Normally, the BIOS is something that we “leave alone” under the principle “if it works, you better not touch it”. However, there are times when it is useful to update it, whether it is to add new security measures against vulnerabilities, to improve performance, to improve compatibility as we want to install new hardware, and a long etc. Anyway, and although the BIOS update went well, there are times when collateral issues are caused in the form of blue screens, and this is something inevitable but easily resolved. so let’s see it.
How to fix blue screens after BIOS update
There are several reasons why a blue screen might appear after updating the BIOS, but they are almost always related to three things:
- Overclock the processor or memories.
- Incorrect memory speed or latency (usually related to the XMP profile).
- Changes to SATA / PCIe compatibility of storage devices.
In fact, that we are getting an error that is not a blue screen but tells us that the Overclock has failed (like in the screenshot above), does not necessarily indicate that we have overclocked and, in fact, it can appear even though we never did. And it is that for the BIOS, the XMP profile of the RAMs is considered overclocked, so if this error appears and you have never overclocked, all the ballots indicate it precisely.
So let’s see what you should do if you are suffering from these issues.
Check RAM XMP Profile
The first thing to do is to enter BIOS and check if the RAM memory XMP profile is active. The normal thing after updating the BIOS is that the configuration is preserved but sometimes it is not possible, or sometimes something has changed and your RAMs do not support the new configuration, so it is advisable to disable the XMP profile, restart and re-enter the BIOS to re-enable it.
By doing this (deactivating then reactivating the XMP profile in the RAM) we will “refresh” the configuration; Ultimately it’s the RAM that has the built-in profile and the one that tells the BIOS how it should work, so when updating to a new BIOS version, for us to understand each other, we could say that the new one does not remember the configuration of the old one well.
Restores BIOS to factory defaults or the last correct settings
If you don’t have any special settings in the BIOS, or if you don’t mind reconfiguring everything again, the factory reset option usually works fine when you get blue screens after upgrading. day, because it literally sends the settings back to the factory and the system will automatically re-detect all the hardware.
Some modern BIOSes even allow us to restore the last correct settings that worked, which can be very useful if you had a specific setting for something like overclocking the processor. However, keep in mind that if you have overclocked and updated the BIOS, it is strongly recommended that you reapply the settings manually, as one BIOS version does not need to have the same stability as another.
Check storage devices
The problem of blue screens can also be related to storage devices, and in particular to PCIe SSDs as there are many motherboards which, precisely, need to update the BIOS to be compatible with the latest models of these. .
Therefore, in the Advanced section and in the configuration of onboard devices, verify that everything is correct and that your PCIe storage is configured as it should. Otherwise, you can always restore BIOS to factory settings as we suggested in the previous step.
Do you still have blue screens? Go back to the previous BIOS
If none of the above worked (although 95% of the time it will), you still have the option of reverting the BIOS to the previous version, so it is very important that before the upgrade update you would write down the BIOS you had before (if it worked fine and you didn’t update precisely because it gave you problems, of course).
On the website of all motherboard manufacturers there are different BIOS versions available in the download section so that you can select the version you are most interested in, and not just the latest one. And if they do this (having multiple versions still available) it is precisely because there are times when we are forced to revert to a previous version.
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