Upgrading bios without floppy

[Richard M Balling]

my mobo site has a much needed fix for my machines within a bios upgrade. I don't really want to do it...but will need to do it, whats the best way to do this without a floppy? One friend said use a CD/ISO method...another friend said a USB flash memory stick.

Whats the best approach?

[Spearball]

Before you upgrade be 100% sure that you really have to.

I'd use a cd/iso method as it's too easy for data to get corrupted on a floppy disk. What mobo do you have. Some motherboards of today have a bios upgrade feature built in like the EZ Flash for asus.

Whatever you do though i recommend NOT to upgrade it through windows as it's not safe. Always flash before you load windows.

[glc]

I've done it on recent Asus motherboards using the bios-based EZ Flash and a USB key.

[liambl]

I have done a few BIOS upgrades through Winflash and they turned out fine. As long as you boot in safemode and turn off all security features it usually works fine.

[Masaki 7-11]

Just wondering, why is it considered unsafe to flash bios through windows? I've flashed bios through windows XP without being in safe mode, but closing off all other programs, on four different motherboards. I've flashed the bios on a HP laptop, two Asus motherboards, and one MSI motherboard without having any problems, while in windows.

[Spearball]

Well maybe it's not as unsafe that we might think it is but heres how i think of it...

Imagine your flashing your bios when all of a sudden windows crashes... Or an application or program conflicts with your flashing program... As liambl said... boot up in safe mode if you really do want to flash through windows. Would logically be the safest way to do it through your OS because safe mode doesn't load all the "extra stuff". :D

[shadowpr]

I've done it on recent Asus motherboards using the bios-based EZ Flash and a USB key.


That's how I did mine. Worked perfectly.

[hudson80]

GigaByte board you do it through Windows

[brizey]

I did mine in Windows XP with the Asus utility and it worked fine. Just make sure you update the utility first. The safeboot idea is a good one--it is easy to do. I didnt' do it--I just did it off of a fresh bootup with no extras running (like MSN messenger, etc.) in the background.

[amdalex]

If I did a flash through windows I'd make sure I was in safe mode to minimize the chance of something screwing up the process.