patch microcode to work around newly discovered bugs. They spend a lot of time validating what they put out. Only when something absolutely can't be patched in firmware (BIOS) that they are forced to do a recall.

I would update BIOS before setting everything up, it's probably the convenient time to do it...

okay then i have another question then. This PC is not even a month old and i have gotten 3 random blue screens each something different. Would this help fix the issue? Most of the time it happens im not even using it ill be doing homework while playing music or watching a video i need to see and then out of nowhere blue screen. The last one i had was called bad_pool_header but i did some digging around on here and online and it said it has something to do with my Antivirus. i do already have somethings installed like games and Microsoft office and drivers and what not. Could i still do this Bios update? i did make a restore point after i updated everything from windows update would it be better to just restore then update? Sorry this my first time doing anything like this.

 

[weilin]

I think I'm going play Devil's advocate for a little bit here. I'll give you a hardware designer's take on BIOS updates...

DISCLAIMER: Updating your BIOS does carry risk. If an update goes bad the board can be bricked. You update BIOS at your own risk.

BIOS contains a bunch of things including microcode patches for bugs found in silicon. Yes, the hardware has defects, what they do is use software to compensate for them. These subtle patches aren't necessarily explicitly mentioned in all release notes. If you get lucky, you get something generic like "enhanced compatibility with various memory manufacturers" or "increased compatibility with <some line of processors>". Intel Rapid Storage Technology, Management engine interface, etc. are typically updated this way, and it's usually not in the release notes.

The worst part of the generic messages is that they don't actually tell you what symptoms to look for. Some of these updates will make the controller more power efficient, others will enhance performance. Some will fix a corner case that will cause a blue screen. Honestly, short of something very obvious you may not notice the "bug". But if you've ever developed hardware/software before, you would know that many many of these little patches gets rolled up into 1 of these releases and most of them probably won't be mentioned because it's just too minor...

New BIOS also contain firmware for 3rd party chipsets that isn't always documented either (you sometimes see a "updated firmware for <controller> to <version>" in the notes). Firmware updates to Renessas/NEC USB3 controllers come to mind, the silicon for those chipsets have more or less stayed the same (only one change: 720200 to 720200a), yet the chips shipped a year later from release (still the 720200) is vastly better behaving... Some motherboard manufacturers bundled the new firmware with their BIOS updates, others didn't. But if you look at the reviews on newegg, you find certain USB3 complaints mysteriously stopped coming up, and there's no BIOS update explicitly saying "Fixed USB3 stability". These are the silent patches that I'm referring to.

Lastly, since this computer is new, if a BIOS update kills it, you have manufacturer and retail warranties/return options. And you're not dependent upon the computer yet. so while it sucks that you can't use the new system, it's not the end of the world. Updating the computer with all your data on it becomes much more risky, I become a little bit more picky once the system becomes my primary computer. Even then, I tend to update to the latest anyways...

Besides, I haven't had a BIOS update fail on me for ages now, especially not an Intel based chipset update. Just make sure you update BIOS within BIOS and not within Windows. Also, once you update BIOS, reset everything to defaults and reconfigure your settings. DO NOT load some saved configuration... Stored configs don't necessarily transfer from 1 BIOS version to another and can cause unpredictable instability.

Edit: I looked at your board, some things to note:
v2.7
- Updated VBIOS and GOP driver. (new firmware for intel integrated graphics VBIOS = video BIOS)
- Updated CPU Micro code to support new Intel CPU. (microcode patches, to know what these are you will have to dig deep in to Intel Errata reports)
- Improved Asmedia SATA device compatibility. (looks like a semi-silent update to asmedia firmware for the SATA controller, feel free to dig into Asmedia's Errata reports to figure out exactly what got fixed here...)

v2.5
- Removed 1024MB option in "Integrated Graphics Share Memory" of BIOS. (probably cosmetic)
- Adjusted CPU fan down time back to 0.3 sec. (no idea what this means...)
- Improved USB keyboard compatibility. (USB controller firmware got an update)
- Improved memory compatibility. (Memory controller firmware got an update...)
- Enhanced MFlash function. (sounds like the BIOS flashing tool got an update?)
- Improved some BIOS items can not be changed after clear CMOS (BIOS bug...)

