# Sticky  If you are thinking about updating your BIOS



## crjdriver

If you are contemplating updating the bios on your motherboard, first ask yourself _why_ you are going to update. Read the notes for the bios update. IF this update has a fix you need OR it supports a new processor you intend on installing, then that is a valid reason for updating. If you are flashing the bios to have the "Latest and greatest" bios, stop. There is no need to update a bios that is working correctly, no compatibility issues, etc.

I was prompted to write this in response to something that happened to me a few days ago. I was brought a system [Gigabyte X370 motherboard] and the owner wanted the bios updated to the latest one. The latest bios on the support page was F50e; when a gigabyte board has a suffix after the bios ie a, c, whatever, that is a beta bios. Flashed the bios and all seemed well. Went back into the bios to reset memory speed and voltage. Memory speeds were not correct, voltage and timings would not set to what I wanted. After looking, I saw the bios had reverted to F2 which is the very first bios for this board. Evidently the gigabyte dual bios had reflashed the bios. I then installed a normal release bios [F40] and all was well, ram speed was able to be set, etc.

If you are going to update the bios on your motherboard, first read and be sure you _fully_ understand the flashing procedure. While a bios update is not a difficult task, an incorrect or corrupted flash can render your board unbootable ie junk. Most [if not all] motherboard mfg have a utility built into the bios for the purpose of doing a bios flash. Each board mfg calls this something different; ie EZFlash for Asus, QFlash for Gigabyte, or instant flash for Asrock. In any case, they all do the same thing. I highly advise you to use this utility and NOT a windows based flashing program. If you have a dell, hp, or other big box system, you do not have this option and [generally] must use either a windows based program to flash the bios OR a boot disk.

Some advice on how to proceed with the update;

1 After you are sure you understand the procedure you are going to use, download the bios update from the support page for your motherboard. Generally you will put the update on the root of a FAT32 formatted usb. There are a few boards now that can read NTFS however just use FAT32

2 Prior to doing the update, remove ALL overclocking. Do not flash a bios when the system is overclocked. Be absolutely sure you do not pw OFF during the update process

3 Boot into the bios and complete the update. Some boards will restart on their own and others will prompt you to restart. In any case, the first restart after a bios flash can take an extra 20~30 seconds to complete POST. This is normal and you should not be concerned

4 After the first successful restart, enter the bios and reset time [some boards need this done and others do not] Reset ram speed and voltage. Make any other custom bios settings you need. Save settings and restart. If you are overclocking the system, restore your overclocking settings. Now test for stability; use any of the following for the stability test; prime95, OCCT, or Realbench. Just because you were able to run at a given speed with the old bios does NOT mean you will again be able to run at the same speed with the new bios. If they system runs fine, you are done


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