[lug] BIOS help

[Hugh Brown]

On Thu, Oct 25, 2007 at 07:51:24AM -0600, Adams, Scott (FGWA-CO) wrote:
> I recently had a laptop with BIOS version A03. I decided that it was
> time to upgrade bios. Followed instructions for a harddrive update for
> the BIOS to version A11. After that the video would not work. I have
> searched google for several hours. The best solution I can find is that
> I need to downgrade my BIOS to A09. This laptop does not have a floppy
> and the harddrive update for A09 says that is a newer BIOS on machine so
> it won't install. Now for my questions. How do I downgrade my bios or
> even reset it? Also I cannot find a battery or info about one, do all
> computers have a removable CMOS battery??
> 
>  
> 
> Scott Adams
> 
>  

You are really at the mercy of the maker of the BIOS flashing tool. If they won't let you downgrade you are likely stuck.  Sometimes the flashing tool with have command line flags for altering behavior.  It's also possible that the BIOS flashing tool and A09 BIOS can be put on a usb stick and the upgrade performed that way.  I'd look for a utility to convert the floppy image to a suitable usb image.

 Removing the CMOS battery will only reset the A11 bios to its default settings.  As far as locating it, I'd look at the service manuals for your laptop from the dell support website (from the bios version numbers I'm assuming it is a dell). 

Good luck.

Hugh