Dell PC's and BIOS

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

I have a Dell 2400 with XP Home SP2 (recently upgraded.) The upgrade
went smoothly, and so far everything is working okay. Printer, scanner,
flash drive, cable modem all work as before.

After the upgrade, I happened to come upon an article at Dell's support
website discussing SP2 and what customers should do to prepare for it.

To my surprise, this article recommened upgrading the BIOS first. My
computer's BIOS is version A02, and the latest is A05. I thought you only
needed to upgrade the BIOS if your computer was encountering problems? The
instructions for upgrading the BIOS seem a tad complicated to me, so it's
something I'd like to avoid if possible.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

On Mon, 30 Aug 2004 22:18:33 GMT, "History Fan"
<IhateSPAM!@IreallyhatesPAM.com> wrote:

> I have a Dell 2400 with XP Home SP2 (recently upgraded.) The upgrade
>went smoothly, and so far everything is working okay. Printer, scanner,
>flash drive, cable modem all work as before.
>
> After the upgrade, I happened to come upon an article at Dell's support
>website discussing SP2 and what customers should do to prepare for it.
>
> To my surprise, this article recommened upgrading the BIOS first. My
>computer's BIOS is version A02, and the latest is A05. I thought you only
>needed to upgrade the BIOS if your computer was encountering problems? The
>instructions for upgrading the BIOS seem a tad complicated to me, so it's
>something I'd like to avoid if possible.
>
I upgraded the bios on my Dell 8200 last week. I had BIOS A00 and the
latest was A09. I tried installing just A09, but it didn't work. Had
to install A01 to A09 in consecutive order. You have to install A03,
A04, and A05 in that consecutive order. A pain in the butt and time
consuming, but that's Dell.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"History Fan" <IhateSPAM!@IreallyhatesPAM.com> wrote in message
news:ZINYc.259528$fv.39748@fe2.columbus.rr.com...
> I have a Dell 2400 with XP Home SP2 (recently upgraded.) The upgrade
> went smoothly, and so far everything is working okay. Printer, scanner,
> flash drive, cable modem all work as before.
>
> After the upgrade, I happened to come upon an article at Dell's
> support website discussing SP2 and what customers should do to prepare for
> it.
>
> To my surprise, this article recommened upgrading the BIOS first. My
> computer's BIOS is version A02, and the latest is A05. I thought you only
> needed to upgrade the BIOS if your computer was encountering problems?
> The instructions for upgrading the BIOS seem a tad complicated to me, so
> it's something I'd like to avoid if possible.
>

You've got no problems, therefore there's no need to flash your BIOS to a
later version - no matter what the Dell website states.


Stew

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

I've never had to do them one at a time. I jumped from A03 to A09 on my
Inspiron 2100 the other day and it worked fine. What error did you get?

Tom
<hooper34@aol.com> wrote in message
news:k7g7j0dd5ph6qlleaomdsbtqm9dt567eqk@4ax.com...
> On Mon, 30 Aug 2004 22:18:33 GMT, "History Fan"
> <IhateSPAM!@IreallyhatesPAM.com> wrote:
>
>> I have a Dell 2400 with XP Home SP2 (recently upgraded.) The upgrade
>>went smoothly, and so far everything is working okay. Printer, scanner,
>>flash drive, cable modem all work as before.
>>
>> After the upgrade, I happened to come upon an article at Dell's
>> support
>>website discussing SP2 and what customers should do to prepare for it.
>>
>> To my surprise, this article recommened upgrading the BIOS first.
>> My
>>computer's BIOS is version A02, and the latest is A05. I thought you only
>>needed to upgrade the BIOS if your computer was encountering problems?
>>The
>>instructions for upgrading the BIOS seem a tad complicated to me, so it's
>>something I'd like to avoid if possible.
>>
> I upgraded the bios on my Dell 8200 last week. I had BIOS A00 and the
> latest was A09. I tried installing just A09, but it didn't work. Had
> to install A01 to A09 in consecutive order. You have to install A03,
> A04, and A05 in that consecutive order. A pain in the butt and time
> consuming, but that's Dell.
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

