bios firmware. How to flash motherboard BIOS. What it is
If you have landed on this page, most likely you know why you needed to flash the BIOS. But still, I will give a couple of examples in which cases this can help us.
BIOS- this is the software that is responsible for setting up the hardware of the computer and is stored on a small storage device, which in turn is located on the motherboard. And like any program, it needs periodic updates.
When is a BIOS update needed? The most common problem is: the failure of the motherboard to work with the processor of a newer release. The reason for replacing the processor can be different: it has failed, the computer freezes, or simply decided to improve the PC.
Having bought a brand new processor and inserted it into the motherboard, nothing appears on the screen when turned on, and the computer itself does not make any sounds, except for the noise of the cooler. Many immediately run to the store to return the product, due to its malfunction. But, often the problem is that the BIOS does not know about the new type of processor.
There are also such malfunctions as: no sound or when installing a new, powerful video card, it simply is not detected in the system as a device. But with all this, it is often the BIOS flashing that helps to cope, updating it to a newer version.
What you need to flash BIOS
So, the first thing we need is the firmware itself, which you can download from the website of the motherboard manufacturer.
Here are some of the main sites:
- Asus- www.asus.com
- ASRock- www.asrock.com
- Toshiba- www.toshiba.com
- Acer- www.acer.com
- gigabyte- www.gigabyte.ru
The next is a flash drive where we will put the downloaded file for further updates. As for the size of the flash drive, it can be minimal, since the file that occupies space ranges from a few "KB" to a couple of "MB".
How to flash bios
Step one: Prepare the flash drive
After inserting the USB drive, go to "My Computer". By clicking on the flash drive with the right mouse button, select "Format"
Compulsory a condition for successful BIOS firmware is a flash drive with a file system FAT32
Selecting FAT32, click on "Format" and wait for the process to complete
Step two: download the new firmware.
We go to the manufacturer's support site. In my case, this is: www.asus.com.ua/ru/support/, since the example will be on the Asus motherboard. In the search bar, enter the name of your motherboard. And already in the drivers we download the latest version of the BIOS.
Downloaded? Excellent. Now we extract everything from the archive and transfer the files to a USB flash drive, after which we restart the computer.
Step Three: Flashing the BIOS
To enter Bios, press the "Del" or "F2" key several times.
In the program that opens, we need to select the device on which the file for the BIOS firmware is located. My flash drive was displayed with the letter “C:”, and the name of the file itself appeared on the right side of the window. If your flash drive or floppy disk is displayed and you see the firmware, then you can proceed to the BIOS update itself by pressing "Enter".
After pressing "Enter", a notification will appear where you need to confirm that you really want to update the BIOS. Selecting the affirmative option will start checking the file version and the update itself.
After the end of the process, the computer will notify us that the BIOS firmware is completed, and that in a few seconds the computer will restart.
That's all. After reboot, PC will load as usual. In case you have You had some kind of problem, then after the same reboot, you can check if the BIOS update helped.
How to flash BIOS. Why is this needed and how to do it?
The reasons for updating BIOS versions can be different: replacing the processor on the motherboard, problems with installing new equipment, and eliminating identified shortcomings in new models. Let's look at how you can perform such updates yourself using a flash drive.
You can complete this procedure in a few simple steps. It is worth saying right away that all actions must be performed exactly in the order in which they are given below.
Step 1: Determine the motherboard model
To define a model, you can do the following:
- take the documentation for your motherboard;
- open the case of the system unit and look inside;
- use Windows tools;
- use the special program AIDA64 Extreme.
In more detail, in order to view the necessary information using the Windows software tools, do the following:
- Press key combination Win + "R".
- In the opened window "Run" enter the msinfo32 command.
- Click "OK".
- A window has appeared that contains information about the system, and it contains information about the installed BIOS version.
If this command fails, then use AIDA64 Extreme software, for this:
As you can see, everything is quite simple. Now you need to download the firmware.
When the firmware is downloaded, you can install it.
Step 3: Installing the update
You can make updates in different ways - through BIOS and through DOS. Let's consider each method in more detail.
