BIOS is the firmware software that comes installed on your PC by default and detects and controls the built-in hardware, such as the drive and web cams. Updating your current BIOS version on your laptop or desktop computer will re-fresh your PC and allow your operating system to fully utilize all of the hardware features of the computer (hibernate, standby, sleep mode, wake-on-lan, etc).
So how do you go about figuring out if you need to update the BIOS on your computer? Well first you’ll need to figure out the current version of the BIOS. There are a couple of ways to do this.
1. System Information: Click on Start, choose Run and type in winmsd. This will bring up the Windows System information dialog box.
In the System Summary section, you should see an item called BIOS Version/Date. Now you know the current version of your BIOS.
2. Reboot Computer: Another method to determine the BIOS version on your computer is to simply restart the computer! Most computers, including Dell, show you the BIOS version number when the computer first boots up.
Now go to your computer manufacturer’s support Web site and search for drivers and updates to your particular model. If you see a newer version on the site, simply download it and run the program to update your BIOS!