hooper34@aol.com wrote:
>
> On Mon, 30 Aug 2004 22:18:33 GMT, "History Fan"
> <IhateSPAM!@IreallyhatesPAM.com> wrote:
>
> > I have a Dell 2400 with XP Home SP2 (recently upgraded.) The upgrade
> >went smoothly, and so far everything is working okay. Printer, scanner,
> >flash drive, cable modem all work as before.
> >
> > After the upgrade, I happened to come upon an article at Dell's support
> >website discussing SP2 and what customers should do to prepare for it.
> >
> > To my surprise, this article recommened upgrading the BIOS first. My
> >computer's BIOS is version A02, and the latest is A05. I thought you only
> >needed to upgrade the BIOS if your computer was encountering problems? The
> >instructions for upgrading the BIOS seem a tad complicated to me, so it's
> >something I'd like to avoid if possible.
> >
> I upgraded the bios on my Dell 8200 last week. I had BIOS A00 and the
> latest was A09. I tried installing just A09, but it didn't work. Had
> to install A01 to A09 in consecutive order. You have to install A03,
> A04, and A05 in that consecutive order. A pain in the butt and time
> consuming, but that's Dell.

Or is it the BIOS manufacturer?

Notan

 

[Dave]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

On Mon, 30 Aug 2004 22:18:33 GMT, "History Fan"
<IhateSPAM!@IreallyhatesPAM.com> wrote:

> I have a Dell 2400 with XP Home SP2 (recently upgraded.) The upgrade
>went smoothly, and so far everything is working okay. Printer, scanner,
>flash drive, cable modem all work as before.
>
> After the upgrade, I happened to come upon an article at Dell's support
>website discussing SP2 and what customers should do to prepare for it.
>
> To my surprise, this article recommened upgrading the BIOS first. My
>computer's BIOS is version A02, and the latest is A05. I thought you only
>needed to upgrade the BIOS if your computer was encountering problems? The
>instructions for upgrading the BIOS seem a tad complicated to me, so it's
>something I'd like to avoid if possible.
>

Dell throws out that "upgrade the BIOS" recommendation like people say
"how ya doin' ?"

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Dave

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

On Tue, 31 Aug 2004 00:10:51 GMT, Notan <notan@ddress.com> wrote:

>hooper34@aol.com wrote:
>>
>> On Mon, 30 Aug 2004 22:18:33 GMT, "History Fan"
>> <IhateSPAM!@IreallyhatesPAM.com> wrote:
>>
>> > I have a Dell 2400 with XP Home SP2 (recently upgraded.) The upgrade
>> >went smoothly, and so far everything is working okay. Printer, scanner,
>> >flash drive, cable modem all work as before.
>> >
>> > After the upgrade, I happened to come upon an article at Dell's support
>> >website discussing SP2 and what customers should do to prepare for it.
>> >
>> > To my surprise, this article recommened upgrading the BIOS first. My
>> >computer's BIOS is version A02, and the latest is A05. I thought you only
>> >needed to upgrade the BIOS if your computer was encountering problems? The
>> >instructions for upgrading the BIOS seem a tad complicated to me, so it's
>> >something I'd like to avoid if possible.
>> >
>> I upgraded the bios on my Dell 8200 last week. I had BIOS A00 and the
>> latest was A09. I tried installing just A09, but it didn't work. Had
>> to install A01 to A09 in consecutive order. You have to install A03,
>> A04, and A05 in that consecutive order. A pain in the butt and time
>> consuming, but that's Dell.
>
>Or is it the BIOS manufacturer?
>
>Notan

Well, the original Dell 2400 BIOS started life at the Phoenix BIOS company.
After that, it is unclear whether Dell engineers modified the BIOS themselves to
have a Dell look & feel (Dell logo splash screen and BIOS menus that look like
all the other Dells), or whether the work was subcontracted out with Dell
specifications and Dell supervision. Same with any updates.

