Need Advice About a BIOS Update / Flash

I have a Dell XPS M1730 with a BIOS revision of A03--the latest revision available on the Dell Drivers & Downloads page is A10. My dilemma is that I am not sure if it is safe to skip the revisions A06 and A09 and just go straight for revision A10. Also, is revision A10 any better than A09 or A06? Please, I really need somebody's advice on this matter.
Reasons for this BIOS update:
* Upgrading to two 250GB Momentus hard drives and run them under RAID 0.
* Planning on dual-booting Windows Vista 32-bit and Vista 64-bit (need help on this one as well, but let's just focus on the current matter).
* Upgrading to 4GB of RAM.
* Upgrading to X9000 (someday).
* Upgrading to a graphics card beyond 8800M GTX (I am hopeful).
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated! (By the way, this is my very first thread on this site.)​

 

I'm pretty sure a BIOS 'upgrade' is actually just a complete firmware replacement, so it shouldn't make any difference which one you're currently on. I can't say that with 100% certainty though.

 

Nition, I appreciate your reply! So, you mean flashing my BIOS to revision A10 from A03 is safe; I don't have to flash it one at a time starting with A06, then A09, and finally A10?

 

There is only one way to upgrade the BIOS, that is to flash it completely. There are no partial or incremental upgrades. A BIOS upgrade will replace the whole BIOS. All fixes are cumulative therefore flashing from A03 to A10 will include all previous fixes and patches.

If there is a newer version then upgrading is always a good idea, and recommended. You can always revert back to the old version if you run in to trouble, so I’d say go ahead.

Welcome to NBR Forums

 

Thanks for your reply PhoenixFx and appreciate your greeting! I don't have to worry about revisions A06 and A09, right? I CAN safely flash my BIOS with revision A10? Hmmm... forgive me, but I'm still just a bit doubtful, just a bit. I think I'll wait for a second opinion from somebody, hopefully.

 

The other users nailed it. You can safely skip the older versions and just install the latest version. You would gain NOTHING from doing an incremental update. The whole content of the BIOS is flushed 100% during a BIOS upgrade or downgrade. How many user confirmations do you need?

 

A word of caution though. NEVER switch off you machine in between a bios update .It may get completely damaged if u do so. The laptop may seem to be dead for some moments during the BIOS update and this is quite normal. whatever you do never switch off until you are satisfied that the update is 100% complete

 

Thanks guys for your insight! I'll do the A10 revision BIOS "upgrade".

 

Another word of caution: have your battery inserted and fully charged + run the laptop from the mains too (plug in the power adapter). That way, even under a power outtage, your BIOS update will run unaffected.

 

Hey guys, since I can't do this BIOS upgrade via floppy (my M1730 doesn't have a floppy drive), is there any recommended way in doing this? I know that the safest way is via the DOS method using a floppy drive.

 

just flash it in windows.. i mean execute the file in windows.. then dell will get it done for you in a reboot.. cheers.. make sure no usb device is connected too.

 

Newer DELL BIOS upgrades are Windows executables, no need to worry about floppies or bootable disks etc... Download the file and run it, it is that simple. As others have said, flash when the battery is full and main power connected. Close all programs and don’t do anything else while flashing.The screen may go blank for a few seconds and your fans might make a loud noise, but don't touch anything or try to turn off/on the power. Let it power down completely on it's own.

 

Should I disable any running programs in Windows, such as Norton AntiVirus, before executing the file? What about Windows Defender? I know Windows Vista has a bunch of processes running in the background.

 

@Cherub_GENESIS: No offense, but you're making a way, way bigger deal of this than you need to.

If it'll make you feel better, disable antivirus.

The way it works though is:

You run the .exe
A message will popup saying "you have to reboot for this to take affect"
The laptop will reboot THEN the BIOS is flashed. It's not flashed under windows.

Just do it already!! You've nothing to fear..

 

tjharman, I am very cautious because it takes only a single failure to result in an inoperable notebook. And I paid a lot of money for it! I hope you understand.

 

That's true, but if it was to fail, as long as you had the power plugged in and didn't interrupt it, it wouldn't be your fault.

If it's still under warranty then Dell would support you, should it fail.

Caution is a good thing, don't get me wrong. But you're being a little over cautious for what is a very simple procedure.

 

It won't even flash the firmware if a charged battery is not attached. Even a power failure wouldn't harm.

Neither faulty windows drivers harm since the flashing is done after Windows is shutdown and no longer running. The .exe just initiates a windows shutdown and launches the flash application outside the scope of any other application.

 

Hello. I hope it's okay to join this thread.. I'm trying to update the BIOS in my M1730 to A10 but can't get past the initial prompt about being plugged in with the battery installed.

When I run the A10 update exe (in Vista 32-bit) it states that 'The AC adapter and battery must be plugged in before the BIOS can be flashed' and it won't let me proceed (clicking ok just keeps bringing up the same prompt). I do have the laptop plugged in and the Dell Battery Meter shows the battery status being idle at 100% and in healthy state. I've tried unplugging for a while and letting the battery charge back to 100% without any luck.

In the BIOS setup, it shows the power being plugged in at 230W and the battery at 100% with healthy status.

Any ideas on how to get around this? I did see that some people have used a "/forceit" flag to bypass the prompt for other updates but that isn't working for me. It doesn't give an error about it being a bad parameter but just seems to ignore it. Maybe I'll just forget it, I'm already at A09 and just thought I should update it before I install 8GB RAM and move to 64-bit Vista.

 

cg123, I'm sure that those guys who cleared things up for me will share their insight with you as well with respect to BIOS upgrade problems.

If I may share my own opinion concerning your problem: I think revision A09 will read your 8GB RAM just fine; you don't need to upgrade to A10--that's what I read on one of the posts several pages back in the thread titled "*OFFICIAL: Dell XPS M1730 Owner's Lounge*".

Actually, here's the link: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=173512&page=1403 or http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=4480948&postcount=14022

Good luck with your upgrade!

 

Hey guys, I found this post by D_Sage44:

Source: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=173512&page=1402

Do you think the advice is reasonable? Oh maaaaaan, now I'm confused!

 

He's got no clue what he's talking about. I think the "My Dad" part shoudl give it away.

But I suggest you don't do the upgrade, if your machine is otherwise working fine. It seems nothing that will convience you that it's safe.

 

The BIOs update is safe, as many people have told you up to this point. It is beyond our abilities to re-assure you, so if you desperately want to go ahead with this update, I suggest calling Dell technical support and having them on the line as you update the BIOs*.

(*This will not influence the update process in any way, but it sounds like you need someone to hold your hand on this if anything).

 

Thanks guys for all your help and suggestions! I am now confident to proceed with the A10 upgrade--you don't need to hold my hand (anymore).