Upgrade BIOS ?

[Bill]

On 8/24/20 8:58 PM, Robert Heller wrote:
> At Mon, 24 Aug 2020 20:42:37 -0400 bstanle at wowway.com, "Ubuntu user technical support,  not for general discussions" <ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com> wrote:
>
>>
>> On 8/24/20 6:11 PM, Chris Green wrote:
>>> On Mon, Aug 24, 2020 at 10:39:23AM -0400, Bill wrote:
>>>> Hi,
>>>>
>>>> Are there any side effects of upgrading the BIOS on my computer? The
>>>> computer is quite old but it is arguably still a good machine (i7 with 12 GB
>>>> ram but it still has the original BIOS - circa 2010).  Is Linux affected in
>>>> any way (both positive or negative)?
>>>>
>>> Is there any particular reason that you want to upgrade the BIOS?  If
>>> there isn't then I think I'd leave well alone, it's unlikely to give
>>> you any useful new facilities or speed anything up at all.
>>>
>> WS=> That is what I think as well!  I just wanted to know what the
>> opinion of others was.
> Generally with the BIOS it is often a case of "If it ain't broke, don't fix
> it."
>
> Linux actually makes very little use of the BIOS, once the kernel starts up.
> Messing with the BIOS is mostly a matter of what happens between applying
> power and the kernel start. The usual reasons for upgrading the BIOS might
> relate to dealing hardware that the BIOS needs to initialize and the usual
> hardware that might get added is a newer processor or newer (bigger) disk
> drives, since these are really the only hardware that you can add that the
> BIOS needs to know how to deal with -- things like PCI cards usually provide
> their own firmware ROMs. Oh, there might be issues like memory size limits --
> I guess it is possible that a newer BIOS might be needed if you install larger
> RAM sticks than the original BIOS supported -- I'm not totally sure about
> that.

WS=> Ahh!  You are getting to the meat of the matter.

My computer came with 8 GB installed and the users manual says it could 
be upgraded to 16 GB.  At the time, I thought the memory was in a single 
2 dimm bank for 2X4GB.  I ordered 2 8GB dims and upon opening the case 
to replace the memory, I discovered 2 dimm banks (for a total of 4 
slots.  The second bank was partially hidden).

I put the new 8 GB memory in one bank and left the other bank as it 
was.  The BIOS is recognizing the new 8 GB dimms as 4 GB dims. The 
computer works OK but with the new 8GB in the first bank and 4 GB in the 
other bank (for a total of 12 GB).  Do you think that a BIOS upgrade 
might get the computer to see the two 8 GB dimms. This would get the 
computer to recognize more than the original 16 GB. limit.

PS. I might have not explained the arithmetic properly.

Bill Stanley