is updating MOBO bios relatively safe or risky?

[kofman13]

I use a powerspec rig i got almost 3 years ago. specs in my flair but the cpu/mobo is 5820K and MSI X99S Gaming 7.

the bios is still from 2015 or 2014 its version H.3, since then, bios updates from MSI have gone up to version H.10, then they started naming them after letters and already have been through H.A through D. so theres been more than 10 updates I have missed.

I started looking into this for two reasons. One being that since i got this computer, no matter what I do i cant get the computer to stop taking forever going through post codes for like 20-25 seconds before loading Windows. It's not a big deal but im nit-picky. So maybe updates could help that.

Secondly, I want to get another drive in my C70 case but already Have 3 behind the back cover and to retain my nice visual aesthetic i have going on, the only thing i can fit would be an M.2 size drive, so i started looking into NVMe drives. And i noticed that a few of the latest bios updates this this year and last for my mobo include improvements for NVMe, so i should probably update bios if i intend to use NVMe.

When i briefly googled about updating BIOS on motherboards, for my specific mobo and others, i immediately ran into some forum posts here and there about some nightmare stories where peoples rigs wouldnt boot after updating and this and that. So it kind of scared me.

My mobo features "M-flash" where you can put the bios update file on a formatted flash drive and install it when booted into current bios. Is it possible to back up ones motherboard bios in case something went wrong? but then again how would you boot into something and restore old bios if your new one is screwed? this is all scaring me lol.

any thoughts?

[Enderman]

It's risky, don't do it unless you really really need to, like fixing compatibility or adding some features (like NVME) or something.

Some motherboards have USB bios flashback where you can reflash the BIOS without having to boot up the computer at all.

I'm not sure if that's what M-flash is, but I assume so. Read your motherboard manual to learn more about it.

 

TO fix your long boot times I would suggest unplugging all device except monitor and mouse/keyboard to see if it still happens.

You can also try unplugging all drives except your OS drive.

Also, enable fast boot in the BIOS.

[Changis]

it shouldnt cause any problems, some bioses require that you flash an earlier version if you haven't updated your bios before and alot of revisions has been made..
without a UPS however a power outage can fail a bios update (it actually did on my current system as i was setting it up, but it was easily fixed thanks to the same thing your motherboard also has: dual / crashfree bios
as you have two physical bios chips you are basically running no risk in updating the bios as you can just switch bios and reflash the failed one within minutes

it was a bigger issue before as motherboards only had a single bios and no way of recovery if a flash failed, now nearly all good motherboards have dual or crashfree or similar bios protection

[kofman13]

3 minutes ago, Changis said:

it shouldnt cause any problems, some bioses require that you flash an earlier version if you haven't updated your bios before and alot of revisions has been made..
without a UPS however a power outage can fail a bios update (it actually did on my current system as i was setting it up, but it was easily fixed thanks to the same thing your motherboard also has: dual / crashfree bios
as you have two physical bios chips you are basically running no risk in updating the bios as you can just switch bios and reflash the failed one within minutes

it was a bigger issue before as motherboards only had a single bios and no way of recovery if a flash failed, now nearly all good motherboards have dual or crashfree or similar bios protection

wow cool, ok i iwill check if my mobo has dual bios mode switch, that seems cool and safe then

[Changis]

13 minutes ago, kofman13 said:

wow cool, ok i iwill check if my mobo has dual bios mode switch, that seems cool and safe then

it does.. MSI is boasting dual bios on the product page, even showing a picture of two identical bios-y looking chips

Spoiler

from the manual (located here)

Spoiler

 

[kofman13]

2 hours ago, Changis said:

it does.. MSI is boasting dual bios on the product page, even showing a picture of two identical bios-y looking chips

  Hide contents

from the manual (located here)

  Hide contents

 

thank you so much youre a saint!

[Changis]

7 minutes ago, kofman13 said:

thank you so much youre a saint!

nope, just Norwegian