XPS 420 BIOS

Window update will never supply a bios update. that is strictly up to the mfr of the system. The updated bios is to allow support for the new intel processors so unless you are going to update your CPU you really don't need it..

I follow the old addage "If it ain't broke don't fix it."

Although rare nowadays bios updates can be a bit risky...if you were to lose power suddenly in the middle of the update then the motherboard would be rendered usless and non recoverable and you would have an expensive brick..

Just out of interest, which Intel processors does the A04 bios update allow you to install in the XPS 420?

i belive most of the wolfdale and yorkfield processors

well my processor is E8500 (wolfdale)... and it works perfectly fine with A03...

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@SamR1 wrote:

Update the BIOS, it is early in the PC's life and many changes would be made so I would do it.

 

The risk these days is low and in any case it is under warranty and the BIOS update was rated "Urgent" by Dell.

 

 

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I had many issues with my XPS 420 system until I updated the BIOS to A04. Dell has made it extremely easy to upgrade. Just locate the A04 BIOS at the Dell support site and download it and save it to the desktop. You then just doubleclick on it like any other desktop icon and the program will reboot the system automatically and when it starts from the reboot, the BIOS update will run and update the BIOS, reboot and load Windows. Takes no more than 1-2 minutes at the most. Although Dell only shows information about the processor update, there are more than just the processor that the A04 BIOS addresses. Dell would not have labeled it as "Urgent" just to update for additional processors. Also the BIOS shows the cpu to be a B stepping instead of the G0 stepping. I double checked this a verified the processor was a G0 stepping after the A04 update. As others have mentioned, flashing a BIOS can be risky, mostly in days gone by, but now all the manufactures seemed to have overcome this issue. Hope this helps.