Seems like a piece of information Dell should post somewhere, if true.  Lots of extra work though, LOL.

i think there are some dell computers that do require updating the bios before installing sp2, but not all of them.. you did not say what model dell that you have..

Don't flash the BIOS without a very good reason.

dalem29,

It is not true.

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@redwolfe_98 wrote:
i think there are some dell computers that do require updating the bios before installing sp2, but not all of them.. you did not say what model dell that you have..

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Please list those models, as I am not aware of that information.

Please list those models, as I am not aware of that information.

See my post in

http://delltalk.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=sw_svcpacks&message.id=943

for some more information. There is a serious problem affecting some of the newest machines (with certain Prescott and Celeron processors) in conjunction with SP2. These machines were shipped with improperly configured motherboards, and they need a BIOS update in order to be able to successfully install SP2. They will crash or exhibit other serious problesm without the BIOS update.

This issue seems mostly restricted to machines with Celeron D and Prescott CPUs shipped after June of this year, and a few Intel Extreme Edition machines. The Inspiron 1100 (1150?) seems to be one of them.

Dietmar,

Based on the information on cquirke's site (specifically the fact that the issue affects processors released around June of this year) it would seem that the conservative recommendation would be that users who purchased their systems at or after that time should update BIOS, and others need not do so.

Thanks for both the cquirke and Intel links in that post. Very useful information.

In the FWIW category, the key here seems to be, "some machines".  The 8400 I'm typing this on runs the P4 "Prescott" processor and installed SP2 flawlessly with the original A0 BIOS version.  I found out about the release of the A01 after the fact, did the flash and it continues to run perfectly.  The primary reason I opted to use the update was it's reported video handling improvement directed at the ATI x300 (PCI Express x16) video card and was in fact, unaware of the SP2 issue until reading this thread.

it would seem that the conservative recommendation would be that users who purchased their systems at or after that time should update BIOS, and others need not do so.

I think that is a reasonable assessment, with the caveat that it seems, although I am not entirely sure, that for some of the machines (the ones with the Celeron D processors) Dell does not yet offer a proper BIOS. One might wish for Dell to be somewhat more open about this matter. If you browse the Service Packs forum you can see that some people have gotten into serious trouble because of this.

the key here seems to be, "some machines". 

Certainly. As described in my other post, the ultimate criterium is what microcode revision your processor is running. If you are running microcode below revision 8, you are at risk, although symptoms may differ, and you may or may not experience the dreaded crashes.