How to update the BIOS?

[bellgamin]

I would VERy much appreciate step-by-step instructions, links, etc, as to how to update my computer's BIOS...

1- Where do I go to download a BIOS update?

2- What information will I need in order to do the download?

3- How do I install the BIOS update once I get it?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The reason I am concerned about this matter is based on THIS article (http://www.dailytech.com/Demo+Showing+How+to+Attack+Systems+via+CPU+Errata+Slated+for+October/article12369.htm).

Any help or comments will be muchly appreciated.

[vnt87]

Depends on which brand of motherboard you have. Some manufacturers offers programs that can patch the BIOS for you if necessary. Information on updating your BIOS can most definitely be found on the manufacturer's website.

[Arup]

BIOS update is quite easy now depending on the age of your motherboard, no longer relying on unreliable floppies, they usually come as an executable which you click on and select the options given to update, reboot and thats all, you are set. Usually you would have to go to the BIOS after reboot to bring back your custom settings if any. You will find the BIOS file in your motherboard manufacturer or in case like DELL etc. if your PC is a branded one. In case your PC is older, then the only solution is to find out the last BIOS update for your motherboard and flash them in good old fashioned way via DOS. You can create a DOS USB pen drive and flash it from there after booting off it.

Good detailed explanation here at http://www.devhardware.com/c/a/Hardware-Guides/Why-and-How-to-Flash-Your-BIOS/

[Hairy Coo]

The articles suggestion is regarding a BIOS update for the CPU,not for the motherboard.

-{ Quote: " Kaspersky says that many of the errata vulnerabilities can be fixed with bios updates provided by the CPU makers" }-

Would take the whole report with a mountain of finest grade salt!
I certainly will be be ignoring it-sounds like sensationalism par excellence.

If either Intel or AMD in fact find it worthwhile to consider,no doubt a suitable fix would be forthcoming.

A normal BIOS update of course is flashed from your motherboard manufacturer,but this isnt what is being discussed .

[Rico]

Hi Bellgamin,

On my Sony Vaio desktop purchased in 2003, I fairly recently looked into updating the bios & mb. I ran one of those 'driver' scans & then proceeded to manually update. The scan found newer Intel chipset software, which was actually the same as I already had. Intel explained that although the current chipset software, had a higher version number, than what I currently have, they were the same. Very confusing explanation from several Intel techies. I guess, what it all boils down to, is an exercise in futility, unless your trying to fix something addressed, by these updates.

Take Care
Rico

[innerpeace]

-{ Quote: "The articles suggestion is regarding a BIOS update for the CPU,not for the motherboard." }-
I'm glad I wasn't the only one who caught that ;). Would a CPU BIOS = Firmware. I had a gander at Intel, but I don't remember seeing anything about BIOS.

[wat0114]

-{ Quote: "
Would take the whole report with a mountain of finest grade salt!
I certainly will be be ignoring it-sounds like sensationalism par excellence.
" }-

I wholeheartedly agree with Hairy. Bellgamin, if your computer has been and is currently running fine, then don't bother with the BIOS update. BIOS updating carries some risk with it, anyways.

[InfinityAz]

-{ Quote: "I wholeheartedly agree with Hairy. Bellgamin, if your computer has been and is currently running fine, then don't bother with the BIOS update. BIOS updating carries some risk with it, anyways." }-

Gonna also agree with Hairy and wat0114. Unless the update provides you with increased functionality or stability or performance, you don't have to do it.

Having said that, I've upgraded my bios many times and never had a problem. Also, newer mobos are generally much easier to upgrade. I would suggest that you back up your bios before the upgrade in case you need to roll back to a previous version. I also never get rid of the bios update files (just in case).

[LocoLobo]

Bellgamin,

If you decide to update your bios, here is some helpful info. (http://www.wikihow.com/Update-Your-Computer's-BIOS)

I have flashed the BIOs on my Dell twice with no reprecussions,
taking only a few minutes of my time.

