I’m not especially computer savvy so please bear with me.  I recently had to return my HP W10 laptop for repair under warranty after it started to randomly freeze and restart. The repair agent found the problem was caused by an outdated BIOS. He updated the BIOS and returned the laptop to me, and all is well.

 

I’ve never (knowingly) had to update BIOS during thirty years of computer ownership, so I Googled to see if it were something I should be doing routinely.  Different websites hold different opinions on this, from “Yes – it will keep your computer running smoothly” to “No – it could brick your computer”.

 

May I please ask our Brisky experts’ opinions on this?  Should I, or should I not routinely update the BIOS?  Many thanks.

Think of your laptop as just another electronic device similar to a mobile phone. Now ask yourself if that (usually) gets updated every month and you have your answer. 

I would doubt the laptop had firmware upgrades quite so often but they are done for a reason. 

Edited 11 February, 20215 yr by john999boy
Typo

BIOS updates only happen infrequently (unlike Windows updates which can be one than one per month).

 

Unlike a failed Windows update - which can be recovered from by a (painful) reinstall - a failed BIOS update will often brick the computer, so the best advice IMHO is to only do a BIOS update when absolutely necessary. I've only had to do a BIOS update once in nearly 20 years of PC ownership - when the original BIOS wouldn't support more than 2GB of RAM and a BIOS update added support for up to 16GB of RAM.

3 hours ago, john999boy said:

Think of your laptop as just another electronic device similar to a mobile phone. Now ask yourself if that (usually) gets updated every month and you have your answer. 

 

 

My answer is no and I have never upgraded bios on my computer either.

 

 

2 hours ago, J.R. said:

My answer is no and I have never upgraded bios on my computer either.

Yes I can see why that phone doesn't get updated regularly lol.

 

I think computer bioses normally get their main updates early on in their lifecycle so there may not even be another for @Robjon's computer for quite some time.

 

The initial question was self answered though:-

 

7 hours ago, Robjon said:

I recently had to return my HP W10 laptop for repair under warranty after it started to randomly freeze and restart. The repair agent found the problem was caused by an outdated BIOS. He updated the BIOS and returned the laptop to me, and all is well.

 

As above - No, not regularly, but definitely one of the first things to check if you're having problems, especially if you've upgraded some components... which is unlikely, being a laptop, but not entirely impossible. 

 

With a Desktop, I always keep an eye on BIOS updates for any improvements that may help performance/reliability. With a laptop, as everything is so intergrated and designed around each other, I wouldn't be as concerned about keeping it up to date. I think the general rule of thumb is to use the old addage 'if it aint broke dont fix it'. As a bungled BIOS update can be fatal for your computer, whereas not doing the update may make no discernable difference.

If the update is marked as URGENT this is usually because of a security flaw that has been found.

It does depend a lot on supplier, most of the machines I work with are Dell and I would say we see about 2 to 3  urgent updates per year.

Working in a role that has very high security we are very hot on updates relating to security.

Modern BIOS updates are much better and it is very unusual to "brick" a device and generally these can be recovered with a bit of work.

 

John 

Thanks everyone, I appreciate your help and advice.  Every day is a learning day 

In general yes you should always apply updates promptly.

 

BIOS updates have often given people the fear since in the old days a bad update could brick the device. It's been a long time since I've heard of that happening.

 

29 minutes ago, Aspman said:

In general yes you should always apply updates promptly.

 

BIOS updates have often given people the fear since in the old days a bad update could brick the device. It's been a long time since I've heard of that happening.

I tried to update the BIOS in my former PC in 2015 - it ended in tears, even replacing the BIOS EEPROM (it was a fairly old motherboard and the BIOS chip had leads and was in a socket!) didn't recover the motherboard, so it was new PC time.

Update bios as and when you have a specific need for a specific update. If unsure, read the details of the changeset and see what's changed in the new version.