Update Dell BIOS

I found this article that describes updating the BIOS, so I thought I would give it a try.

Here is the first command:

sudo apt-get install libsmbios-bin

Then, I ran the command to see what version my laptop was currently on:

sudo getSystemId

Here are the first few lines of the output (the version is A07):

Libsmbios version:      2.2.13
Product Name:           Inspiron 1720
Vendor:                 Dell Inc.
BIOS Version:           A07

On support.dell.com, I found that the latest version out there is A09.  Then, I used wine to extract the header:

 wine 1720_A09.EXE –writehdrfile

Sure enough, it created the hdr file:

$ ls *.hdr
1720_A09.hdr

Next, I loaded the module:

sudo modprobe dell_rbu

Finally, I ran the update:

sudo dellBiosUpdate -u -f 1720_A09.hdr

Here is the output:

Performing BIOS update...
Update successfully staged. Reboot the system to begin BIOS update.
No reboot option specified. The --reboot option is highly recommended.