Before UEFI, flashing firmware was a time-consuming and often frustrating process that could brick the motherboard. This is because you had to boot from a CD with a command prompt loaded to flash it.
But now UEFI has made this process much easier as tutorials can be found online for how best specific boards should be flashed, so there’s no possibility of bricking them anymore!
This quick tutorial shows how to flash your BIOS using any modern ASUS board. We used an ASUS Crosshair V in this guide, but the steps apply to any other E-Z Flash-equipped board.
Note that some modern boards may also allow you to update over ethernet or wireless connection. However, USB is still the easiest and safest method for updating firmware on a motherboard.”
Before any flashing, make sure you have the following items
- a board with simplified firmware flashing software;
- your most recent version of BIOS for that device is stored on an external USB storage.
Before starting any flash process, it is essential to ensure all the required tools and parts are needed.

source:groovypost.com
First, get started by downloading Board Explorer’s Simplified Firmware Flashing Software from their website onto the computer, which will be used to control this project via USB memory stick or other removable storage media such as CD/DVDs, etc.
This drive should also house the latest released update for our motherboard in its. BIN file form, save these files there too if they are not already present (from manufacturer).
Caution & Notes:
- When it comes to computing, do not disconnect power at any time during the process.
- If you must unplug your board due to an electrical storm or abrupt loss of control by the user, then you will be left with a brick that is just as useless when it comes to using computers.
- If your board updates via the internet, it might wipe its old firmware and install a new one. If not, you should avoid disconnecting from the web during an update, as this could cause problems for your printer.
- It is recommended to use a wired connection with any printers that require constant access to Wi-Fi or Ethernet when updating their software.
- Before you flash BIOS, be sure to write down your current overclocking settings. Otherwise, all your customizations will go back to default, and everything else may need reconfiguration after the process is done.
- The reason that flashing firmware can brick a board is that there exists no consumer means to recover a corrupted flash memory chip.
- To update the firmware, you must first wipe it and then apply the new version block-by-block.
- During this process, failure or power loss will likely result in catastrophic failure — or more corruption on top of what was already there before beginning this recovery attempt.
- Dual BIOS prevents this issue. If your main BIOS fails due to a bad flash, you can toggle the physical switch on the motherboard to access another backup version of it.
- For most users, it is recommended that you don’t fix something that isn’t broken.
- This adage states updating BIOS can be a good idea if it unlocks new capabilities or fixes existing ones.
- In the instance of new features (like support for CPUs) and fixed features (often with RAID), we recommend not fixing what’s currently working by applying updates to your system’s BIOS version.
Step-by-Step Guide to Updating BIOS on an ASUS Motherboard:
- To update the BIOS, you need to boot your computer into BIOS. Then navigate “Tool” and click on EZ Flash for it to work correctly.
- Check your current BIOS version. Make a note. I hope you have a pen and paper.
- Download the latest BIOS update from ASUS and store it on a USB device.
- Boot to BIOS. Navigate the “Tool” menu, then select “EZ Flash.”
- To view the contents of your USB drive, go to “My Computer” and select it. Then Press’ enter.’
- You will be prompted one final time before applying the update. Review this and accept to ensure that all of your information is saved correctly.
- Please reboot your computer once it’s complete.
- BIOS version updated. Check to make sure the update was applied by rechecking your BIOS!
- To reset BIOS settings, you will need to re-apply them manually.
That’s it! You’re done. We’ve got similar content coming for updating via the internet when using MSI and ASRock boards soon too, so stay tuned on our site to check out how you can get a better experience with both of these companies in terms of their motherboard firmware updates.