Can't update BIOS on Dell XPS 400

[ngoodacre]

The BIOS upgrade for my MOB downloaded from Dell is an executable Binary that should run under Windows XP or 7, but returns the message "Cannot Flash the BIOS- try again as system administrator". The latter does not work either.

Upgrading BIOS is a controversial process, I know, so perhaps I have been spared disaster, but I'm now fascinated by the proble, but I'm not going to try again without a recovery plan if I brick the BIOS.
For this reason I want to get hold of a replacement MOB, or compatible (i.e BTX form factor), possibly with 4 Gb of memory while I'm at it, and the latest BIOS. However, none of the sites advertising replacement MOBs specify what the BIOS is or the revision level that is supported.

Any ideas?

 

[ngoodacre]

Having looked at the problems that folk had had trying to install replacement MB's - even of the required BTX form-factor - I decided it would be less hazardous to bite the bullet and try again to flash the BIOS on my current board. The problem encountered on my previous attempts to do this turned out to be that the BIOS update file provided by Dell would not run under a 64-bit OS- such as my Windows 7 (understandable as it was released 8 years ago!).

I created an MS-DOS bootable USB drive (see URL below) and added the BIOS update. Then booted in from the USB drive and ran the update under MS-DOS. Worked like a charm.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/46707-ms-dos-bootable-flash-drive-create.html

 

[ngoodacre]

This issue has been resolved, as described in the previous post