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aight

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aight

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May 29th, 2005 16:00

flash bios without battery

Hello,

Is it somehow possible to flash my bios (inspiron 8600 1.7 M) without having a battery? When I run I8600A13.exe it says that I need a battery + AC, and when I press OK, the install does not proceed. Is there a safe walkaround for this?

thanks a lot
  • Bay Wolf

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    Posted May 29th, 2005 16:00

    The first question that I have is why don't you have a battery?  Even when working strictly AC, the battery is a built in battery backup in case of power failure. 
     
    To answer your question, you may be able to do it.  On the older BIOS updates, using the switch "/forceit" (without the quotes) would force the BIOS to update and bypass the battery check.  I do not know if this will work on the newer BIOS.
     
    Suggestion:  when updating the BIOS, do it from a DOS enviornment.  Not a CMD window from within Windows.  It is safer.
    Note:  If you loose AC power while the BIOS is being erased or flashed, you will be left with a door stop.
     
     
     
  • aight

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    Posted May 29th, 2005 16:00

    My battery is damaged, my laptop got overheated some weeks ago, which resulted in a damaged battery :(

    Is there a reason why the flash util needs a battery? If there is a good reason, it is ofcourse not wise to update the bios without a battery.

    Thanks about the tip, I thought the .exe would be some kind of self-extracting file, instead of the utility itself. I will run the update in dos!

    thanks
  • aight

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    Posted May 29th, 2005 17:00



    @leduke30 wrote:
    Bay Wolf gave you the best reason. Laptops,unlike PCs, have no backup for the BIOS, and with no battery, if you have a power failure or momentary switchover during it(or kick the cord loose as I once did in midflash), you end up with a corrupt BIOS chip. That usually means a purchase of another board





    Ah, okay :) I think that's worth the risk, I haven't had a power failure in months. To be sure, I will loan an UPC switch from a friend.

    thanks for the reply
  • aight

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    Posted May 29th, 2005 17:00

    I saw on your website, which is very interesting, that you provide bootable bios updates (http://www.bay-wolf.com/flashbios.htm). Can you provide the A13 version for the inspiron 8600 laptop? That would be great!

    Do you have an 8600 yourself? If so, and you have some time, do you mind doing the test as described on http://delltalk.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=insp_general&message.id=189919 ? I'm having some troubles with speedstep (I think it's broken), and this test would help me alot.

    again, thank you very much
  • leduke30

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    Posted May 29th, 2005 17:00

    Bay Wolf gave you the best reason. Laptops,unlike PCs, have no backup for the BIOS, and with no battery, if you have a power failure or momentary switchover during it(or kick the cord loose as I once did in midflash), you end up with a corrupt BIOS chip. That usually means a purchase of another board
  • leduke30

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    Posted May 29th, 2005 17:00

    The  /forceit extension that Bay Wolf gave you will work, but leave a space after the .exe

     

    Message Edited by leduke30 on 05-29-2005 01:19 PM

  • Bay Wolf

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    Posted May 29th, 2005 18:00



    @aight wrote:
    I saw on your website, which is very interesting, that you provide bootable bios updates. Can you provide the A13 version for the inspiron 8600 laptop? That would be great!

    Do you have an 8600 yourself? If so, and you have some time, do you mind doing the test as described on http://delltalk.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=insp_general&message.id=189919 ? I'm having some troubles with speedstep (I think it's broken), and this test would help me alot.

    again, thank you very much


    I uploaded the ISO version of A13 to my web site.  It is located on this page.  I noticed that you said that your battery was damaged due to heat problems.  Make sure that your system is fully functional before you update the BIOS.  If it is not fully functional, you may be at risk for a failure during a BIOS flash.
     
    I do have an I8600c.  I will see what mine does, but I don't think that it has anything to do with the battery.
  • Bay Wolf

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    Posted May 29th, 2005 18:00

    Let us know how you make out with the update.
     
     
     
  • aight

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    Posted May 29th, 2005 18:00

    Thanks for the iso version! I'm quite sure my laptop is fully functional, as it never crashes or malfunctions, except that the battery doesn't work and speedstep never does it job (that's why I want to update the bios)
  • aight

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    Posted May 29th, 2005 19:00

    will do, somewhere next week