[wolfi]

Also updated to A02. No changes discovered so far.

[medicThree]

After having spent 30 minutes in dell support chat, I have been told the only change is "IMPROVED POWER MANAGEMENT"

Supposedly there are visible changes in the bios.

[Dunhamzzz]

pah the link to download it from Dell is broken..

-edit I navigated to it and it was fine.

[GerallK]

I've noticed a problem / strange set of symptoms since my upgrade to A02.

On booting (hot or cold), the display is dimmed to minimal brightness. This happens whether the power supply is plugged in or not.

You can log in and get to a desktop, but the Fn+9 / Fn+10 keys do not make the screen brightness change. If you change the state of the power supply (plug it in if it were unplugged, remove it if it were plugged in), the screen jumps to the previous level of brightness.

I'm using stock Dell Mini Ubuntu. Has anyone else noticed this behavior?

Thanks for any feedback --

[Jazz1]

Originally Posted by medicThree

After having spent 30 minutes in dell support chat, I have been told the only change is "IMPROVED POWER MANAGEMENT"

Supposedly there are visible changes in the bios.

If power management is the "big thing" here I think I will wait on this. If there is yet another update in the future can you jump to the next new update, or do you have to do a series in sequence? Thus playing Russian Roulette several times to get to the latest, greatest? Sorry these kinds of updates make me nervous as heck.

[nickF]

If there is yet another update in the future can you jump to the next new update, or do you have to do a series in sequence?

I just updated from A00 to A02, with no issues. Running Ubuntu mini.

[stevek99]

Wondering how you managed to update the bios in ubuntu?

[nickF]

Originally Posted by stevek99

Wondering how you managed to update the bios in ubuntu?

Follow directions here:
bios-upgrade-fails-t227s10.html#p6722

As for creating a bootable USB drive:

1a. if the PC is equipped with a floppy drive, make a bootable floppy (using the format utility)

1b. If the PC is not equipped with a floppy, create a virtual one, using the the [free] "virtual floppy driver" from here:
http://chitchat.at.infoseek.co.jp/vmware/vfd.html

2. Install the HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool Version 2.0.6
http://www.bootdisk.com/plan40/hpflash1.zip

3. Run the HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool to format the USB drive. The program would need to use a DOS file image, so redirect it to the real or virtual floppy A:

4. The USB drive is now bootable.

[dougma]

Thanks to somms' utility I successfully upgraded my Ubuntu (8.10) Mini's BIOS to A02 this morning. I ran the utility on a PC at work to create a bootable USB stick.

I noticed that Fn-Z is now F11 and Fn-X is F12.

Also noticed -- throwing gasoline on the fire here -- that my Xorg.0.log is showing 256MB of video memory ('grep VideoRam /var/log/Xorg.0.log), though I did not think to check this before the upgrade.

There is some weirdness with the screen brightness coming out of suspend (to RAM); haven't played with that enough yet to know what's going on.

[somms]

Fixed:
1.Fix abnormal brightness on UBUNTU OS

From changelog of A90_A02 BIOS which has probably been included in 910_A03 BIOS both dated 11/12/08...

**************************************************************************
BIOS Release Notification
==========================================================================
KIZ00 (Sears Tower)       (A02)                                   11/12/2008
==========================================================================
[BIOS Version]
SYS BIOS : KIZSTA02.WPH
EC  BIOS : K38A020A.ROM

SYS BIOS Ver : (A02)
EC  BIOS Ver : (X20)

[Checksum]:
1MB          Checksum: DF48h
KIZSTA02.WPH Checksum: DAEAh

[Notification]:
        1. Update Boot Block: NO
        2. Perform the CMOS load default after BIOS update is requirement.

[SYSTEM BIOS]:

        Modified:
          1.Rename BIOS version from X04 to A02

[EC BIOS]:
   None.

