Windows 10 BIOS Update

[Adsteriuss]

Hello, I have a really outdated BIOS (HP 786G6 v01.03, 25.8.2009) as I've never really had problems with it. But recently I had problems with computer freezing when RAM is under load, boot times are quite long and overall the whole BIOS settings are so outdated. I believe updating could resolve some issues and overall improve my computer, but I don't know how to update BIOS as Windows 10 is not supported on the official downloads page. I presume downloading a update made for Windows 8 would not work? Hopefully I picked the right board.

[AlexandruN]

Hello,

There is a BIOS update for your desktop released in 2012.

https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-compaq-6005-pro-microtower-pc/4024563

You need to select Windows 7 64 bit as your operating system in order to see it.

As this product is quite old, perhaps the performance issues are a symptom caused by something else. Have you ever serviced this desktop, cleared the dust, replace the cooling paste?

I wouldn't know what to say regarding your RAM usage without knowing how much you have. My 10 year old compaq 615 currently has 4GB DDR2 memory and while it's ok for general browsing, it's not going to compare to a newer, faster machine.

[Adsteriuss]

Hello, I have 4GB DDR3 RAM, I sometimes clear the dust so I don't think that is the issue, never replaced cooling paste but that probably isn't the issue too, the random freezing is just something with RAM as it appears only when RAM is under load. (Heavily modded games or even too much google chrome tabs open). At that point the computer starts slowly freezing until it eventually freezes completely. Anyways, is it safe to download that BIOS update? I don't really want to mess up anything in my computer.

[AlexandruN]

Hello again,

Yes, it's safe. My laptop is about as old as yours with similar specs and I'm also running Windows 10. I've updated my bios but it didn't really help me in terms of performance.

You have to take note: your PC is not a gaming PC. You could add more RAM to it if you use a lot of programs that would need it. Chrome is a very ram-intensive program, it will eventually crash if you open enough tabs. The less RAM you have, the less tabs it takes to crash it.