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BIOS Upgrade
Hi all,
I have a Dell i620-3791BK desktop computer, and according to my support page my BIOS needs upgrading. I downloaded the .exe file to my desktop, booted into Windows 7 safe mode and attempted to flash the BIOS from there, but I got an error message...
Redirect console error: 2
In addition, a box with a red X popped up and said...
GetMeVersion, Error, GetLastError=2
I have never flashed a BIOS from within a Windows environment, but Dell tech support said I could. But obviously that didn't work.
Comments appreciated.
Thanks.
rusty.07
42 Posts
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July 4th, 2013 00:00
Success!
I used Rufus again to make a bootable USB drive, but this time I selected MS-DOS instead of Free-DOS. I don't know if that made the difference or not, but my BIOS firmware reads at version A10.
Here is the report below...
rusty.07
42 Posts
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June 28th, 2013 22:00
Thanks much, DELL-Ravi Ch, but I am still getting the same error message.
DELL-Ravi Ch
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June 28th, 2013 22:00
Hi rusty.07,
I would suggest you to download the BIOS file onto the system again using Internet Explorer. Execute the downloaded file in the Normal mode so that BIOS gets upgraded.
skylarking
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June 29th, 2013 02:00
The bios for the Inspiron 620 desktop can be found here. If you go to this page and click on "installation instruction", it will expand and you will see the following:
The File Download window appears.
The Save As window appears.
A progress meter moves as the download is completed.
Run the BIOS update utility from Windows environment
The Dell BIOS Flash window appears
The message Pressing OK will close all applications, shut down Windows, Flash the BIOS, then reboot. appears.
The system will restart and the BIOS Flash will be completed.
Why you got the errors you did, i don't know but you should not need to use safe mode. Use the normal Windows mode and simple run MS-A02.exe after closing all other running applications. That is, simply close any running apps and open windows (without worrying too much about leaving something running) before double clicking MS-A02.exe and let it do it's thing.
Note that if you again click Fixes and Enhancements from the above linked BIOS page, you will see the following:
Fixes & Enhancements
So all this does is update the microcode which is irrelevant to you unless you want to update to the latest processor supported by your system.
I don't know if an earlier BIOS fix or enhance something substantial or worthwhile but unless you have some issue that is resolved by a BIOS update, it's best to leave well enough alone..
rusty.07
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June 29th, 2013 12:00
Thanks, Skylarking, but that BIOS version was older than what I have installed.
RobinBredin
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June 29th, 2013 15:00
Why do you want to upgrade your BIOS, if everything is working I would not bother. Or as the old saying goes, if it's not broke, don't fiddle with it. My 570 is running a BIOS which is 2 upgrade behind the current one.
rdunnill
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June 29th, 2013 15:00
If you can, install the update from a DOS-booted USB flash drive. That's how I install my BIOS updates.
rusty.07
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June 29th, 2013 18:00
If you can, install the update from a DOS-booted USB flash drive. That's how I install my BIOS updates.
[/quote]
Should I extract the .exe files onto the USB drice, or just copy the .exe file as is?
rusty.07
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June 29th, 2013 18:00
That makes sense. It's just that, according to Dell, it is a recommended update. I am puzzled as to why I am getting an error message. Must be something wrong with the .exe file.
I've done this before on my old MSI board, but it was done via floppy disk in DOS mode.
rusty.07
42 Posts
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June 29th, 2013 20:00
I tried that route, and it looked like things were going to work, but I briefly saw an error message during the upgrade, and it disappeared faster than I could read it.
After booting into Windows, I rebooted and went into the BIOS page and saw that the update did not take (still running version A04). I then booted back into DOS and tried the update again, and here is what it said...
- Error: Problem allocating memory
skylarking
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June 29th, 2013 23:00
Sorry RUSTY.07 but Google search provided me an old link...
Searching Dell drivers and downloads for Inspiron 620 & 620s provides the latest MS-A10 BIOS here. And expanding the "Previous Versions" section shows the old BIOS' and their release dates with links to these old BIOS's. Looking at each BIOS release and the associated "fixes and enhancements" and "checksum" sections yields the following information:
02. LAN power control by wake on lan item and LAN controller item.
So after downloading the BIOS file, you can use the MD5 (or SHA-1 or SHA-256) checksum above to verify that the download is not corrupt. I use FileAlyzer and the "hashes" tab to check such file properties but there are many ways to skin that cat...
