Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
a particular component. Check the vendor's website for details.
Motherboard manufacturers may offer several ways to update the BIOS on a given motherboard, some
may run directly from within Windows, and others may need to be run from bootable removable
media such as optical, USB, or floppy. You only need to use one of them, so if you have choices, in
most cases you should choose the one that is the easiest to perform. Which one you choose may
depend on the current state of the system. For example, if the BIOS is corrupt, you may have no other
choice but to use the emergency recovery procedures shown in the next section. If the system you are
updating is one you are building for the first time and does not yet have a working copy of Windows
installed on the hard drive, you may want to use a method that works with other bootable media such
as an optical drive, USB flash drive, or floppy drive. If the update files and programs are too large to
fit on a floppy, you should run the update from either an optical drive or a USB flash drive.
Most downloadable flash ROM upgrades fit into five main types:
• Windows executable upgrades
• BIOS Setup executable upgrades
• Automated images of bootable media
• User-created bootable media
• Emergency recovery media
The following sections examine each of these in detail.
Windows Executable Upgrade
The Windows executable method is generally the easiest and most popular. It might not be available
for older motherboards, but most new boards offer this type of procedure. Performing the actual
upgrade couldn't be much easier because basically all you have to do is download the executable
upgrade program and run it. The program either runs directly in Windows, or it runs an install routine
that temporarily installs the flash upgrade software so it automatically runs on the next startup and
then automatically reboots the system and begins the upgrade. In either case, once the upgrade is
finished, the system reboots again, and the upgrade is complete. The only drawback to this procedure
is that it requires that Windows be installed on the system, so it might not be appropriate for new
system builds where the OS isn't installed yet or if you are running an alternative OS, such as Linux.
One potential problem with the Windows executable upgrade method is that if the program runs
directly in Windows and the OS is unstable, corrupted, or infected with malware, the BIOS upgrade
may be interrupted, potentially requiring a BIOS recovery procedure. Such an event could even
destroy the motherboard. Using one of the other methods (such as upgrading from a bootable floppy,
CD, or USB flash drive) is preferred if you think the host OS may be unstable.
BIOS Setup Executable Upgrade
Some motherboards now include a flash BIOS upgrade utility in the BIOS. This allows for a BIOS
upgrade to be performed in a stable environment outside of Windows, yet without the hassle of having
to create DOS-bootable USB flash, optical, or floppy media or entering complicated commands.
This feature is called the F7 BIOS Flash Update on Intel motherboards and M-Flash on MSI
motherboards, and it makes the BIOS upgrade procedure simple. To perform the BIOS upgrade, all
you need is a FAT- or FAT32-formatted USB flash drive onto which you have downloaded the BIOS
 
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