Do you update to the latest bios, drivers etc?

Just wanted to start a poll about what people do inregards to keeping up to date on their bios, drivers etc with their asus computers, and why.

2 reasons i ask this:

a) previously i have never updated anything if they was nothing wrong with my setup. i wondering now though whether i am missing out of some new features, performance

b) about to get my new notebook and i assume that the bios, drivers etc would not be the most curret, and so should i update

 

Yes, I upgrade, Asus puts out updates for a reason, and you should update as it comes out- but your initial drivers and bios shouldn't be misleading, they will work. From an IT standpoint, one should only update if there was an problem that arose. I do it anyways, just to be up to date and hopefully prevent any problems.
Some saw that the later bios releases made the fan start up faster, I'm sure there was a problem with the heat trapped inside and Asus techs thought it should be kicking on faster. Asus techs are not here to make your lives miserable. They'll put out an update with they think it's needed, you can then choose to update if you want, but the drivers on the CD will work just fine.

 

I find that upgrades aren't totally necessary all the time... but if they do offer something good (e.g BIOS fixes something that affects me) then of course I'd upgrade.
Other than that...if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

Only when there is issues to be fixed.

 

It's hard to keep up with driver update since it's in specific part of manufacturer half the time. There's no point in checking every once in a while. So only when there's a problem, will I do some searching for driver related fixes

 

SLightly off-topic, just wanted to know which bios fixed the hypermemory problem. Is it worthwhile going from the v0502a bios to the 0602A verison. I got this off the website

[ 0602A ]
----------------------
Modify code that if no CD is on CDROM with AudioDJ function, the system will shutdown after about 2 min

[ 0602A ]
----------------------
1. Turn off system if no action taken in AudioDJ mode more than 1 minute

[ V0502A ]
----------------------
1. Update LCD Panel brightness setting
2. Update new VGA ROM 05192005.ROM
3. Update new Thermal Policy (0427)


Thanks.

 

i have a z70va thinking of updating the bios. I just purchased it a lil over a week ago. Not sure what bios it has and if the current version asus is offering is newer. Should i bother doing this or am i asking for trouble??

 

canadian_mofo go for it...I'm sure your unit already came with the latest bios since you got it like a week ago, but it won't hurt, just check to see if your bios are up to date, as bios updates usually help.

Cheers,
Mike

 

ok thanks shampoo =)

 

If you installed the Asus software from the CD, it'll notify you whenever there's a newer driver/fix thats on the site and keep you up to date.

 

sine i got my lappy i went online and look for the latest driver of all my components and make a cd...that was 2 months ago,,, i aint looking for upgrades again in a year or so

 

Here's a question to you Asus gurus:

I just received my Z70va and checked the version of the x700 video card driver. According to ATI's website I had an older driver. I downloaded the newer x700 driver from ATI and it refused to install. It gave me a message about needing to install proper drivers from my notebook maker.

So...I went to the Asus site and the drivers they have there are the same ones I have installed (older than ATI's current drivers).

Why can't I install the ATI drivers? Is Asus always so far behind with driver releases? (the newest ATI drivers are from this year while Asus only offers drivers from October 2005).

 

This has happened before with my old dell. The only way around it I could find was to format and reinstall windows afresh (minus the dellware + drivercd), then install the newest ati drivers from the start.

 

You should read what the manufacturer's fix on any new driver install. ATI is particularly good about this and additionally they start with the admonition summarized with: "If it ain't broke...."

Much evil has occurred in life's history by installing a new set of graphic drivers; well, at least several moments of WTF.

Before wiping drives and reinstalling OS's, I'd do that decision thingy...the good thing it's not usually permanent harm. If you want to play it safe and using XPP, set a restore point and if all goes to hell...just "image your drive" before you make changes.

 

I agree, formating is a bit of an extreme solution. Don't do it unless you are sure it'll make a big difference to your performance, or like myself I was going to anyway.

 

Icamp notebooks are different than desktops. the drivers asus uses are tested with the platform which is a good thing. the new intel wireless drivers mess up the keyboard hot keys. thats why its good to use what the notebook maker wants. sometimes the gpus are set up differently in notebooks underclocked over clocked or whatever so they need different drivers.

 

I upgrade my drivers on a regular basis such as chipset and video card but as in terms of the BIOS, I don't flash that at all unless it's necessary for a unsupported hardware upgrade or to fix a big problem.

 

Just pointing out that these guys mod Nvidia drivers to support mobile parts faster than most laptop manu's do.

 

does anyone know how often asus updates their gpu drivers for notebooks? i ask only because i currently have a dell w/ mobility radeon, and they update it like...every, uh, 6 months lets say. and it seems like they dont plan on updating it any further. just hoping asus stays on top of their laptop graphics drivers, as they change frequently. planning on getting a w3j...too high-tech a graphics card to not update on a regular basis.

 

I am a new ASUS owner (about 1 month now) so I can't really say for sure how often they update their GFX drivers. In the post above, laptopvideotogo.com is a place where you can get hacked notebook video drivers but I say you should only use those if you are having some issues in a certain games or looking for a preformance boost.