Just make sure the power is not interrupted during the process and "step away from the keyboard" (a little humor), as this will take less than 20 seconds or so to complete.

 

As far as SP2, make sure your system is clean from malware and viruses or you will see problems. Alos make note that the Windows Firewall will now be tunred on by default, so if you have another firewall running, decide on which one to keep.  Two will cause you grief.

Use a UPS during the flash process, if one is available, or purchase.

We all make this sound like the apocalypse, but it's really not that big of a deal..

Skor,  Print out the instructions for the Bios Upgrade and follow them exactly.  Make sure there are no storms in the area when you do this because losing the electricty could cause your computer to become dead during the upgrade.  I updated the BIOS to version 7 on my Dimension 8300 several years ago.  All went well for me. 

Skor, if your present BIOS version is working good and it fully supports any hardware changes you may have made then there is really no reason to update it for SP2.  A lot of folks have skipped the BIOS update and found the SP2 installed and ran without problems on their system using their present BIOS version.  The main thing prior to installing SP2 is the need to check the system for viruses and spy / adware as was previously mentioned in this thread.  Those two items can cause problem with the Microsoft update.  Since there is always a slight risk in updating the BIOS, it shouldn't be done needlessly on a machine out of warranty which I suspect your system is.

With that last note, I guess I'll forge ahead without the BIOS upgrade.  Does anyone know if A03 is compatible with SP2?  Thanks all for piping in.

 

Skor

Skor, the A03 BIOS version is compatible with SP2.  In the subsequent BIOS updates there was nothing added in regards to the Service Pack 2 update from Microsoft.  I have listed the BIOS history for versions A04 thru A07 for your reference.....

 

*****************************************************************
BIOS:         Dimension 8300, 8300N
Release Date: 10/01/2004
BIOS Version: A07

The following changes have been made to BIOS rev A06 to create A07:

1. Fixed Quick Boot menu when no bootable drives are selected in SETUP.
2. Updated microcode for newer CPUs.
3. Fix corner case for the weekday auto-on setting.
4. Fix to the utility partition search code.
5. Improved keyboard test when booting from Hibernate.
6. Fixed possible hang after unplugging and re-plugging USB hubs.
7. Increased USB keyboard wait time to allow all USB devices being      enumerated.
8. PXE Code Update for spanning tree issues.
9. Prevent false MCE errors from causing "bad CPU" error in POST.
10. Fix the Performance Processor detection/enabling.
11. Fix to the native HD ISR.
12. Added error check for 1394 memory base programming.
13. Disable /Enable PCI transaction timeout timer for slow cards.
14. Fixed memory size errors when changing the AGP aperture.
*****************************************************************
BIOS:         Dimension 8300, 8300N
Release Date: 07/19/2004
BIOS Version: A06

The following changes have been made to BIOS rev A05 to create A06:

1. Updated Copyright strings from year 2003 to year 2004.
2. Enable Utility partition to work on all internal IDE or SATA Hard Disk
   Drives.
3. Enable Asset Tag to be modified remotely via CM studio or VB script.
4. Enable support for new Pentium 4 Processors.
5. Enable L3_Cache support.
6. Fixed RIS server failure when SATA HDD present.
7. Enable SMBIOS token for integrated NIC with RPL.
8. Fixed issue where some 3rd party keyboards cause a keyboard failure
  error message.
9. Enabled support for VESA 4F09h function. Corrects system splash video
   corruption with some AGP video cards.
*****************************************************************
BIOS:         Dimension 8300, 8300N
Release Date: 03/01/2004
BIOS Version: A05

The following changes have been made to BIOS rev A04 to create A05:

1. Add support for external system management tools to adjust asset tag.
2. Prevent boot failure in F12 Boot Menu if "Hard-Disk Drive C:" is
   unchecked.
3. Prevent problems on first customer boot with manually going into
  Utility Partition.
****************************************************************
BIOS:         Dimension 8300, 8300N
Release Date: 02/10/2004
BIOS Version: A04

The following changes have been made to BIOS rev A03 to create A04:

1. Added support for Pentium 4 CPU with 1 MB cache.
2. Updated microcode for new CPUs.
3. Fixed non-bootable system issue after power is removed while the system
  is in standby.
***************************************************************

My 8300 is running A07 with zero issues.  I think the major upgrade was for USB 2.0 features, however, the release notes will tell you what changes were made.

I have always translated " 2. Updated microcode for newer CPUs." as " Fixed BIOS for SP2" and updated around 200 or so Dells as a step in preparing for  installing SP2