Dell Copyright (C) 2003, All Rights reserved. www.dell.com BIOS Release Notes =================================================================== =================================================================== Systems: Dell Inspiron 8100 (Memory location F000:E845) Version: A15 (Memory location F000:E842) Build Date: 03/03/03 (Memory location FFFF:0005) ********************************************************************* ** IMPORTANT NOTE FOR THIS RELEASE ** 1. Users with systems equipped with nVidia video controllers must also download and install an updated video driver when upgrading to this BIOS. Failure to do so may prevent the LCD panel from operating at its optimal resolution or prevent the system from resuming from Standby. Please refer to the list of driver versions and file names below to find the correct driver for your operating system. Operating System Driver Version Driver File Name ------------------------------------------------------- Windows ME A07 NME1760.EXE Windows 2000 A15 NX2K2964.EXE Windows XP A15 NX2K2964.EXE ********************************************************************* The following updates were made to the A14 BIOS to create A15: Issues Fixed: 1. Fixed problem under Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 where a Matrox Millennium G450 PCI card installed in a C/Dock or C/DockII PCI slot would be listed in Device Manager with an error. 2. Fixed problem where the hot-key will not respond under ACPI with A/C attached and no batteries installed. 3. Fixed issue in which System Setup displays the wrong capacity for hard disk drives larger than 65GB. 4. Fixed issue in which modular bay and dock media bay drives may not be recognized correctly by SMBIOS under ACPI operating systems. 5. Fixed problem in which SMBIOS fails to notify Dell Open Manage Client Instrumentation of system fan failures. Enhancements: 1. Enhanced BIOS support to ensure Computrace Security Software operates consistently when new BIOS versions are released. 2. Added support for additional LCD panels. The BIOS release has been validated on the following operating systems: 1. Microsoft Windows 2000 ACPI - (nVidia GeForce2Go only) 2. Microsoft Windows XP =================================================================== =================================================================== Systems: Dell Inspiron 8100 (Memory location F000:E845) Version: A14 (Memory location F000:E842) Build Date: 10/28/02 (Memory location FFFF:0005) The following updates were made to the A13 BIOS to create the A14 BIOS: Issues Fixed: 1. Fixed issue in which ISA devices could not be manually reconfigured to use IRQ 10 in Device Manager. 2. Fixed issue in which some bootable CDs do not boot. 3. Improved accuracy of the battery discharge rate reported to ACPI for purposes of battery time remaining calculations. 4. Fixed issue in which some external serial port devices attached to the system may detect a break or framing error when the OS loads. 5. Fixed issue in which the OS may not be allowed to throttle the CPU after the system is resumed from Standby. 6. Fixed issue in which the internal modem may be redetected by the OS after enabling the modem to receive incoming calls then performing a system reboot. 7. Fixed intermittent issue in which the system may fail to complete POST with AC power attached and a fully discharged battery installed. 8. Fixed issue in which the user may need to suspend touchpad and trackstick use for several seconds before either device will respond. Enhancements: 1. Replaced with as the hotkey used to exit the One Time Boot Menu screen. 2. Improved battery status reporting algorithm to reduce time spent in SMM when updating the OS battery information. The BIOS release has been validated on the following operating systems: 1. Microsoft Windows 2000 ACPI - (nVidia GeForce2Go only) 2. Microsoft Windows XP =================================================================== =================================================================== Systems: Dell Inspiron 8100 (Memory location F000:E845) Version: A13 (Memory location F000:E842) Build Date: 08/22/02 (Memory location FFFF:0005) The following updates were made to the A12 BIOS to create A13: Issues Fixed: 1. Fixed audio and video stuttering observed when playing a DVD with 2 fully charged batteries installed. 2. Fixed issue in which the system stops responding after the user places the system in Standby, closes the lid then warm docks to a docking station with a CRT attached. 3. Fixed problem in which large file transfers using the serial port may fail. 4. Fixed problem where some bootable CD-ROMs may fail to boot. 5. Fixed problem in which an external CRT attached to the dock may not be active after hot-docking. 