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Cannot apply BIOS update A15 on Precision M6300
Hello everybody,
I have been failing to apply the A15 BIOS update (downloaded from here). I have checked MD5/SHA1/SHA256 checksums and they are all correct. I have tried from Windows XP and from a FreeDOS bootable USB. In all cases, M6300A15.exe crashes with an error 00000...00504 (WinXP) or 504h (FreeDOS).
Has anyone else tried this BIOS update? Did anyone try it after its last update, in June 4, 2020? What was your experience applying the update? Tell me, even if there was no problem and the update worked fine!
[Context: I am having problems with recent Ubuntu kernels (from linux-image-4.15.0.109 onward, up to 5.4.0-42-generic now). I updated, from 18.04 to 20.04, to avoid the problem, but it persists! Files /var/log/kern.log and /var/log/syslog are filled with kernel "tainted" messages (in the middle of several processes), to the point of becoming GBs and filling the disk. Also, systemd-journald (and sometimes rsyslogd) consume most of the CPU time, after these files become over 3 GBs. I want to file a bug report, but I have to have my BIOS up to date, first!]
Any help appreciated!
Thank you in advance!
PereNoel31337
1 Message
0
November 30th, 2020 04:00
Hi Stamatis, everyone,
I have the same issue as you, trying to upgrade my M6300 BIOS from A13 to A15, and also from A14 to A15 after having successfully upgraded from A13 to A14.
The exact error message is: "Failure to analyze flash image(ErrorCode = 504h)!"
Best regards,
SR
johanpol
26 Posts
1
December 2nd, 2020 08:00
I also having still the issue. Also Dell support is involved. Still no solution.
Stamatis K
5 Posts
1
December 6th, 2020 03:00
Thank you for the reply.
So, it appears to be a general issue...
heinzv
1 Message
0
December 13th, 2020 08:00
I also have this issue!
Most likely it is a corrupt file offered by Dell.
I have tried to apply the BIOS with: Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 10 AND from a DOS Boot USB stick.
Non of them work and all return an error (under all Windows variants) 0x00000504. Under DOS it also states that it's a not a valid image.
So I assume, that the image is corrupt. the A14 image works under all Windows versions! The A15 does not work under ANY OS.
So please provide a valid A15 BIOS update file and test it before provide the download link.
regards
highlandMark
3 Posts
0
August 15th, 2021 04:00
My Precision M6300 failed to boot in Ubuntu, the problem being traced to the BIOS.
I tried updating from A13 to A15 as above, with the same error code.
I updated to A14 with no problem, but that did not fix the loading problem, so I need A15.
My workaround is to use linux kernel 5.8.0-63-generic instead of 5.11.0-25-generic, but it is surely time that Dell fixed the problem with M6300A15.exe.
Donuts123
10 Posts
2
August 23rd, 2021 05:00
Dell went back and added SHA256 signatures to some old uploads in 2020. The change increases the file size and changes a few bytes in the PE header to point to the newly-added signature data.
Unfortunately Dell's updater program doesn't like the larger file size and fails with error code 0x00000504. It's unfortunate that no-one at Dell thought to actually check whether the modified files work...
I had this same problem with the Precision M4300 A17 BIOS update the other day. See this post.
As a workaround, you can truncate the "broken" file to remove the extra signature data and the updater should work correctly then. (But you need to know what you're doing so you remove the correct number of bytes.)
If you want, I can have a look at the broken M6300A15.exe and truncate it for you.
keof
2 Posts
0
August 30th, 2021 13:00
I've talked to the support. They just say "It's a very old computer, so there is no support".
I meant that there is something wrong with their file.
keof
2 Posts
0
September 3rd, 2021 09:00
Do you have a "good" file?
highlandMark
3 Posts
0
September 29th, 2021 03:00
Oh Yes Please!
Stamatis K
5 Posts
0
October 1st, 2021 04:00
This does not sound correct to me. A sha256 checksum is independent of the content --and is provided independently.
Also, DELL people wouldn't be so naive, to modify the executable and expect it to work: notice that the provided file is not a ROM image, but a DOS/Windows executable...
Stamatis K
5 Posts
0
October 1st, 2021 07:00
From the "Installation Instructions" section, below the download, it appears that installation of the BIOS update must be either from Windows, or from an MS DOS environment (why FreeDOS does not work, I can't tell.). This also seems to be the recommendation in the BIOS update troubleshooting page.
I'll try to create an MS DOS bootable USB, to try to apply the update and I'll get back here, to update everyone on my success (or lack there of)...
Stamatis K
5 Posts
0
October 1st, 2021 08:00
The M6300A15.exe file provided cannot be run from Windows XP, so it is very unlikely that it can run from any kind of DOS (MS DOS or FreeDOS). A newer version of Windows is required, possibly Windows 10 only...
highlandMark
3 Posts
0
January 30th, 2022 09:00
I still can´t get past this issue. Please, Dell do something! M6300A15.exe will not work even for those who managed to apply A14. The file is broken - please fix it.
Donuts123
10 Posts
0
December 14th, 2023 19:18
Finally... I downloaded the broken M6300A15.exe from Dell's web site, truncated it to the proper length, and uploaded that to:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/gxs48nbvuyobxr7/M6300A15_truncated.zip/file
That should work but I don't have a Precision M6300 to test it myself.
Donuts123
10 Posts
0
December 14th, 2023 19:22
@Stamatis K The signature data was appended to the original executable. The problem is that the updater program seeks to the end of the file and expects to find certain data there. It expects the last 4 bytes of the file to be 00 F0 03 00. That is 0x0003F000, which is the offset in the file of the BIOS data.
The signature data is what Windows reads if you right-click the file, select Properties and click on the Digital Signatures tab. That tab is missing from the older/original BIOS updater executable properties.
(edited)