Updating via BIOS is as follows:
Sometimes, to reinstall the BIOS, you need to specify boot from a USB flash drive. To do this, do the following:
Read more about this procedure in our tutorial on configuring the BIOS to boot from a USB drive.
This method is relevant when it is not possible to make updates from the operating system.
The same procedure via DOS is done a little more complicated. This option is suitable for advanced users. Depending on the motherboard model, this process includes the following steps:
More detailed instructions for working with this method can usually be found on the manufacturer's website. Large manufacturers such as ASUS or Gigabyte constantly update the BIOS for motherboards and have special software for this. Using such utilities, it is not difficult to make updates. 
A slight glitch in the update will break the system. Do BIOS updates only when the system is not working properly. When downloading updates, download the full version. If it is indicated that this is an alpha or beta version, then this indicates that it needs to be improved.
It is also recommended to flash the BIOS when using a UPS (uninterruptible power supply). Otherwise, if a power outage occurs during the update, the BIOS will crash and your system unit will stop working.
Before performing updates, be sure to read the firmware instructions on the manufacturer's website. As a rule, they go in the archive with boot files.
To solve many computer maintenance tasks, it becomes necessary to create a bootable USB flash drive. This may be necessary, for example, to flash an updated BIOS version or install an operating system.
There are many ways and various utilities to create a bootable USB flash drive. But often these methods are complicated and not convenient for a novice user (or require several different utilities).
However, there are also very simple ways. One is to use the rufus utility to create a bootable flash drive.
Rufus is a tiny but very fast and functional program. With its help, you can very quickly make a bootable USB flash drive with the necessary operating system for installation or maintenance.
Creating a bootable DOS flash drive using the RUFUS program
Let's consider the option of creating a bootable USB flash drive with a DOS system - to flash any BIOS version on the computer motherboard.
To do this, you need to download the program itself.
and insert the USB-drive (flash drive) that you want to make bootable. It is advisable to disable all other USB media for the duration of the firmware.Then run it with Administrator rights (because the utility will perform formatting, it needs extended rights)
The program settings must be set as follows:
- on the "Device" tab, select the required USB drive from the drop-down list.
- "Partition scheme and system interface type" must be set to "MBR for computers with BIOS and UEFI"
- "File system" must be set to "FAT32"
- on the "New volume label" tab, you can set your own name for the bootable USB flash drive (to make it easier to recognize it among other media in the future)
- be sure to check the boxes next to the values \u200b\u200bof "Quick Format" and "Create a bootable disk"
- next to the item "Create a boot disk" tediously select the FreeDOS value from the drop-down list
To complete formatting, press the "Start" button.
MSI Motherboard BIOS Firmware
As with other manufacturers, MSI offers several ways to update the BIOS. From under Windows or through the utility built into the BIOS - MFLASH or from under DOS.
1. Update from under Windows
2. Updating UEFI BIOS from the built-in MFLASH utility (from a flash drive)
3. Update from a bootable flash drive (or memory card) from under DOS
First we need to find out the manufacturer of our motherboard and its model. You can look at the initial boot screen, or in the documentation for your computer, or on the motherboard itself (in laptops on the back of the cover) or use any program to determine the hardware or command line by typing "systeminfo"
Update from under Windows
This update method via Live Update 6 is only suitable for using MSI desktop computers and related products: motherboards and graphics cards. This utility does not support MSI laptops, tablets, or all-in-ones. Unforeseen errors may occur during installation. Other methods are described below.
If you do not want to use the Live Update utility, you can simply download the firmware archive from the manufacturer's website and run the firmware utility that comes with the archive with the BIOS file.
Download the utility, install and run. After starting, the main window will open, in which you can select new versions of drivers and BIOS. You can choose to automatically or manually scan for required updates.
Select MB BIOS (motherboard BIOS) and press the button Scan. If a new version is available, click the button Download and install
Once downloaded, the installer will launch automatically. We will update our BIOS in it, however, in this program you can also make a bootable USB flash drive to update the BIOS. After launch press Next
Select Mode In Windows mode and press Next
The last information window appears about the version of the firmware being updated and about rebooting the system after the update, click Start
The update process itself:
The second mode of operation of the program for creating a bootable USB flash drive for updating the BIOS.