[Notes]:
   1. How to flash BIOS:
            a. Please use phlash16.exe V1.6.8.7
            b. Use "FLASHB.BAT" to flash without BootBolck
              "Flash /x /MODE=3 KIZSTA02.wph"

        2. Please use WinPhlash V1.6.6.0 for Windows Flash

     3. Before test HDD password feature , please make sure SDD firmware is support HDD password.

   4. This BIOS unable to charge Non-DELL battery
**************************************************************************
==========================================================================
KIZ00 (Sears Tower)       (X04)                                   11/11/2008
==========================================================================
[BIOS Version]
SYS BIOS : KIZSTX04.WPH
EC  BIOS : K38A020A.ROM

SYS BIOS Ver : (X04)
EC  BIOS Ver : (X20)

[Checksum]:
1MB          Checksum: D940h
KIZSTX04.WPH Checksum: D4FBh

[Notification]:
        1. Update Boot Block: NO
        2. Perform the CMOS load default after BIOS update is requirement.

[SYSTEM BIOS]:

        Fixed:
          1.Fix abnormal brightness on UBUNTU OS

[EC BIOS]:
   Rename EC version from X19 to X20.

[Notes]:
   1. How to flash BIOS:
            a. Please use phlash16.exe V1.6.8.7
            b. Use "FLASHB.BAT" to flash without BootBolck
              "Flash /x /MODE=3 KIZSTX04.wph"

        2. Please use WinPhlash V1.6.6.0 for Windows Flash

     3. Before test HDD password feature , please make sure SDD firmware is support HDD password.

   4. This BIOS unable to charge Non-DELL battery
**************************************************************************
==========================================================================
KIZ00 (Sears Tower)       (A01)                                   10/28/2008
==========================================================================
[BIOS Version]
SYS BIOS : KIZSTA01.WPH
EC  BIOS : K38A019A.ROM

SYS BIOS Ver : (A01)
EC  BIOS Ver : (X19)

[Checksum]:
1MB          Checksum: 3D43h
KIZSTA01.WPH Checksum: 3E84h

[Notification]:
        1. Update Boot Block: NO
        2. Perform the CMOS load default after BIOS update is requirement.

[SYSTEM BIOS]:

        Modified:
          1.Rename BIOS version from X03 to A01

[EC BIOS]:
   None.

[Notes]:
   1. How to flash BIOS:
            a. Please use phlash16.exe V1.6.8.7
            b. Use "FLASHB.BAT" to flash without BootBolck
              "Flash /x /MODE=3 KIZSTA01.wph"

        2. Please use WinPhlash V1.6.6.0 for Windows Flash

     3. Before test HDD password feature , please make sure SDD firmware is support HDD password.

   4. This BIOS unable to charge Non-DELL battery
**************************************************************************
==========================================================================
KIZ00 (Sears Tower)       (X03)                                   10/16/2008
==========================================================================
[BIOS Version]
SYS BIOS : KIZSTX03.WPH
EC  BIOS : K38A019A.ROM

SYS BIOS Ver : (X03)
EC  BIOS Ver : (X19)

[Checksum]:
1MB          Checksum: D044h
KIZSTX03.WPH Checksum: CBFEh

[Notification]:
        1. Update Boot Block: NO
        2. Perform the CMOS load default after BIOS update is requirement.

[SYSTEM BIOS]:
   None

[EC BIOS]:
   Modified:
      1.> Add new hotkey.(Fn+Z->F11; Fn+X->F12)

[Notes]:
   1. How to flash BIOS:
            a. Please use phlash16.exe V1.6.8.7
            b. Use "FLASHB.BAT" to flash without BootBolck
              "Flash /x /MODE=3 KIZSTX03.wph"

        2. Please use WinPhlash V1.6.6.0 for Windows Flash

     3. Before test HDD password feature , please make sure SDD firmware is support HDD password.

   4. This BIOS unable to charge Non-DELL battery

**************************************************************************
==========================================================================
KIZ00 (Sears Tower)       (A00)                                   09/15/2008
==========================================================================
[BIOS Version]
SYS BIOS : KIZSTA00.WPH
EC  BIOS : K38A018A.ROM

SYS BIOS Ver : (A00)
EC  BIOS Ver : (X18)

[Checksum]:
1MB          Checksum: 1C8Dh
KIZSTA00.WPH Checksum: 182Dh

[Notification]:
        1. Update Boot Block: NO
        2. Perform the CMOS load default after BIOS update is requirement.

