Dell has updated the BIOS for three popular systems this month…
The XPS 410 & Dimension 9200 have received BIOS 2.5.3 to correct the nasty Gigabit Ethernet blowout problem introduced in the last update (which was subsequently pulled).
The Inspiron 530n has been updated to BIOS 1.1.0. Dell isn’t saying much about the update other than it is a “critical stability update”. Whatever that means… but I can assume it might involve chipset and processor compatibility updates to keep the 945 chipset in-sync with Intel’s latest standard code… which might explain the lack of a full change list. Either way, just update.
To be completely nerdy, since I am out of town on vacation, I updated my Inspiron 530n via Remote Desktop. Logged into my WHS remote access page, opened up my 530n via Remote Desktop (WHS lets you access all the Remote Desktop-capable systems behind the network), and ran the update. No problems.
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Hey,
Any ideas on how to “roll back” to the previous BIOS version on my XPS 410? I just installed 2.5.3, and Vista will not recognize my DVDRs (both an internal and an external drives). I can boot from both, so I know it’s not a hardware thing. Everything was working just fine until I installed 2.5.3.
Thanks in advance,
Edwin – Costa Rica
Rarely does a BIOS update cause such problems… I would suggest loading defaults from the BIOS settings window, and then going and checking to see that all the SATA ports are active and that the BIOS sees the drives attached.
Thanks for your quick reply to my post! Really appreciated…
Do you have any idea where I can find previous BIOS releases for the XPS 410? I reinstalled Vista, and now I’m experiencing all sorts of problems that I feel like attributing to the BIOS change + Vista SP1… I’d very much like to go back to where I was and start changing pieces one by one. I think I had 2.1.1, but I’m not sure. Any version earlier than 2.5.3 would be helpful.
Thanks in advance,
Edwin, from Costa Rica.
Dell certainly doesn’t keep old version online… they only post an old version when they have to pull an update. If I had a copy, I’d post it.
Still, if your system is under warranty (or under your credit card’s warranty extension) you may want to pursue a motherboard replacement.
Hey,
Thanks again for your reply! Really really appreciated. I ended up installing the latest one, 2.5.3, and reinstalling Vista from scratch. Everything seems to be working fine now… those Redmond guys keep us busy…
BTW, I found what seems to be an old BIOS firmware repository for my XPS 410 / 9200. It has everything from 2.0.4 to 2.5.3. Here it is, in case it is useful:
http://search.dell.com/results.aspx?s=gen&c=us&l=en&cs=&k=BIOS+DXP061&cat=sup&x=2&y=11
Thanks again for taking the time to reply. You’ve got a new friend in Costa Rica :)
Edwin
Hey I got one for you;
I installed a Q6700 to replace an E6600. Computer ran super-fast for about a week then it told me that the system did not support the CPU (In startup menu). Now it will not boot–after the start up menu is done the screen goes black. What was strange to me was that before the computer crashed I ran a test on the computer’s hardware and everthing checked out. In the System menu the computer recognized all the upgraded hardware including the CPU
someone told me to update my BIOS, others have said that the Q6700 processor isn’t compatable with the XPS 410 but that the Q6600 is.
What do you think?
ohano, i cannot say 100% that it does not support the Q6700, but i have been told that as well. I am looking at ugrading my cpu or motherboard (one or the other) on my dell xps 410. like you, i was told to go with the Q6600 and that it should work fine. might want to try and confirm this with an actual dell rep though. curious to see how it works out for you as i’m about to venture into that territory myself. thanks!
How do i get to the advanced bios on a inspiron 530?
Folks,
My XPS 410 been working fine since day one. I am trying to give it a tune up this week.
I updated the bios on my XPS 410 to 2.5.3 from 1.0.2(original). The update process is suppose to reboot the computer. I left it over night, and it never came out of reboot. I power cycle the machine in the morning. it still shows 1.0.2; for some reason the bios update failed. It now will not boot. The error message is
00/1F/2: ERROR allocating Upper Memory Block for PCI device
any suggestions?
I have a Radeon 2400 in there for a long time … never had any problem
thanks,
Victor
Best thing i can suggest is removing the clock/BIOS battery for 30 minutes, but that’s even a long shot.
BIOS updates can fry motherboards, just like any other firmware update. The good news is, XPS 410 motherboards aren’t too expensive on eBay anymore, you can replace it for under $100.
You might want to call Dell though, they might have some hidden warranty swap program for BIOS updates issued after the warranty expired. There is probably some implicit warranty that Dell has to provide in these circumstances. Good luck getting them to honor it though.
This might be a little late, but if you use the CMOS clear jumper it should reset it back to factory default.