Can we talk BIOS....

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

Not startup. Setup. During POST (power on self test) usually f2 or sometjing to enter setup. In setup you can configure the CMOS to use either legacy bios or UEFI.

a reply to: drewlander

I thought the PC was either one or the other?
OK, setup....sorry. I vaguely remember that.

I had my first computer changed to start from USB first, after I kept getting BSOD.

Do you still have ato do that if you want to be able to use Recovery/Repair with a USB or external HD??
Or does the PC know to start from the Recovery/Repair USB, if inserted?

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

Yes. It can be one or the other, but not simultaneously, however both options are available on most computers i have used. To my defense if it is not true in the bios for your chipset, i generally deal with enterprise servers these days.

The usb flash drive for repair is considered a boot device. You would possibly need to change the boot order for boot devices and disable "secure boot" in setup. Sometimes the hard disk is configured before usb flash disks. You can control the order on-the-fly if you know what button to press and when, if you di not have quickboot enabled, and secure boot is disabled.

originally posted by: drewlander
a reply to: Gothmog

And if uefi is compromised like LoJax then you are screwed. Imagine when emotet starts using lojax rootkit. All these "improvements" become a liability. Perception is reality. Look at it from a defensive perspective and you gave up security for accessibility.

That's why one should keep the UEFI updated.

originally posted by: DontTreadOnMe
a reply to: drewlander

What is accessible on the startup menu?????

If your system is less than 10 years old and 64 bit , you most likely have UEFI

I'm still not sure how I find which my computer is using??

I only look into things past my comfort zone when need arises lol

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

If I'm not mistaken I believe this is a computer you've purchased fairly recently. If so it's UEFI. For the sake of this conversation the differences aren't really important - just think of UEFI as a more modern analog for a BIOS... Software that allows your computer to initialize and boot-up.

In regard to updating either, the process and reasons for updating are essentially the same. Fixes, optimizations and security patching - all as needed.

Generally speaking motherboard manufacturers and system integrators like Dell only issue updates in reaction to issues they've discovered after initial release. They tend to be fairly conservative with these releases because they're aware of how anxious casual users can get about them. A browser updates and nobody bats an eye, but let that "Your BIOS needs a critical update" pop-up happen and alarm bells go off - so it's not something they tend to be willy nilly with.

Ultimately if your system is performing adequately then avoiding the update won't change that fact. If it's just an update to optimize some aspect of the system then you'll just miss out on whatever marginal improvements the update would have offered.

However if it's a security patch not updating could leave you exposed and at risk.

a reply to: Hefficide
Thanks!!!!!

Yes, it is quite new, less than two years and from Dell.

And no, it said it was urgent.
I probably would have done it already, but I decided to do the other "recommended" non-BIOS updates....and they both failed.
So, I was a little freaked.....thinking a failed BIOS update would mean I would not be using my computer right now.

www.dell.com...


UPDATE
Install was successful!
Thanks for all the useful information!

Good suggestions so far, only time I really needed to update bios was to allow ssd and enhanced IDE/SATA support. I usually read the readme.txt before I install a bios to see what's being updated first.

I used to test beta hardware and BIOS updates were fairly typical, and yes sometimes they ended very badly depending on the hardware. MS used to have boxes lining the hallways of busted miscellaneous hw from all the crazy tests and stress loads