Venue 8 PRO BIOS A04

While I agree it's a shame they removed those options from version A04, you can revert to version A03 if you want them back. However, you will need to patch the executable file first (i.e. 5830A03.exe). Using an unpatched BIOS flasher, you won't be unable to downgrade to an older version. Believe me, I learned it the hard way. This is the message you are greeted with when you try to downgrade your BIOS from A04 to A03:

"You are about to flash your BIOS to an older version.
Dell does not recommend flashing your BIOS to an older version.
Press OK button to exit."

Using the command line parameter "-forceit" or "/forceit" does not help, but results in the following error message : "Error: Unknown Command". I don't know why this is so because the string "forceit" is still visible in the executable file when you disassemble it.

Fortunately, there is a way around this. Having decided to become a hacker for a night, I successfully disassembled and patched 5830A03.exe. It took me a few hours to complete. (This is something I do once every 10 years; a "true" hacker would have completed that in 10 minutes.)

Here is what you need to do. First, download the original 5830A03.exe from Dell support web site. Then, using a hex editor (I used Hex Editor Neo), change the byte at offset 0x000692d4 from 0x75 to 0xEB.

I'm sorry if those instructions are too technical for some people, but I can't upload a patched executable here. Besides, who would trust a patched BIOS from some guy on the Internet?

If there is sufficient demand for that, I might consider uploading my patched A03 BIOS flasher to some file sharing site.

Cheers,

Christian