Like it was mentioned, if your puter is running fine, why?
Your choice, of course.

LL

Agree, backing up the bios is a good move too.

[HURST]

How do you backup the bios?

[nick s]

-{ Quote: "I'm glad I wasn't the only one who caught that ;). Would a CPU BIOS = Firmware. I had a gander at Intel, but I don't remember seeing anything about BIOS." }-
PC World's article, Researcher to Demonstrate Attack Code for Intel Chips (http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/148353/researcher_to_demonstrate_attack_code_for_intel_chips.html), quotes Kaspersky this way:

"It's possible to fix most of the bugs, and Intel provides workarounds to the major BIOS vendors," Kaspersky said, referring to the code that controls the most basic functions of a PC. "However, not every vendor uses it and some bugs have no workarounds."

I believe CPU errata are addressed, when they can be, via mobo bios updates.

Nick

[nick s]

-{ Quote: "How do you backup the bios?" }-
It depends on your hardware. ASUS, for example, provides a Windows BIOS update utility for backing up and flashing BIOS. I burn my BIOS backups to CD. If a flash goes bad (a very rare event in my experience), ASUS allows you restore from a CD or, more recently, USB sticks.

Nick

[Arup]

CPU microcodes can be updated via software but usually BIOS is the preferred way and thats why the need for new BIOS in case this errata has been rectified via microcode update.

[Hairy Coo]

The point here is surely, whether Intel will consider that there may be a real threat by Kaspersky's revelations at the conference
here (http://conference.hitb.org/hitbsecconf2008kl/?page_id=214)

Until then forget it-just another alarmist theory-I think we can safely leave this to the experts.

On further reading ,Kaspersky was referring to Intel and the mobo manufacturers together, developing new BIOS firmware versions,to counteract any CPU errata.

Generally- install the new BIOS firmware by downloading the BIOS(download) Utility which all major manufacturers seem to have available-press the update button-reboot-thats it!

[Hairy Coo]

-{ Quote: "How do you backup the bios?" }-

A lot of computers have Dual Bios-a main and a backup,
If the system is damaged the backup will takeover.

Otherwise backup to a floppy if available and use the BIOS function to restore.

Generally not necessary.

[lodore]

Hello bellgamin,
what motherboard make and model do you have?

[bellgamin]

-{ Quote: "Hello bellgamin,
what motherboard make and model do you have?" }-Main Circuit Board: MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD MS-7104 20A
Bus Clock: 100 megahertz
BIOS: Phoenix Technologies, LTD 6.00 PG 02/22/2006

Duhh -- is that what you asked about?

[wat0114]

Hi Bellgamin,

MSI provides an online “Live Update” service here (http://global.msi.com.tw/index.php?func=html&name=liveupdate). But there are some rather important caveats to note...

-{ Quote: "In the BIOS/Firmware flashing procedure, the instability of the PSU (Power Supply Unit), power failure or other operating errors might result in the process failure which makes the system fail to re-boot, which are not guaranteed by MSI's product warranty.
" }-

-{ Quote: "Important! In order to flash the BIOS/Firmware safely, please make sure to close all running applications in your system before flashing. (Including Outlook, ICQ, Anti-Virus application, etc…)" }-

...so you can see some of the inherent risks involved. I still maintain: “Do not update you BIOS if everything is working fine for you”. It does not look as though you have a backup option, though I could have missed it. In short, if something goes awry, you could hose your motherboard.

Many people successfully update their BIOS, but the procedure can only be recommended if the update is going to provide a worthwhile return on the risk, otherwise it is best to leave it status quo.

[djohn]

I concour with wat0114.Well if we do not see bellgamin for a while then.:-X

[Arup]

For flashing BIOS UPS is a must, any slight fluctuation or power out during flash and you are kaput.

