Inspiron 1520 A08 BIOS Released!

Release Title: BIOS: Dell Inspiron 1520 System BIOS, English, Inspiron 1520, A08
Release Date: 5/23/2008

Fixes/Enhancements
------------------
1. Improve compatibility with Dell Wireless 1390 & 1490 Dell WLAN.
2. Fixed: System Hangs on Resume from S3 with Driver Verifier enabled.
3. Added enhancement for optical drives.

Good to know Dell still supports 1520. Grab yours today!

 

My brother just updated the bios and it messed up his laptop. Windows would not boot now and it goes straight to a blue screen with no words on it.

 

this BIOS is only for inspiron 1520. i noticed your SIG is M1530, or is your bro's laptop 1520? i've updated mine and everything is working perfectly. no issues so far.

 

Vostro 1500 still at A05

 

That's because Dell are damn idiots. This BIOS update breaks your system. Actually, it break ACPI. Even if you were to try to put in your vista install DVD, it will fail on 'finalizing' because ACPI is broken now.

You have to actually set your SATA mode to ATA so you lose SATA300 speeds and native command queueing. THEN, you can reinstall vista successfully, reflash back to A07 and then reinstall Vista again to get your proper features back.

Well, done Dell, you morons! You obviously didn't even flash the damn bios to a machine that was already running in the DEFAULT ACPI mode! Idiots...


In short: If you are running in default ACPI mode, and you flash this new bios, your machine will no longer boot. You will not be able to succesfully install Vista either. you must disable ACPI and reinstall windows, then reflash old bios, then reinstall vista again.

 

when i flashed my BIOS to A08, im already running AHCI mode and the system boots up just fine.

 

You mean "AHCI", not "AHCPI".

Not to take away from your point, but, even if true, it's better to get the terminology right if you blast someone for being stupid.

 

Hi. Welcome.

I highly doubt that Dell would release a BIOS update that breaks functionality of ALL 1520s. Believe it or not, Dell does some pretty intense testing before releasing BIOS updates to consumers. Are you sure that you didn't improperly flash? Did you go into the BIOS and mess with a bunch of stuff?

 

first of all, there's really no need for that kind of aggression. i never try to blast anyone or call anyone stupid.im just sharing my findings and experience, not trying to offend anyone.

secondly, perhaps you need to double check your terminology. it's called AHCI in BIOS and windows hardware properties. from your description, you associate "your AHCPI" with SATA operation, so im pretty sure my terminology is right. just in case if you cannot find it, it's under SATA operation in BIOS. the options are either ATA or AHCI. i agree with stevey5036, maybe you did an improper flash, or maybe you are really just what you claim you are. next time, listen to your own advice, triple check your terminology before you blast anyone.

thirdly, FYI, i have intel turbo memory installed, and FYI again, in order to use intel turbo memory, AHCI MUST be enabled. so A08 BIOS obviously works (at least for me) in AHCI mode during flashing.

 

Yes, of course I did mean ACPI. I had another thing on my mind entirely and mixed them up Sorry about that. I had an AHCPI PDF (alberta health care) sitting on my desktop. Ha Ha, very funny.

Anyway, yes, I just reflashed A08 to make sure it wasn't a bad flash. Again, broken ACPI. Format, reinstall windows from ATA mode.

Flash back to A07, then format again.

Dell idiots.

Also, I have a Dell Inspiron 530 for which I'm still waiting BIOS support for ACPI. The damn SATA controller in this brand new machine only supports ATA mode. It's the only machine on the planet with the G33 chipset to do so because the BIOS is terrible.

Dell seems to be having some major trouble supporting SATA 300/ Native Command Q'ing p), AHCI

Again, this brand new G33 chipset machine doesn't even support AHCI at all and is the only one to do so. It's well documented. Extreme Dell ineptitude.



With regards to the 1520, I have added an upgraded video card and a bluetooth module but this should have no bearing on AHCI support. No, I haven't changed any settings. I used the term default several times.

If you plan to flash to this bios, please back up your data first, you may be formatting.

One thing is for certain: on this configuration, the A08 bios breaks ACPI and therefore your winodws install.

 

does this one fix the noise issue finally, or it's about time to give up?

 

My 1520 says 'ACPI Multiprocessor'in Hardware\Devices, and I installed A08 Bios with no problem. Bios says A08 on the boot-up screen.

Colin.

 

can you tell how did you get that high windows experience index ?

 

constant tweaking, improvement and updates. keeping the system in top shape. that's no special recipe, it requires dedication.

 

Same problem here, i installed A08 and my system would not boot, just stalled in the green leds when vista loads. Had to revert back to A07 to get my notebook working again

 

Does the new BIOS fix the CPU whine?

alexnvidia, could you tell me how did you manage to get 5.4 and 5.8 points in Vista (picture in your signature). My 8600GT (inspiron 1520) only got 4.7 points with the drivers downloaded from notebookvideo2go.com.

 

I'm sorry, I find it hard to believe any tweaking can give you a 5.8 Aero Graphics index. Can you tell us your laptop graphics driver? i can't even get that stuff past five.

 

well, my GPU core is running at 650MHz rock solid stable, and GPU RAM running at 550MHz. im using various versions of drivers, ranging from 175 to 177 series. right now, im on 177.41 and my 3dMark06 at all default (1280x800) is 4850+. i think this score is close to what a 8700MGT can achieve. when i say constant tweaking, overclocking comes with the package.does this answer your questions? actually that SIG picture is quite old, my latest WEI score for graphics is 5.9

 

everytime i start the computer it takes me to the log in screen.
but when i try to login, it logs me in for 1 sec and then logs me out
any advice on how to fix it?

 

What's that got to do with an old posting of a BIOS update?
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