6. Fixed problem in which the system will not resume to both LCD and external CRT when resuming by opening the lid if an external CRT is attached. Enhancements: 1. Reduced the number of System Management Interrupts that occur when USB Legacy is enabled. The BIOS release has been validated on the following operating systems: 1. Microsoft Windows 2000 ACPI - (nVidia GeForce2Go only) 2. Microsoft Windows XP ====================================================================== ====================================================================== Systems: Dell Inspiron 8100 (Memory location F000:E845) Version: A12 (Memory location F000:E842) Build Date: 07/02/02 (Memory location FFFF:0005) The following updates were made to the A11 BIOS to create A12: Issues Fixed: 1. Fixed issue in which an external CRT may fail to turn on when the system is booted with the lid closed. 2. Fixed issue in which the displays flicker several times when using to toggle between an external CRT and the LCD. 3. Fixed issue in which USB devices may be disabled if multiple devices are reset at the same time. 4. Fixed issue in which a USB Intellimouse may fail to respond when attached to the same USB hub as a USB keyboard. 5. Improve CardBus NIC performance under ACPI by preventing the operating system from assigning CardBus devices to IRQ 9. Enhancements: 1. Added support for newer versions of the Pentium III processor. 2. Added support for additional LCD panels. The BIOS release has been validated on the following operating systems: 1. Microsoft Windows 2000 ACPI - (nVidia GeForce2Go only) 2. Microsoft Windows Millennium ACPI - (nVidia GeForce2Go only) 3. Microsoft Windows XP ====================================================================== ====================================================================== Systems: Dell Inspiron 8100 (Memory location F000:E845) Version: A11 (Memory location F000:E842) Build Date: 04/25/02 (Memory location FFFF:0005) The following updates were made to the A10 BIOS to create A11: Issues Fixed: 1. Fixed issue in which the serial port is not initialized properly preventing some serial comms applications from working. 2. Fixed issue in which ACPI may report that both batteries are charging even though only one can charge at a time. 3. Fixed issue seen when using Safeguard Easy security software in which a "No bootable devices" error is seen after entering the correct password. 4. Fixed issue in which the LCD panel fails to turn off when the lid action is set to none. 5. Fixed issue in which WinDVD will pause after a Standby is initiated from the Start Menu with USB speakers attached. 6. Fixed issue in which the user is not able to enter System Setup after booting to a CD-ROM drive. 7. Fixed issue where "Time-of-Day" intermittently shows up as all zeros. 8. Fixed issue seen when resuming from hibernate on battery power only in which the OS may report unsafe removal of a USB device. 9. Fixed issue where system does not correctly detect the battery when inserted and removed several times. 10. Fixed issue seen Windows 2000 and Windows XP in which a USB device may be re-enumerated after warm undock. 11. Fixed issue in which the OS does not always detect a battery change. 12. Fix CMOS error seen on some systems at POST (invalid CMOS configuration) after over 3 hours of continuous reboots. 13. Fixed issue in which the OS may report that a battery is charging even if the charger is disabled. 14. Fixed lock-ups seen when the BIOS password screen is repeatedly aborted (i.e. wrong password entered) and the system re-suspends. 15. Fixed issue in which the system loops on suspend when a critically low battery is installed. 16. Fix problem that leads to intermittent hangs when playing DVDs under Windows XP and Windows 2000. 17. Fixed intermittent flickering seen on some UXGA LCD panels. 18. Fixed fan low-speed startup procedure so that the fans do not run at the high-speed for 5 seconds before transitioning to the low-speed. This was causing the fan startup to be noisy. 19. Fixed issue in which the IDE activity LED stays on if the modular bay holds a battery or is empty. 20. Fixed issue in which the system fails to obtain an IP address from a DHCP server when booting from a PXE-compliant CardBus NIC. 21. Fixed issue seen under Windows ME in which a display switch may disable extended desktop or result in no video. 22. Fixed issue in which a suspend initiated by closing the lid may cause the LCD display to resume in compressed font mode. 23. Fixed issue in which some systems may fail to display the Dell Logo screen during POST. Enhancements: 1. Upgraded the nVidia video BIOS to version 3.11.01.44.B4. 