This package contains the Dell system BIOS update. BIOS is a firmware package that is embedded on a small memory chip on the system board. It controls the keyboard, monitor, disk drives, and other devices.
The BIOS version A11 and all earlier releases are incompatible with Intel Xeon E5-16xx/26xx-v4 CPUs (Broadwell). To downgrade the BIOS from version A12 or later (minimum revision to support Broadwell) to versions earlier than A11, you must update the BIOS to version A11 first. It is due to some significant changes required to enable v4 (Broadwell) CPUs. This step also simultaneously enables Xeon E5-16XX/26XX v3 (Haswell) CPUs and v4 (Broadwell) CPUs BIOS to stay in one BIOS stream. All versions of the Broadwell CPU enabled BIOS (A12+) understand how to migrate the Haswell settings. There are no upgrade restrictions. It is the only v3 (Haswell) BIOS with v4 (Broadwell) downgrade logic in place.
Note 1: Before updating the BIOS, ensure that you suspend BitLocker encryption on a BitLocker-enabled system. If it is not enabled on your system, you can ignore this step. For information about how to disable BitLocker, see How to Enable or Disable BitLocker with TPM in Windows at support.dell.com. Note 2: Do not turn off the power or interrupt the BIOS update process during the update.
Download and Installation 1. Click Download File, to download the file. 2. Click Save to save the file to your hard drive. 3. Browse to the location where you downloaded the file and double-click the new file. The system restarts automatically and updates the BIOS at the system startup screen. After the BIOS update is complete, system restarts again.
Updating the BIOS from DOS with UEFI boot mode enabled (Non-Windows users, Load Legacy Option Disabled)
Note 1: Before updating the BIOS, ensure that you suspend BitLocker encryption on a BitLocker-enabled system. If it is not enabled on your system, you can ignore this step. For information about how to disable BitLocker, see How to Enable or Disable BitLocker with TPM in Windows at support.dell.com. Note 2: Do not turn off the power or interrupt the BIOS update process during the update.
Installation 1. Copy the downloaded file to a bootable DOS USB drive. 2. Power on the system and then go to BIOS Setup by pressing the F2 key. 3. Go to General > Boot Sequence > Boot > Boot List Option. 4. Change UEFI to Legacy of Boot List Option. 5. Go to Exit > Save Changes and reboot system. 6. Press F12 and then select USB Storage Device and boot to the DOS prompt. 7. Run the file by typing the file name. The system restarts automatically and updates the BIOS at the system startup screen. After the BIOS update is complete, the system restarts again. 8. Go to BIOS Setup by pressing the F2 key and go to General > Boot Sequence > Boot > Boot List Option. 9. Change Legacy to UEFI Boot Option. 10. Go to Exit > Save Changes, and reboot the system.