How Do I Update My BIOS?

[OpenSesame]

Thank you so much, absic.

I noticed that the FX-8300 is listed as a supported processor. Is it possible for me to get away with the latest BIOS, or is it absolutely necessary that I make sure the motherboard supports the exact processor model?

If that's the case, then it would seem that I have two options:

1) Wait and see if Gigabyte releases a BIOS that supports my processor, or

2) Buy a new motherboard.

Neither of these two options is particularly appealing to me, but I will do what I have to.

Thanks again for your help.

[absic]

With the BIOS updated to F4a you can run the FX8300 CPU. The fact that this is labelled as a beta BIOS isn't really a problem and it should be fine. In fact, I  am running a beta BIOS on my own system and have been doing so for some time now.

If you really want to run the FX 8350 then I would advise finding a motherboard that will support it properly.

[andreas443]

1.For you I have the G1 sniper 3 now I have the F3 and the latter is the F7 I need to put the next F4 i put the last F7??

2.If I do the update will have to re-do the installation windows 8

[absic]

If you update to the F7 BIOS it will include all updates so far released.

If you have installed F7 and want to use F4 then use QFlash to revert to the F4 BIOS.

Updating the BIOS should make no difference with your Windows installation and you shouldn't have to reinstall it.

[stree]

GA 970A DS3.I want to update fro, BIOS F3 to F6
I have the bios file on a FAT32 USB.
When I go into Qflash and select load from drive, only a floppy drive with zero files on is shown.I know an earlier post says that the USB may show as a floppy or HHD, but then what?   Is it "enter" to select as with the rest of the Bios?
Do I select it?  Does it then detect the file even though its says no files found on the first screen?
Obviously I want to get this right, so help is much appreciated.

[stubby]

Hi all,

Hope you can help, i have read through this thread and it is very helpful...but i am a noob who is petrified when it comes to flashing my Bios.

So here is why i want to flash in the first place..I have a Logitech keyboard which will not boot onto bios, having a dual boot machine this is a pain, i believe a flash to a newer bios may solve this? I am also having issues with system stability and after investigation i believe this could be solved with an update.


So i have Z77-D3H Mobo rev 0.1 version F8...First off i am worried i am going to try and flash the wrong version, i think i have the right one, that leads me onto the next question, i have F8 at the moment and the options i have are F21 and F18...what should i go for? have there been versions between F8 and F18 for example, will the jump from F8 to  the versions mentioned cause a problem?

Thanks all:)

[lauradoom]

My intention is to flash BIOS via Q-Flash. I decided to first try saving current BIOS to drive for reassurance that Q-Flash was working correctly on my system. On being prompted to save to drive, BIOS freezes [nothing is saved, no activity on flash drive, mouse and keyboard inactive]. That doesn't give me much confidence in undertaking the flashing procedure using Q-Flash. Anyone else experienced that scenario?

ga-z87-hd3 & AMI F2

 I've followed the advice offered here: USB flashdrive, under 2GB, formatted FAT32, loaded with unpacked BIOS file from s/e .exe, inserted into rear USB2 port before booting. Legacy USB Support enabled. Q-Flash recognizes drive, and when selecting 'Update BIOS from file', it identifies the update file on the drive. I've tried with various USB sticks and a couple of low capacity cards in a reade, with the same result.

 Given the freeze that occurs when attempting to 'Save BIOS to drive', is there a danger of the flashing procedure being affected by a freeze? I guess it won't be a problem if it freezes before the flashing procedure starts, and the dual bios backup is available if it goes fruit salad...I just wondered if anyone here was familiar with my bios-saving issue, and if so, whether you'd subsequently achieved a successful flash?

Thanks [in anticipation of a response :]

[lauradoom]

"Take a USB pendrive and make sure it is formatted with a FAT32 file system. If the file ends with .exe run it, or if it is a zip file unzip it, and save the files (usually contains 3 files) that you just expanded to the Boot sector or a folder of your choice on this drive and insert the pendrive into a USB port.

Re-boot."

[excerpt from OP's guide]

My freezing problem (above) seems to have been caused by following the above instructions verbatim, so I modified the procedure as follows:

Having saved the BIOS file to the pendrive, I safely removed/ejected it before shutting down. I then re-inserted the drive before booting into BIOS, <F8>ing to Q-Flash and copying the current BIOS to the drive; <F10>ed to O/S in order to confirm that the file had been copied successfully. Again, removed/ejected drive 'safely' before shutting down; re-inserted drive before booting into Q-Flash (End) and successfully flashed BIOS from .F2 to .F6.

It appears that the drive was corrupted in some way through restarting the system without having 'safely removed' the USB device, resulting in Q-Flash being unable to access the drive for writing/reading.

Before attempting the flash procedure, I did not have the 'remove hardware safely' icon appearing, and Nirsoft's USBDeview had listed the drive as being safe to remove without having to use that facility. Since then, the icon appears each time the drive is inserted. I'm now going to figure...

