Motherboard jumper setting: BIOS flash write protection

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I have an ECS P4M800PRO-M478 motherboard and I'm just setting up the jumpers right now, of which there are only two sets. One is the CLR_CMOS jumper, which is set to Normal, of course. However, there is another set called BIOS_WP which controls whether BIOS flash writing is protected or unprotected. Which setting should I have it set at and would this affect any BIOS flashes in the future?

Wesley

Posted 2010-06-09T22:58:03.140

Reputation: 1 238

Answers

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I'd assume that enabling write protection prevents you from flashing the BIOS through a command line utility or any in-BIOS restores from flash drives. You'd have to disable the write protection before doing either of those tasks.

Darth Android

Posted 2010-06-09T22:58:03.140

Reputation: 35 133

So, in general, should I have it set to being protected? – Wesley – 2010-06-10T00:28:21.970

Unless you're worried about ninjas sneaking in and flashing your BIOS to hack your system and steal your images of cute kittens, I wouldn't really worry about it. I suppose the only real protection it would provide would be against a virus trying to flash the BIOS, but I've yet to hear of such a thing. Any other unauthorized flashing would require physical access to do, at which point they could just remove the jumper. TL;DR: If you're going to be flashing your BIOS often, don't bother. If you don't plan to update your BIOS, then the jumper can't hurt. – Darth Android – 2010-06-10T01:20:47.767

Yeah... I tried adding the jumper and it seems to boot faster even and, otherwise, doesn't affect the operation of the computer. Thanks for your answer! – Wesley – 2010-06-10T03:34:57.230