[pandlouk]

-{ Quote: "Main Circuit Board: MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD MS-7104 20A
Bus Clock: 100 megahertz
BIOS: Phoenix Technologies, LTD 6.00 PG 02/22/2006

Duhh -- is that what you asked about?" }-
Hi bellganin,

MSI liveupdate makes the update procedure very easy.

Updating the bios is easier than most people think. Only pay attention to:
1. have deactivated the hips, firewall, antivirus,antispyware and every other security program you have installed. I have seen bioses "fried" because antiviruses interfeared with the update procedure.
2. do not power off or hard reboot the pc during the update.
3. After the update do not power off the pc. Only reboot it (either from the windows or with the hard reboot button of the chase).

ps. in case something goes very wrong and you ended to "fry" the bios do not panic; you can purchase a bios chip for your mobo and replace the bad one. Some places to buy bios chips:
http://www.badflash.com/
http://www.biosman.com/
http://bios-repair.co.uk/
http://www.bioschip.com/

Panagiotis

[ratchet]

So I bought this (not actually using it at the moment) inexpensive Acer Extensa notebook to use when I visit the children so I don't have to use theirs. I get it at Best Buy and after opening it read the BBreviews. Turns out there is some bug where the monitor (screen) just shuts off and can't be turned on without a reboot. Fortunately, I've never experienced the problem. It came with a ATI/Phoenix BIOS 1.14. One of the possible fixes was BIOS 1.16 which went fine. That was about seven months ago. Then I discovered there was a 1.17 available a few weeks ago and couldn't keep my hands off of it. Fortunately that went fine also. Both were just .exe files but I did have to unzip about five or six files to get to the .exe. The fact of the matter is, based on everything I read about this I probably should not have done the one yesterday.

[wat0114]

-{ Quote: " The fact of the matter is, based on everything I read about this I probably should not have done the one yesterday." }-

Not necessarily. It's just that BIOS flashing is a little risky, more so if the proper steps are not taken before performing the procedure. Some in this thread have mentioned backing up and restoring BIOS settings if something goes wrong. Maybe some newer mainboards have this feature, which is nice if it's available. Mine is 2002 and it definitely does not have this.

Finally, BIOS updates should include release notes on the issues they address. If there is nothing in the notes that looks important, then it probably is not necessary to flash. An issue like the one you described where the monitor shuts off is certainly important enough to warrant an update IMO.

[Hairy Coo]

-{ Quote: ""In recent years, things have gotten a whole lot more friendly on the BIOS upgrade front, and markedly more failure resistant too. It's likely that the major motherboard manufacturers realized that consumers were simply not bothering to update their motherboards due to the complexities involved. Since BIOS updates can add new features and considerable stability to their products, it was definitely in the manufacturer's best interest to find an easier and more fault resistant way for consumers to update a BIOS"
PC Stats" }-


Some time ago,flashing BIOS was considered an adventure,so I can understand the hesitation about doing this.

But now-its really only a routine maintenance job,which should be performed regularly,as generally updates can contain necessary fixes.

Usually the early BIOS versions do need considerable improving and updates are issued until these have been made.

The methods of downloading and installing BIOS have improved greatly,to make it simple and in my experience, trouble free.

Its usually no more complicated than downloading and installing a piece of software

Nowadays probably the worst that is likely to happen in case of a bad flash, is that you would have to clear the BIOS/CMOS battery and start all over again-the whole system is quite stable.


As in this case,install from the manufacturers site,or quite often,there is a BIOS Update Utility,which connects to the servers ,tells you if you have the current version,install-flashes the BIOS ,then you reboot and thats it-takes minutes!

There really is no mystique to all this-in ten years I have never had a problem.

Recently,I flashed three different mobos many many times over a period of three months,not even a hint of a problem.

Unfortunately a lot of articles about this subject were written years ago,so no longer really apply,or the authors are choosing the most unlikely worst case scenarios.

