#1 Today 10:09:48

Martin

Member

From: Stockholm, Sweden

Registered: 2015-10-01

Posts: 851

Website

BIOS up-date question

I have received a strong recommendation to update the BIOS of my main computer (msi mother board). Is this something that may mess with the functionality of my Linux? No other OS on this machine other than in virtual machines hosted by Linux. Linux in this case is Debian 13 and using btrfs.

TIA

/Martin

---

"Problems worthy of attack
prove their worth by hitting back."
Piet Hein

Döbbie03

Resident Metalhead

From: New Zealand

Registered: 2015-09-29

Posts: 4,390

Re: BIOS up-date question

I was using efistub to boot Gentoo, I updated my BIOS early last year it completely wiped my bootloader.

I have updated early while using Arch with either Grub or systemd-boot. Other than the one Gentoo issue (which is no longer an issue as I moved to systemd boot right after fixing it) all my BIOS updated have been without issue.

I think the main thing is to make sure you have a completely solid power connection, any failure will brick your machine.

Disclaimer, this is my own personal experience. I will say, if there is a need to update, I would do just do it. The consequences for not updating my be worse than taking the plunge.

---

"All we are is dust in the wind, dude"
                                       - Theodore "Ted" Logan
"Led Zeppelin didn't write tunes that everybody liked, they left that to the Bee Gees."
                                       - Wayne Campbell

Martin

Member

From: Stockholm, Sweden

Registered: 2015-10-01

Posts: 851

Website

Re: BIOS up-date question

OK, this is not routine stuff for me. Hence, 'better-safe-than-sorry' question.

It just struck me: the first response comes from New Zealand -- as far from Sweden as possible :-)

/Martin

---

"Problems worthy of attack
prove their worth by hitting back."
Piet Hein

hhh

Hercule Poirot

From: Belgium

Registered: 2015-09-17

Posts: 17,576

Website

Re: BIOS up-date question

I was waiting for someone else to reply, but I recently updated my Lenovo laptop BIOS. Yes, a break in the power supply will brick your machine.

For the Lenovo, you can only update the BIOS using Windows, so I temporarily installed Windows 10, which in itself was a major PITA. Frankly, I'm amazed I managed to do everything, there was a point where I was sure the laptop was a goner. I can't give any more details as I have tried to forget the trauma. I am certain that some celebratory drinks followed the process.

It looks like the msi BIOS update can be copied to USB, that should make things easier. If you have a battery backup for your power or a day where no storms are forecast, I'd go for it...
https://www.msi.com/support/technical_d … IOS_Update

---

Why why why why?!!???

Döbbie03

Resident Metalhead

From: New Zealand

Registered: 2015-09-29

Posts: 4,390

Re: BIOS up-date question

OK, this is not routine stuff for me. Hence, 'better-safe-than-sorry' question.

It just struck me: the first response comes from New Zealand -- as far from Sweden as possible :-)

/Martin

Please research your motherboard and make sure you get the absolutely correct version of the update for your motherboard. Definitely read up on any bugs and issues. Not sure if you can update over the internet or need to use a USB. Like hhh suggested, USB should be the way to go.

Good luck.  Yes NZ is way down here at the bottom of the world.

---

"All we are is dust in the wind, dude"
                                       - Theodore "Ted" Logan
"Led Zeppelin didn't write tunes that everybody liked, they left that to the Bee Gees."
                                       - Wayne Campbell

Martin

Member

From: Stockholm, Sweden

Registered: 2015-10-01

Posts: 851

Website

Re: BIOS up-date question

Stationary computer connected to nuclear and/or hydroelectric power plant with the odd wind turbine added for good measure. I think the power supply situation is OK.

Yes, as far as I know msi BIOS update is done without involving OS other than for down loading file and extracting archive to USB stick. Seems straight forward.

It is the msi folks that urges me to update.

/Martin

---

"Problems worthy of attack
prove their worth by hitting back."
Piet Hein

Döbbie03

Resident Metalhead

From: New Zealand

Registered: 2015-09-29

Posts: 4,390

Re: BIOS up-date question

See you on the other side then!

---

"All we are is dust in the wind, dude"
                                       - Theodore "Ted" Logan
"Led Zeppelin didn't write tunes that everybody liked, they left that to the Bee Gees."
                                       - Wayne Campbell

fdg2018

Member

Registered: 2018-11-29

Posts: 20

Re: BIOS up-date question

For the Lenovo, you can only update the BIOS using Windows

Aggravating. I can top that though: Got this old Dell 5521 laptop I bought at the time when Dell shipped their computers with an optional Ubuntu installation instead of Windows (I chose Ubuntu, why bother paying for an OS licence if you're gonna data-shred the disk anyway and use an entirely different OS).
Turned out these computers had some bios-issues reg. fan control, so they immediately released an updated BIOS - packed into a windows .exe. My support requests for an unpacked image file and subsequent rants on the Dell board were of course ignored...

Besides that, I never had any issues with firmware flashes. Sounds like a bigger thing than it is. Would make sure you got computer redundancy though, in case you hit the unlikely jackpot...

Last edited by fdg2018 (Today 22:21:57)