Run the utility and this time select the mode In DOS mod (USB)
Select a flash drive, click Next and in the window that appears about the destruction of all data on the flash drive, click OK. It will take approximately 1 minute to create.
After successfully creating the boot disk, click OK and restart your computer
After restarting, set your computer to boot from USB. When the computer boots from USB, follow the instructions to update the BIOS.
Updating the UEFI BIOS from the built-in MFLASH utility
We go to the official website of the motherboard manufacturer MSI, in the search, enter the model of the motherboard or use the manual search.
Download the archive with the firmware from the official website of the manufacturer and extract its contents to a USB flash drive. Before that, the flash drive must simply be formatted in FAT32. When you turn on your computer, press the key Delete to enter BIOS Setup. Select Utility, then M - FLASH. Then Select one file to update BIOS(Select the BIOS update file)
In the window that appears, select your USB drive and select the downloaded firmware file and press Enter. After the BIOS update is completed, the system will automatically reboot.
Updating from a bootable flash drive (or memory card) from under DOS
For work we need files:
Unzip all files after downloading
We prepare a flash drive. It should not contain bugs and errors. To verify this, you can check the drive by going to properties removable disk, tab service » Examination
We launch the HP USB Disk Storage FormatTool 2.2.3 utility. We set the checkboxes as shown in the picture. The path to the folder of the MS-DOS boot device is the place where the MS-DOS files were downloaded. (for example, I have a C drive, a usbdos folder. And a button to begin. When asked about deleting files, click Yes.
Upon completion of the process, copy 2 files from the archive with the firmware to the USB flash drive (an example of how they look: AFUD4310.EXE and A7519IMS.H00). And without pulling out the flash drive from the USB port, we restart the computer. We go into the BIOS (usually the DEL button on a computer or F2 on a laptop) and set the boot priority from a USB drive (on the tab Boot, in 1st boot device put the flash drive in the first place (it can be called Removable Device or the actual name of your drive). If there is no flash drive in the list, then check in what order your disk is in Hard Disk Drives, it should be the first and exit the BIOS saving the settings - F10. We should boot DOS.
Any computer hardware and software, as you know, becomes outdated over time and ceases to meet current requirements. This applies equally to the primary BIOS / UEFI systems, the software of which is integrated into a special chip on the motherboard. When installing new hardware ("hardware"), it may sometimes be necessary to flash the BIOS. On a laptop, on a stationary computer terminal, such a procedure will be performed, it doesn’t matter. The technology is almost always the same. Some users who are unfamiliar with the basics of such techniques believe (and not without reason) that this process is unsafe and difficult. If you can agree with the first statement, then you can argue about the second. In fact, flashing the BIOS of the motherboard is not such a troublesome business. But for the correct implementation of such a procedure, special attention should be paid to some important details and nuances, which depend on the manufacturer of the motherboard and the programs and methods used for flashing.
Why do I need a BIOS flashing?
In general, if it is not planned, and the whole system is working stably, there is no point in updating the BIOS version.
But when new equipment is installed on the computer, which may not be supported by the primary system only because of its obsolescence (the BIOS simply does not recognize the device), flashing the BIOS becomes an urgent problem. Although many users find this process difficult, nonetheless, anyone who works with a computer will be able to perform such steps on their own. It will take no more than 10 minutes.
Flashing the BIOS of the motherboard: prerequisites
To begin with, pay attention to a few mandatory conditions, failure to comply with which can lead to disastrous consequences.
You should download files and programs for updating primary systems only from the official resources of motherboard manufacturers. In the case of installing an unofficial firmware, no one can guarantee that the process will be successful and the system will work as expected after that.
The second thing to pay attention to is during the update. You need to make sure that there are no power surges or spontaneous disconnection of a computer or laptop from the mains, in advance.
