You did find the right link for updating BIOS.  There is the possibility of going from A15 to A29 BIOS in your Optiplex generation without stepping.  2 generations prior with Legacy BIOS required stepping.  Dell Support Assist should tell you the next BIOS you can download.  Updating BIOS can be necessary when updating hardware.

Couple words of caution:  BIOS can also be one of things whereas if it ain't broke, don't fix it.  Everything has to go right when updating BIOS including no power interruptions and no internet interruptions.  It can be too easy to brick an MB.  One of our other Rockstars believes in the USB method.  Download the BIOS to a bootable flash drive first.

In fact, those instructions come up if you Google "Dell Optiplex BIOS update," but not in the Dell article linked.  Can also Google "Dell Optiplex 7010 update BIOS."

Win10 already has basic drivers, like graphics, sound, USB 3.0, and etc.  The Dell Support Assist sight will tell you if you need any additional drivers.  It takes a little while to scan and tell you what's up.

Re: Will there be a problem going from A15 to A29

update across a large gap in version is generally not advised. Take small steps in version change is more prudent.

For optiplex 7010 or older model you hardly need to manually install any Dell driver. Windows 10 clean install has all the drivers you need and they are installed or downloaded automatically shortly after a fresh OS install.

Thanks for the responses. Updating the BIOS is more complicated than I expected. When it comes to tech, I'm a firm believer of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". That's why I keep my 7010, and never bothered checking the BIOS rev.

I should have inquired first whether updating the BIOS would fix a problem I encountered. Better late than never, here goes:

I received an external hard drive (2TB, with only data files, and no OS or programs), and kept getting an AutoPlay notification when powering it up. Screenshot:

https://imgur.com/a/bFCvEMs

The drive's Properties>Tools>Error checking shows:

"Repair this drive"
"We found errors on this drive. To prevent data loss, repair this drive now."

Without any repair, the drive works fine. "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" Taking a closer look, the drive has GPT partition, something new to me. This article led me to wonder if the old BIOS could be the reason:

https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/mbr-vs-gpt-whats-the-difference-between-an-mbr-partition-and-a-gpt-partition-solved/

Can updating the BIOS fix this problem?

I doubt bios update would solve this nuisance.  GPT partition has been used since Windows XP era for >2 TB hdd.  I have seen the error you have with smaller external hdd too.  It may be a good idea to back up data on your hdd and then try a system scan repair to check for bad sectors.

That's what I have in mind as well. However, the drive is brand new (purchased by me), and was only used once to load up the data files. Backing up ~1TB will mean getting another drive. Hence I try to find a "simpler" solution.

Will Win10's disk scan report the errors found, prior to repairing them? If not, is there another program that will do that? If there are no bad sectors, I can live with the nuisance.

I occasionally had that come up with flash drives, like if I used one at the library, but I also had it come up at home.

I simply let it do it's "repair."  The system was then satisfied and quit doing that pop-up.  All files were intact.  I got one of 2 messages each after "repair" - "repaired" or "no errors found."

Your 2TB drive sounds pretty important.  If you want to go with redxps630 suggestion of backing up files first, it can't hurt.  May be use a cloud backup?  All files should be backed outside of PC anyway, even if it has extra drives.

If disk is brand new the error is most likely an error in itself. You can try scan without clicking repair checkbox, but it will likely result in nothing.  I have done this to an old external drive before, but error came back even after “repair”.

Thanks, bradthetechnut (nice name!). With less likelihood of bad sectors, etc., I feel more at ease. I will still backup later, when I have another drive available.

Did you scan with the drive's Properties>Tools>Error checking tab? After starting Repair Drive, will there be a repair checkbox option?

Or did you scan with chkdsk?

https://www.alphr.com/fix-hard-drives-chkdsk-windows-10/

An update.

After backing up the drive, I took the scan and repair route. No error was found. No more AutoPlay notification. The drive's property says "You don't need to scan this drive".

Will keep the BIOS at rev A15, without update. "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"

Thanks for your help.

You bet and you're welcome.

Also, I get those pop-up notifications "What to do with this drive."  If I select am option, like open files/drive, I don't get a notification for it anymore.  I'm sure you're already familiar.

If you want the pop-up so you can change what PC does with drive when plugged in, there might be a way to go back and do that, but I don't know what it is.  With drive initially plugged in, may be it can be found by clicking on something in the task bar.