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Mini-9 Bios update for Ubuntu?

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Latest post 07/28/2009 03:20 PM by ratman99uk. 19 replies.
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Joined on 11/17/2008
Posts: 9
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Mini-9 Bios update for Ubuntu?

18 Nov 2008 12:41AM

Hi, I've noticed that there are two new Bios versions for the mini-9 (A01 and A02).  My mini, which arrived 4 days ago, shipped with BIOS A00.  I've read elsewhere that there is a noticeable improvement in (bios) start-up time with A02.   The download page here: http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/driverslist.aspx?os=BIOSA&osl=EN&catid=-1&impid=-1&servicetag=&SystemID=INSPIRON910&hidos=WW1&hidlang=en&TabIndex= claims that the downloadable file can be run either from within windows or from a dos floppy, but it doesn't work from a dos floppy (well, I tried a dos usbstick).  When attempted it simply reports that it can't be run from within dos.

That seems to leave those of us with ubuntu minis out of luck on the bios update and quicker start-up times.

I did read on another forum someplace someone suggested using the dos flashing tool that is packaged with the A00 bios to flash the A02 bios.  Any comments here on whether that's advisable?

I'm very pleased with the mini hardware - really nicely done.  I did manage to compile a new kernel to see the full gigabyte of ram, and made a swap partition so it can hibernate...

 

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19 Replies:

Joined on 11/17/2008
Posts: 9
Points 165

Re: Mini-9 Bios update for Ubuntu?

19 Jan 2009 12:25PM

Well,  the bios that shipped in my mini-9 doesn't have F-11 and F-12, which after A02 are now Fn-X and Fn-Z.

I'd love to get rid of the beeping when the battery is starting to run low.  I don't know if that's been fixed in A04 or not.

One of the improvements listed on the A04 download page is:

> 7.Battery performance improvement.

which sounds useful.

 

And according to a post here:

http://mydellmini.com/forum/bios-upgrade-utility-split-from-bios-upgrade-failure-topic--t1063s10.html

There is a linux specific fix in A02

>  1.Support Brightness OSD control under Linux

 

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Joined on 11/17/2008
Posts: 9
Points 165

Re: Mini-9 Bios update for Ubuntu?

16 Feb 2009 07:40PM

Hooray!  There's now a dos version of A04 posted on the support downloads page.

 

Thanks!

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Joined on 01/11/2009
Posts: 2
Points 55

Re: Mini-9 Bios update for Ubuntu?

21 Apr 2009 08:29AM

Furthermore, the official dell service manual for the mini 9 indicates that there is an ubuntu bios upgrade available, but as far as I can tell there is not. See the relevant manual page here: http://support.euro.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins910/en/sm/bios.htm#wp1110066

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Joined on 01/17/2009
Posts: 9
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Re: Mini-9 Bios update for Ubuntu?

21 Apr 2009 11:12AM

There is a DOS installer for the A05 bios, and there was one for the A04 bios. Creating a freedos bootable stick from ubuntu is simple. Yes, a linux shell script to install the bios upgrade directly would be sweet, but at least there is a workable option.

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Joined on 07/28/2009
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Re: Mini-9 Bios update for Ubuntu?

28 Jul 2009 03:20PM

Hi All

I got my Mini 9 to upgrade to From A0 to A04 (A05 Would not work). To do this mephord you will need a USB floppy drive & disk and access to a Windows pc (sorry)

I take no responsibility for any loss of data or damage to your computer resulting from you following these inscructions or any part of the post. 

On the Windows PC I downloaded "Driver Free Disk For BIOS Flashing" from http://www.bootdisk.com/ (at time of writing the 1st mirror was dead but the second was ok) Running this exe creates a windows boot disk that only uses 112kb which gives you enough room for the bios update.

I then download the DOS version of the A04 bios (A05 Would not work see bottom of post). Click on the A05 Dos version and click "Other Versions" on the right hand side.  Once downloaded, unzip the bios and paste it into the floppy disk and boot on the mini 9 using the usb floppy drive (you may need to check boot order in bios)

Once you have the CLI enter "910A04.BAT" without the speechmarks followed by the enter key to start the update. While loading it beeped for each %, which was quite scary :) sounds like the battery low beep. Once its loaded it does everything its self, when it finsihed flashing (took around 1 / 2 min) the matchine rebooted by its self. The bios settings were all reset so any settings you made before the update will need to be re-entered.

I tried using the same mephord first with the A05 update but it said that the hardware wasnt the correct one ????

Ratman99UK

 

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