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Bushmaster78FS

9 Posts

11456

June 12th, 2005 04:00

Question about BIOS flashing...

I just flashed the BIOS of my new Inspiron XPS Gen 2 laptop to A02. It came with A01 from factory. I was very hesitant before doing so due to the horror stories I read online where people flashed their BIOS and all they saw was a black screen after the flashing. When my laptop was flashing its BIOS, the fan noise was relatively higher and it took only 10 seconds or so. And computer functions normal so far, but during the process I was having a heart attack, fearing something might go wrong. A few years ago I tried to flash a Compaq Presario with th software I downloaded from their website and computer just died during flashing process. It completed the flashing process alright but never came back on. My question is 1) Why did the fan speed go higher? 2) How often do BIOS updates get released?

I am in Korea right now and if it messes up, I know I will have heck of a hard time to have it fixed... It feels like I got lucky this time and it worked, but don't know about next time, can I trust Dell BIOS updates?

Thanks...

Bushmaster78FS

9 Posts

June 13th, 2005 04:00

Hi leduke,

Actually I did the flash from Windows, and as it was described, it shut all windows down and then shut down the system and flashed the BIOS. It worked good. But there is always a question mark in my mind, what if this time it fails? It happened with the Compaq I had few years back and that one even had a flashing utility that created a startup floppy. Moreover, I don't have a floppy drive in this XPS Gen2 I have right now :)

Hopefully there won't be anymore BIOS updates in the next year while I am here in Korea, or I will have heart attacks each time I try to flash this BIOS. One thing to consider though is technology and programming changed since 2001 when I messed my Compaq up with flashing utility. Maybe I will never have problems with Dell BIOS updates.

leduke30

2 Intern

 • 

4K Posts

June 13th, 2005 05:00

The majority problem with the Harddrive Flash method comes from the restart to do the flash in DOS. I did one once just to see what was involved with a CPtV. When it restarted to  boot into DOS, the hair stood up on the back of my neck and then it made a comment about the remote flash, i held my breath until it was over and successfully rebooted. While it was successful, i could see several spots where it could go wrong.
With the Floppy method, you start in DOS and get prompts to take the necessary actions to do the flash. I would get a floppy before you do another update, if a DOS bootable Floppy is available for your XPS.
It has been 54 years since I was in "frozen Chosen", but I know the feeling of being cutoff from things American. If you are not familiar with the word Chosen, that was the Japanese name for Korea.

Message Edited by leduke30 on 06-13-2005 01:19 AM

leduke30

2 Intern

 • 

4K Posts

June 14th, 2005 23:00

There are CD disks that have a small brush to clean the Laser Heads. I may just be dirty. That's worth a shot.

When I was there in 1950-51, I was at Taegu AirBase(K-2). God keep you safe in your service, and BW, Tell your old man I said Hi.

Bay Wolf

4.4K Posts

June 15th, 2005 02:00

I thank you for the compliment.   I am very proud of my Father.
 
 

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