OK to update BIOS written during Win8 after device upgraded to Win10?

[CCoe]

This 8-year-old notebook with BIOS version F13, upgraded to Win10 in 2016, has run well until a recent Win10 update and/or power loss required a fresh reinstall of Windows 10 Home.   The only issue afterward was the Airplane Mode Key F11 remaining lit and not having any effect, though the mode can be toggled within Windows settings.

I discovered that the most recent BIOS revision, F17 dating back to 2013, addresses this very problem, but no BIOS revision exists since Windows 10 released 

Is it advisable to apply a 2013 Win8 BIOS revision on a device now running Win10? 

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

Normally, it is not advisable to update the BIOS when running an unsupported operating system.

If you have a way to reinstall W8, (such as with a recovery disk), then you can do that, update the BIOS and upgrade back to W10 for free.

If not, your options would be to:

Leave it be

Take your chances, cross your fingers, and hope that it works.

There is a way to minimize (not eliminate) the risk of updating the BIOS in W10, and that would be to run the BIOS update file in W8 compatibility mode.

How to change the Windows compatibility mode (computerhope.com)

I can give you a free way to reinstall W8.1, but that still isn't W8, and you would probably be in the same predicament.

[CCoe]

Thank you Paul for your quick and detailed reply.

Since the primary user almost never has need to invoke Airplane Mode, the risk/reward calculation favors just leaving it be.

What your reply reveals to me is that Win10 Compatibility Mode can supervise even BIOS software, which I had presumed was the exception to the rule.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.