Good site for BIOS downloads?

[aisle9]

So last night, I decided to update the BIOS on my MSI G41M4-L so that it would read the shiny 4GB stick of DDR2 I bought and boot into Windows instead of freezing at the Windows loading screen. I went to MSI's site for the G41M4-L and downloaded the most recent BIOS, then flashed it and admired my newfound brick.

 

Upon closer review, MSI has the BIOS for the G41M4-F board on the -L's page. So, naturally, when I downloaded and flashed that BIOS, the board decided it was sick and tired of life and was going to lobotomize itself. Fortunately, I had another G41M4-L around that's hooked up and working...and on the old BIOS. I've asked MSI if they have the G41M4-L's BIOS available anywhere, but assuming they say no, are there any good BIOS depositories out there that won't brick my board or give my computer chlamydia?

[The Sloth]

mobo manufacturer website 

[GigabitXe]

What nerdslayer1 said. Always download from the manufacturers official website or an authorized source (I do not know of any authorized sources though).  The manufacturer should have the BIOS download somewhere.

[NumLock21]

Only place to download is from MSI.

[Mira Yurizaki]

Unless you have a hardware compatibility issue, don't update the BIOS.

[Lord Nicoll]

4 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

Unless you have a hardware compatibility issue, don't update the BIOS.

While back then that was true, it isn't anymore. Much like software gets updates and new features, modern BIOSes get GUI updates, extra features and reorganised, as well as stability updates, but OP had a compatibility issue. 

[Mira Yurizaki]

6 minutes ago, Lord Nicoll said:

While back then that was true, it isn't anymore. Much like software gets updates and new features, modern BIOSes get GUI updates, extra features and reorganised, as well as stability updates, but OP had a compatibility issue. 

Looking at the release list of my motherboard's updates, most of them are vague "system stability improvements." Which confuses me, because my system wasn't really unstable to begin with and seeing how there were 10 versions of "system stability improvements" doesn't give me much confidence that they're shipping a competent motherboard.

 

If you get your firmware mostly right, you shouldn't be needing to push updates that often for "system stability improvements." But eh, I'm just one person out of who knows how many have the board and in what combination that causes said stability issues that were really the motherboard's fault.

 

But otherwise, I run on the adage "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" for system software, unless said system software contains a security fix. System software is your foundation. The more you touch it, the more likely you are to break something.

[Lord Nicoll]

1 minute ago, M.Yurizaki said:

Looking at the release list of my motherboard's updates, most of them are vague "system stability improvements." Which confuses me, because my system wasn't really unstable to begin with and seeing how there were 10 versions of "system stability improvements" doesn't give me much confidence that they're shipping a competent motherboard.

 

If you get your firmware mostly right, you shouldn't be needing to push updates that often for "system stability improvements." But eh, I'm just one person out of who knows how many have the board and in what combination that causes said stability issues that were really the motherboard's fault.

 

But otherwise, I run on the adage "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" for system software, unless said system software contains a security fix. System software is your foundations. The more you touch it, the more likely you are to break something.

My Maximus V Formula's old BIOS looked (for the worse) a lot different then the last version released, and a lot more settings and much faster GUI, as well as being really easy to flash. The same applies to my current motherboard, Maximus VIII Formula, but the original BIOS is a lot better versus the one that shipped with the V

[aisle9]

15 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

Unless you have a hardware compatibility issue, don't update the BIOS.

I do, or I wouldn't. The board isn't accepting RAM that it should be working with. Windows 10 won't get past the loading screen, although the board does recognize the RAM. I'm at a loss as to what it could be other than BIOS at this point. 

[Mira Yurizaki]

4 minutes ago, Lord Nicoll said:

My Maximus V Formula's old BIOS looked (for the worse) a lot different then the last version released, and a lot more settings and much faster GUI, as well as being really easy to flash. The same applies to my current motherboard, Maximus VIII Formula, but the original BIOS is a lot better versus the one that shipped with the V

I can see that would be nice if you're in and out of BIOS all the time, but you also shouldn't be touching BIOS a whole lot anyway. I don't mean that in a "bad things happen if you do" but more like "the average person touches BIOS maybe a handful of times in their computer's life"

[Mira Yurizaki]

1 minute ago, aisle9 said:

I do, or I wouldn't. The board isn't accepting RAM that it should be working with. Windows 10 won't get past the loading screen, although the board does recognize the RAM. I'm at a loss as to what it could be other than BIOS at this point. 

Have you tried loading up Linux?

