Photoshop Deactivation & Bios update question

[Grendor]

Hello,

I am sorry to bother you but I found your site and thought I would ask my question here.

I need to update my motherboard bios as I have a glitch with my current one. The manufacturer has told me to flash my bios to latest version. But before I flash the bios I need to know if i have to deactivate each of my Adobe products before I flash the bios. I don't own the Adobe Suite but own several products if that matters.

So before I flash the bios do I need to deactivate Adobe products?
I am not adding any hardware or removing any, just updating the bios.
If I have to deactivate them do I need to uninstall them as well or just deactivate them till after I update the bios?

I spent hours searching for the answers online but found no posts anywhere about it. Even youtube has no videos I can find that give the information. I only found a few posts about changing hardware and deactivating adobe before hardware change, like adding a hard drive or video card.


If anyone knows the answer or have gone thru this issue I would greatly appreciate it if I could get the answers.
Thanks in advance
Fred

 

[MrToM]

FOLLOWING ANY ADVICE BELOW YOU DO SO AT YOUR OWN RISK.

I would suspect that the lack of information on the subject is due to the fact that you need not do anything before a BIOS update.

Personally I have never had to adjust any software to allow a BIOS update.

The BIOS is executed well before the Operating System is active and is more a 'System' update than a software update.

Hardware changes could invoke a BIOS update yes, as the physical hardware has to be detected by the BIOS on powering up the system.

Software on the other hand is not executed until the BIOS has finished booting the system and [the BIOS] doesn't really have any influence on installed software.

The exception to this would be if your OS is on a PCIe SSD card.....it could cause issues but this is a very new technique and unlikely to be an issue in this particular case.

I would say you can update the BIOS without any further action, but I would also say wait for more opinions than just mine.....I may have missed something important.

Regards.
MrToM.

 

[Tom Mann]

Hey, MrT ... I'm no expert in this, but, in the process of trying to determine whether someone is trying to use a key / password that was originally established on another computer, don't many SW license verification algorithms make a list of various HW descriptors (eg, type and model/serial numbers of processors, hard drives, etc.), and then hash it? So I could easily imagine them including a bios version in that list.

So, if the OP deactivates his Adobe products before updating his BIOS, he effectively has given himself the ability to re-install the program on a "new" computer, even if "new" only means an updated BIOS.

Whadya think?

Tom

 

[MrToM]

You are absolutely correct yes.

That's exactly what Microsoft does to protect its OS's but even then you are allowed, (Or at least it used to be the case), to change 10 items of 'Hardware' before a PC is deemed too 'different' from the OS installation date and Windows refuses to boot.

I couldn't say 100% if Adobe adopt a similar approach or just piggy back off Microsoft....(if the OS works then so do Adobe products), but as I said, I've successfully updated the BIOS on both Desktop and Laptop machines (Laptop BIOS's change regularly), without any problems relating to installed software.

That's not to say it will be 100% OK to do so, the System may have already had many hardware changes.

'Flashing' anything is always a risk, regardless of what anyone else has experienced...every machine is different.

Its impossible to ever give a definitive answer....the OP has two choices....and both of them are at their own discretion.

Regards.
MrTom.

 

[Grendor]

Hey guys,

Thanks for the fast reply to my issue, I appreciate it.

I will go a bit more in depth and hope it makes sense.

I purchased a pre-built system and it came with a different cpu then the specs list.
I was having constant crashes and freezing so after about a month and many phone call to tech support a workaround was given to me.
I shut off several bios items and it seemed to work fine, but i am still getting freezes just not as bad.
After contacting Gigabyte who makes my mobo they told me the cpu in my system needs the newer bios for it to work proper.

So I backed up my old/current bios using utility in bios and it worked.
Now I have the new bios ready to install, but have not installed it yet.

At this point it is my lack of knowledge in Adobe licensing that has me on hold.
note: My products are legal and paid versions of PS CS6, DW and PSE, PPE.

Now my original question, should i deactivate each product before I update bios as am unsure of when to deactivate.
I only know when changing hardware adobe should be deactivated first.

