How do I know the BIOS version?

The question of how to find out the version of BIOS, only at first glance seems simple. For those users who are on the computer with "you", the answer to it is really quite understandable, but what should newcomers do !? Before you figure out how to find out the BIOS version, you need to determine what it's all about.

The basic input-output system, better known under the acronym BIOS (bios), was used in the first computers based on 8086 processors. Since then, not a single decade has passed, and no major changes have been made to its work. All those innovations added later are the result of classical evolutionary development, but certainly not a revolution, not a breakthrough. To be fair, it's worth noting that lately, more and more motherboards have been supplied with UEFI systems that have replaced the usual BIOS. Users and software developers have not yet fully understood what the emergence of UEFI means, although the promise of this solution is simply enormous. Currently, UEFI boards are purchased primarily by those who need to connect to a computer a large hard drive with several terabytes of disk space. Many such a system is still called in the old fashion and are looking for how to find out the version of BIOS, although this is not entirely correct. No doubt, in the future all computers will soon be with UEFI.

The main reason why users are looking for a way to learn the BIOS version is the need for an update. After the appearance of the motherboard on the site of its developer periodically upload files of newer versions of BIOS. The owner of the board can download this file and perform a flashing (replace the BIOS installed with the updated one). New versions have additional configuration functions, correctly support hardware, etc. Obviously, before you download and flash the updated file, you need to figure out how to find out the BIOS version that is already registered in the board.

There are several ways of this definition. All of them give an accurate result, as they directly read the version information. One of the easiest ways to learn the BIOS version is to run a diagnostic program. There are a lot of them, but the most popular are Sisoft Sandra and AIDA64 (formerly Everest).

After downloading and installing Sandra, you need to launch an informative tab and select "Mainboard Information" (Mainboard Information). Part of the information is duplicated in Cmos Information.

In AIDA64 choose "Motherboard" and in the list that appears, go to the BIOS section. It displays not only the version, but also the release date, which facilitates the selection. In the "Motherboard" section, there is a very useful option "Downloading the BIOS update", using which you can immediately get to the developer's page in the appropriate section of the site.

You can run the system utility and find out the version. Open the "Start" menu, type "msinfo32" in the "Find programs and files" line, start and search for "BIOS version".

The next way is to look at the installed version directly in the BIOS settings. To open the settings screen in personal computers, you need to press the DEL button right after switching on, and in laptops, most often, the F2 key. Go to the settings, you can see the information you need. As an option, after turning on always there is an informative window, in which, among other things, there is a version of BIOS. It is enough to press the pause / break button when the table appears. Unfortunately, this method is not always effective, as the developers began to hide the table full-screen logo. If so, then, alas, in this case, the latter option is not suitable.

The disk supplied with the motherboard (laptop) usually has a special utility that can be used to update the installed BIOS by pressing one button via the Internet. The solution is quite effective. When you run this utility, a window appears with the data, which displays both the version you are searching for and the release date.