[Lord Nicoll]

3 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

I can see that would be nice if you're in and out of BIOS all the time, but you also shouldn't be touching BIOS a whole lot anyway. I don't mean that in a "bad things happen if you do" but more like "the average person touches BIOS maybe a handful of times in their computer's life"

I use my BIOS a lot, whether for overclocks, changing systems settings or whatever, but a lot of that can be done in OS because this board needs features to justify the cost and saving me a reboot certainly is. 

[Ryujin2003]

27 minutes ago, aisle9 said:

Snip

The only legitimate place is the manufacturers website.

As for your brick,  I would contact MSI customer service and even tech support. Your board got bricked because they messed up their site. They may give you something if they have it,  otherwise,  you'd get the next best thing, done budget board with DDR3. Not going to work with your setup, but that's ask you got. They don't carry DDR2 around any more, I don't think.

[aisle9]

4 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

Have you tried loading up Linux?

Nah, this is a Windows PC. My Linux PC is right next door to it lol

[Mira Yurizaki]

3 minutes ago, aisle9 said:

Nah, this is a Windows PC. My Linux PC is right next door to it lol

The point I'm trying to make is Windows may be at fault. Load up another OS to see if it's really the hardware.

 

If RAM was really a problem, you shouldn't be able to boot in the first place.

[aisle9]

3 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

The point I'm trying to make is Windows may be at fault. Load up another OS to see if it's really the hardware.

 

If RAM was really a problem, you shouldn't be able to boot in the first place.

I have Puppy around here, might give that a try. Are there any cases of W10 having disagreements with 4GB DDR2 sticks that you know of? 

[Mira Yurizaki]

1 minute ago, aisle9 said:

I have Puppy around here, might give that a try. Are there any cases of W10 having disagreements with 4GB DDR2 sticks that you know of? 

No, but I have heard cases of Windows claiming a bunch of RAM is "hardware reserved" and refuses to use it.

[aisle9]

3 hours ago, M.Yurizaki said:

No, but I have heard cases of Windows claiming a bunch of RAM is "hardware reserved" and refuses to use it.

Well here's a new one...if I put only the 4GB stick of RAM in the PC and leave DIMM_2 empty, the PC refuses to POST. It just runs and runs...kind of like that other motherboard did. That mobo might actually not be dead at all.

 

So given that the PC won't boot into Windows if I have a 2GB stick alongside the 4GB stick, and it won't POST at all with only the 4GB stick, does that change any ideas of what might be wrong? I'm thinking either MSI's documentation is inaccurate and the RAM actually isn't supported by the mobo, or the RAM itself is bad. If it's not supported, it's not supported, and that's on me. If it's bad, I'll ask the seller for a refund. I've already asked the question of them as to whether my symptoms sound familiar. Let's see what happens.

[Ryujin2003]

45 minutes ago, aisle9 said:

Well here's a new one...if I put only the 4GB stick of RAM in the PC and leave DIMM_2 empty, the PC refuses to POST. It just runs and runs...kind of like that other motherboard did. That mobo might actually not be dead at all.

 

So given that the PC won't boot into Windows if I have a 2GB stick alongside the 4GB stick, and it won't POST at all with only the 4GB stick, does that change any ideas of what might be wrong? I'm thinking either MSI's documentation is inaccurate and the RAM actually isn't supported by the mobo, or the RAM itself is bad. If it's not supported, it's not supported, and that's on me. If it's bad, I'll ask the seller for a refund. I've already asked the question of them as to whether my symptoms sound familiar. Let's see what happens.

Have any other RAM laying around to try?

[aisle9]

3 minutes ago, Ryujin2003 said:

Have any other RAM laying around to try?

Not a 4GB stick, and that's the kicker here. The board says it supports 4GB sticks of DDR2-667 and DDR2-800. This is a 4GB stick of DDR2-667, and there's no reason it shouldn't work.

[Ryujin2003]

3 minutes ago, aisle9 said:

Not a 4GB stick, and that's the kicker here. The board says it supports 4GB sticks of DDR2-667 and DDR2-800. This is a 4GB stick of DDR2-667, and there's no reason it shouldn't work.

Have you tried other slots? What is the max support for the MB? Can it handle 4 GB in one slot?

[aisle9]

2 minutes ago, Ryujin2003 said:

Have you tried other slots? What is the max support for the MB? Can it handle 4 GB in one slot?

Yes, both slots, with and without a known good stick of 2GB DDR2 in the other. Per the box and the manual, it can handle two 4GB sticks of RAM in its two slots for a maximum of 8GB of DDR2-667 or DDR2-800.