msi mother board update

[Marty]

I have a new driver for my msi card on their website and I went to install
it and it wanted to flash the bios and told me not to mess with it if I
didn't know what I was doing so how do I update the driver without the flash
or what precautions should I take with flashing of the bios.
Marty

 

[Guest]

MSI have a bunch of different types of update : if you are looking to update
a driver it should just be a matter of downloading and installing the driver
update. Most driver updates are relatively easily reversible, by
re-installing the previous version. I say "most" because poorly tested driver
updates can disable devices in some configurations - nevertheless, there is
normally a way to reverse a driver update. Updating the BIOS is not the same
at all and should only be done if you are experiencing the types of problems
that the BIOS fix was specifically designed to resolve - why, because
flashing a BIOS involves some risk that the process will fail part way
through and that could disable your means of restoring the original BIOS by
no longer letteing you communicate with the devices you need to flash the
BIOS (ie: you may no longer be able to boot at all)!! Most BIOS flash
utilities first invole a step of making a backup of your existing BIOS (do
not skip that step, it helps you get back if the new BIOS does unexpected
things which do NOT disable your means of flashing back to the older
version). Most BIOS flashing works properly as intended. Many are only
needed if you want to use a newer faster processor that the ones for which
the motherboard was originally designed, or if a conflict is found with a
specific add-in card of some type or other. So in most cases you do not need
to flash the BIOS to the latest version, unless it specifically addresses a
problem you need to resolve.
DaveJ

 

[Marty]

There is a new driver for the board but after I download it, I get the bios
flash warning. I have a 865pe neo 2 ms 6728 board and it still has the
origianl p4 processor. I really dont think I need to flash unless its
required for the driver update.

 

[Guest]

When it comes to MSI, make sure you only use the LiveUpdate program provided
by MSI. Which you download and install, and then run. It will scan your
system for MSI-hardware and bring up the browser to show you what is more
up-to-date then what you already have (as far as drivers go). This way it
knows exactly what MSI hardware you have installed in your system, like
Mainboard, Video card, and along with those comes the drivers of each. Now
only Mainboards or Motherboards (which ever u call it, it's the same thing)
have BIOS "Flash" updates, at least as far as the MSI site is concerned.
Again this is NOT a driver, but a motherboard BIOS update which, when run,
flashes (or updates) the BIOS ROM chip. DO NOT do this process unless
installing a new processor that your motherboard doesn't already accept.
Again same as what "DaveJ" explained. But just warning you, Flash updates are
NOT drivers. And should only be performed by a skilled IT Technician, just to
be on the safe side. If u flash your bios and for some reason or another it's
either the wrong one, or doesn't flash correctly. When you goto reboot, your
system will cease to funtion due to the fact that the bios may have been
improperly updated and no longer works. Now................drivers will show
up as either "Chipset Drivers", "Video" or "Display Drivers" or "Sound
Drivers" etc. But never use a Bios, or Flash update if you not sure what it
is or what it does. That warning screen comes up for a reason. So again if u
are seeing that, you're not downloading drivers. Do not use bios flash
updates!!!

 

[Marty]

Thanks, I'm not messing with the bios, I didn't know it was not a driver. I
did use the live update. Thanks again
Marty