BIOS upgrades that don't require Windows

August 25, 2008

Posted By:  datawolf

510 Votes

Status: Archived

Promote

BIOS upgrades shouldn't require Windows. A bootable BIOS upgrade CD should be available.

I'm an Ubuntu Linux user. I bought my wife a laptop from a different manufacturer, which had Vista preinstalled. My wife refused to agree to the terms of the Vista End User License. But she had some problem that made the system almost unusable under Linux, which was fixed by a BIOS update. But the BIOS updater could only be run under Vista. No bootable CD. Wouldn't even work under Windows XP! In the end, we were forced to agree to the Vista License just to be able to upgrade the BIOS.

Now, I'm looking at buying a Dell Studio 17 notebook, but I see the same issue: the BIOS upgrade says it can only be run from Vista. So, I'm still shopping around with other manufacturers. That's the only thing keeping me from buying the Studio 17.

DELL/ Status Update

Please see matt_d's comment

510 Votes | 26 Comments | Report Abuse

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  • Jul 20, 2010     Comment Link

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    Posted By: shannon_vanwagner

    Dell should do this like HP does..

    With the new HP machines, all you do is burn the BIOS image *.bin to a cdrom, then boot the computer into setup and select "Flash Firmware". You then get to point to the CDROM for the update, the *.bin file is seen on the cd and you load it. Simple. This is the best way to do it because no external tools beyond a cdrom or usb flash drive would be needed.

    Shannon VanWagner
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  • Aug 31, 2009     Comment Link

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    Posted By: toebee

    Unfortunately it looks like the progress on this has slowed. The "fix" to allow bisodisk to work on images > 1.44MB was never completed and and the newest BIOS update for my Optiplex is not available from the repositories yet. So I can't update my BIOS without windows. This is especially annoying because there is a big bug in the current version and I know for a fact that it has been fixed in the new one... which I can't install yet. I am specifically looking for update A03 for an OptiPlex 760 with system ID of 0x027F. The windows based updater was released a couple of months ago.
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  • Jan 15, 2009     Comment Link

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    Posted By: koalastan

    Datawolf. If we all could combine your aims and point them at the money mongers we just may win. For a start all windows O/S should be free with the manufaturer taking the burden costs, to promote their systems.

    Everytime there is a change in OS we have to bear the cost , Why?. they should also ensure no virus attacks their system.

    Why is Apple  expensive in comparative terms ,simply it sees the faults of our Window systems.


    Koalastan.  UK  
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  • Dec 3, 2008     Comment Link

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    Posted By: maria987

    This is a great idea. You should post it to other websites too, like http://reinventmobile.com/submit-ideas.php or other sites that are looking for new ideas.
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  • Dec 3, 2008     Comment Link

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    Posted By: winoffice

    I myself am a Windows user, but I agree that BIOS updates should not require it.
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  • Dec 3, 2008     Comment Link

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    Posted By: davidovid

    Great idea! 
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  • Oct 14, 2008     Comment Link

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    Posted By: der_vegi

    Well, my Inspiron 1501 is on this "very short list". So I am wondering a little about the "Already offered" tag, as I never had the chance to update my bios not owning a Windows license.
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  • Oct 7, 2008     Comment Link

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    Posted By: ewalk153

    @matt_d - I appreciate your candor in this form. I would consider it **ALREADY OFFERED** or **IMPLEMENTED** if there was one page under http://linux.dell.com/wiki/index.php that listed the statuses of all firmwares in progress. I understand that the list might be quite long to begin with but that way, the community could track the progress as the remaining BIOS firmwares are checked off. It falls into the same category of openness promoted by this site. Just a thought...
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  • Sep 28, 2008     Comment Link

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    Posted By: izach

    CouldnGÇÖt agree more. BIOS suppose to deal directly with the machine hardware configuration, and just because Windows has been the deFacto op sys for so long, shouldn't preclude other op sys from the same prerogatives.
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  • Sep 16, 2008     Comment Link

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    Posted By: dhart

    @matt_d that progress sounds promising! Is it clear to Dell customers, when they buy a new PC, which models require Windows for BIOS updates and which models do not? In any case, the status of this idea should be an honest reflection of the the current state of Dell's product offering and be changed to **PARTIALLY IMPLEMENTED** to be updated to **ALREADY OFFERED** only when ALL new models can be BIOS updated without requiring Windows.

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