[SYSTEM BIOS]:

        Modified:
          1.Rename BIOS version from X02 to A00

[EC BIOS]:
   None.

[Notes]:
   1. How to flash BIOS:
            a. Please use phlash16.exe V1.6.8.7
            b. Use "FLASHB.BAT" to flash without BootBolck
              "Flash /x /MODE=3 KIZSTA00.wph"

        2. Please use WinPhlash V1.6.6.0 for Windows Flash

     3. Before test HDD password feature , please make sure SDD firmware is support HDD password.

   4. This BIOS unable to charge Non-DELL battery
**************************************************************************
==========================================================================
KIZ00 (Sears Tower)       (X02)                                   09/05/2008
==========================================================================
[BIOS Version]
SYS BIOS : KIZSTX02.WPH
EC  BIOS : K38A018A.ROM

SYS BIOS Ver : (X02)
EC  BIOS Ver : (X18)

[Checksum]:
1MB          Checksum: 8B9Dh
KIZSTX02.WPH Checksum: 8756h

[Notification]:
        1. Update Boot Block: NO
        2. Perform the CMOS load default after BIOS update is requirement.

[SYSTEM BIOS]:

        Modified:
          1.Update DELL customer LOGO for Sears Tower.
          2.Update Intel CPU Micro Code (from M04106C2208 to M04106C220A)

   Fixed:
     1.If no battery plugged can't be flash BIOS when AC only
     2.Sometimes system hang on POST Logo when press function key ( 2=Setup Menu or 0=Boot Menu ).
     3.The upper-left USB port don't support wake from S3.[CC034]
     4.Sometimes USB keyboard can't detect after resume from S3 on upper-left USB port.[CC038]
     5.BIOS password lost when CMOS fail issue

   Implement:
     1.Support Brightness OSD control under Linux
     2.BT & WLAN will enable when load BIOS default.

[EC BIOS]:
   Fixed:
          1.> Fix the issue that system LED will blink when EC initial.

   Modified:
     1.> Modify the keyboard matrix for Korean.
     2.> Modify the Authentication function.

[Notes]:
   1. How to flash BIOS:
            a. Please use phlash16.exe V1.6.8.7
            b. Use "FLASHB.BAT" to flash without BootBolck
              "Flash /x /MODE=3 KIZSTX02.wph"

        2. Please use WinPhlash V1.6.6.0 for Windows Flash

     3. Before test HDD password feature , please make sure SDD firmware is support HDD password.

   4. This BIOS unable to charge Non-DELL battery
**************************************************************************
==========================================================================
KIZ00 (Sears Tower)       (X01)                                   08/14/2008
==========================================================================
[BIOS Version]
SYS BIOS : KIZSTX01.WPH
EC  BIOS : K38A016A.ROM

SYS BIOS Ver : (X01)
EC  BIOS Ver : (X16)

[Checksum]:
1MB          Checksum: ACBEh
KIZSTX01.WPH Checksum: A460h

[Notification]:
        1. Update Boot Block: NO
        2. Perform the CMOS load default after BIOS update is requirement.

[SYSTEM BIOS]:
        Update System ID(02B2h) , Product Name(Vostro A90) and POST logo for Sears Tower

[EC BIOS]:
   None.

[Notes]:
   1. How to flash BIOS:
            a. Please use phlash16.exe V1.6.8.7
            b. Use "FLASHB.BAT" to flash without BootBolck
              "Flash /x /MODE=3 KIZSTX01.wph"

        2. Please use WinPhlash V1.6.6.0 for Windows Flash

     3. Before test HDD password feature , please make sure SDD firmware is support HDD password.

   4. This BIOS unable to charge Non-DELL battery
**************************************************************************