BIOS Upgrade Issue

Question

Hi.

Trying to upgrade the BIOS on a Latitude 3330 as it is still on A0, the original firmware.

However, doesn't matter which newer version I try to upgrade with, A1 or A13 I have the same problem. I run the executable and it does the first part and then reboots to complete the process.

The problem is that this laptop does not do a clean reboot and will just sit at a black screen until I press the power button to power cycle it. Then once it starts up, whatever information it put ROM to load at restart is gone and no BIOS upgrade happens.

I've tried booting to Windows PE on a USB and running from a command prompt but then I get an error saying that the version of Windows is not compatible with the file.

So, I am stuck, caught in a loop. How to make it upgrade the BIOS when it won't restart gracefully?

Justin C · Accepted Answer

@PaddyWork, Try the following option and tell me what happens: https://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/04/sln305230/flashing-the-bios-from-the-f12-one-time-boot-menu?lang=en

PaddyWork · Accepted Answer

Justin, thank you. Although this laptop does not have the Flash BIOS Update option in the BIOS menu, I was able to download Dell's bootable USB and complete the BIOS upgrade via that method. Previously when I used a Windows PE bootable USB it would give an error when trying to run the firmware update file but with Dell's Bootable USB it worked a treat! This was the the link from that page you gave me that I created the working bootable USB. https://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/04/sln143196/how-to-create-a-bootable-usb-flash-drive-using-dell-diagnostic-deployment-package-dddp?lang=en

PaddyWork · Answer

Thanks for the suggestion Justin and I wish it was an option but I don't get that as an option on this laptop.   Surely there is a way to get this done?

PaddyWork · Answer

Thanks for the suggestion Justin and I wish it was an option but I don't get that as an option on this laptop. The only options I get are BIOS Setup / Device Configuration / Diagnostics / Change Boot Mode Settings. I've scoured each of them hoping to find a flash option but nothing.

I've also run the boot diagnostics and full test and everything comes back as OK.

Surely there is a way to get this done?

Pcprice · Answer

Hi, glad you solved this but.... can you tell me how? I have same issue with reboot not working, but even the bios flash update with USB requires reboot so.... how did you get rid of that? thanks

Latitude

BIOS Upgrade Issue

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