[pandlouk]

-{ Quote: "Nowadays probably the worst that is likely to happen in case of a bad flash, is that you would have to clear the BIOS/CMOS battery and start all over again-the whole system is quite stable." }-
Hi Hairy Coo,

in case of a bad flash you cannot recover with clearing the cmos or taking of the battery. You will have to replace the bios chip.

There are of course exceptions to this rule:
exception 1. You have ami bios. Ami allows you to recovery bad flash by loading the bios directly from the floppy.
exception 2. You have a dual bios. In this case the bios is loading from the secondary chip to the primary.

Panagiotis

[Hairy Coo]

Pandlouk,

I think you will find there is a dual bios present in a lot or even most mobos presently.
This business of replacing the chip died out years ago.

However I dont think its wise to dwell on this most unlikely event,as all it does is scare people from performing this simple step.

You can always find 100 arguments for not doing something,but constructively there seems no doubt nowadays,that flashing the BIOS is a routine safe procedure.

[wat0114]

-{ Quote: "
As in this case,install from the manufacturers site,or quite often,there is a BIOS Update Utility,which connects to the servers ,tells you if you have the current version,install-flashes the BIOS ,then you reboot and thats it-takes minutes!
" }-

This is good news. My M/board is older so I don't have this luxury, but I did update the BIOS once some years back and it went well, and I was certainly a bit "tense" during the flash because I knew the board was toast if something went wrong ;) Personally, even with a newer board and more foolproof flashing methods, I'd still only update if it addressed an important fix as specified in the release notes.

[Hairy Coo]

wat 0 114

-{ Quote: "My M/board is older so I don't have this luxury, but I did update the BIOS once some years back and it went well," }-

Great-this is exactly what people should know-nowadays the BIOS chips and procedures for updating have improved so much,that you would have to be dead unlucky to have a problem.

For example,my BIOS has DUAL BIOS,Q Flash and @BIOS methods for safeguarding or flashing the BIOS.

In my experience ,seems reasonably foolproof-just use commonsense and follow the easy instructions.

Every time you turn on the computer there may be a problem of some sort,there usually is-,but we still do it.

-{ Quote: "Personally, even with a newer board and more foolproof flashing methods, I'd still only update if it addressed an important fix as specified in the release notes.
" }-

I think you would find however,that most newer versions would improve some aspect of the performance or stability of the computer.

This is the general trend, if you read the reviews of mobos where BIOS updates are mentioned.

Can understand your logic-for example some software doesnt necessarily improve with newer versions

[pandlouk]

-{ Quote: "Pandlouk,

I think you will find there is a dual bios present in a lot or even most mobos presently.
This business of replacing the chip died out years ago." }-Hairy Coo,

you are totally wrong. Only gigabyte adopted the dual bios chips and even in those mobos flashing the bios is not bullet-proof.

-{ Quote: "However I dont think its wise to dwell on this most unlikely event,as all it does is scare people from performing this simple step.

You can always find 100 arguments for not doing something,but constructively there seems no doubt nowadays,that flashing the BIOS is a routine safe procedure." }-I agree, people should not be scared but they must be causious. Telling around that there is nothing to worry about will not do them any good. If they follow the simple steps of deactivating every security software on their pc, closing open windows and not rebooting or powering-off the pc during the flashing of the bios, they will not encounter any problem.
-{ Quote: "Great-this is exactly what people should know-nowadays the BIOS chips and procedures for updating have improved so much,that you would have to be dead unlucky to have a problem." }-The update procedures have not being improoved at all; maybe the opposite is true since updating through the OS can be unpredictable. It's easier yes, but is not an improvement!
On the other hand there is an improvement on the recovering procedures like the AMI Bios recovery from a floppy disk (by pressing CTRL+HOME), Asus Crashfree BIOS3 (similar to the AMI recovery but from a usb), Gigabyte Dual bios, etc.
-{ Quote: "For example,my BIOS has DUAL BIOS,Q Flash and @BIOS methods for safeguarding or flashing the BIOS." }- If you check on the Gigabyte site, they released some bios updates for fixing exactly the failure of restoring the Bios.[for example: Bios F5 "Fix dual BIOS issue (Sometimes recovery from backup BIOS may fail) (http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/Motherboard/BIOS_Model.aspx?ProductID=2637) ]

