Updating motherboard bios

PCSharkey

I have a ASRock b75 Pro 3 mobo and I am thinking of upgrading my bios after seeing people saying that updating there bios has significantly improved there performance but the warning the mobo manufacturer put up has me worried about doing it, I am several versions behind and am wondering if I should do it at all. any help would be greatly appreciated thanks.

degsie

I'd always recommend upgrading to the latest bios. There is a good reason why manufacturers investment time in doing these. Read the release notes to see if there are specific upgrade paths from your current version.

PCSharkey

ok thank you I'll update it tomorrow

PropJoe10

Just a note of caution, I generally dont upgrade the BIOS on my machines unless the update promises a significant benefit. There's always the chance of the update going wrong and completely bricking the motherboard. If things are working well on the current version I generally leave it.

quaidox

upgraded the firmware on a sony bluray player, bricked it.

I'm quite the opposite. I'd only update the BIOS or drivers if I have a need to do so. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

degsie

Karsini wrote: »

I'm quite the opposite. I'd only update the BIOS or drivers if I have a need to do so. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Glad not all ppl think this way or we would still be making fire by rubbing sticks together

PropJoe10

degsie wrote: »

Glad not all ppl think this way or we would still be making fire by rubbing sticks together

Thats a ridiculous comment. Upgrading the BIOS is risky and generally pointless. You are not talking about upgrading Adobe Flash or an internet browser here. A BIOS update gone wrong can completely brick a motherboard. There's generally very little to be gained from it.

maki

Looking at the list of BIOS updates for that particular motherboard there's really nothing there that warrants the risk. Just updates to improve compatibility with newer CPUs and RAM.

Updating it certainly won't make anything run faster. As others have said, don't bother unless you're having a specific issue that's listed as fixed with an update. All you need is a power cut during the flashing process and you'll be buying yourself a new motherboard.

PCSharkey

Thanks for the input guys, I just thought that the updated CPU code might help out but I suppose its not worth bricking my mobo for a few fps. If anything significant pops up I'll update it.

maki

PCSharkey wrote: »

Thanks for the input guys, I just thought that the updated CPU code might help out but I suppose its not worth bricking my mobo for a few fps. If anything significant pops up I'll update it.

Update CPU code just means add support for new CPUs. My motherboard had the exact same update for when it added support for Ivy Bridge CPUs.

It has nothing to do with actual performance of your CPU.

uch

I fried a Board once doing an unnecessary update, so as the Knowledgeable people here are suggesting, don't flash it unless you have a specific need to.

yoyo

I *nearly* bricked my current motherboard updating the bios. I was having issues with my video card so decided to flash the update in case it was an issue with the bios code and the PCIe slot. It's a new UEFI bios with a GUI config panel. I put the bios on a USB, booted into the flash tool and proceeded to flash. Random gibberish appeared on the screen. Left it going for around 10 minutes to be on the safe side.
After I force reset it I noticed the POST logo had changed and luckily the bios flashed correctly at this point (I saw the progress bar going across). so yes, don't update the bios unless necessary. It is a risky procedure. It's also a pain having to RMA stuff, and being without a computer :eek:

Nick

Same here. I flashed the BIOS on a Socket 754 MSI motherboard. Afferwards it would only intermittently POST and an attempt to flash back to the previous BIOS failed. I had to use an undocumented switch on the flash tool, which worked, but it wiped the MAC address of my onboard LAN and the 1394 GUID. I eventually sorted that too but it was a lot of work which could easily have resulted in a bricked board.

Also, my current motherboard has a newer BIOS which seems even more buggy than the one I have, it enables UEFI secure boot but breaks the PCI slots!

degsie

Like most things in life there, there is a boys and men approach to this. Men get to the moon, split the atom and upgrade their bios's....c'est la vie