How to Force a BIOS Update on a Dell Laptop

How to Force a BIOS Update on a Dell Laptop

There are cases where you must update the system BIOS on a laptop when the AC Adapter cannot be determined or is not available. This process may also be needed if the computer battery has failed or is not installed in the computer. When you attempt to update the BIOS within Windows, the update program detects if the AC adapter and a charged battery are present or not and will not continue until it is plugged in. If you must flash a BIOS and the AC adapter is nonfunctional or unavailable, the battery is dead or removed, there is a way to force the flash.

What You Should Do:

1. Download the relevant, or latest BIOS update file from Dell's drivers home page.

2. Save it in an easily accessible location from a command prompt. (C: drive or root directory would be the easiest)

3. Click Start. In the Run or Search box, type cmd, and then right-click "cmd.exe" in the search results, and select Run as administrator.

4. If the User Access Control window appears, select Yes

5. In the Command Prompt window, at the C:\Windows\system32> prompt, type in cd\ and press Enter this will return you to the root directory.

6. At the C:\> prompt, type biosflashname.exe /forceit and press Enter.

   NOTE: biosflashname is the actual name of the BIOS you downloaded, for example, A6540A09.exe and there is also a space between that and the /forceit switch
7. After answering YES to the User Access control prompt, the update should commence without the AC adapter warning. Reboot when prompted to complete the update.

Recommended Articles

Here are some recommended articles related to this topic that might be of interest to you.

• Flashing the BIOS from the F12 One-Time Boot Menu
• How to Flash the Bios on a Dell Desktop or Laptop with a USB Flash Drive or Thumb Drive
• How to Troubleshoot AC Adapter Issues on a Dell Laptop

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