2. Added support for faster resume from hibernate. 3. Configure PS/2 devices earlier in POST, allowing earlier detection of "F2" and "F12" keys. 4. Increased the amount of time before the system shuts down when swapping batteries without AC power attached when in suspend mode. 5. Allow changes to Touchpad/Mouse settings in System Setup to take effect immediately instead of requiring a reboot. The BIOS release has been validated on the following operating systems: 1. Microsoft Windows 2000 ACPI - (nVidia GeForce2Go only) 2. Microsoft Windows Millennium ACPI - (nVidia GeForce2Go only) 3. Microsoft Windows XP ====================================================================== ====================================================================== Systems: Dell Inspiron 8100 (Memory location F000:E845) Version: A10 (Memory location F000:E842) Build Date: 03/06/02 (Memory location FFFF:0005) The following updates were made to the A09 BIOS to create A10: Issues Fixed: 1. Fixed issue seen with new revisions of the nVidia video controller in which the LCD panel could display a "white screen" when powered on. Updated nVidia video BIOS to version 3.11.01.44.B2. 2. Fixed issue in which systems may fail to complete POST with 256MB RAM installed. 3. Fixed issue in which Remote BIOS Update may fail to update the BIOS. 4. Fixed issue in which the fans may remain on high speed constantly. The BIOS release has been validated on the following operating systems: 1. Microsoft Windows 2000 ACPI - (nVidia GeForce2Go only) 2. Microsoft Windows Millennium ACPI - (nVidia GeForce2Go only) 3. Microsoft Windows XP ====================================================================== ====================================================================== Systems: Dell Inspiron 8100 (Memory location F000:E845) Version: A09 (Memory location F000:E842) Build Date: 02/06/02 (Memory location FFFF:0005) The following updates were made to the A08 BIOS to create A09: Issues Fixed: 1. Fixed issue in which some batteries may permanently stop charging. The BIOS release has been validated on the following operating systems: 1. Microsoft Windows 2000 ACPI - (nVidia GeForce2Go only) 2. Microsoft Windows Millennium ACPI - (nVidia GeForce2Go only) 3. Microsoft Windows XP ====================================================================== ====================================================================== Systems: Dell Inspiron 8100 (Memory location F000:E845) Version: A08 (Memory location F000:E842) Build Date: 12/21/01 (Memory location FFFF:0005) The following updates were made to the A07 BIOS to create A08: Issues Fixed: 1. Fixed issue seen under WinXP in which the system may intermittently halt with a blue screen error message referencing "Nv4_disp.dll". 2. Fixed issue in which the TwinView settings under display properties are not saved after a reboot. 3. Fixed issue seen under Win2K in which the system may fail to display video on an external CRT when booted with the lid closed. 4. Fixed issue seen under ACPI Operating Systems in which the volume hotkeys do not update the mixer unless the mixer is open or audio is playing. 5. Fixed issue seen under WinXP in which ATAPI drives (CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, ZIP) are not recognized when hot-plugged if one of these drives was previously removed while in Suspend or Hibernate. 6. Fixed issue in which the system may fail to boot to a CardBus NIC. 7. Fixed issue in which booting to a ZIP250 drive may fail on some systems. 8. Fixed issue in which System Setup never reports batteries as Idle. 9. Fixed issue in which a system attached to a docking station will boot with the lid closed even though no external CRT is attached to the docked. Enhancements: 1. Removed Numlock settings for docked & undocked profiles in System Setup and added a new field called "Enable Keypad". This allow users to more accurately control the behavior of the internal keypad. 2. Optimized thermal control procedures to improve performance. 3. Optimized the battery charging algorithm. 