I understand what you are saying. What I don't understand is as far as Dell support for OS win 7 64 bit is the latest one and this PC came with win 10 Pro . If I do install the A16 Bios what's the worst that can happen?
I understand I am not installing new drivers just the latest Bios version . I think this PC is still running the Bios or rather the latest version Dell offered when it had win 7 installed , it still has the win 7 sticker on the front panel.
Since win 7 64bit was the latest OS offered to use on this PC model and the built date is 07/22/2011 , A09 is also from 2011.
To be honest I don't want to screw this PC up since as it is it does work fine . I'm not saying the advice is wrong , I really don't understand Bios and what it does.
The OptiPlex 780 was released in 2009. It's latest BIOS Update was released in 2013... BIOS is the Basic Input Output system and is essentially the part when you power up your Dell and you see the Dell logo. In the BIOS you can change some hardware settings and boot from a USB etc to install an Operating system such as Windows.
As the OptipPlex 780 was a business model, it got a lot of updates, in particular security updates for it's BIOS. It would have shipped with Windows 7 Pro. If you got it second hand someone may have installed Windows 10 Pro on it (Windows 7 Pro OEM Licenses work with Windows 10 Pro). The system runs Windows 10 Pro even if Dell doesn't officially support it.
If you're happy with the way the systems working you don't need to update the BIOS. In general I update the BIOS on all my systems when an update is available, there are often security fixes or performance fixes. Some models will fare better with Windows 10 following updates to their BIOS which is why I mentioned it with your other system.
There is a low risk of a BIOS Update going bad essentially if you begin to update the BIOS and lose power, it will brick your system.
Soooo glad to hear it! Are you asking if you need to do more to STOP windows updates? If you set it to not auto download or install you should be ok, but if you want to be sure there are a few tricks to getting to the guts of your PC. When you restart AS SOON as the screen goes black and begins to restart, keep pressing F2 should take you to set up, F12 will give you more options, one is an option to make BIOS changes without fully updating, in there I found PowerShare, which for my PC means it will share power when devices are plugged in, but there are many options one should be for updates, like I said it's hard to tell when I'm not familiar with your system. Also, there is one more trick hold down the SHIFT key while clicking restart, it will auto bring up troubleshooter, again, before you do any of this check Dell, or anywhere online for the "extra" ways inside your computer to make sure it is off. Best of luck!!
Soooo glad to hear it! Are you asking if you need to do more to STOP windows updates? If you set it to not auto download or install you should be ok, but if you want to be sure there are a few tricks to getting to the guts of your PC. When you restart AS SOON as the screen goes black and begins to restart, keep pressing F2 should take you to set up, F12 will give you more options, one is an option to make BIOS changes without fully updating, in there I found PowerShare, which for my PC means it will share power when devices are plugged in, but there are many options one should be for updates, like I said it's hard to tell when I'm not familiar with your system. Also, there is one more trick hold down the SHIFT key while clicking restart, it will auto bring up troubleshooter, again, before you do any of this check Dell, or anywhere online for the "extra" ways inside your computer to make sure it is off. Best of luck!!
I spoke to Dell support about the Bios update to A15 and he said you can do it if you want . I told him it was not running win 7 Pro and I got it refurbished and it has win 10 Pro installed , His response was it was not designed to run win 10 because 10 was not out then . He also said it may run fine for a while yet may run into issues later yet did not explain what issues . He basically said you should purchase a new Dell tower that is designed to run win 10. or just run win 7 as it was designed to do. I realize according to Dell they have a list of PC's that run and are tested with win 10 yet as was stated here it will and it does. I couldn't afford a new PC and I do feel the older models were built better . The place I got this refurb Dell 780 from did a great job .looks like new inside and nothing other than a few scuffs outside .
The entire point of why I got this refurbished Dell OptiPlex 780 mini tower was mainly because I needed a pc that could run a later OS so it at least is supported and gets updates and it seems to run win 10 very well. My old tower acer from 2006 had a 32 Gb hard drive NTSF with XP Pro and 32 Gb FAT that was where acer essentials resides at least I believe so .You cannot use it for anything other than creating a backup copy or turn it back in time to what it was set at when built. I was going to try to get win 7 32 bit because the Acer is a 32 bit only yet just the win 7 disc cost far more than this dell cost me. And with 32 GB hard drive it would probably not run win 7 very well. Plus 4 gig was the highest RAM it would take. The Acer came with 512MB ram .
Just to let you know Windows 10 Version 1809 is now released... you can try installing this in an inplace upgrade over your Windows 10 1709 install. It may resolve some of the issues you experienced with Windows 10 Version 1803.
blues90
22 Posts
0
September 12th, 2018 12:00
I understand what you are saying. What I don't understand is as far as Dell support for OS win 7 64 bit is the latest one and this PC came with win 10 Pro . If I do install the A16 Bios what's the worst that can happen?
