Inspiron 3847 Bios update

Question

Yesterday I got an urgent message from Dell to update Bios to version 1.0.11.807. The update was from version A02 to A08. I have installed this & the PC seems to be working as normal.

I'm wondering whether this update has anything to do with Spectre or Meltdown, although I know 3847 is not on the Dell affected list (& the Pentium (R) G3220 chip 3GHz which it contains is not on the Intel affected list).

Can anyone advise what the reason for this Bios update is please. Also is anything known about whether my PC will be among those affected by Spectre/Meltdown?

RoHe · Answer

No offense, but are you sure about the model number?

Dell's USA support page for the Inspiron 3847 says BIOS A08 was released in Jul, 2015 and it's marked optional. So I don't know why you would suddenly get an alert now. I don't see any mention of the number 1.0.11.807 on that page. And with that release date it has nothing to do with Meltdown/Spectre.

Unfortunately, the support page doesn't say what was added, updated, fixed in version A08 for the 3847.

So I'm confused. :Huh?:

mczapla · Answer

I just received this exact same notification tonight for my Inspiron 3647.  No explanation why.

GamerdudeForever · Answer

There is a very simple tool Inspectre available at Gibson Research Corp website to check if your pc is or is not affected with the unfortunate Meltdown Spectre Intel cpu flaw.  This simple tool checks your pc at that bios level and also informs if you have the Microsoft issued Windows patches that go along with bios updates to fix repair the two flaws.  What's nice is it also allows you to disable the patches if you do not like the performance hit that the older Intel processors will suffer from.  Just google Gibson Research Corp.

RoHe · Answer

@mczapla wrote:

I just received this exact same notification tonight for my Inspiron 3647. No explanation why.

Do NOT do it! Users in other threads are saying A08 is failing. A08 was released in 2015 and has nothing to do with Meltdown/Spectre. Even if it means uninstalling Dell SupportAssist software to prevent it from doing the update without your permission, don't allow this update.

I pinged my Dell tech contacts about this and I'll post a response as soon as I get one...

RoHe · Answer

@SueO67 Don't know what happened to your post, but it appears from the email alert that you have an Inspiron 3650. Contact Dell Tech Support ASAP. Have your Service Tag available when you call.

Peter49 · Answer

RoHe

I replied to your first post on this thread but mine seemed to disappear into the great beyond! The date I quoted for getting the update was correct, & it now seems from other posts that some part of Dell is still sending these messages out.

As I said, I did the update & so far the PC is working normally. However, your latest post concerns me. Can you give any details of the type of problems that the update to A08 is causing, or links to the relevant threads?

RoHe · Answer

@Peter49 wrote:

RoHe

I replied to your first post on this thread but mine seemed to disappear into the great beyond! The date I quoted for getting the update was correct, & it now seems from other posts that some part of Dell is still sending these messages out.

As I said, I did the update & so far the PC is working normally. However, your latest post concerns me. Can you give any details of the type of problems that the update to A08 is causing, or links to the relevant threads?

Here's a thread where a couple of users posted that the BIOS A08 update froze while being installed, but at different points during the process.

Since your update worked ok (Does BIOS setup actually show A08 as the current version?), I don't think you have anything to worry about. I just don't want anybody else to risk a failure, especially if A08 is from 2015 and is listed on the support page as being "Optional".

And I may be repeating myself but A08 was released long before Meltdown & Spectre so it won't fix those issues, even if it gets installed, and that assumes the Inspiron 3647 and 3847 models need a BIOS update for them.

RoHe · Answer

My Dell tech contact doesn't see any reason why their software pushed a BIOS update from 2015 for the Inspiron 3647/3847. Neither model is on their recent list of systems requiring an update to handle the Meltdown/Spectre issues (and all of those updates have been removed from the support site, for now).

So if your system successfully updated to A08, leave it alone! And if you haven't updated to A08 DON'T do it.

And -as of now- neither the 3647 nor 3847 is on the list needing an update for Meltdown/Spectre.

Follow the wise old adage: If it ain't broke, don't break it! :Wink:

GamerdudeForever · Answer

The problem is Dell removed the update from their support website but still send it out via the support assist software. One poster to these forums reported all he did was to click on the details for the update and it auto-started the install process. Therefore it would be wise of, and you would think Dell would be smart enough to stop the updates from coming from their hand-holding installation software.

Alot of people are ending up with these updates that axe their systems from no real fault of their own.

I just checked and sure enough Dell is still issuing the flawd update for my Alienware via the support assist dell servers while still removed from the Dell support website.

At this point one has to wonder if this is being done purposely to try and get some $$$ out of people who's warranties has expired.

RoHe could you please inquire to Dell contact on why Dell continues to push the pulled updates from support assist since that is the biggest root of the issue at hand.

Alberto102 · Answer

I received same notification today, clicked on the message (not the install button) to see details and it started to download which I immediately canceled. My machine: Inspiron 3847 BIOS A08 SMBIOS 2.7

Alberto102 · Answer

Today I got a notification to update to BIOS A09 after a week of notifications to update to A08 which my machine was already running. The update to A09 was successful.

BigIdeasLittleTime · Answer

My sister got the pop up to update to A09 - she clicked proceed and then got spooked and shut down her 3847 - and bricked it.  Got a new MB (All numbers match) - has original A04 BIOS - attempting to update get ME Not Available - attempted the Intel Management Engine Drivers and get a 'Platform unsupported' - Running out of ideas

RoHe · Answer

@BigIdeasLittleTime wrote:

My sister got the pop up to update to A09 - she clicked proceed and then got spooked and shut down her 3847 - and bricked it. Got a new MB (All numbers match) - has original A04 BIOS - attempting to update get ME Not Available - attempted the Intel Management Engine Drivers and get a "Platform unsupported" - Running out of ideas

What version of Windows?

Why do you think you need an ME (management engine) update? Where are you getting it from and how are you installing it?

What version of the chipset is running?

Inspiron Desktops

Inspiron 3847 Bios update

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