[Dunhamzzz]

Last night I spent some alone time with my flock of Dell Minis to get the BIOS all up to date for them. For those of you who don't know, BIOS stands for Basic Input/Output System and is basically what initializes your computers hardware when you turn it on. Upgrading the BIOS can have various benefits, from speeding up your system, prolonging battery life and giving pesky hardware a new lease of life.

Below is a list of links to the latest BIOS revision for each Mini.

Dell Mini 9
Version: A05
Released: 19th April 2009
Dell Info Page: Drivers & Downloads
Download: ftp://ftp.dell.com/bios/QHA05.exe

Dell Mini 12
Version: A04
Released: 8th May 2009
Information: Drivers and Downloads
Download: ftp://ftp.dell.com/bios/YaoMingA04.exe

Dell Mini 10
Version: A11
Released: 29th October 2009
Dell Info Page: Drivers and Downloads
Download: ftp://ftp.dell.com/bios/R246063.exe

Dell Mini 10v
Version: A06
Released: 3rd November 2009
Dell Info Page: Drivers and Downloads
Download: ftp://ftp.dell.com/bios/R246690.exe


Dell Latitude 2100
Version: A02
Released: 12th August 2009
Information: Drivers and Downloads
Download: ftp://ftp.dell.com/bios/M2100A02.EXE


Dell Inspiron 11z
Version: A04
Released: 23rd October 2009
Information: Drivers and Downloads
Download: ftp://ftp.dell.com/bios/R242997.exe

For any Dell products that I haven't included, the appropiate BIOS utility can be found at the Dell Support Site.

Upgrading your BIOS couldn't be easier. Just run the program which takes only a few minutes and after a restart you're ready to go. Just make sure your Mini is running on either external power or has a battery charge of at least 10%. It is important that you do not interrupt the BIOS "flashing" process as a corrupt BIOS = a Corrupt PC that simply won't turn on. This is of course while I feel the need to say UPGRADE YOUR SYSTEM BIOS AT YOUR OWN RISK.

[moongdss]

Still no love for the Ubuntu Mini D:

[somms]

FWIW: The risk of 'bricking' your Mini attempting to flash the BIOS under Windoze is much greater than if you were to flash under DOS which these Compal/Dell BIOS WILL support...you have been warned!

[DELLsFan]

Originally Posted by somms

FWIW: The risk of 'bricking' your Mini attempting to flash the BIOS under Windoze is much greater than if you were to flash under DOS which these Compal/Dell BIOS WILL support...you have been warned!

True this ... Plus ... upgrading your BIOS can also have consequences if you are using third party batteries. Sometimes upgrading just for the sake of upgrading can be counterproductive.

[Montala]

Unfortunately, as Dell don't (as far as I know) publish 'change logs' when they release a new BIOS version, I do like to think that they update them for specific reasons, or as a result of certain problems or incompatibilities, which either their 'test department' has found, or which users have regularly reported back to them.

Many thanks to Dunhamzzz for his list, but what I would also like to see here is the actual version of the BIOS which Dell are currently shipping for each model, where it is different from the ones he has listed.

As an example, it has taken Dell about 2 months or so to make BIOS version A06 available as a download for the Mini 10v, so perhaps users could report if they have actually received their Minis with a later version than any of those shown.

Just a suggestion anyway!

[somms]

Originally Posted by Montala

Unfortunately, as Dell don't (as far as I know) publish 'change logs' when they release a new BIOS version, I do like to think that they update them for specific reasons, or as a result of certain problems or incompatibilities, which either their 'test department' has found, or which users have regularly reported back to them.

http://www.mydellmini.com/forum/dell-mini-10-discussion/12837-dell-inspiron-1010-system-bios-dell-internal-codename-tigera11-rom.html

Actually, some Dell/Compal BIOS'es do contain very detailed change logs like the latest Mini10 A11 BIOS linked above albeit these logs are usually buried within the executable. I think you would almost have to be a Compal BIOS programmer to decipher some of these changes therefore Dell's announced BIOS changes lack some of this detail...

[Dunhamzzz]

Originally Posted by somms

FWIW: The risk of 'bricking' your Mini attempting to flash the BIOS under Windoze is much greater than if you were to flash under DOS which these Compal/Dell BIOS WILL support...you have been warned!

Yeah I know but I still think the chances are quite low though. I've done pretty much every upgrade as it comes and it's always worked. I jsut made sure each time there was ample power and I did a reboot before (and obviously after)
to ensure the system had maximum resources available.

It is possible to recover with a floppy drive. but obviously you really wouldn;t want to put yourself in that situation!

[ZeroKuhl]

Hi folk,

for people having horizontal lines (like false refresh rate) at their Mini 10 HD display use the A11 bios. This help me to solve the problem. I think it is bevause of the change from 45 to 66 MHz WWAN think.

Greetings Zero