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csgreeley

25 Posts

15249

February 17th, 2006 18:00

Upgrade Firmware without a Floppy

I have an Inspiron 8000 with a Sony CXR700e CDRW.  I have an old driver and the drive is buggy.  The drive itself has been replaced, but I need to upgrade my firmware (from "h" to "u").  The problem is that I do not have a floppy drive.  The Dell Support webpages gives instructions that require a floppy drive to create flash upgrade from the HD, but, again, it requires a floppy.  Even if I create a floppy at work, I cannot get it to my home HD without a floppy.
 
Any guidance on how to flash without a floppy disc?
 
Thanks in Advance,
Chris
Nashville

csgreeley

25 Posts

February 17th, 2006 20:00

Ooops.
 
Windows Me.
 
I have created a CDR from the floppy disc (while at work).  I coppied the entire floppy onto a CDR.  Would that work?
 
Chris

bacillus

14.4K Posts

February 17th, 2006 20:00

are you using win98 or ME?

bacillus

14.4K Posts

February 17th, 2006 20:00

this method should work.

download the firmware then unzip it using winzip or the like.
you will find 3 files.
you want the exe file. copy this file to the root of C: making a note of it's name.

reboot your laptop, tap F8 at startup then choose command prompt.
at the C: prompt type in the path ie. C:\xxxxxxxxx.exe, make sure your optical drive doesn't have a disk in it then hit the enter button on the kb.

the flash should start.

the above method works in win98 for a bios update so should also work for your firmware update.

Message Edited by bacillus on 02-17-2006 10:58 PM

csgreeley

25 Posts

February 17th, 2006 23:00

I would love to but WinMe doesn't allow me to "boot to command prompt only".  Any guidance on how to get to that point in WinMe.
 
From the Dell website, the updated firmware comes in the form of an .exe file.  I have it in my C: root and would run it if I could.
 
Thanks,
chris

bacillus

14.4K Posts

February 18th, 2006 07:00

is your copy of ME bootable as if so you should be able to change directory in order to get to C: prompt.

bacillus

14.4K Posts

February 18th, 2006 09:00

if you try the above method please remember to remove the ME cd before flashing.

csgreeley

25 Posts

February 18th, 2006 14:00

Thanks for the advice. 

I tried something which I got at the Dell website: http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/kb/en/document?dn=1060416&l=en&langid=1&c=us&cs=&s=gen

 
I created a floppy disc at work and burned it to a CDR.  I coppied the CDR onto C: as directed and flashed (using the WinME Resources disc).
 
This worked.  I still have problems with burnig with Nero, but think that it is a Nero-thing.
 
Thanks again,
Chris

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