Long story short, with very new generation of hardware, the controllers are getting more and more complex. It's nearly impossible/cost prohibitive to make perfect hardware. To compensate, silicon companies use firmware and drivers to patch microcode to work around newly discovered bugs. They spend a lot of time validating what they put out. Only when something absolutely can't be patched in firmware (BIOS) that they are forced to do a recall.

I would update BIOS before setting everything up, it's probably the convenient time to do it...

okay then i have another question then. This PC is not even a month old and i have gotten 3 random blue screens each something different. Would this help fix the issue? Most of the time it happens im not even using it ill be doing homework while playing music or watching a video i need to see and then out of nowhere blue screen. The last one i had was called bad_pool_header but i did some digging around on here and online and it said it has something to do with my Antivirus. i do already have somethings installed like games and Microsoft office and drivers and what not. Could i still do this Bios update? i did make a restore point after i updated everything from windows update would it be better to just restore then update? Sorry this my first time doing anything like this.

Hard to say, but since you're having Blue Screen issues, I would say give updating BIOS and drivers a try. The Windows Kernel nowadays is pretty solid, the only thing Microsoft doesn't have control over is BIOS and Drivers.

 

[Wolfshadw]

Understand that a BIOS update has nothing to do with your OS/Software. If the BIOS update fails, there is nothing to restore and your system is now a paperweight. A BIOS update should be the VERY LAST thing you try.

-Wolf sends

Note: Some motherboards do have dual BIOS or BIOS backup/recovery functions that *may* allow you to recover from a failed update.

 

[Tradesman1]

I'd update it, BIOS updates are a continuous stream of hardware updates and modifications - when you see one listed they generally only list one or two things that are being modified fixed, there can literally be hundreds of updates and fixes included, prime of those are DRAM updates (which may well be the cause of your BSODs. Updating the BIOS isn't the horror story of years ago (however I don't do them through Windows). Update the BIOS through the BIOS, I usually do 2 or more a week and haven't had a mobo brick in over 3 years

 

[KingLira]

I think I'm going play Devil's advocate for a little bit here. I'll give you a hardware designer's take on BIOS updates...

DISCLAIMER: Updating your BIOS does carry risk. If an update goes bad the board can be bricked. You update BIOS at your own risk.

BIOS contains a bunch of things including microcode patches for bugs found in silicon. Yes, the hardware has defects, what they do is use software to compensate for them. These subtle patches aren't necessarily explicitly mentioned in all release notes. If you get lucky, you get something generic like "enhanced compatibility with various memory manufacturers" or "increased compatibility with <some line of processors>". Intel Rapid Storage Technology, Management engine interface, etc. are typically updated this way, and it's usually not in the release notes.

The worst part of the generic messages is that they don't actually tell you what symptoms to look for. Some of these updates will make the controller more power efficient, others will enhance performance. Some will fix a corner case that will cause a blue screen. Honestly, short of something very obvious you may not notice the "bug". But if you've ever developed hardware/software before, you would know that many many of these little patches gets rolled up into 1 of these releases and most of them probably won't be mentioned because it's just too minor...

New BIOS also contain firmware for 3rd party chipsets that isn't always documented either (you sometimes see a "updated firmware for <controller> to <version>" in the notes). Firmware updates to Renessas/NEC USB3 controllers come to mind, the silicon for those chipsets have more or less stayed the same (only one change: 720200 to 720200a), yet the chips shipped a year later from release (still the 720200) is vastly better behaving... Some motherboard manufacturers bundled the new firmware with their BIOS updates, others didn't. But if you look at the reviews on newegg, you find certain USB3 complaints mysteriously stopped coming up, and there's no BIOS update explicitly saying "Fixed USB3 stability". These are the silent patches that I'm referring to.

