Inspiron 3650, BIOS update to 3.7.0, 17th August 2018

Looks like Intel found more security holes that they're trying to plug...

BIOS 3.6.0
- Updated Intel ME Firmware to address security advisory INTEL-SA-00118 (CVE-2018-3627).
- Updated CPU microcode to address security advisory Intel Security Advisory INTEL-SA-00115
  (CVE-2018-3639 & CVE-2018-3640)

BIOS 3.7.0
- Update Intel ME Firmware to address security advisories INTEL-SA-00125 (CVE-2018-3655) &
  Intel-SA-00131 (CVE-2018-3643 CVE-2018-3644)

You can google the new Intel-SA or CVE numbers to see what they fix and decide for yourself if the potential risk of updating BIOS is more or less than the risk from those security issues.

And as I recommended the last time, I'd wait a while before updating and let somebody else be the guinea pig. :Wink:

Yes. Thanks RoHe. I'll keep monitoring this forum.

If I should decide to not update to 3.7.0 will that prevent me from updating to 3.8.0 should that update be necessary some time in the future?

BIOS updates are supposed to be cumulative. So if a BIOS 3.8.0 is ever released, you should be able to update directly to that one, with the caveats that sometimes BIOS updates say you must have a specific prior version installed before you can update to the latest one, and, of course, the ever present risk of bricking the motherboard with any BIOS update.

And for the future, you can always click your avatar in upper right corner of any forum page after logging in and select your Profile from the drop-down menu, and that page will show your "recent activity" so you can always find your old threads. :Wink:

This morning 8/19/2018 the Dell Update assistant told me to update the BIOS. When I clicked the update it froze up the computer. Dell support is off line now so I don't have any answers at this time. New PC July 9, 2018

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@DLit19 wrote:

This morning 8/19/2018 the Dell Update assistant told me to update the BIOS. When I clicked the update it froze up the computer. Dell support is off line now so I don't have any answers at this time. New PC July 9, 2018

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What PC model do you have? What BIOS was installed and what version was it going to install?

You can try this:

1. Power off, unplug
2. Press/hold power button for ~15 sec
3. Open case and remove motherboard battery (check the support page for the Service Manual for your specific model for details)
4. Press/hold power button for ~30 sec
5. Reinstall the battery, right-side-up 
6. Close up and connect only mouse, monitor and keyboard
7. Reboot

Since yours should be under warranty, if necessary, Dell should replace the motherboard for you. But they'll only do it one time because you updated BIOS on your own, not being instructed to update BIOS by a Dell Tech Support agent. And no, being offered a BIOS update by the Update app doesn't count as being told to update BIOS by a Tech Support agent.

Wonder if @DLit19 had any luck?

Its more than just INTEL.

https://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/sa00115-microcode-update-guidance.pdf

 https://www.grc.com/inspectre.html