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BAY WOLF'S SUPPORT |
Most Dell Forum users recommend to use ONLY the Floppy disk method of updating the BIOS. But you don't have a floppy disk. What do you do? This is becoming a bigger problem since Dell does not include the floppy disk standard on the newer notebook models and people are trying to save money by not ordering the optional USB floppy disk. If you have access to another computer that has a floppy disk, you can create a bootable CD with the BIOS update on it and use it to flash the BIOS. Below is step by step instructions on how to create the bootable CD using Ahead's Nero Burning ROM. NOTE: The following instructions refer to Version 6.0 of Nero Burning ROM. Earlier versions will be slightly different. If you have version 5.5, visit here for instructions.
Step 1: Download the Floppy disk version BIOS update for your notebook and save it to a temporary folder. Then run (double-click) it to unzip the set of files. Follow the instructions to create a set of floppy diskettes. Click Here to see an example of what version to download. It is very important that you download the correct file.
Step 2: With the floppy BIOS disk that you just created in the floppy drive, start the Nero Burning ROM program.
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Step 3 You should now see this window. Scroll down the left pane until you see CD-ROM (Boot). Double click on it. |
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Step 4 The Boot tab will now appear. Under "Bootable logical drive", make sure that you select the A:\ 1.44 MB Under the "Expert Settings" section, make sure everything is identical to this example. This is critical to creating a working bootable CD. The "Floppy Emulation" will make your notebook think that your CDROM is your A:\ drive. |
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Step 5 Click on the "ISO" tab. Select "Max of 11 = 8+ 3" if it is not already showing. The Format must be "Mode 1" and the Character set needs to be ISO 9660. |
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Step 6 Click on the "Label" tab and enter your volume label. Then click on the "New" button. |
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Step 7 If the computer that you are using has a CD burner in it, you can burn the image directly to the CDR or CDRW. I am going to assume that this computer does not have a CD burner and will create the ISO image file. On the drop down menu, click on "Image Recorder". You could also use the key combination of CTRL + r. Choose "Image Recorder" and then click on the "OK" button. |
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Step 8 Then open the Write CD Dialog by clicking on the button that the arrow is pointing at.. |
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Step 9 Make sure Write and Finalize CD are checked. Now click on the Burn Button. |
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Step 10 If you are burning the image directly to a CD, you will not see this dialog. The Save Image File Dialog will appear. Select the folder that you want to save this image file to and name it. Select "Save as type" to be ISO Image Files (*.iso). This file type can be used by most CD burning programs. Once you have done this, click on the "Save" button. |
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Step 11 The Write CD Dialog will appear and will show you the progress of the image creation. |
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Step 12 Once the image is created, you will have the option to Save Log, Print Log or Done. Normally, I just click on Done. |
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Step 13 You now have an ISO image file of the bootable CD BIOS update files that you can burn to a CD with your favorite burning software package. |
Step 14: Now that you have created the Image File and burned it to a CD, you can update your BIOS safely. To update the BIOS, have the CD that you just created in the CDROM and reboot your notebook. When you see the Dell BIOS Splash Screen, hit F2 and set the boot order so that the CDROM is first in line. Save the change to the BIOS and exit the BIOS Setup. I would not suggest using F12 unless you are sure how your BIOS update takes place. Some of the updates automatically reboots the computer to finish the BIOS update. Now reset your BIOS Boot Order to however you want it. To learn how to burn a CD from an ISO image file using Nero Burning ROM Version 6, take a look at this web page. |
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