General rules for updating all firmware
Flashing BIOS for almost all models of motherboards involves the use of the same scheme:
For standard BIOS systems, DOS mode is used in most cases. However, for some BIOS versions, as well as for more modern UEFI systems, a special BIOS flashing program created by the motherboard manufacturer can be used, which can even run in the Windows operating system environment without the need to create bootable media.
How can I find out the motherboard modification and the current BIOS version?
The very first thing to do is to determine which model of the motherboard is installed in the computer system, as well as find out the version of the primary BIOS system (perhaps it is currently relevant and does not need to be updated).
You can view information about the board and BIOS version in the section that is called from the Run console with the msinfo32 command.
For the motherboard, you can also use specialized utilities like CPU-Z (formerly Everest). For a device determined in this way, on the manufacturer's website, you need to find the latest firmware and save the files on your hard drive.
Preparing Bootable Media (General Method)
In the case of using bootable media, when an update from under Windows is not provided, at the first stage it must be created. The usual recording of downloaded files will not work.
To simplify the work, you can use the Rufus utility, which is very easy to learn and creates a bootable USB flash drive in a couple of minutes. You don't need to change anything in the settings. Only in the file system, you should specify FAT32, and use MS-DOS mode in the recording method, be sure to check the box next to the line for creating bootable media. If this is not done, then the device will not be recognized as a bootable device when booting again. Then, in some cases, to install the update, you will need to additionally copy the control program and the firmware file to the media.
Next, the BIOS update process will be considered with examples for motherboards from several well-known manufacturers. Although in general they are very similar to each other, nevertheless, each of them has its own nuances. We assume that the priority in the BIOS settings is already set.
ASUS
Flashing the Asus BIOS can be done in several ways. Among the preferred utilities, it is worth highlighting two programs - AFUDOS and ASUSTeK EZ Flash 2.
When using the first utility, you should create bootable media and make sure that it contains the afudos.exe program file and the firmware itself (for example, p4c800b.rom).
ASUS BIOS flashing is as follows. Boot from flash drive. Since the media was written for DOS mode, the initial line C:\> will appear on a black screen, in which you need to write the command /i p4c800b.rom and press the enter key. Upon completion of the update, a reboot will occur, during which you just need to remove the media from the USB port so that the system starts from the hard drive.
Flashing the BIOS of an ASUS motherboard when using the second utility is somewhat different from the previous version.
Despite the fact that most firmware on the official ASUS website have the .rom extension, sometimes CAB files can also be found. There is nothing wrong with this, since they are used for UEFI systems.
For firmware, you should enter the UEFI settings on reboot, go to Advanced Mode (advanced settings) and select the ASUSTeK EZ Flash 2 line in the service (tools) section. Next, select the media with the program again from the list (line of the same name), after which the desired firmware file will be shown on the right. We select it and agree with the warning twice (first to check the file, then to start the firmware process).
At the end of the process, a notification about the reboot will appear, and at the beginning of the restart, a proposal will be issued to carry out the initial setup. Press F1 and set the desired parameters. Otherwise, just exit the settings without saving the changes.
gigabyte
Flashing the BIOS of Gigabyte systems is quite different from other processes. First of all, this is due to the fact that you can use the online update to install the firmware. But first, consider using the Q-Flash utility, which is considered to be the best for updating firmware.
First you need to enter the BIOS settings and use the option to reset all settings Load Optimized default. After that, you need to save the changes, restart the computer and enter the BIOS settings again. Further, to launch the Q-Flash utility, the F8 key is pressed, and the start is confirmed by pressing the Y and Enter keys. To begin with, it is recommended to save the current version using the Save Bios option, after which you need to use Update Bios. Next, you will be asked to specify the source from which you want to update. HDD 2.0 should be selected as the carrier (this is how the flash drive is displayed in the settings). Then everything is as usual: select the firmware file present on the media and agree with all the warnings.
For an Internet update, you can use the @BIOS utility specially developed by Gigabyte specialists, which runs in a Windows environment. In this case, it is highly recommended to disable Hyper-Threading mode in the primary system settings, as well as deactivate anti-virus and other resident applications, to avoid errors or failures during the upgrade process.
