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July 2nd, 2015 17:00

Inspiron 5548 BIOS update via Dell Update: correct version?

On the 30th June, I received a pop-up notice from the Dell Update icon on my Windows 8.1 system tray informing me of a BIOS update. I went ahead and allowed it to update my BIOS to the A04 version. All seems well, as far as I can see.

However, seeing this was the first time that the Dell Update program has done anything since I have had this machine (three months), I decided to take a look around. I noticed that the installation file seems to be cached in C:\ProgramData\Dell\Update\Downloads\BIOS\Dell Inspiron 5543 and that the file is called Inspiron_5543_A04.exe.

Now, I have an Inspiron 5548, so you'll understand why I'm confused as to why Dell Update seems to have downloaded and installed a file that seems to be for an Inspiron 5543. So, I went to the Support page for my 5548 and looked at the BIOS files offered, but noticed that there are four files that are suggested to be compatible with my machine. There's the file I mentioned above, and different files for the 5443, 5448 and my 5548. So, I started wondering that seeing as there are four files apparently compatible with the 5548, then maybe the files are the same, seeing as the motherboards might well be the same (not sure if they are, just presuming). Still, I noticed that the MD5 checksums were different for each file.

I'm presuming that this isn't a problem as such, in that the file for the 5543 will do for the 5548 as they might share the same actual code, and the page suggests that it's compatible for my 5548. However, seeing the file for a 5543 sitting there when the Dell Update utility could well have downloaded the file for the 5548, I'm not 100% sure if that was the right install that Dell Update installed. So, is there anything to worry about or is this not a problem at all? Everything seems to be working, so maybe I'm fussing over nothing, but just want to make sure.

Sorry for the long-winded post.

July 2nd, 2015 20:00

I, too, have the 5548, but I'm getting the update for the 5543.  So far I've ignored it since I am concerned as to what it might do.

4 Posts

July 3rd, 2015 06:00

Yeah, I'm wishing I didn't just leap and investigated beforehand. I'm wondering if it's worth manually installing the A04 BIOS update dedicated to the 5548 or not. I'd rather find out if it's necessary or not before proceeding. Still, this Inspiron 5543 update was pushed by Dell Update, which is odd.

So, anyone from Dell here who can answer this?

4 Posts

July 3rd, 2015 09:00

Just a reply to say that I have talked to Technical Support, and after a long conversation, it seems that there's no problem with using the 5543 file instead of the 5548 one, as they're effectively the same, supplying the A04 firmware update. The technician suggested that it would be OK to manually download the 5548 file and install it, but that I didn't really need to do so, as they're compatible. So, I think I'll just leave alone, considering that everything seems to be working fine. Hopefully the technician will alert Dell about the update issue. Even though it might be trivial, it sure shouldn't have happened.

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