Update Alienware Auorora R4 BIOS version A02 to A11?

Hi!

Yes, it is important to keep the BIOS up to date, specially if you're going to make any hardware changes.

Most likely in order to flash the BIOS, you'll have to install at least one of the previous versions before flashing to A11, otherwise you might get an error message that won't allow you to complete the installation. Try to install the A05 first and then the A11.

Let me know how it goes!

I am wary of BIOS upgrades as I work in IT and have witnessed several bricked motherboards from various manufactures as a result of BIOS upgrades, so I would rather not risk an attempt to upgrade my PC unless it is absolutely essential.

If out of warranty, I always tell people to do it from DOS or simple Linux-like environment to minimize complexity. Maybe the error-checking and/or Recovery might actually work. USB Flash works for me.

http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/3746/t/19405753.aspx

If problems with UEFI, try Legacy mode.

Early on, Aurora R4 had major BIOS fix for nVidia cards BSOD . Later, AMD cards turning machine off during max gaming.

http://www.dell.com/support/troubleshooting/us/en/04/KCS/KcsArticles/ArticleView?c=us&l=en&s=bsd&docid=589881

Hi,

I was wondering if you could point me in the direction of where to find all of the previous BIOS version for the Aurora R4.  When I enter the service tag of my computer I am provided with a download for A11 only. There are no previous version listed.  

Also is there any official Dell/Alienware documentation to support the need to raise the BIOS versions incrementally as I understand that there is risk involved in updating BIOS, so by incrementally upgrading the BIOS I would need to flash/update the BIOS several more times, surely introducing an increased chance of failure.

Regards

Hi,   I was wondering if you could point me in the direction of where to find all of the previous BIOS version for the Aurora R4.

http://ftp.dell.com/published/Pages/alienware-aurora-r4.html

Hi,

thanks for the link.  Should I incrementally upgrade the BIOS or should I just go for the jump straight to A11?

thanks again

Should I incrementally upgrade the BIOS or should I just go for the jump straight to A11?

Naomi said incrementally, and she mentioned A05. Their doc mentioned A07.

Summarizing the above posts (and taking into account long history of flashing failures resulting in bricked motherboards), I would probably do it this way ...

- Cross fingers 

- Create bootable USB that will allow it to be done outside of Windows

- Connect to good UPS (like APC).

- A05, A07, A11 . Taking the time to boot to Windows and make sure machine is working between each one.

Good Luck.

Naomi,

Please tell me how to create a DOS bootable USB Drive. I see lots of websites that give one tools that purport to do it, but for something as important as this in terms of ruining motherboard, Dell must have a utility or step by step instructions for doing so.

I saw one other post of someone who had to try multiple random website tools to find one that worked.

Also what precisely does one do or type out once one boots into the DOS environment with this flash drive to execute the file to update the BIOS? Where does one place these BIOS update files on the bootable USB drive? The root directory?

Unfortunately I have little knowledge about all of this.

I also see that A05 can only be applied via bootable USB drive whereas the other higher versions can be applied from within the Windows environment. Does Dell feel that Windows environment BIOS upgrades are less safe than using the flash drive?

Finally the BIOS has multiple user chooseable settings, usually set at the factory. What happens to those during the flash? Are they retained? Do I need to copy them all down before upgrading so I can reapply them?

And thanks to everyone else for their comments.

Greg