Downgrading the System BIOS on a Dell System

This article describes the procedure to use when downgrading the system BIOS on a Dell system.

Table of Contents:

1. Downgrading the System BIOS
2. Downloading and Downgrading the System BIOS

1. Downgrading the System BIOS

Generally, while Dell does not recommend downgrading the system BIOS due to the enhancements and fixes provided in BIOS updates, Dell does provide the option to do so. Users may choose to downgrade a BIOS for various reasons, more common reasons including custom Operating System (OS) image support or enhancement requirements. Dell has made downgrading the system BIOS as simple as downloading the BIOS version desired and following the onscreen installation wizard.

Caution: System BIOS may get corrupted if the BIOS downgrade procedure is not completed successfully.
A corrupt BIOS is one of the possible causes of your PC unable to complete POST or some times even boot into the operating system.
If your Dell PC or tablet supports BIOS recovery, you can recover the corrupt BIOS by using the BIOS recovery method on your Dell PC or tablet. Refer to the Dell knowledge-base article BIOS Recovery options on a Dell PC or Tablet for more information.

Note: If troubleshooting is required to resolve a system issue, Dell Technical Support may instruct users to download and install the latest functional version of the system BIOS which will overwrite any changes that are made by the instructions set out in this article

Note: System BIOS revision that addresses an Intel Security Advisory is locked to prevent rolling back to a previous version of the system BIOS.

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2. How to Download and Downgrade the System BIOS

Follow the instructions below:

1. Browse to the Drivers and downloads page.

2. If you are asked to "Identify your product", then either enter your Service tag, or select "Browse for a product" to select manually.

3. If the system shown is incorrect, click "View a different product" and again either enter your Service tag or Browse manually.

4. If the correct system is already selected, then in the pull-down menus, choose the BIOS Category.

5. If a different version of the BIOS is required from the one shown, click Other versions available, a box opens below.

6. Select the required BIOS version then click Download File.

7. Save the file to the Desktop for or a preferred location.

8. When ready, right-click the downloaded file and select "Run as administrator", follow the on-screen instructions.

Note: If you are unable to locate the older BIOS version using this method, you can also try and find the download by navigating through the links that are located at https://downloads.dell.com.

Note: There will be some occasions when the BIOS downgrade will not be allowed due to BIOS dependency, meaning the current BIOS has changes that cannot be downgraded. If you are unable to downgrade your BIOS, please contact Dell Technical Support for further advice, using the details supplied in the link below.

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