Lastly, since this computer is new, if a BIOS update kills it, you have manufacturer and retail warranties/return options. And you're not dependent upon the computer yet. so while it sucks that you can't use the new system, it's not the end of the world. Updating the computer with all your data on it becomes much more risky, I become a little bit more picky once the system becomes my primary computer. Even then, I tend to update to the latest anyways...

Besides, I haven't had a BIOS update fail on me for ages now, especially not an Intel based chipset update. Just make sure you update BIOS within BIOS and not within Windows. Also, once you update BIOS, reset everything to defaults and reconfigure your settings. DO NOT load some saved configuration... Stored configs don't necessarily transfer from 1 BIOS version to another and can cause unpredictable instability.

Edit: I looked at your board, some things to note:
v2.7
- Updated VBIOS and GOP driver. (new firmware for intel integrated graphics VBIOS = video BIOS)
- Updated CPU Micro code to support new Intel CPU. (microcode patches, to know what these are you will have to dig deep in to Intel Errata reports)
- Improved Asmedia SATA device compatibility. (looks like a semi-silent update to asmedia firmware for the SATA controller, feel free to dig into Asmedia's Errata reports to figure out exactly what got fixed here...)

v2.5
- Removed 1024MB option in "Integrated Graphics Share Memory" of BIOS. (probably cosmetic)
- Adjusted CPU fan down time back to 0.3 sec. (no idea what this means...)
- Improved USB keyboard compatibility. (USB controller firmware got an update)
- Improved memory compatibility. (Memory controller firmware got an update...)
- Enhanced MFlash function. (sounds like the BIOS flashing tool got an update?)
- Improved some BIOS items can not be changed after clear CMOS (BIOS bug...)

Long story short, with very new generation of hardware, the controllers are getting more and more complex. It's nearly impossible/cost prohibitive to make perfect hardware. To compensate, silicon companies use firmware and drivers to patch microcode to work around newly discovered bugs. They spend a lot of time validating what they put out. Only when something absolutely can't be patched in firmware (BIOS) that they are forced to do a recall.

I would update BIOS before setting everything up, it's probably the convenient time to do it...

okay then i have another question then. This PC is not even a month old and i have gotten 3 random blue screens each something different. Would this help fix the issue? Most of the time it happens im not even using it ill be doing homework while playing music or watching a video i need to see and then out of nowhere blue screen. The last one i had was called bad_pool_header but i did some digging around on here and online and it said it has something to do with my Antivirus. i do already have somethings installed like games and Microsoft office and drivers and what not. Could i still do this Bios update? i did make a restore point after i updated everything from windows update would it be better to just restore then update? Sorry this my first time doing anything like this.

Hard to say, but since you're having Blue Screen issues, I would say give updating BIOS and drivers a try. The Windows Kernel nowadays is pretty solid, the only thing Microsoft doesn't have control over is BIOS and Drivers.

i did it and was totally not the horrible story that everyone and every page i read made it seem lol hope this fixes any issues i had before thanks for help my friend!

 

[weilin]

i did it and was totally not the horrible story that everyone and every page i read made it seem lol hope this fixes any issues i had before thanks for help my friend!

Congrats, BIOS updates aren't as scary as they used to be (requiring a floppy, etc.). The modern BIOS flash with USB Keys have been very very reliable for me.

That being said, you should also do a bit of testing to see what's causing your blue screens. My first test would be memtest86+. See if your memory is stable. If that passes, run Prime95 and see if your CPU passes. Run both for a few hours.

If both pass, I would update all drivers to your system. Good luck!

 

[KingLira]

i did it and was totally not the horrible story that everyone and every page i read made it seem lol hope this fixes any issues i had before thanks for help my friend!

Congrats, BIOS updates aren't as scary as they used to be (requiring a floppy, etc.). The modern BIOS flash with USB Keys have been very very reliable for me.

That being said, you should also do a bit of testing to see what's causing your blue screens. My first test would be memtest86+. See if your memory is stable. If that passes, run Prime95 and see if your CPU passes. Run both for a few hours.

If both pass, I would update all drivers to your system. Good luck!

will do!

 

[Tradesman1]

If problems persist let us know mobo, CPU, model of DRAM, GPU and PSU