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performing a basic DELL BIOS update
Hi!
For those of you who have gone through the DELL BIOS upgrade, please share your experience with me.
I have a 10-year-old DELL which is working just fine but I periodically receive notices from DELL that a BIOS upgrade is available. I have about 10 of these notices so do you suggest applying them one by one, or are they cumulative so that if I apply just the last one it will include all previous ones?
I'm used to the old days when flashing the BIOS was a real big deal and if not done properly it could brick your PC. Now, it seems like all I have to do is is run the 'exe' file that DELL provides. Do I have that right?
Thanks in advance to all who reply.
Dan
I took your suggestion and found this video - is this the one you had in mind?
Another video did not address the importance of sequential updates but had a comment from @codingandtech5909 who felt very confident that just grabbing the latest one is sufficient (I don't know why DELL doesn't state this important fact in their instruction).
Thanks, Wooly11, for sharing your experience.
Dan
That was the most descriptive and informative video addressing my issue, so I cannot thank you enough! I'm holding off on the update since I've never had a desktop that was so reliable (even though it's ≈10 years old) and don't want to introduce any issues. But I know it will eventually fail me and when I sense that day coming I'll go for the update.
I cannot thank you enough for your correspondences which have been incredibly helpful (with your last one probably averting a disaster!).Happy trails!
DanChino de Oro
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Posted April 28th, 2023 20:00
Today modern BIOS firmware update still resulting with a bricked machines. Although, it is possible to perform BIOS recovery on newer machines.
Because each time you are flashing BIOS update, you are taking a risk of something may go wrong, if you really need to update BIOS, just go straight to the latest version. The prerequisite (follow instructions) will help with the process successful as well.
Chino de Oro
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Posted April 28th, 2023 23:00
Yes, I have update by skipping all those before but only around 3 to 4 years worth, never try a 10 years like yours. I only update BIOS to fix performance (storages, drives) or compatibility (CPU upgrade) otherwise keep running with older version if the machine functioning well.
The newer BIOS image will replace the whole prior, older BIOS images. It didn't just adding codes continuously. So what is the point of replacing BIOS images in order or in small stepping (skip only a few).
Each time you flash BIOS firmware, you are taking a chance that something could go wrong. So, reducing the number of firmware flash, you could lower the risk.
Beside adding compatibilities and improve performances, new BIOS updates address security vulnerabilities and keeping hackers, bad actors from exploit and taking control over your machine. But, how likely that will happen comparing to your daily usages of emails, surfing internet websites, streaming video, using social media apps, all of those activities do expose your machine to potential infection of virus, malware, ransomware, etc...
So, only you can decide if your machine needs BIOS firmware updates. If your machine is working perfectly well, just leave it be.
"...just leave it be" is probably good advice. I was just curious if the new way of updating the BIOS is more reliable than the old procedures but I'm probably better off with the "ain't broke don't fix" attitude. The downside risk isn't worth it if there is no backoff procedure.
Thanks, Chino!
Dan
Chino de Oro
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Posted April 29th, 2023 02:00
You made a good choice. Here is the forum for XPS desktop. If you scroll through the most recent 20 posts, you will find half of them are BIOS update issues, mostly from XPS 8930, not very old system.
I had this question when I bought a 7060 optiplex and it had almost the installation bios and no updates.
They were about 10 - 12 versions to be installed to bring it up to date and the Dell YouTube video showing the process indicated that it was important to install all versions and at most to only allow 1 version to be skipped.
If you google Dell bios update you should find it, it's not a very difficult procedure and it took me about an hour to install all updates with no errors.
I suppose you have already performed your bios update and apologize for not including a link to the guide I used.
This is the Dell official procedure https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UqYmKsoSYE&t=1s and at 2:14 minutes it clearly states to include each sequential update.
It should be quite easy to follow and I had no problem, unlike the bios updates from years past where I often read of horror stories of machines being bricked following an update.
bromberg
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Posted April 30th, 2023 16:00
I don't have a DELL XPS model but I imagine the replies would be similar for my DELL Optiplex model. I posed this question a while ago and contrary to what you suggested, someone replied to apply each upgrade available in order. So that's another good reason to "let sleeping dogs lie"!
Thanks for your followups.
Dan