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Dell Inspiron 1525 BIOS update Debian

Posted 08-19-2012 at 09:06 AM by jere21
Updated 09-02-2012 at 07:27 AM by jere21

Based on http://www.ducea.com/2007/08/27/dell...tes-on-debian/, which goes a bit more in detail. Basically I just copied the relevant parts. Thanks!

Dell's official Linux support labelled OMSA currently only works for rpm based distros, but not for Debian. So do it manually

Install smbios packages:
Code:
ii  libsmbios-bin   2.0.3.dfsg-1.1   Provide access to (SM)BIOS information -- utility binaries
ii  libsmbios2      2.0.3.dfsg-1.1   Provide access to (SM)BIOS information -- dynamic library
Get system information;
Code:
$ sudo getSystemId
Libsmbios:    2.0.3
System ID:    0x022F
Service Tag:  FV84M3J
Express Service Code: 34539838687
Product Name: Inspiron 1525
BIOS Version: A11
Vendor:       Dell Inc.
Is Dell:      1
Search for the newest firmware for System ID: 0x022F on
http://linux.dell.com/repo/firmware/bios-hdrs/ and get it, e.g.:
Code:
wget http://linux.dell.com/repo/firmware/bios-hdrs/system_bios_ven_0x1028_dev_0x022f_version_a17/bios.hdr
Load kernel module required by libsmbios for BIOS updates:
Code:
sudo modprobe dell_rbu
Quit all applications, update the BIOS (bios gets written with that command and CMOS bit is set to notify BIOS about update), then reboot:
Code:
sudo dellBiosUpdate -u -f bios.hdr
Supported RBU type for this system: (MONOLITHIC, PACKET)
Using RBU v2 driver. Initializing Driver.
Setting RBU type in v2 driver to: MONOLITHIC
Prep driver for data load.
Writing RBU data (4096bytes/dot): .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Notify driver data is finished.
Activate CMOS bit to notify BIOS that update is ready on next boot.
Update staged sucessfully. BIOS update will occur on next reboot.
Where -u is for "update" and "-f" seems to be necessary to specify the file (not documented).
This worked like a charm for me. The above output is copied from the post I cited above, without the WARNING that I did not get.

After reboot verify it worked:
Code:
$ sudo getSystemId 
Libsmbios:    2.0.3
System ID:    0x022F
Service Tag:  FV84M3J
Express Service Code: 34539838687
Product Name: Inspiron 1525
BIOS Version: A17
Vendor:       Dell Inc.
Is Dell:      1
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