system bios;

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I have question for the experts in forums. Is it important upgrade your bios, I just did a scan with (SISoftware sandra). It said that my system bios is old and to check for updates. so I checked for updates at the manufatures web site VIA and there is an update avalable. So I guess my question is should I update my system, I have read up on how to do it so I am not afraid of doing, I have never done any thing like this before so any feedback would be very helpful. thanks in advance Kevin P.
motherboards
14,579 views 20 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
If there's nothing wrong with your system.....leave it be.
Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top
If there's a 'readme' or some list of the changes, check it first to see if there's anything fixed that's really going to affect you. Otherwise I wouldn't worry.

Having said that, it's fine as long as you follow the instructions, make sure you're not going to get a power glitch in the middle of it (UPS is good!), and that you're absolutely certain you've got the correct update for your MoBo.

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Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Unless you've installed a CPU upgrade or you are having problems with instablity, I would not mess with the BIOS. You have a VIA bios??
Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top
He has an Award bios with a VIA chipset.
Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Okay, just wondering.
Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top
while flashing (updating) BIO's has become "easyer" it is still not for the faint at heart...one thing goes wrong and your PC will be renderd useless...in most cases it's better to leave it be unless you are experiencing problems.. the only other time i could justify Flashing the bios would be if you upgraded to a faster cpu and the new bios would update the bios to work with the new CPU..( chip set manufacturers often update BIO's to allow use of newer CPU's on older boards that werent previously capable of supporting the newer faster cpus.)
Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top

If there's nothing wrong with your system.....leave it be

Second that.....

Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Thank you all very much for the response's, after a day of thinking about the upgrade (flashing) and reading all the post from the experts I think I will leave it alone, the system is good and stable. If it ain't broke don't fix it??
. That is why I put in the forum. Thank's again all and have a good nite
Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top

If there's nothing wrong with your system.....leave it be.

Listen to yrag on this one....especially.

Getting it wrong can be bad news...

Reply #10 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Good call kjay!! Or we might be helping you troubleshoot some UNKNOWNS...yicchhh!
Reply #11 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Ditto....listen to yrag!
Reply #12 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Reply #13 from WinCustomize Forums Top
On the other hand

My ASUS P4 MoBo lets you change the BIOS bitmap screen (the one that can be displayed in place of the normal BIOS text reporting). I thought that's pretty hardcore (skinning the BIOS)!

I'm fortunate enough to have access to the ultimate BIOS backup mechanism: an EPROM programmer so I can erase & reprogam the BIOS outside of the MoBo.

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Reply #14 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I thought that my system "wasn't broken", but every once in a while I would have randon reboots. After a bios upgrade it fixed the problem. You never know what they fix or update, but it just might help.
Reply #15 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I upgraded my bios but not until I fully understood what I was doing. If you have doubts don't do it. If you know what your doing then by all means do so (upgrade).
Reply #16 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Sometimes updating does help, but I would recommend against it unless you have an actual reason, such as random reboots, or update on ram or CPUs supported, etc.

Make sure that you don't update it in middle of weather events too. If it powers down in middle of update, you will have to either send for replacement or order bios chips.

My friend once used wrong model bios and updated his motherboard. He had to wait 3 weeks for new bios chips in order to make his computer work.

In short, Be seriously careful!!
Reply #17 from WinCustomize Forums Top
My ASUS P4 MoBo lets you change the BIOS bitmap screen


My giga-byte does this too. 'Cept I can't seem to get the right image format...
Reply #18 from WinCustomize Forums Top
'Cept I can't seem to get the right image format...


Hmmm... For the ASUS the image spec is exactly the same as for Bootskin (640x480x4bpp). In fact I extracted the image from here https://www.wincustomize.com/ViewSkin.aspx?SID=1&SkinID=3568&LibID=32 an used it directly as my bios (and Windows) boot screen (without the progress bar).

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Reply #19 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Listen to yraq!
Reply #20 from WinCustomize Forums Top
i have also heard that some of the computer vendors if your computer is store bought will void the warranty if you flash the bios.. just a thought