In this video from ITFreeTraining, I will perform an upgrade of the UEFI firmware on
a motherboard. In our previous video, I looked at obtaining details of the motherboard and
downloading the update from the manufacturer’s web page. UEFI can download updates itself,
so in this video I will look at how easy it can be to upgrade firmware on a modern motherboard.
In this video, I will be upgrading the ASRock B360 gaming K4 motherboard. At the time this
video was created, this motherboard had only been on the market of a few months. When a
motherboard has just started its product lifecycle (that is, it is a new product), it is not
uncommon that a new UEFI firmware will be released shortly after that motherboard is
released. These updates generally fix bugs or compatibility problems. Essentially, this
means that when you purchase a motherboard that is new to the market there is a good
chance that there will be a firmware update available. For motherboards that have been
on the market of a while, this becomes less common, since they generally have the newest
firmware at the point of manufacture and updates generally become less frequent the older the
motherboard is. Generally, when I purchase a new motherboard, one of the first things
that I will do is upgrade the firmware on the motherboard.
For this motherboard, the UEFI is a small chip at the bottom left of the motherboard.
The chip contains the firmware that is used to start the computer and provides basic input/output
code to the hardware on the motherboard. This video will essentially look at how to upgrade
this firmware to the newest version by the quickest and easiest way. I will now change
to my computer with the ASRock motherboard installed and switch it on to upgrade the
firmware.
To start the upgrade, I first need to enter the setup. Shown here are the common keys
that are used to access the setup. Hopefully, your BIOS or UEFI will display which key you
need to press when the computer is switched on. Nowadays, the priority for computers is
to boot the computer as quickly as possible to give a user the best experience. Thus,
this information may be displayed very quickly or not at all. In this case I need to press
F2 to enter the setup.
Once in the setup, notice at the top left that the name of the motherboard is shown.
This is becoming common practice on a lot of new motherboards whereas with older motherboards
this may or may not be present.
To the right of this, notice that the version of firmware is shown. If I have a look at
the website for updates, you will notice that this version of firmware is the initial release.
Since then, there have been two updates which fix some compatibility problems.
If you cannot see the option to upgrade the firmware on the main screen, it may be on
another screen. In many of the setup programs, there will be an option to go into the advanced
options. In the case of this setup, this can be accessed by selecting the option “Advanced
Mode” at the top right.
In the case of this setup, the option to upgrade the firmware can be found on the main screen
under the Tools options at the bottom of the screen.
Once selected, notice on the left side is an option for “Instant Flash”. If this
option is selected, a previously downloaded firmware update can be flashed. This update
will usually be downloaded from the website and placed on a USB flash drive.
In this case, I will select the second option for “Internet Flash”. When selected, notice
that the setup will now attempt to initialize the network to create an internet connection.
By default, the setup will attempt to use DHCP to obtain an IP Address.
You will notice that setup was able to connect to the internet and determine that a new version
of the firmware is available. Once I press update, the new version of the firmware will
be downloaded. It is quite large, so I will pause the video and return shortly.
Once the download has completed, the new firmware will be flashed, replacing the old version.
It is important that when the firmware is being updated, the power is not switched off.
If this occurs, the firmware update will be incomplete and your computer may not be able
to start up. The process takes a minute or so to complete, so I will pause the video
and return shortly.
Once complete, I will press enter to reboot the computer. The computer will start up using
the new firmware. You will notice that once I go back into the setup, the version of the
firmware is shown as the new version. You can see how easy the process of upgrading
the firmware can be. This option is available on the new motherboard; however, on older
motherboards you are most likely to be required to download the update manually.
I hope you have learned from this video how easy it can be to upgrade the UEFI on your
computer. Hopefully your motherboard supports it and the process goes smoothly.
This concludes that video on upgrading UEFI. Until the next video from us, I would like
to thank you for watching.