Note that these BIOS updates do not seem to be so urgent, so unless you have an issue i wouldn't bother as has already been mentioned previously.
I also believe a BIOS chip is flash based tech so it has limited read/write endurance and at some stage (years?) expect this flash chip to loose read/write ability where you may not be able to boot your system any more as a consequence (hence my like for socketed BIOS chips of days gone by)!
As to why you have an issue flashing, who knows, but i would try to incrementally update the BIOS if you feel you need to have the latest.
So since you have A04, i would try flashing A04 again and then check it is successful, after which try with MS-A08 and again check it is successful. Then finally try again with MS-A10 and check it is successful.
If you still have problems, you could return BIOS settings back to defaults, clear any BIOS passwords and try again to flash MS-A10 and see if this helps. Obviously take note of any non default settings you have made first so you can set them again after the flash.
In all cases i would flash BIOS from within windows as that utility seems to have more sanity checks (at least it did when i last did my Dell desktop)...
It may sound odd to do incremental updates or return BIOS to default settings but some BIOS' have prerequisites and OEMs don't always have clear documentation identifying such issues in all instances.
rdunnill
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June 29th, 2013 23:00
Some motherboards require a jumper be set to disable BIOS anti-malware protection.
rusty.07
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June 30th, 2013 10:00
Any idea where to find it? I don't have any mother board documentation.
rusty.07
42 Posts
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June 30th, 2013 10:00
Skylarking, I downloaded the file analyzer you linked to, and I check the appropriate boxes on the hash tab, but I am not proficient enough to decipher the posted results. Will I get an error of some sort?
Here is the scan report below...
skylarking
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June 30th, 2013 21:00
RUSTY.07 the MD5 hash you get via FileAlyzer matches the MD5 hash within the "checksum" section of the MS-A10 BIOS download page so your copy of MS-A10.exe is OK and there is need to worry about the file integrity. It's good practice to always check the hash (whether it's MD5, SHA-1 or SHA-256) against that listed on the download page itself, thought not all sites provide a file hash for their downloads, as matching hashes prove the file downloaded OK.
If, for example, the file MS-A10.exe was corrupted during the downloading process, the MD5 hash you get from FileAlyzer would not match the hash within the "checksum" section of the Dell download page and likely the file would not run correctly when double clicked. Luckily this is not your problem in this case and we know the file is OK...
Since you don't have documentation, it's a good idea to download all available documentation for your Inspiron 620 and spend a little time reading the few documents that exist. So this Inspiron 620 page is a must have bookmark within your browser as it has tabs for "Drivers & Downloads" (software) and "Manuals and Documentation" amongst other tabs for your system.
I did a quick read of the service manual and it seems your motherboard only has two jumpers, one for clearing the CMOS (CMOSCLR1 at location 14) and one for clearing passwords (PSWDCLR1 at location 17). Note that within the service manual, the CMOSCLR1 jumper is described as "clearing CMOS password" which i believe is a wrong description as this jumper is likely used to clear CMOS memory and returns BIOS settings to defaults.
It's worth resetting the PSWRDCLR1 jumper and then resetting the CMOSCLR1 jumper which should return your system to a clean slate default setting. Then jump into BIOS and go to the "Security" tab and check all entries. You should no longer have BIOS Admin or system passwords set and HDD protection feature (HDD boot sector protection against viruses) should be disabled. Then try and flash the BIOS again.
As rdunnill mentioned, the issue may be some BIOS anitvirus protection measure but i can't see that HDD boot sector protection stopping a BIOS update (and in any case resetting CMOS to defaults ensures such features are off). On newer systems with TPM chips and BitLocker active, you need to temporarily suspend BitLocker protection before you flash the BIOS and in a similar vein, if you have a "secure boot" UEFI BIOS, there are actions that need to be taken like Dell signing their BIOS files and making users jump other hurdles before flashing the BIOS. Luckily in your case, this does not seem to be the cause as your system predates such "initiatives" and you don't have a TPM chip or UEFI BIOS or BitLocker drive encryption to worry about... So do as i mentioned and reset those 2 jumpers and re-flash the BIOS incrementally as previously mentioned.