Is bios safe to update?

uguv

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If something goes wrong during the BIOS update it can render the board unusable. It's rare but it happened to me once; the utility hung during the flash and I had to RMA the board.
 

LoneEagle

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Oct 19, 2006
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I have an Asus P5W-DH and that motherboard have:

From Asus web site:

CrashFree BIOS 3
The ASUS CrashFree BIOS 3 allows users to restore corrupted BIOS data from a USB flash disk containing the BIOS file. This utility saves users the cost and hassle of buying a replacement BIOS chip.

There is always a risk but don't unplug your computer wihile doing it :non: !

I did it so many times even with older computer.
 

kingnoth

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Sep 28, 2006
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It's safer to do it with your computer plugged in a UPS.

If you don't, wait for a good weather (no wind, no rain, less chance for a power outage)

 

righteous

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Oct 25, 2006
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On my Asus Crosshair, I have updated and gone back to previous BIOS files multiple times utilizing the update utility in BIOS and the BIOS files on a flash drive with no problems.
 
I've flashed my GA-G33M-DS2R BIOS twice using the update utility in Windows. I'd be confident that the Asus utility would be just as good. My PC is plugged into a UPS. That's a good peripheral to have.
 

zenmaster

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Feb 21, 2006
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I've pushed Bios updates to 10,000s of PCs at once w/o breaking one.

I'm sure I've hit 100,000s by now w/o issue over the years.
That being said, on rare occassions it can hose your bios and you would need to RMA.
 
Generally, it is best not to update the mobo's BIOS unless you need to, or if the BIOS provides new options that you will be using.

If you overclock, I would generally recommend that you return the CPU and RAM back to stock speed before you update a mobo's BIOS within Windows.
 

Crashman

Polypheme
Former Staff


Safe? Hahah, I've had various updater programs crash after corrupting BIOS. Then you can't reboot, ever, because the BIOS is hosed.

Most boards include another tool in BIOS that allows you to update BIOS from BIOS. I use a USB thumb drive for that, because floppies are too unreliable.