Utter the word “firmware” to the average PC user, and you’ll likely elicit a blank stare in return. But the concept isn’t really that hard to understand, and once you have this knowledge, you can quickly improve your PC and any number of other devices, making them faster, more stable, and supplemented with features that didn’t come in the box.
Firmware is a set of permanent instructions on a piece of hardware, stored in the device’s read-only memory. It’s analogous to a driver file that’s embedded in the device, providing the hardware identical information each time it powers up. While you can modify the hardware’s interaction with your operating system via software drivers, certain lower-level functions of a device remain constant and unchangeable. That’s firmware.
But even though we call it “unchangeable,” it isn’t necessarily so. Some firmware, located in the device’s PROM or EPROM (programmable read-only memory or erasable programmable read-only memory), can be altered, or “flashed.” You do this by running software applications from the device’s manufacturer; such programs load new firmware onto the device to extend its feature set, life span, or performance, as well as to correct significant errors.
Firmware isn’t a PC-only concept. You can (and should) update the firmware in external devices such as network-attached and external storage hubs, as well as wireless routers and portable media players. You can even upgrade the firmware on your phone, depending on the model. (That’s how people hack the iPhone–and how Apple tries to outsmart them. Firmware updates from Apple overwrite the customized firmware that some people use to jailbreak and unlock the devices, sending hackers back to the drawing board to search for a new, deployable approach.) Other products in your house–like Microsoft’s Xbox 360, which gained features such as native 1080p HD support and a new user interface via a single download–can also benefit from firmware updates.
The frequency of a device’s firmware updates varies by manufacturer and product. Though you shouldn’t expect to find updates on a weekly basis, you should perform a firmware search for all of your PC’s devices at least once per quarter. Manufacturers often stress that you should ignore firmware updates unless you’re having a problem with your hardware; but we recommend that you run your hardware on the most up-to-date firmware you can find, since the increased stability (as well as the potential to gain new features) is worth it.
Unless you’re an expert, you probably don’t want to use third-party firmware like the iPhone hacks mentioned above. Such offerings are typically more complicated to install–and more likely to cause problems–than are normal, manufacturer-supplied firmware updates. They can also void a warranty. Unless you know what you’re doing and you don’t mind the risks, stick to official firmware.
The Benefits of New Firmware
What can you update with new firmware? It varies. Few devices receive zero firmware updates over the course of their lifetime–CPUs benefit from motherboard firmware updates, but are not upgradable themselves. Components such as hard drives and optical drives are open to firmware updates, but the device manufacturers tend not to release fixes unless they correct a specific, disastrous problem. At least, that’s what happened with Seagate’s launch of its Barracuda 7200.11 1.5TB hard drives: Users reported freezing and intermittent hangs when accessing the drive, and Seagate released a firmware update to correct the issue.
You’ll find the real meat of firmware upgrading in three areas: your motherboard, your networking devices, and your portable media devices. But what will you get for your meddling? In all three cases, firmware upgrades can provide access to additional features and stability that don’t exist out of the box. You could potentially increase ability (and stability) for overclocking your motherboard, integrate advanced utilities such as BitTorrent downloading into your network-attached storage, or, in the case of a device like Apple’s iPhone, improve the response times and signal strength of your mobile gear. Firmware updates might not revolutionize your digital experience, but they will improve it, and they’re oftentimes necessary for new driver updates or additional device compatibility.
Before you hit your search engine of choice and start downloading every firmware update you can find, it’s important to consider a few points. For starters, although firmware upgrading isn’t very difficult to do, it has the potential to cause catastrophic damage if you fail to follow the instructions that the manufacturer provides. A firmware update isn’t like a device driver–you can’t just uninstall it and reinstall it at a whim. Compared with driver installation, rolling back your firmware if your initial installation gets botched is much more difficult.
Other companies, namely motherboard manufacturers, might force you to wade through drop-down menus of their entire product line to find your product’s unique ID. Most devices won’t let you install a different product’s firmware, but in the off chance that yours does, the last thing you want to do is flash your product–the technical term for upgrading firmware–with the wrong file.
Unless your router offers some kind of settings-backup functionality (check the menus and the manual to find one), you should copy your pertinent settings (such as port forwards, access controls, and wireless network configurations) into a text document.
Flashing Your Firmware
How easy it is to flash the firmware depends on the type of device and the kindness of the manufacturer. A few scenarios are illustrated here, but the specific technique you’ll use depends on what your device’s creator provides to you.
The easiest way to update your motherboard’s firmware is to use the manufacturer’s Windows-based software-flashing application, which handles the process for you. If your manufacturer offers such a program (and that’s a big if), just follow its instructions.
Unfortunately, not all manufacturers give you something that easy to use. Some offer only a DOS-based flashing utility that you’re supposed to run from a bootable floppy disk. Once you prepare the floppy, you reboot your PC with the disk in your floppy drive, run the flash utility, and then remove the floppy and reboot again. If your computer is less than a few years old, you’re probably asking, “What floppy drive?” If spending money on an external floppy drive for a single firmware update isn’t your cup of tea, you’ll have to get creative if you want that update to work.
In place of a floppy drive, you’ll have to create a bootable flash drive. To do so, grab a utility called USB Disk Storage Format. You’ll also need the HPUSBFW_BOOTFILES.zip archive. You might be able to find it at 4shared; if you can’t, track it down by typing the file name in a search engine.
The flash drive is ready to boot, but is your PC ready to boot it? To find out, leave the flash drive plugged in while you reboot your PC. If Windows comes up normally, you’ll have to tell your PC to boot from the flash drive. To do so, restart your PC and watch for an on-screen message (it will be one of the first things to appear) telling you which key to press for your computer’s boot menu, or which key to press for setup. Press that key immediately. (If you see both, immediately press the boot-menu key.) If you get a boot menu, set it to boot from your PC’s USB ports. If you press the key that calls up the setup screen, hunt in the resulting menu for a section called Boot Options or Boot Order; there, you want to make sure that USB devices are listed before your hard drive in the boot order. Save the settings and reboot your PC.
When you boot from the flash drive, watch the screen–you might have to press a button on your keyboard to activate the boot from your USB device.
Fortunately, NAS boxes, routers, and mobile devices are much easier to update than motherboards. On most network devices, for example, you’ll just have to access your device’s configuration screen by typing its IP address into your Web browser. Once there, you should be able to locate the screen’s built-in firmware-updating option; it’ll probably be accompanied by a large browse button. Click that, select the firmware file you downloaded, and click to update. It couldn’t be simpler.
We could fill an entire PC World print issue full of instructions were we to try listing the exact means for flashing half the devices open to firmware updates. Though they all follow the same general principles, each manufacturer can support different methods. What’s more important is the safety of your devices. Remember to save your settings and, whenever possible, follow your manufacturer’s instructions to the letter, using the correct firmware for your device. Take these steps to prevent anything unfortunate from occurring, and you’ll quickly find that updating firmware can be one of the easiest–and best–upgrades you could possibly make.