I recently had a problem with updating my laptop’s BIOS because my battery was dead. Purchasing an alternate battery for my laptop “Asus ROG GL552VW” was not an option although there are some cheap ones on Amazon. There are a few requirements to updating your laptop’s BIOS listed below.
- The AC Adapter must be plugged in.
- Your laptop’s battery charge must be 20% or more.
- Backup your personal files if necessary.
What is a BIOS and Is it necessary to update?
BIOS means Basic Input/Output System. It is stored on a chip on your motherboard. Your BIOS takes control when you turn on your computer starting the power-on self-test (POST) and loading the boot loader, later boots your operating system. The BIOS is low-level system software that should “just work” without getting in your way. Computers are now coming with UEFI firmware instead of traditional BIOS.
Updating your BIOS doesn’t make your computer faster and generally doesn’t add new features. They might even cause additional problems such as no boot or bricking your computer. Only update your BIOS if the new version consists of improvements you feel you need. There are plenty of risks if failure of BIOS update occurs. The BIOS file and change-log should be on your manufacturer’s website.
When should you update your BIOS?
Generally, you shouldn’t update your BIOS unless there’s a reason you need to. Some cases where upgrading your BIOS fixes issues:
- Hardware: Some motherboard manufacturers add support for new CPUs, and potentially other hardware, in BIOS updates. You may need to update the BIOS if you want to upgrade your CPU to a new one which wasnt’t released at your time of purchase.
- Battery Issues: There have been some cases of battery not charging and only after updating BIOS, the batteries of laptops were charging.
- Potential Bugs: Check the BIOS change-log from your manufacturer’s website to see if there are bug fixes if you are experiencing bugs in your computer.
Tech Support may even advise you to upgrade your BIOS to fix the issues that you are getting. If you are not experiencing any bugs, battery issues that have been fixed and don’t need the hardware support, don’t bother updating. You might get a brick instead.
How to update Laptop’s BIOS without Battery
Firstly, check what version your BIOS is. Run “msinfo32” in Windows to see System Information or Reboot and press ESC/F2/F10/F12 depending on your laptop to check in BIOS settings which is the traditional way.
Download the BIOS update from your manufacturer’s website and put it on a USB drive. Mine is from ASUS. Also, there is software available on the manufacturer’s website that can flash BIOS upgrades such as Dell’s BIOS update utilities, winflash, etc.
For ASUS ROG Gl552VW, Pressing F2 on the boot will display the BIOS Setup Utility or Boot Menu. Depending on your pc, Something like the image below should be displayed.
Go to Advanced and Select ” Start Easy Flash” which is the method to flash BIOS updates on ASUS Laptops.
Since my battery is dead or doesn’t charge anymore, an error is displayed saying “Please plugin Battery and charge it to 20% or more.”
Just type “risky” on the keyboard to bypass the error. You should be seeing the EASY FLASH interface on your screen.
Select the BIOS file and Press Enter to Flash the BIOS! It should take several minutes to flash the BIOS update.
This is the way I updated the BIOS on my ASUS ROG GL552VW Laptop without Battery.
For Dell Laptops
- Download latest BIOS update file from Dell Drivers and Downloads.
- Save the file in an easily accessible place and run command prompt as Administrator.
- In the command prompt, type the biosfilename.exe /forceit and Press Enter.
biofilename should be the name of the bios file for example:
A1230D12.exe and /forceit is the switch to force the flashing process.
That should flash the BIOS for Dell PCs without battery.
That’s about it! If you feel like something’s missing in this article, don’t hesitate to comment with your feedback below.