E521 with bios 01.01.03 - should I try an upgrade to 01.01.05 AGAIN ?

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steveni wrote:

Third time a charm...

 

After the second MB replacement, I had the service tech temporarily install a floppy drive.  After the floppy boot, BIOS 1.1.5 installed without a problem.

 

The original version was 1.0.3.  The original BIOS did not boot from a USB device.

 

Steve

 

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@LenG58 wrote:

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@steveni wrote:

Third time a charm...

After the second MB replacement, I had the service tech temporarily install a floppy drive. After the floppy boot, BIOS 1.1.5 installed without a problem.

The original version was 1.0.3. The original BIOS did not boot from a USB device.

Steve

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Congratulations. I'm still plotting my strategy to get my floppy (less) 2nd mobo from 1.0.3 to 1.1.5. I'm hoping to hear from Dario, explaining his *exact* method.

Len

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Uh - sorry to dissapoint you, LenG58 - I thought it was clear from my post. I bought a floppy drive and cable from NewEgg - created a bootable floppy in another machine (using an external USB FD), copied the BIOS image to the same floppy. Went back to the E521 and the newly installed internal (so to speak - hanging by the cable ;)) floppy, booted from the FD, flashed the BIOS - turned off, unplugged cable, closed the machine, on my way.

Some additional comments:
a) I didn't trust the existing firmware enough to try the BIOS upgrade using the USB floppy. We can argue forever about this - "but once DOS has loaded, and you have executed the BIOS upgrade .EXE file, what do you care if the upgrade process itself messes with the USB bus? You're not using it anymore!" - right. Sounds good. Don't want to take the chance ;)

b) for those with USB floppies - I don't remember the BIOS upgrade file size (600Kb or so?). You could boot from the USB floppy, create a RAM disk, copy the upgrade file to said RAM disk, execute the upgrade from there. Let me know if it works ;)

c) for those that prefer the "better safe than sorry" path - here's the NewEgg part numbers:

N82E16821103203 - SAMSUNG Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive Model SFD321B/LBL1 - OEM - $6.99

N82E16812104016 - Link Depot 10" Floppy UV Cable, 2-Connector Model UV-FLP10-BU - Retail - $2.29

S&H - 4.99

about $15 - add tax. And save yourselves a call to Dell Tech Support, and the wait for the new mobo to arrive :)

Message Edited by Dario_NC on 04-03-2007 05:39 PM

Yup. I just renamed it to DME521.EXE, so I didn't have to mess around looking for the ~ ;)

Dario

Done :)

And here's the funny thing - an addition flash chip & logic will probably be cheaper, in the medium/long run, than keep replacing mobos. Agreed: a motherboard redesign isn't cheap. Provide a daughtercard for existing mobos, carry the fix for new ones.

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Dario_NC wrote:

Uh - sorry to dissapoint you, LenG58 - I thought it was clear from my post.

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This is sad... I've killed two motherboards with this, and some brain child at tech support sent me e-mail this morning inviting me to try again. (Like THAT's a good idea)

Using a bootable CD, it "said" the flash completed correctly, (It lied)

My 1 month old E-521 is now on it's third motherboard, Running Win-XP pro as the 1.0.3 bios seems to cause interesting problems with Vista for me at times. But at least it's usable and the sound actually works.

No floppy drive to use in taking the route y'all seem to be having some success with. And definitely no wish to go out a buy one just to use it once. I already have enough money invested in this system.

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@Fing wrote:
This is sad... I've killed two motherboards with this, and some brain child at tech support sent me e-mail this morning inviting me to try again. (Like THAT's a good idea)

Using a bootable CD, it "said" the flash completed correctly, (It lied)

My 1 month old E-521 is now on it's third motherboard, Running Win-XP pro as the 1.0.3 bios seems to cause interesting problems with Vista for me at times. But at least it's usable and the sound actually works.

No floppy drive to use in taking the route y'all seem to be having some success with. And definitely no wish to go out a buy one just to use it once. I already have enough money invested in this system.

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I feel your pain. Adding insult to injury: I upgraded to 1.1.5 on a "proactive basis", seeing as it was so many USB issues.

Now running 1.1.5, USB set in BIOS to 'No Boot'. I have a couple external USB HDDs - if I leave one of them connected while booting the system (an old Seagate one), everything is OK. If I leave the LaCie one, now and then the computer gets stuck in POST (the progress bar under the Dell logo filled half way). Only solution is to remove the power cable, unplug the drive, plug the power again, power on.

It's looking like one of those things you have to live with . . .

Well look at that... They have removed the 1.1.5 bios image from the updates page.

I wonder if they are gonna fix it and try again or just trash it and leave those of us who didn't get it to apply without the improvements.

[edit] Guess that answers my question of if they want me to try again or not.

Message Edited by Fing on 04-05-2007 05:20 PM

Uh OH!!!!! Bios Version 1.1.8 available..... Hmmm.. what happened to 1.1.6 and 1.1.7?

Time to dig out the old floppy drive and hook it up.. Getting tired of swapping mobos.

HAHAHAHAHA....... DOH!