Upgrading BIOS...why?

Question

I know there are problably a number of reasons to upgrade to a newer release of BIOS, however I'm an old-school type. I've never had much of a problem with my system, so I've been leary of doing this and other upgrades if I don't need anything fixed (heard horror stories about fixing one thing and creating a slew of others). Do I still have the right approach, or have things changed? Jim.

Dim 4100, PIII-866, 256MB, WinMe

ceri sheeran · Answer

Hi,

Having had a major nightmare caused by a BIOS upgrade some years ago. Even an FDISK & FORMAT rebuild didn't clear it. I had 17,000 errors when I got the thing actually working again. The computer was never the same again. I still have files that were affected by the disaster that occurred.

I would very firmly stick with the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" principal for a BIOS upgrade. Unless you need it to suit a hardware upgrade or new piece of hardware. I would you advise not to bother.

I would also advise that you carry out a major back-up before you do carry out a BIOS upgrade.

hth

Ceri

Jake02324 · Answer

If it is working , leave well enough alone!!

jimtnc · Answer

thanks folks, that's about what I expected smart and savvy responses to be. It sounds only logical to me. Thanks. Dim 4100, PIII-866, 256MB, WinMe

nyguy · Answer

your never supposed to upgrade the bios ever. even on video cards.

everyplace I read online tells you that you can damage your system by
doing it.

when you get a computer it supposed to come with the latest bios that makes
everything on it work. I would never upgrade it

ceri sheeran · Answer

HI,

You might need to update your BIOS to account for hardware changes.

Examples would be to go over the 8 GB hard disk size limit on some older machines. This is a BIOS limitation

To add the facility for a specific hard ware device. One of my machines Dimension XPS R450 would not recognise the LS120 drive I installed until I updated the BIOS, after a full backup.

You might need to update BIOS to add a USB 2 card for example.

Don'r however upgrade BIOS just because there is a newer version available.

Ceri

DJC · Answer

I upgraded to A10 on my Dell 4100 I had to as I needed the upgrade to install XP. I will only flash the BIOS if it is truly needed for a new piece of hardware or in my case it was needed for XP I have done 6 different Flashes on 3 different machines which includes Laptops. All have been successful with no problems encountered. I have flashed the Video card Bios 3 times on different machine again no problems encountered. I only Flash when needed. I also think that if it ain't Broke or Needed do no

Dave in Jordan MN

Master Sgt. USAF Retired
USMC July 1963 to June 30th 1967
USAF 1967 to January 1st 1986

This is my 2nd DELL first was a 333 MHz

I now have a Dell 4100 800 MHz

Operating System XP Pro

45 Gig Drive partioned into C: D: E: F: G:
512 Meg O Ram
DVD AND CD/RW
USB Keyboard,Kensinton Track Ball Mouse Imation SuperDisk Visioneer 8600 Scanner Dell 2000FP Monitor
HP 2000c: Printer
Speakers: ACS 495
Road Runner cable Modem Linksys 4 Port Router so I now have a home network

Software: Office 2000 SBE, Paint Shop Pro 7.04, Norton SystemWorks 2002 Professional, Norton Win Fax Ver. 10.3, Microangelo Ver. 5.5, Microsoft Money 2000, Itweak Pro, Win Zip 8.1, Quick View Plus, and Window Blinds Wedb Blinds Skin Studio and Object Bar

Message Edited on 09/04/02 09:36PM by DJC

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Upgrading BIOS...why?

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