I understand I am not installing new drivers just the latest Bios version . I think this PC is still running the Bios or rather the latest version Dell offered when it had win 7 installed , it still has the win 7 sticker on the front panel.
Since win 7 64bit was the latest OS offered to use on this PC model and the built date is 07/22/2011 , A09 is also from 2011.
To be honest I don't want to screw this PC up since as it is it does work fine . I'm not saying the advice is wrong , I really don't understand Bios and what it does.
Philip_Yip
9 Legend
•
16.1K Posts
1
September 12th, 2018 12:00
The OptiPlex 780 was released in 2009. It's latest BIOS Update was released in 2013... BIOS is the Basic Input Output system and is essentially the part when you power up your Dell and you see the Dell logo. In the BIOS you can change some hardware settings and boot from a USB etc to install an Operating system such as Windows.
As the OptipPlex 780 was a business model, it got a lot of updates, in particular security updates for it's BIOS. It would have shipped with Windows 7 Pro. If you got it second hand someone may have installed Windows 10 Pro on it (Windows 7 Pro OEM Licenses work with Windows 10 Pro). The system runs Windows 10 Pro even if Dell doesn't officially support it.
If you're happy with the way the systems working you don't need to update the BIOS. In general I update the BIOS on all my systems when an update is available, there are often security fixes or performance fixes. Some models will fare better with Windows 10 following updates to their BIOS which is why I mentioned it with your other system.
There is a low risk of a BIOS Update going bad essentially if you begin to update the BIOS and lose power, it will brick your system.
Slybandit247
5 Posts
0
September 13th, 2018 07:00
Soooo glad to hear it! Are you asking if you need to do more to STOP windows updates? If you set it to not auto download or install you should be ok, but if you want to be sure there are a few tricks to getting to the guts of your PC. When you restart AS SOON as the screen goes black and begins to restart, keep pressing F2 should take you to set up, F12 will give you more options, one is an option to make BIOS changes without fully updating, in there I found PowerShare, which for my PC means it will share power when devices are plugged in, but there are many options one should be for updates, like I said it's hard to tell when I'm not familiar with your system. Also, there is one more trick hold down the SHIFT key while clicking restart, it will auto bring up troubleshooter, again, before you do any of this check Dell, or anywhere online for the "extra" ways inside your computer to make sure it is off. Best of luck!!
Slybandit247
5 Posts
0
September 13th, 2018 07:00
Soooo glad to hear it! Are you asking if you need to do more to STOP windows updates? If you set it to not auto download or install you should be ok, but if you want to be sure there are a few tricks to getting to the guts of your PC. When you restart AS SOON as the screen goes black and begins to restart, keep pressing F2 should take you to set up, F12 will give you more options, one is an option to make BIOS changes without fully updating, in there I found PowerShare, which for my PC means it will share power when devices are plugged in, but there are many options one should be for updates, like I said it's hard to tell when I'm not familiar with your system. Also, there is one more trick hold down the SHIFT key while clicking restart, it will auto bring up troubleshooter, again, before you do any of this check Dell, or anywhere online for the "extra" ways inside your computer to make sure it is off. Best of luck!!
blues90
22 Posts
0
September 13th, 2018 13:00
I spoke to Dell support about the Bios update to A15 and he said you can do it if you want . I told him it was not running win 7 Pro and I got it refurbished and it has win 10 Pro installed , His response was it was not designed to run win 10 because 10 was not out then . He also said it may run fine for a while yet may run into issues later yet did not explain what issues . He basically said you should purchase a new Dell tower that is designed to run win 10. or just run win 7 as it was designed to do. I realize according to Dell they have a list of PC's that run and are tested with win 10 yet as was stated here it will and it does. I couldn't afford a new PC and I do feel the older models were built better . The place I got this refurb Dell 780 from did a great job .looks like new inside and nothing other than a few scuffs outside .
The entire point of why I got this refurbished Dell OptiPlex 780 mini tower was mainly because I needed a pc that could run a later OS so it at least is supported and gets updates and it seems to run win 10 very well. My old tower acer from 2006 had a 32 Gb hard drive NTSF with XP Pro and 32 Gb FAT that was where acer essentials resides at least I believe so .You cannot use it for anything other than creating a backup copy or turn it back in time to what it was set at when built. I was going to try to get win 7 32 bit because the Acer is a 32 bit only yet just the win 7 disc cost far more than this dell cost me. And with 32 GB hard drive it would probably not run win 7 very well. Plus 4 gig was the highest RAM it would take. The Acer came with 512MB ram .
Philip_Yip
9 Legend
•
16.1K Posts
0
October 4th, 2018 03:00
Just to let you know Windows 10 Version 1809 is now released... you can try installing this in an inplace upgrade over your Windows 10 1709 install. It may resolve some of the issues you experienced with Windows 10 Version 1803.