Is It Worth updating the bios?

[hoyboy]

Is it worth updating the bios to get the motherboard to correctly recognise the processor?. I have a soltek m/b who recognises a 2800+ semperon as a 2400+. I have downloaded the new bios but have never upgraded before so i am a little wary because i have heard you can stuff your system up big time if it goes wrong. any suggestions?

[kschang]

Updating BIOS, as long as you have stable power and have a copy of "good" BIOS so you can UNDO the damage (or if your mainboard has a secondary BIOS you can use to do recovery) then it's virtually foolproof. I would go ahead and give it a spin.

[ROF]

It can't hurt. I mean the processor is three generations old and soon to be four. The worst that can happen is you will need to spend less than the price of a tank of gas(half a tank in my vehicle) to replace your socket A motherboard.

[lordsmurf]

There are potential risks with everything in life.

You can have a car wreck while driving to work, but that potential hazzard probably doesn't keep you from driving there anyway, am I right?

This motherboard firmware update (BIOS) is something you need to do. So hop on it, get it done.

[MOVIEGEEK]

Yes do it but backup the old firmware to a floppy or CD first.
You might also write down the settings first.

[redwudz]

Is the CPU running at the rated 2800+ speed of 2.0Ghz already? Sometimes having the CPU misidentified doesn't affect the actual speed. But I would go ahead and update it. It may have some other useful features the old BIOS doesn't incorporate. You should also write down your present BIOS settings if they are not set at default because upgrading will set them all at default.

And, hoyboy, in the future please use a more descriptive subject title in your posts to allow others to search for similar topics. I will change yours this time. From our rules:

Try to choose a subject that describes your topic.
Please do not use topic subjects like Help me!!! or Problems.

Thanks, Moderator redwudz

[Paul_G]

Is It Worth updating the bios?

If the bios offers something new/fixes problems then yes but otherwise no.

I only flashed my mb bios because the one installed disabled SSE , new one enabled it.

[bevills1]

Depending on the bios an upgrade may or may not cause it to correctly report CPU speed. Some bios have a multiplier setting that can change CPU speed, and it may be simply that the multiplier is incorrectly set. Another possibility is that somebody sold you a 2400+ CPU as a 2800+ CPU if bios multiplier is correctly set. Check bios documentation for specifics on multiplier settings if your bios has ability to change those settings.

[jagabo]

If I remember correctly some older SocketA motherboards only support a 266 MHz FSB (133 MHz clock), the Sempron 2800+ requires a 333 MHz FSB (166 MHz clock). That might make the 2800+ run and identify as a 2400+.