So since you both seem to agree about deactivation I have a final question (I hope).
When I deactivate each adobe title do i need to re-install them again or once I update bios just re-activate them?

Thanks again guys for your help.
Fred

 

[MrToM]

I can only re-iterate what I've already said.

From personal experience I have not found it necessary to deactivate anything before a BIOS update.

Regards.
MrToM.

 

[Grendor]

Hello Mr. Tom, Ok thanks for the info, I appreciate it a great deal. Sometimes I hate being a noob at things, its to bad i never went thru this before. I am going to give it a shot and see what happens, but not to the weekend when I more free time. Thanks again for your help. Fred

 

[MrToM]

No problem at all.

Sorry its not a more positive answer but things like this just cannot be predicted with any certainty.

It would be great if more people came forward and gave an account of their experience when doing the same thing but as its more 'PC' related rather than Photoshop there may not be many members that have actually carried out a BIOS update and are active on the site.

AFAIK 'Deactivation' is intended for transferring applications form one PC to another.....you can have the same application on 2 different machines although only use one at any one time.

As you are not transferring the application to a totally new machine but merely 'updating' an existing one I see no reason for deactivation.

Updating is a common practice and it would not be practical to have to 'deactivate' every time an update was available.

That said, don't just go by what I've said.....my machines are hand built by myself so I know whats going on inside them.....shop bought PC's will often have a custom BIOS written by the PC manufacturer but even so a BIOS update, due to its nature, should have no influence on installed software...hardware yes, software no.

As a further example, say the motherboard died.
You would not even have the opportunity to 'deactivate' before replacing the board and yet your software should work as normal after a complete motherboard replacement.

I've had this happen too and had no option but to just replace the board...once I did everything ran as normal.

If you decide to go ahead with it then just make absolutely sure that you won't experience a power outage......any disruption during a BIOS update is lethal to the system and would require a complete motherboard replacement....repair is an option but often twice the price of a new board.

Regards.
MrToM.

 

[Grendor]

Hello, Thanks for the help if I go thru this update I will make notes and post it here and on other sites as well. Currently CyberPowerPC told me not to flash the bios as it is still under warranty. Problem is both AMD and Gigabyte advise to flash to the correct bios. CyberPowerPC had me adjust the bios setting again trying to stop the freezing. I am pretty sure it's either a bios issue or a Cpu temp issue. Anyways I'll try it their way and wait on the flash until i have no choice left. Thanks Fred

 

[Tom Mann]

OP: "...So since you both seem to agree about deactivation I have a final question (I hope). When I deactivate each adobe title do i need to re-install them again or once I update bios just re-activate them?..."

Maybe I missed it, but I don't think anyone directly addressed this question. The answer is, "no", one does not need to re-install the software when you want to reactivate it. That's the major benefit of this process. If you are at the maximum number of allowed copies, you just deactivate one of the other installs and activate the install that you want to use at that moment. I have found this to be a seamless, fast, easy to use process which has (thusfar, knock on wood...) never yet failed me.

And this brings me to the point I made in post #3 in this thread: "if the OP deactivates his Adobe products before updating his BIOS, he effectively has given himself the ability to re-install the program on a "new" computer, even if "new" only means an updated BIOS..."

Because I have had such good luck with Adobe's de-activate, re-activate process, and it takes so little effort to do, it would seem that there is almost no downside cost or risk for anyone to deactivate these programs before making any HW-related changes to their computer. It seems like an absolute no-brainer. Doing so certainly beats calling Adobe, waiting on hold, and then pleading with them to allow another installation. I've only had to do this once, several years ago. They were incredibly nice about it, but I wasted a lot more time than it would have taken to simply check the "deactivate this copy" box, and then check the "activate this copy" box after I was done making changes.

T

 

[Grendor]

Hello, Sorry it took so long for this response been a bit busy. Thanks for the answer about reinstalling, that is good to know. Next time i buy a system I'm going to check every driver, bios and windows updates before I install other software. I don't want to go thru all this again.. Thanks again. Fred