Don't Void your Warranty

If you upgrade the bios manually, it could void the warranty.

 

one of the AW reps on the forum said that upgrading to x32 manually will not void the warranty. i cant say about the other versions of the bios though

 

Ya, it might be good just to call TS just in case things go bad so your covered ya never know...

 

That's just plain stupid from my point of view and I am sure they will not void your warranty if doing so. A bad BIOS update usually means (actually always from my knowledge) a non-functional computer and if the computer works then you did everything right...I mean, how can you mess up a BIOS update when it's done automatically by running something?

 

Hi,
That same warning is attached to all Alienware Bios updates. Alienware just wants to make sure you upgrade the bios properly. I would call and perform the flash with the representative on the phone. Even though you may know what you're doing, having a representative on the phone is insurance.

Gabe

 

maybe a person decides to cut the power in the middle of the update

 

You have a battery. That's why I'm thinking it's a bit weird to void the warranty. But I am sure it's just something to cover their back in case you screw something up. I don't think they will void the warranty if you will do a successful BIOS update.

 

As BIOS flashes are critical updates, any issues during such a flash can cause major system instabilities or failure. To ensure that this update is done properly, we recommend performing it over the phone with Technical Support.

 

Yeah, that's what's recommended for non-experienced users, but if I know what I'm doing and nothing went wrong, will it void the warranty?
In Europe at least I don't think any company has the right to void the warranty as long as the product sent for repairs is working.

 

not sure about this, but even a bios flash gone wrong should not fry the laptop, so it should work.. and my bet is AW as many other org's will not always log every interaction, so...

if so and they refuse to fix, call them 100 times+ 100 emails about the issue, argue etc, log every interaction and trust me once you meet them in small claims or whatever- your log will prove they don't log everything.. as your logs will show that- they feel you're a psycho and will just disregard ( laugh behind your back and not log it in the crm system)

been there, done that- won

I would not recommend this, but if a bios upgrade voids warranty as you don't have a rep on the phone, when ever other major vendor out there updates it for you through a software update.. so can't be that difficult, hard or dangerous...

 

A bad flash usually means an unusable notebook (in this case). It will not physically damage the notebook, but it will fail to boot, etc.
A badly coded BIOS means something else (I've had a stupid BIOS sometime and had to downgrade as the BIOS settings kept resetting all the time).
It's very easy to spot a non-working computer due to a bad BIOS flash, but it's not easy to spot whether the computer has been upgraded to a new BIOS without looking at the initial BIOS number the computer has shipped with (or date).
From my point of view this whole thing is nothing more than a legal cover for Alienware (in case a user screws a BIOS flash they will be covered). It's obvious you will get charged if they figure out that it was you who messed up.