BIOS A04 package not flashing correctly on 9100

Question

Hi, I have a 9100 with the A03 bios version as supplied from the factory. The machine is about a month old. I downloaded the A04 package to flash the bios and it didn't seem to work. I ran it from within XP. It said to click ok to to reboot and the bios would be flashed. I clciked ok and it rebooted but didn't run anything different at startup to flash the bios. I've rebooted several times since and verified that the system is still at A03. I also have a utility that looks at and controls all startup items and there is nothing in the list that would point to a bios flash utility, nor is there anything resident in memory. Any ideas on why my bios did not flash or the package did not run at first reboot? BTW, i am running Norton AV and System Works but have the Go-Back utility disabled. Dave,

bacillus · Answer

Count yourself lucky as some users are reporting that there is a problem with that particular version bios and that Dell have now pulled it from their site.

tbracer44 · Answer

It is still listed on Dell's download site for 9100.

sdbshsno · Answer

Yes, it is still there....and i think i got pretty lucky that it didn't work from the sounds of it...last night i disabled all my Norton stuff, rebooted and woooooaaaa......the BIOS utility started to run...and it craapped out....said it couldn't find the img file. Told me to hit a key to continue. Man was i shakin. I thought the BIOS would be trashed, but thankfully nothing at all got written to BIOS and it simply continued with A03. I'm waitin for full confirmation that they get this to work until i try again.

Ed C · Answer

One word of advice. NEVER EVER run a BIOS update/flash from inside Windows. If you read the disclaimer that comes with the BIOS you will see Dell does not cover a bad BIOS flash as a warranty item. Flash at your own risk. The only way to do a flash is with either a floppy disk or a bootable CD disk, if you have no floppy.

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