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April 26th, 2022 15:00
Aurora R8, the April BIOS (rev.1.0.22) upgrading experience was just nerve breaking
Everything started and proceeded as usual. I saw the notification of the 1.0.22 BIOS upgrade in the app of Alienware Upgrade Center and proceeded to download it, restarted the computer for automatic BIOS upgrade, the flashing process appeared to be just normal, although I noticed that several ME firmware upgrades were also executed and it took a bit longer to finish up. Then the computer automatically restarted, and then... nothing happened, just a black screen. I waited for more than 5 minutes. I know the rebooting process right after each BIOS upgrade would take a bit longer, but not that long. Finally, I decided to power off the computer and power it back on. Still nothing and a black screen.
I had to say I was in total despair at that moment. I assumed the computer is totally doomed. But I tried my best to control my emotion and execute some desperate situation management. I unplugged the machine and cleared CMOS according to the instructions on the Service Menu. I also unplugged an extra 3-pin case fan I hooked up to the CPU FAN connector (don't know if that caused the problem but just try to minimize the system because I already have RAD FAN connected to my AIO liquid cooling system). After all these seemingly futile efforts, I plugged in and pressed the power button. To my complete surprise, this time my computer displayed the BIOS screen with an error message saying something like "real-time parameter errors detected"... I did not understand what that was but just chose to save the change and reboot again. Then everything was back to normal.
This whole experience was just awful. I was so upset that I immediately uninstalled Alienware Upgrade Center my system. For a three-year-old computer, I don't care about BIOS upgrades very much (there are too many BIOS upgrades recently without telling users what exactly they are about). I just want my computer to work as normal.
Did anyone share my experience or happened to know what caused my experience? Please reply to let me know! Much appreciated!
Doghouse Reilly
2 Intern
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396 Posts
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April 26th, 2022 21:00
Indeed, BIOS upgrades are not for the faint of heart. My Aurora R9 has been updated 16 times since I bought it a little over 2 years ago.
I do the upgrades because I require the latest security patches since I use my computer for banking and commerce and need to minimize the chance for hacking the best I can. Some feel that if you are not having any problems you should not even take the chance of doing a BIOS update, but as I said I need the latest hole patches which it appears are what most of these updates are concerned with. I have found the following process to give me trouble free updates...
1. Never, ever upgrade the BIOS through Windows. I use a Rufus loaded flash drive. A similar procedure to the days of old when you would load the new BIOS on a floppy disk and boot up DOS with the disc. I never had any problems back then, and I haven't had any problems lately.
2. Be sure to shut off Windows fast start up...It doesn't allow Windows to properly shut down, so when the new BIOS reboots Windows conflicts may occur.
3.To be very prudent, shut off CPU overclocking in the BIOS before updating...overlocking may also cause conflicts when the system reboots.
I hope this helps!
cubicfang
53 Posts
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April 27th, 2022 01:00
@Doghouse Reilly Thanks a lot for sharing your insights. I feel you mentioning Windows fast startup may be relevant in my case. The BIOS upgrade on my computer was actually successful, but for some reason the computer could not boot normally right after the upgrade.
I am now mostly using mobile devices for banking. I kinda feel that security patches on the personal computer end may not be as important as the security measures on the bank servers end. Anyway, I could be wrong. But I will not take another Dell BIOS upgrade after this. I received at least a dozen BIOS upgrades and almost once a month this year. This is not making much sense.
Vanadiel
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April 27th, 2022 04:00
That's why I would recommend not to upgrade, unless you are affected by a system vulnerability, which is highly unlikely.
Vanadiel
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April 27th, 2022 04:00
Chances are very low for a home user to be targeted for hacking attempts using bios security issues. A lot of those issues require specific circumstances to "work".
A good firewall is a much better solution that trying to keep up with security patches.
As I have mentioned before, unless a bios upgrade addresses a specific issue you are experiencing, there's no need to upgrade the bios.
cubicfang
53 Posts
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April 27th, 2022 04:00
They now just don't tell you what exactly each BIOS upgrade is about, only vaguely mentioning things like "to fix system vulnerability". All the three past BIOS upgrades are like that.
Doghouse Reilly
2 Intern
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396 Posts
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April 27th, 2022 12:00
Indeed, I agree...see my post--https://www.dell.com/community/Alienware-Desktops/Aurora-R9-BIOS-1-0-18/m-p/8185929#M58235
To be fair, many of these BIOS updates are instigated from Intel not Dell. However that doesn't make it any better for the consumer.