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Is BIOS Update Necessary? Then when should you update the BIOS...Full steps
How to Update Your Computer's BIOS Follow the steps to update BIOS...Full steps
Is it Safe to Update BIOS? It is safe to update BIOS but you should also make backups...Full steps

What is BIOS? If you have changed your computer's boot order, you might think this jargon is familiar. BIOS is short for Basic Input Output System, it is pre-installed on your computer's motherboard, and is the first piece of software that is loaded when your computer starts up.

Update motherboard bios

Is BIOS Update Necessary?

For most individual users, there is no need to update the BIOS in most cases because you can barely feel anything after the update, and improper updates would cause additional problems. Then when should you update the BIOS? Basically, if you meet one of the following three situations, you will need to update the BIOS.

  1. Security Update

Most of the BIOS updates are related to security updates. By updating the BIOS, you can not only meltdown security breaches but also protect your privacy from leaking. After all, your data and information are precious.

  1. Bug Fixing

Some bugs on the motherboard need to be fixed regularly. Some CPU bugs may require microcode updates. And some chipset bugs may also require an update.

  1. Adding Function

The motherboard needs to support higher frequency DIMMs or support CPU refresh.

How to Update Your Computer's BIOS

There are mainly two ways to update BIOS. One is obtained before the OS boots from the BIOS interface. The other is using the BIOS flash utility provided by the motherboard manufacturer. In recent days, after the continuous efforts of motherboard manufacturers, the steps of updating the BIOS have been greatly simplified. Even the novice of the novice can easily do it. Let's take a look!

Preparation:

Check your BIOS version and the model of your motherboard on the manufacturer's website. Make sure there is an available BIOS update in the download center.

Step 1. Download the BIOS update file to an empty USB flash drive. The file system of the USB you prepare should be FAT32.

*How to Check and Format USB to FAT32

Step 2. Connect the USB drive to your computer. Reboot the computer, and press F2/F10/F12/DEL to enter BIOS.

Step 3. Here you could see the BIOS page, choose the BIOS update option. You should know that different motherboards would have different BIOS options. Here we take two motherboards as examples to show you how to update.

  • ASUS: Select Tool > ASUS EZ Flash Utility > press the Enter button > select via Storage Device > find the download update file > press Enter again and start the update.
  • Gigabyte: Select Q-Flash, the update BIOS option is Q-Flash. Go to Update BIOS from Drive > Flash Disk, select the USB drive you have connected. Then follow the on-screen wizard to finish the updating process.

Select Q-flash to update bios

Notice: During the updating process, do not interrupt the process, either by powering off or pressing the reset button.

Is it Safe to Update BIOS?

To be honest, you shouldn't update BIOS that often. Because for individual users, it is not necessary to do so, and it will not affect the normal use of the computer if it is not updated. To answer the question, it is safe to update the BIOS on the premise that the update file has been downloaded correctly and the steps to update the BIOS have been followed correctly.

However, taking precautions is a wise choice. No matter you want to update BIOS, upgrade the system, or just want to make a safe copy of important files, making a backup is always the best choice. The "backup" we mentioned here is not only the file backup but also means a system backup.

All in all, there are plenty of ways to backup files, like sync to cloud drive, copy the content to an online document, but there is no good way to back up the system.

Making a system backup protects your C drive and the boot partition. In other words, it protects all the program files, configuration files, and App data of your computer. And all you need to prepare is a large enough external drive and the free software - EaseUS Todo Backup.

Download the software from the button below, and see how to backup and protect your system with it.

Step 1. Launch EaseUS Todo Backup and choose "Create Backup" on the home page, click "Select backup contents".

create system backup step1

Step 2. Among the four available categories, click "OS" to start back up.

create system backup step2

Step 3. The system partition will be automatically selected, you only need to select the location.

create system backup step3

Step 4. Local Drive, Cloud, and NAS are available for you to save the backup file. You can also connect an external hard drive to preserve the system backup files.

create system backup step5

Step 5. You can customize the settings in "Options" at the left bottom. After that, click "Backup Now", and the process will begin.

create system backup step 5

*After finishing the backup process, you can check the backup status, recover, open, or delete the backup by right-clicking the backup task on the left.

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Updated by Daisy

Daisy is the Senior editor of the writing team for EaseUS. She has been working at EaseUS for over ten years, starting as a technical writer and moving on to being a team leader of the content group. As a professional author for over ten years, she writes a lot to help people overcome their tech troubles.

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Written by Jean

Jean is recognized as one of the most professional writers in EaseUS. She has kept improving her writing skills over the past 10 years and helped millions of her readers solve their tech problems on PC, Mac, and iOS devices.

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