AB350 Gaming K4 - BIOS from v2.40 to v7.40£

Hello,

I'd like to upgrade the AB350 Gaming K4 bios to v7.40, from v2.40 which it came with originally.

The reason being I'd like to replace my current Ryzen 5 1600 (14nm) with a Ryzen 5 5600 (no X) so I can upgrade Windows 10 to Windows 11 (apparently Ryzen 5 1600 is not supported by Windows 11).

I've read quite a few posts stating full success as long as the bios gets upgraded to v7.40, but also a few others stating total failure (can't even boot, even when switching back to their old cpu after upgrading the bios).

It's my understanding that the safest route for the bios upgrade would be:
2.40 -> 3.00 -> 3.40 -> 5.40 -> 5.80 -> 6.40 -> 7.00 (beta) -> 7.40

Please advise otherwise if that's not correct.

The thing that deeply troubles me is that on the mobo webpage the following warning is written for all bios versions higher than 5.80:

https://www.asrock.com/mb/amd/Fatal1ty%20AB350%20Gaming%20K4/index.asp#BIOS

"*ASRock do NOT recommend updating this BIOS if Pinnacle, Raven, Summit or Bristol Ridge CPU is being used on your system."

My current R5 1600 is on Summit Ridge! Does that mean that if I upgrade to any version higher than 5.80 I will not be able to even use my current R5 1600 anymore on the mobo, in case R5 5600 gives me issues?

In case it helps here is a gyazo screenshot from HWInfo showing a quick summary of my current setup on Windows 10 Pro 22H2 build 19045.3693, which is perfectly stable (never overclocked, never will be).

https://gyazo.com/263b0498086bf61354825a8ccc9b1142

If it matters, the NVMe Gen3x4 SSD is the boot drive.

Please advise for the safest path for a trouble free upgrade from my Ryzen 5 1600 to a Ryzen 5 5600 on my particular system.

Thank in advance!

No need to worry about the warning, that is just there to deter people from updating
pointlessly every time there is a new update. Every BIOS update introduces the risk
of bad flashes etc so updating without any reason other than it's there is always
a bad idea.

I would recommend you open a support ticket with ASRock and inquire what the best
update path is for your board, typically, as few steps as possible is best. They
will be able to tell what the safest and simplest route is for you. Make sure you
tell them what CPU you have and what you plan to upgrade to.

https://tw.asrock.com/events/tsd.asp