4. Updated the nVidia video BIOS to version 3.11.01.44.23. The BIOS release has been validated on the following operating systems: 1. Microsoft Windows 2000 ACPI - (nVidia GeForce2Go only) 2. Microsoft Windows Millennium ACPI - (nVidia GeForce2Go only) 3. Microsoft Windows XP ====================================================================== ====================================================================== Systems: Dell Inspiron 8100 (Memory location F000:E845) Version: A07 (Memory location F000:E842) Build Date: 11/26/01 (Memory location FFFF:0005) The following updates were made to the A06 BIOS to create A07: Issues Fixed: 1. Updated SMBIOS to report the correct video controller. The BIOS release has been validated on the following operating systems: 1. Microsoft Windows 2000 ACPI - (nVidia GeForce2Go only) 2. Microsoft Windows Millennium ACPI - (nVidia GeForce2Go only) 3. Microsoft Windows XP ====================================================================== ====================================================================== Systems: Dell Inspiron 8100 (Memory location F000:E845) Version: A06 (Memory location F000:E842) Build Date: 11/12/01 (Memory location FFFF:0005) The following updates were made to the A04 BIOS to create A06: Enhancements: 1. Added support for the ATI Radeon 7500 graphics card. The BIOS release has been validated on the following operating systems: 1. Microsoft Windows 2000 ACPI - (nVidia GeForce2Go only) 2. Microsoft Windows Millennium ACPI - (nVidia GeForce2Go only) 3. Microsoft Windows XP ====================================================================== ====================================================================== Systems: Dell Inspiron 8100 (Memory location F000:E845) Version: A05 (Memory location F000:E842) Build Date: 10/29/01 (Memory location FFFF:0005) The following updates were made to the A04 BIOS to create A05: This BIOS was not released to manufacturing. ====================================================================== ====================================================================== Systems: Dell Inspiron 8100 (Memory location F000:E845) Version: A04 (Memory location F000:E842) Build Date: 09/13/01 (Memory location FFFF:0005) The following updates were made to the A03 BIOS to create A04: Issues Fixed: 1. Fixed issue in which the system may intermittently display a "no boot device available" message when attempting to boot to any device other than the floppy disk drive. Enhancements: 1. Added support for new versions of Intel Pentium processors. 2. Added additional optimizations to the battery charging algorithm. The BIOS release has been validated on the following operating systems: 1. Microsoft Windows 2000 ACPI 2. Microsoft Windows Millennium ACPI 3. Microsoft Windows XP ====================================================================== ====================================================================== Systems: Dell Inspiron 8100 (Memory location F000:E845) Version: A03 (Memory location F000:E842) Build Date: 08/30/01 (Memory location FFFF:0005) The following updates were made to the A02 BIOS to create A03: Enhancements: 1. Optimized the battery charging algorithm. The BIOS release has been validated on the following operating systems: 1. Microsoft Windows 2000 ACPI 2. Microsoft Windows Millennium ACPI ====================================================================== ====================================================================== Systems: Dell Inspiron 8100 (Memory location F000:E845) Version: A02 (Memory location F000:E842) Build Date: 08/07/01 (Memory location FFFF:0005) The following updates were made to the A01 BIOS to create A02: Issues Fixed: 1. Fixed issue with SpeedStep transition after resume. The BIOS release has been validated on the following operating systems: 1. Microsoft Windows 2000 ACPI 2. Microsoft Windows Millennium ACPI ====================================================================== ====================================================================== Systems: Dell Inspiron 8100 (Memory location F000:E845) Version: A01 (Memory location F000:E842) Build Date: 08/03/01 (Memory location FFFF:0005) The following updates were made to the A00 BIOS to create A01: Issues Fixed: 1. Fixed the processor-type description in SMBIOS to report "Geyserville Capable". 2. Fixed the PCMCIA capabilities description in SMBIOS to report supported functionality. 3. Fixed the audio type in SMBIOS to report the correct audio manufacturer. 4. Report the presence of a FireWire port in SMBIOS. 5. Report the presence of an S-Video port in SMBIOS. The BIOS release has been validated on the following operating systems: 1. Microsoft Windows 2000 ACPI 2. Microsoft Windows Millennium ACPI ====================================================================== ====================================================================== Systems: Dell Inspiron 8100 (Memory location F000:E845) Version: A00 (Memory location F000:E842) Build Date: 07/08/01 (Memory location FFFF:0005) Initial release of the BIOS Video BIOS is nVidia 3.11.01.13.12 The BIOS release has been validated on the following operating systems: 1. Microsoft Windows 2000 ACPI 2. Microsoft Windows Millennium ACPI