®®® Posted April 27, 2004 Report Share Posted April 27, 2004 Old news or already known? dontknow. Nevertheless here are the release notes: Dell Inc. Copyright (C) 2004, All Rights reserved. www.dell.com BIOS Release Notes =================================================================== =================================================================== Systems: Dell Inspiron 8600 Version: A07 Build Date: 04/14/04 **** PLEASE NOTE **** After upgrading to this BIOS the operating system may redetect some devices and you may be prompted to restart the computer to complete installation. This is expected behavior on certain systems. All of the devices will function properly after the redetection. **** PLEASE NOTE **** The following updates were made to the A06 BIOS to create the A07 BIOS: Issues Fixed: ============= 1. Fixed issues where the system fails to boot to certain USB storage devices or any USB storage when several such devices are attached to the system. 2. Fixed issue seen after several Standby/Resume cycles in which an external USB keyboard can no longer be used to enter a BIOS or hard-disk drive password. 3. Fixed problem where a reboot is required for a System Setup boot order change to take effect. Now, if <F2> is pressed during POST to enter System Setup, and a boot order change is made, the new boot order will take effect upon exiting System Setup. 4. Fixed issue in which no audio is received from the analog audio channel of a DVD-RW drive in the media bay. 5. Fixed issue in which media bay devices may be reported incorrectly in SMBIOS if the device is swapped while in Standby. 6. Fixed possible system hang during POST when the Parallel Mode in System Setup is configured to DISABLE. 7. Fixed issue in which QuickSet may intermittently fail to detect a hotkey press, such as the <Fn + F10> CD Eject hotkey. 8. Update to Pre-boot System Assessment to build 3012. This version addresses problems when executing the hard-disk drive tests without AC power attached. Enhancements: =============== 1. Added support for DVD+/-RW drives to be displayed in System Setup and SMBIOS correctly. 2. Added feature to allow the BIOS Admin password to unlock the primary hard-disk drive password. For this feature to work, the BIOS Admin password must be installed at the time the drive password is created. Also, the BIOS Admin password will only unlock the password for a drive that is installed in the specific system on which the drive password is originally created. 3. Added support for newer versions of the Intel Pentium M processor. The BIOS release has been validated on the following operating systems: 1. Microsoft Windows XP, Service Pack 1 =================================================================== =================================================================== Systems: Dell Inspiron 8600 Version: A06 Build Date: 03/31/04 **** PLEASE NOTE **** After upgrading to this BIOS the operating system may redetect some devices and you may be prompted to restart the computer to complete installation. This is expected behavior on certain systems. All of the devices will function properly after the redetection. **** PLEASE NOTE **** The following updates were made to the A05 BIOS to create the A06 BIOS: Issues Fixed: ============= 1. Fixed issue in which the serial port, parallel port and infrared port would not be seen by the operating system on some systems. Also fixes issue where, after upgrading to A05 BIOS, some systems may require an audio driver update. The BIOS release has been validated on the following operating systems: 1. Microsoft Windows XP, Service Pack 1 =================================================================== =================================================================== Systems: Dell Inspiron 8600 Version: A05 Build Date: 02/11/04 The following updates were made to the A04 BIOS to create the A05 BIOS: Issues Fixed: ============= 1. Fixed system hang seen when resuming from Standby after inserting an optical drive into the media bay while in Standby. 2. Fixed system hang seen when resuming from Standby if the user notifies the operating system to eject an optical drive before entering Standby, but the drive is never removed. Enhancements: =============== 1. Added support for identifying new DVD+/-RW drives in System Setup and in SMBIOS. The BIOS release has been validated on the following operating systems: 1. Microsoft Windows XP, Service Pack 1 =================================================================== =================================================================== Systems: Dell Inspiron 8600 Version: A04 Build Date: 01/12/04 The following updates were made to the A03 BIOS to create the A04 BIOS: Issues Fixed: ============= 1. Improved the battery charging algorithm for fully discharged batteries. 2. Fixed problem where a system running on batteries may resume immediately after entering a suspend state when the system is low on battery life. 3. Fixed issue in DOS where if a USB key is the boot device the System will hang for a few minutes before displaying an error message if the USB key is removed. 4. Improved dual-battery discharge algorithm. Discharge secondary battery first to 3%, then attempt to discharge primary battery to 3%, then secondary to 0% followed by primary to 0%. 5. Fixed an issue where the system may hang at the end of POST if a HUB with a USB device is connected. Enhancements: =============== 1. Added support for newer Intel MiniPCI wireless card. The BIOS release has been validated on the following operating systems: 1. Microsoft Windows XP, Service Pack 1 =================================================================== =================================================================== Systems: Dell Inspiron 8600 Version: A03 Build Date: 11/18/03 The following updates were made to the A02 BIOS to create the A03 BIOS: Enhancements: =============== 1. Added support for newer video controllers. The BIOS release has been validated on the following operating systems: 1. Microsoft Windows XP, Service Pack 1 =================================================================== =================================================================== Systems: Dell Inspiron 8600 Version: A02 Build Date: 09/30/03 The following updates were made to the A01 BIOS to create the A02 BIOS: Issues Fixed: ============= 1. Fixed hang seen when exiting Dell Diagnostics with a USB keyboard connected. 2. Fixed problem where System Setup may report the wrong CPU speed. 3. Fixed intermittent "unexpected error" seen when running the System BIOS flash update program in Windows. 4. Fixed intermittent abnormal NumLock LED behavior seen during POST. Enhancements: =============== 1. Reduced the minimum remaining battery capacity required to run the System BIOS flash update program in Windows. The flash update program requires that an AC adapter be attached and the battery be charged to at least 11%. 2. Added support for newer battery packs. The BIOS release has been validated on the following operating systems: 1. Microsoft Windows XP, Service Pack 1 =================================================================== =================================================================== Systems: Dell Inspiron 8600 Version: A01 Build Date: 08/27/03 Issues Fixed: ============= 1. Fixed hang seen during boot with the HP PSC2200 all-in-one USB printer attached. 2. Improved the dual-battery discharging algorithm. 3. Fixed problem where the system would shutdown if the battery drained to a critically low battery state while the system was in Standby. 4. Fixed problem where the battery LED will flash amber when the battery is swapped while in Standby. 5. Fixed problem where pressing <ALT-P> while in BIOS Setup will not function if the "Enable Keypad" option is set to "by NumLock". 6. Fixed problem where SMBIOS would not report an accurate battery capacity for a fully charged Dell supported battery. 7. Decreased the time required for the system to enter Standby after closing the lid. 8. Fixed a problem where a USB floppy attached to the system would be lost during the OS CD installation. Enhancements: =============== 1. Added support for new video controllers. 2. Optimized the thermal control algorithm. The BIOS release has been validated on the following operating systems: 1. Microsoft Windows XP, Service Pack 1 =================================================================== =================================================================== Systems: Dell Inspiron 8600 Version: A00 Build Date: 07/01/03 Initial release of the BIOS The BIOS release has been validated on the following operating systems: 1. Microsoft Windows XP, Service Pack 1 download here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.