How to Repair the BIOS With a Flash Drive (5 Steps)

By Stephen Lilley

If the BIOS on your computer has developed errors, it could potentially bring your entire computer to a grinding halt. The only way to then fix these errors and get your computer up and running again would be to repair the software that runs your BIOS, which in turn runs your computer. You can do this using a USB flash drive, but you're going to need access to a computer that works properly and that also has an Internet connection.

Step 1

Find out who made the BIOS on your broken computer, and also find out your unit's model number. Find this information inside the manual that originally came with your (now broken) computer.

Step 2

Open the Web browser on a computer that works properly. Go to the website of the company that manufactured your BIOS and download the latest version of the software for that BIOS. This software will be a free download on your BIOS' s product website. Download the file to the hard drive of the working computer.

Step 3

Insert your USB flash drive into the computer that works by way of a USB port. Then click "Start" and "Computer" and copy the BIOS update software onto the USB flash drive. At this point you can remove the flash drive from the computer it is currently in, as you are done with that machine.

Step 4

Insert your USB flash drive into the computer with the malfunctioning BIOS.

Step 5

Start the computer with the malfunctioning BIOS. Your computer will immediately boot off of the USB flash drive (as it won't be capable of booting off of anything else), and it will load the setup program for the BIOS software from the drive. Press "R" to select the "Repair" option, and allow the BIOS software setup utility to repair the software that runs your computer's BIOS. Once you have done this, you will have successfully repaired your BIOS with a USB flash drive.

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