Cant update BIOS of my new Dell studio XPS 1340

Hi guys,

I hope I am using the right part of this forum to ask this... Heres my problem: I bought new Dell studio XPS 1340 (CPU: I Core2Duo T9300, GPU: GeForce 9500M (GF 9400MG + GF 9200MGS, HDD: 320GB, 7.2k, RAM: 4GB) and I had some troubles configuring my graphic cards in SLI mode. I read somewhere, that BIOS upgrade from A07, which I have, to A11 will help with this problem. I downloaded A11 BIOS update, but the setup wont recognize my current BIOS. When I load into the BIOS I see, that its really rev. A07, also it has header from Dell inc.

I even tried to upgrade BIOS to version A08 first, but again, the setup file wont recognize my current BIOS version. All drivers for chipset and all other hw are actual, OS is Windows 7 64 bit.

Does anyone have any idea why I cant update my BIOS?

 

What do you mean it wont recognize? Can you post exactly what it says? or better ye in windows 7 theres a Snipping Tool that lets you take a screenshot.. if you cant post a link to that image(screen shot) we can probably help you out more

 

Did you run the update BIOS program using "run as administrator"?

 

Yes, I ran the update program with UAC turned off and with administrator privileges, even using "run as administrator", I tried even safe mode and older BIOS version.

Dont know what exactly it says, bcs I´m at work now, but I will post screenshot tonight. It just says it cant recognize Machine manufacturer and version info.

Yesterday, I´ve tried to run appliacation Everest and it seems, that it cant recognize BIOS version too, it says "BIOS version: 00".

I´ll post the screenshot later and I hope it will help to deal with the problem.

 

A couple things to make sure of: 1. AC Adapter is plugged in, 2. You are using the laptop panel, not an external monitor.

If all else fails, try updating the bios outside of Windows: http://support.dell.com/support/dow...d=-1&dateid=-1&formatid=-1&fileid=344189#3DOS

 

AC adapter was plugged in the whole time, when I tried to unplug it and run the program again, it wrote three errors, two as I said and one about plugging in AC adapter. Im not using external monitor.

I tried to boot up to command prompt with bootable flash drive and run update from DOS, but even though Dell says that the update is for Windows/DOS, in DOS the program says it can be run only from Windows.

 

I even tried to extract .rom file from flashing program by using "/writeromfile" command, but when I tried to flash the .rom file with Winphlash program from Phoenix, it says, that the ROM file has Partial table missing.

IMO the best thing to do would be to modify current BIOS, so the flashing application would recognize it, but I dont really know how to do that and I think it wont be anythin easy.

Also, would it help to try flashing the BIOS from some other OS version? F.e. if I had Windows XP live image on flash drive and I tried to flash it from there, would it make any difference?

 

@Darkjesus Call Dell... it seems like a major problem!!! they will send a technician to replace your motherboard... and all should be great! After they replae it remember to check all the slots.. usb port, ethernet,, everything, because after they swapped my motheboard I have 2 loose headphone jacks and 1 loose microphone jack from which my earphones just fall out from

But dont waist any more time just call dell. They are very fast with replacing parts... the part and the technician will be by your house in about 3-4 days, at least thats how fast it is in New York

 

Well yeah, I know that Dell has very good service, but I was hoping I can repair it myself. Problem is, that I bought it from UK and I am in the middle of Europe in Czech Republic.

Anyway, I tried to do something about this for whole two weeks (even at work ) ) and nothing seems to help, so I will call them.

Thank all of you for your time and help! I really appreciate it!

 

i posted this just recently on the official dell community forum and they deleted my entire post because it had the word "p1zz3d" in it

i can't believe it. they censored it anyway, but delete it also? but why it was so helpful.

anyway to answer your question, this flashing error "Machine type mismatch" or "bios mismatch" happens all the time with the dell flashing program.

activating the computrace is what seemed to produce machine type mismatch for me.

when running the dell flasher use the command line parameter /forcetype or /forceit and it will flash a11 or whatever version that comes out.

dell support does not know about thier own command line parameters. i had to use notepad.exe to find it

i wonder if dell ever fixed the broken lojack in the bios. i haven't tried it lately.