Panagiotis

[bellgamin]

-{ Quote: "...so you can see some of the inherent risks involved." }-:argh: :argh: :argh: :argh:

-{ Quote: "I still maintain: “Do not update you BIOS if everything is working fine for you”." }-GOOOOD advice. If I ever need the thing updated, I will send for you. Do you make service calls to Hawaii?

[wat0114]

-{ Quote: "
GOOOOD advice. If I ever need the thing updated, I will send for you. Do you make service calls to Hawaii?" }-

You are too kind to me Bellgamin ;D I'll tell you what, you give me a room in your pad to stay at and I would be delighted to make that call ;D I absolutely loved Hawaii when I vacationed there in December of '75 with my parents and siblings. Oooh, how I envy you ;) I loved the island of Kauai.

[Hairy Coo]

-{ Quote: "" }-Pandlouk,

I feel that you are adapting an uneccessarily cautious,even alarmist attitude.
As you can see,this creates a situation where some users avoid flashing at all costs.

-{ Quote: " Only gigabyte adopted the dual bios chips and even in those mobos flashing the bios is not bullet-proof." }-

And your experience being......?

Having used Giga boards for years,I can attest to the general reliabilty of flashing and of the BIOS.
Of course its not bulletproof,nothing to do with computers is,but certainly not warranting the type of response you give,
There is absolutely no reason why other boards should present any special difficulties,either.


-{ Quote: " Telling around that there is nothing to worry about will not do them any good. If they follow the simple steps of deactivating every security software on their pc, closing open windows and not rebooting or powering-off the pc during the flashing of the bios, they will not encounter any problem" }-
I said commonsense should be used,which surely a lot of users have -all the steps you mention are practically not necessary.
I leave the firewall, antivirus and TF on during flashing,but probably for the cautious,all running applications should be shut down.
If your malware conflicts,then obviously shut it down.
If you follow the manuals instructions you should be OK

Very obviously a reboot wouldnt be carried out halfway through a flash,especially as normally there is a warning about this.
Conversely your "telling around "about the dangers creates a false sense of dread.
People get frightened at the mention of BIOS!

-{ Quote: "The update procedures have not being improved at all" }-

Do not agree at all-you are quite wrong!!

If you wish some boards still have DOS provisions for updating,which should appeal to you

-{ Quote: "If you check on the Gigabyte site, they released some bios updates for fixing exactly the failure of restoring the Bios.[" }-

I also have that board-so what?
All this bumff you mention does not mean modern BIOS flashing is unreliable,there is no logic to that.

-{ Quote: "In my experience ,seems reasonably foolproof-just use commonsense and follow the easy instructions.
" }-

This is still the sensible procedure-dont let flashing the BIOS frighten you.

If you wish- backup before flashing-close down running apps and do not interfere in any way with the flashing! Thats it

edit-replacing the chipset-the ultimate penalty-died out years ago!!

[pandlouk]

-{ Quote: "Pandlouk,
........
........
edit-replacing the chipset-the ultimate penalty-died out years ago!!" }-
Yeah right!

I guess that all these guys that bought bios chips from the following ebay sellers, wanted to make a bioses collection! ::)

Seller 1 (http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&ftab=FeedbackAsSeller&userid=bios-master&iid=180265326393&de=off&items=200)
Seller 2 (http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&ftab=FeedbackAsSeller&userid=***angelb***&iid=190236766607&de=off&items=200)
Seller 3 (http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&ftab=FeedbackAsSeller&userid=biosdepot&iid=380047903279&de=off&items=200)

and I guess that the warnings that all the motherboards manufacturers include in the instructions are there to tease their customers. :dry:

Panagiotis