After starting the program, you can immediately save the current BIOS version by clicking the Save Current BIOS button, and then select the Internet Update online update mode, click Update New BIOS and select one of the servers in the list. After that, you will be prompted to specify the model of the installed motherboard, and the program will automatically download all the necessary components and activate the update process.
MSI
Flashing the MSI BIOS, as in the case of ASUS, can be done either from under Windows or from under DOS. For DOS mode, a BIOS-embedded tool called BIOS-MFLASH is used. But the MSI Live Update 5 or 6 application can also be used as an initial management utility. It is notable for the fact that it can also be used to update all installed MSI drivers, as well as flash the BIOS of the corresponding graphics accelerators. Let's start with him.
In the main window, you just need to check the boxes on the necessary elements. Select the MB BIOS component and press the Scan button from the bottom (Scan). If a new firmware version is found, use the Download and Install button, after which the update process will start.
First you will need to select the update environment. To simplify matters, check the In Windows mode item, in the next window click the close button for all programs that appear in the list (Close all listed programs), click the continue button (Next) and in the next window click the process start button.
For DOS mode, select it from the window of the launched update process, after which we indicate the media and agree to the destruction of all data present on it (the process will take no more than a minute, after which a message will be displayed about the successful creation of the boot drive). When you reboot, you will only have to follow the instructions of a kind of "Master".
In the case of updating using the built-in MFLASH mechanism, you will have to download the firmware manually, create bootable media and perform the same actions in the BIOS as described above (select the media and firmware file in the tools menu).
Acer
Flashing the BIOS of Acer systems is surprisingly much easier. You don’t even need to create bootable media, although you still have to format it in FAT32.
To install the update, a special utility called Insyde Flash is used, which is copied to removable media. At the same time, you need to copy the firmware file downloaded from the official website, which has the .fd extension and corresponds not only to the motherboard, but also to the laptop model, to the main directory of the program on the USB flash drive. Please note that the device must contain only one firmware file, otherwise the application will issue an offer to flash only one of several. After running the utility with the power on, you will be prompted to install the update immediately.
The second way is just as simple. First you need to completely turn off the laptop, unplug the cord from the outlet and wait until the power indicator stops blinking. Next, plug the cord into an outlet, insert the USB flash drive into the appropriate port, hold down the Fn and Esc keys and press the power button. As soon as the indicator starts flashing, release the keys. After that, reading information from the drive will begin (this can be seen by the blinking of the LED on the device itself). At the end of the update process, the laptop will reboot on its own.
Video cards
Since GeForce and Radeon are dominant in the video card market, BIOS flashing will be considered using their example.
At the initial stage, you need to download new firmware and control programs for your card on the manufacturer's website. If the system has several video cards, only one should be left for the duration of the update by inserting it into the PCI-Express slot.
For GeForce cards, the NVFlash program is used (two files), for Radeon, the ATIFlash utility (one file). Next, you need to create a bootable USB drive for DOS mode, and then copy the program and firmware files to it.
When starting from a flash drive, you should make sure that the card is single-processor, otherwise the proposed method will not work. For NVIDIA, use the nvflash --list command, for ATI - atiflash -i. If information is displayed on two cards, then the adapter has two processors, and the proposed firmware method cannot be used (it is better to refer to the manufacturer's website and find instructions there).
At the next stage, flashing the BIOS of the GeForce video card involves disabling protection. This is done with the nvflash -protectoff line.
Further, to start the BIOS update process for GeForce cards, use the nvflash -4 -5 -6 newbios.rom command (the name of the ROM file must match the name of the downloaded firmware), for Radeon cards - atiflash -p -f 0 newbios.rom. After that, we wait for the process to complete and reboot the system in normal mode.
Brief summary
That's all for flashing primary I/O systems. Based on the foregoing, we can conclude that the best option is to install the update exclusively in DOS mode, although special utilities can be used to simplify the work. But they only work if there are UEFI systems, and they are not suitable for standard BIOS versions. You need to be extremely careful with video cards, since incorrect installation of the update or the slightest violation during the flashing process can cause the graphics adapter to fail.