[lauradoom]

Whilst talking to myself...

I've flashed to .F6 and it seems stable, no issues, overcome with euphoria.
Now I'd like to save to the back-up.

"Once you are sure everything is working as you want it you can synchronise the Backup BIOS to match the Main BIOS.

To check on the versions go into the BIOS and on the MAIN page press F9 for system info.   You should see both BIOS versions listed, if they do not match please update the backup BIOS to match the current.

To do that, reboot and where you would normally press DEL to enter the BIOS, instead press Alt + F12, this will flash the Backup BIOS with the MAIN BIOS contents.   Do not worry when you see a recovery comment, that is normal and means it is flashing the backup BIOS."

F9 gives me only the current main BIOS version (F6).
Alt + F12 did not register using a USB keyboard, so I swapped out with a PS/2.
On restarting, Alt + F12 presents the boot override menu (Please select boot drive), as does Alt Gr + F12.

Any suggestions please?

[GA-Z87-HD3 | Corsair AX 760i | Intel i5-4670K | 4 x 4GB Corsair Vengeance 1600 | Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSD | Seagate 5000GB 7200 | Intel onboard gfx HD 4600 (ouch)]

[lauradoom]

And ultimately...

Found Absic's later 'BIOS synchronisation' piece, and as my system has an AMI UEFI BIOS, I tried Alt + F10 on the PS/2 keyboard; failed to register.
Swapped back the USB keyboard: success. A m,ill,ion thanx 2 Absic.

Postscript to this: "If the keystrokes have been recognised you will be presented with a screen that asks if you want to copy the Main BIOS to the Backup BIOS. Follow the on-screen instructions."

I did not get the screen requesting confirmation to proceed, it just spontaneously ignited, but I'm not complaining. I guess each system configuration has its signature idiosyncrasies.

These forums are worth a caseload of manufacturer's support.

[track.zer0]

Hello!

I just updated my BIOS, and now it works perfectly with the new update! Thanks for the awesome tutorial!

trackzer0

[salvinklein]

Hi all!!!

I have 1 question about Bios update.

I've got a crucial m4 ssd and a gigabyte x58a ud7 rev 1. The ssd is in IDE mode (not ahci) and the bios version is F5.

If I want to chage from ide to ahci in the bios, do I need to update the bios version from F5 to the lastest (F7)?

Do you think it can be a mistake if I change the bios version to a beta version like f9a?

I read the post about "how to change from ide to ahci after windows installation" ... I think is not difficult to do ...

Thanks for all 

[absic]

If I want to chage from ide to ahci in the bios, do I need to update the bios version from F5 to the lastest (F7)

No, you don't have to update the BIOS if changing from IDE to AHCI Mode but the latest BIOS version might have better support for your SSD than the F5 BIOS. I would try with the F5 and everything works OK then you don't need to update BIOS.

Do you think it can be a mistake if I change the bios version to a beta version like f9a?

If everything is working OK on your system then you really don't need to update the BIOS. BETA BIOS versions usually add compatibility for newer hardware and should only really be used if absolutely necessary to get things working properly.

[salvinklein]

ok!! thx for fast reply ... at the moment the ssd write speed is really low (264) cuz I have IDE .... I will change Ide to Ahci without updating the bios version ... My pc works fine so I think I dont need to do any update (at the moment xD)

thx for your advise ... 

[The_Scooter]

Hi all. I wonder if you guys could help me please?

I have a Gigabyte X79-UD3 (rev 1.0) motherboard on F10 bios and have just purchased a Gigabyte GTX 780 Ti Windforce graphics card which isn't playing nicely with my system.

My old card, the XFX HD5970 Black Edition works perfectly. When I try to boot using the new graphics card, the computer hangs at the Bios splash screen for maybe two minutes and will refuse to allow me into Bios, boot devices or any other motherboard function at all. After the splash screen goes away, I am left with a blinking cursor top left and absolutely no input is recognised.

After researching this on the internet, I find it is because of my old F10 bios not playing well with the brand new graphics card and upon contacting Gigabyte tech support they suggested I use @bios to update my bios. Having done a lot of research on this, and being new to Bios flashing, I would rather chew my own balls off than brick my mobo using @bios and so I thought i'd use the Q-Flash route instead.

I've downloaded the correct bios for my revision of motherboard (F16 from the X79-UD3 revision 1.0 page) and have extracted the autoexec, the Efiflash.exe and X79UD3.F16 files to a FAT32 1Gb USB stick.

When I enter Q-Flash and try to flash the new bios, after happily creating a backup of my current one, it gives me an error that says something like "Please update flash utility to current version" or something like that.

I really don't want to use @bios, Q-Flash doesn't work for me and i've tried booting into the flash drive by pressing F12 (which boots straight to windows, maybe because the USB stick isn't bootable).

Any ideas on what I can do would be really gratefully received please.