Question Dell 3020 Cannot Update BIOS

[mlxllc]

Having exhausted all my options, I figured I'd stop by Tom's Hardware for guru advice.
I have a Dell 3020 desktop that is stuck at BIOS ver A02. The latest ver is A20.
I have download the .exe BIOS update files for every version in between.

The process I am using it to hit F12 and using the BIOS Update Option.
The BIOS update file is on a USB stick formatted to FAT32.
The BIOS update IS able to find the update file.

However, once I click start, rather than seeing the nice progress bar, the screen flashes to off, no signal from PC and it just sits there.

This PC has always exhibited a strange behavior in that it never fully reboots on it's own. If I hit reboot, it shuts down, but again, just sits there.

Wondering if anyone can point me in the right direction of a possible fix, perhaps it's a bad jumper setting.

Here are the Motherboard specifics:

M1H81R / Tigris MT MB
12124-1M
490P1$ FA
Dell PN: 490P1 Rev A00

The Power supply is NOT the original.
I replaced it with a Thermaltake 430W Smart Series supply.

If memory serves, I recall having some question as to the power connection.
Looking at the power connections now, I see the header marked : HDD_ODD_PWR has nothing connected. Only the ATX connection using an adapter to the old style MB power plug. I can include photos. Could that be a problem?

System has been working fine for over a year, but my seagate green drive just STB and is forcing me to re-evaluate the entire system.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[mlxllc]

Thanks for that detail buckeye...

So , just to recap:
I have a FAT32 formatted 4Gb USB stick with the MBR installed per the procedure.
On that disk I have the custom menu.lst file and the grldr file.
I also have the A20 and A15 copies of the BIOS .exe files in the root of the USB drive.

Before I proceed, I'd like any opinions on why at A02 the PC does not do a soft restart on it's own. I keep going back to that issue in my head as the reason for the BIOS update failure.

Dry Run:
I am able to boot the USB stick, but get a menu (as the menu.lst defines) asking to boot from a "floppy boot image - Win98SE".

I'm assuming I just click 'c" for command line and run the update file by typing it's name.

I have the following prompt after clicking "c" and doing an "ls".

grub > System\ Volume\ Information menu.lst grldr o302a15.exe o302a20.exe

Think I need to rename those BIOS files to remove the .exe extension...right?

Will proceed upon review and reply. Thanks again!

(note: I forget to add the Windows98_SE.img file...doing that now...)

 

[mlxllc]

Also wanted to add that the Service Mode jumper is NOT installed. Says NC = Disabled.

 

[mlxllc]

I added the Windows98_SE.img to the USB stick, booted it and it loaded.
I then ran the BIOS update file for ver A15 which loaded and went through all the apparent paces.

The PC then shut down, but did not power off.
My guess is that it wanted to restart, but as before, it won't soft restart.

So, I waited a few minutes of black screen and cycled the power.

I then booted Windows 10 from the hard drive and everything went fine....however, when I run MSINFO32.exe it still shows BIOS version A02.

Also tried going to A03, rather than a large jump to A15. No joy.

This is looking like a lost cause.

bios update screenshot

 

[KabutoKunPC]

@mlxllc
I’m really intrigued by this problem. 🤔
After further research, this seems to be a common bug in BIOS A02 for Optiplex 3020; there are several complaints online about the same symptoms (no soft reboot).

According to DELL’s website, BIOS A02 is dated 24 Feb 2014 and BIOS A03 is dated 18 Apr 2014. I’d say that the 3020 motherboard you own was manufactured sometime between those dates, so you got BIOS A02 flashed from factory. This means that not many 3020 motherboards suffer from this issue.

User “tifoketal” at the official DELL forums claims that he solved the problem by “reflashing the bios chip to version A10 using a bios chip programmer”, see here:
https://www.dell.com/community/Opti...soft-reboot/m-p/7355229/highlight/true#M34971

The user posts a link to mydigitallife.net, which contains ready-to-use files, chip programmer model advice and instructions on how to physically flash the updated BIOS. You must register to that site in order to see the details.

I guess you could reflash with a higher BIOS version directly, but you should be careful with the BIOS ROM format he used for this.

As I see it, the only real way to solve your BIOS update problem is doing this process, but considering that your computer already works without major problems, I’d only recommend you to proceed if you are a tinkerer for this kind of stuff.

At least some of the microcode enhancements you get from updating the BIOS can also be obtained by using a specific "mcupdate_GenuineIntel.dll" file version on Windows, just avoid this file from getting autoupdated by Windows Updates.

Good luck and keep us updated on your situation. I'm very curious.

 

[mlxllc]

Thanks for the replies. I think I have hit the wall on the BIOS update options. However, it seems UEFI may still be an option...although if it means a full OS reinstall...then probably not. This article is a good reflection of this kind of issue. https://www.zdnet.com/google-amp/ar...to-fix-and-tweak-when-to-leave-your-pc-alone/
If anyone has any UEFI advice...I'm all ears.

 

[lynx1021]

I have a windows 8.1 laptop and windows was installed with UEFI on and I changed it to legacy to get a test cd to boot. After finishing with my CD I found windows wouldn't boot in legacy. I had to go online an see how to get back into the Bios and changed it back to UEFI so it would boot!