Lenovo ThinkCentre M73 - Chapter 8. Updating System Programs; Updating the BIOS; Recovering from a POST;BIOS Update Failure

Chapter8.Updatingsystemprograms
ThischapterprovidesinformationaboutupdatingthePOSTandBIOS,andhowtorecoverfromaPOST
andBIOSupdatefailure.
Usingsystemprograms
Systemprogramsarethebasiclayerofsoftwarebuiltintoyourcomputer.Systemprogramsincludethe
POST,theBIOS,andtheSetupUtilityprogram.ThePOSTisasetoftestsandproceduresthatare
performedeachtimeyouturnonyourcomputer.TheBIOSisalayerofsoftwarethattranslatesinstructions
fromotherlayersofsoftwareintoelectricalsignalsthatthecomputerhardwarecanexecute.Youcanuse
theSetupUtilityprogramtovieworchangetheconfigurationsettingsofyourcomputer.SeeChapter7
“UsingtheSetupUtilityprogram”onpage89
fordetailedinformation.
Yourcomputersystemboardhasamodulecalledelectricallyerasableprogrammableread-onlymemory
(EEPROM,alsoreferredtoasflashmemory).YoucaneasilyupdatethePOST,theBIOS,andtheSetup
Utilityprogrambystartingyourcomputerwithasystem-program-updatediscorrunningaspecialupdate
programfromyouroperatingsystem.
LenovomightmakechangesandenhancementstothePOSTandBIOS.Whenupdatesarereleased,they
areavailableasdownloadablefilesontheLenovoWebsiteathttp://www.lenovo.com.Instructionsforusing
thePOSTandBIOSupdatesareavailableinaTXTfilethatisincludedwiththeupdatefiles.Formost
models,youcandownloadeitheranupdateprogramtocreateasystem-program-updatediscoranupdate
programthatcanberunfromtheoperatingsystem.
UpdatingtheBIOS
Whenyouinstallanewprogram,hardwaredevice,ordevicedriver,youmightbeinformedtoupdate
theBIOS.YoucanupdatetheBIOSfromyouroperatingsystemoraflashupdatedisc(supportedonly
onsomemodels).
ToupdatetheBIOS,dothefollowing:
1.Gotohttp://www.lenovo.com/drivers.
2.DownloadtheflashBIOSupdatedriverfortheoperatingsystemversionortheISOimageversion(used
tocreateaflashupdatedisc).Then,downloadtheinstallationinstructionsfortheflashBIOSupdate
driveryoudownload.
3.PrinttheinstallationinstructionsyoudownloadandfollowtheinstructionstoupdatetheBIOS.
Note:IfyouwanttoupdatetheBIOSfromaflashupdatedisc,theinstallationinstructionsmightnotprovide
theinformationabouthowtorecordtheupdatedisc.See“RecordingaCDorDVD”onpage23.
RecoveringfromaPOST/BIOSupdatefailure
IfthepowertoyourcomputerisinterruptedwhilethePOSTandBIOSisbeingupdated,yourcomputer
mightnotrestartcorrectly.Ifthishappens,performthefollowingproceduretorecoverfromthePOSTand
BIOSupdatefailure.ThisprocedureiscommonlycalledBoot-blockRecovery.
1.Removeallmediafromthedrivesandturnoffallattacheddevicesandthecomputer.Then,disconnect
allpowercordsfromelectricaloutletsanddisconnectallcablesthatareconnectedtothecomputer.
2.Openthecomputercover.See“Removingthecomputercover”onpage36.
3.LocatetheClearCMOS/Recoveryjumperonthesystemboard.See“Locatingpartsonthesystem
board”onpage13.
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