So it hardly matters who the BIOS manufacturer is. Dell is ultimately
responsible for the pain of having to run a succession of BIOS updates, either
because their specs called for the updates to work that way, or because of sheer
neglect for details on Dell's part (more likely scenario) leaving up to the
imagination of the BIOS programmers exactly how to write the update program and
what sort of controls to put in it... Ben Myers

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

On Tue, 31 Aug 2004 02:08:23 GMT, ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net
(Ben Myers) wrote:

>On Tue, 31 Aug 2004 00:10:51 GMT, Notan <notan@ddress.com> wrote:
>
>>hooper34@aol.com wrote:
>>>
>>> On Mon, 30 Aug 2004 22:18:33 GMT, "History Fan"
>>> <IhateSPAM!@IreallyhatesPAM.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> > I have a Dell 2400 with XP Home SP2 (recently upgraded.) The upgrade
>>> >went smoothly, and so far everything is working okay. Printer, scanner,
>>> >flash drive, cable modem all work as before.
>>> >
>>> > After the upgrade, I happened to come upon an article at Dell's support
>>> >website discussing SP2 and what customers should do to prepare for it.
>>> >
>>> > To my surprise, this article recommened upgrading the BIOS first. My
>>> >computer's BIOS is version A02, and the latest is A05. I thought you only
>>> >needed to upgrade the BIOS if your computer was encountering problems? The
>>> >instructions for upgrading the BIOS seem a tad complicated to me, so it's
>>> >something I'd like to avoid if possible.
>>> >
>>> I upgraded the bios on my Dell 8200 last week. I had BIOS A00 and the
>>> latest was A09. I tried installing just A09, but it didn't work. Had
>>> to install A01 to A09 in consecutive order. You have to install A03,
>>> A04, and A05 in that consecutive order. A pain in the butt and time
>>> consuming, but that's Dell.
>>
>>Or is it the BIOS manufacturer?
>>
>>Notan
>
>Well, the original Dell 2400 BIOS started life at the Phoenix BIOS company.
>After that, it is unclear whether Dell engineers modified the BIOS themselves to
>have a Dell look & feel (Dell logo splash screen and BIOS menus that look like
>all the other Dells), or whether the work was subcontracted out with Dell
>specifications and Dell supervision. Same with any updates.
>
>So it hardly matters who the BIOS manufacturer is. Dell is ultimately
>responsible for the pain of having to run a succession of BIOS updates, either
>because their specs called for the updates to work that way, or because of sheer
>neglect for details on Dell's part (more likely scenario) leaving up to the
>imagination of the BIOS programmers exactly how to write the update program and
>what sort of controls to put in it... Ben Myers

But, why the need for me to install A01 to A09 in consecutive order?
A01 is just a patch. Each issuance of bios is just a patch. Why
isn't each bios issuance the whole bios in one package? A strange way
to do things.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

On Mon, 30 Aug 2004 20:18:20 -0400, "Tom Scales" <tomtoo@softhome.net>
wrote:

>I've never had to do them one at a time. I jumped from A03 to A09 on my
>Inspiron 2100 the other day and it worked fine. What error did you get?
>
A09 would not install. Nothing would happen. Remember, I originally
had A00. I downloaded all the bioses and tried playing with them to
see which would install. Only A01 would install. Tried installing
A09 on top of A01 without success. So I had to install A01, A02, A03,
......, A09.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

On Mon, 30 Aug 2004 19:13:25 -0500, "S.Lewis"
<stew1960@cover.bellsouth.net> wrote:

>
>"History Fan" <IhateSPAM!@IreallyhatesPAM.com> wrote in message
>news:ZINYc.259528$fv.39748@fe2.columbus.rr.com...
>> I have a Dell 2400 with XP Home SP2 (recently upgraded.) The upgrade
>> went smoothly, and so far everything is working okay. Printer, scanner,
>> flash drive, cable modem all work as before.
>>
>> After the upgrade, I happened to come upon an article at Dell's
>> support website discussing SP2 and what customers should do to prepare for
>> it.
>>
>> To my surprise, this article recommened upgrading the BIOS first. My
>> computer's BIOS is version A02, and the latest is A05. I thought you only
>> needed to upgrade the BIOS if your computer was encountering problems?
>> The instructions for upgrading the BIOS seem a tad complicated to me, so
>> it's something I'd like to avoid if possible.
>>
>
>You've got no problems, therefore there's no need to flash your BIOS to a
>later version - no matter what the Dell website states.
>
A couple mail order houses told me to update bios if increasing RAM.
Have no idea why.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

<ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers)> wrote in message
news:4133dc76.48336114@news.charter.net...
> On Tue, 31 Aug 2004 00:10:51 GMT, Notan <notan@ddress.com> wrote:
>
>>hooper34@aol.com wrote:
>>>
>>> On Mon, 30 Aug 2004 22:18:33 GMT, "History Fan"
>>> <IhateSPAM!@IreallyhatesPAM.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> > I have a Dell 2400 with XP Home SP2 (recently upgraded.) The
>>> > upgrade
>>> >went smoothly, and so far everything is working okay. Printer,
>>> >scanner,
>>> >flash drive, cable modem all work as before.
>>> >
>>> > After the upgrade, I happened to come upon an article at Dell's
>>> > support
>>> >website discussing SP2 and what customers should do to prepare for it.
>>> >
>>> > To my surprise, this article recommened upgrading the BIOS first.
>>> > My
>>> >computer's BIOS is version A02, and the latest is A05. I thought you
>>> >only
>>> >needed to upgrade the BIOS if your computer was encountering problems?
>>> >The
>>> >instructions for upgrading the BIOS seem a tad complicated to me, so
>>> >it's
>>> >something I'd like to avoid if possible.
>>> >
>>> I upgraded the bios on my Dell 8200 last week. I had BIOS A00 and the
>>> latest was A09. I tried installing just A09, but it didn't work. Had
>>> to install A01 to A09 in consecutive order. You have to install A03,
>>> A04, and A05 in that consecutive order. A pain in the butt and time
>>> consuming, but that's Dell.
>>
>>Or is it the BIOS manufacturer?
>>
>>Notan
>
> Well, the original Dell 2400 BIOS started life at the Phoenix BIOS
> company.
> After that, it is unclear whether Dell engineers modified the BIOS
> themselves to
> have a Dell look & feel (Dell logo splash screen and BIOS menus that look
> like
> all the other Dells), or whether the work was subcontracted out with Dell
> specifications and Dell supervision. Same with any updates.
>
> So it hardly matters who the BIOS manufacturer is. Dell is ultimately
> responsible for the pain of having to run a succession of BIOS updates,
> either
> because their specs called for the updates to work that way, or because of
> sheer
> neglect for details on Dell's part (more likely scenario) leaving up to
> the
> imagination of the BIOS programmers exactly how to write the update
> program and
> what sort of controls to put in it... Ben Myers
>

I'd still like to understand why the OP thinks it had to be done that way.
I've upgraded hundreds of Dells and have NEVER had to do that.

Tom

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

<hooper34@aol.com> wrote in message
news:l6m8j0t8utagi1c13bk04rvvuc8pb69i12@4ax.com...
> On Mon, 30 Aug 2004 20:18:20 -0400, "Tom Scales" <tomtoo@softhome.net>
> wrote:
>
>>I've never had to do them one at a time. I jumped from A03 to A09 on my
>>Inspiron 2100 the other day and it worked fine. What error did you get?
>>
> A09 would not install. Nothing would happen. Remember, I originally
> had A00. I downloaded all the bioses and tried playing with them to
> see which would install. Only A01 would install. Tried installing
> A09 on top of A01 without success. So I had to install A01, A02, A03,
> ....., A09.
>


I've never experienced this. Something is mucked.


Stew

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

<hooper34@aol.com> wrote in message
news:bcm8j09us9js9tpd1b3nr9bt3j941sg5kh@4ax.com...
> On Mon, 30 Aug 2004 19:13:25 -0500, "S.Lewis"
> <stew1960@cover.bellsouth.net> wrote:
>
>>
>>"History Fan" <IhateSPAM!@IreallyhatesPAM.com> wrote in message
>>news:ZINYc.259528$fv.39748@fe2.columbus.rr.com...
>>> I have a Dell 2400 with XP Home SP2 (recently upgraded.) The
>>> upgrade
>>> went smoothly, and so far everything is working okay. Printer, scanner,
>>> flash drive, cable modem all work as before.
>>>
>>> After the upgrade, I happened to come upon an article at Dell's
>>> support website discussing SP2 and what customers should do to prepare
>>> for
>>> it.
>>>
>>> To my surprise, this article recommened upgrading the BIOS first.
>>> My
>>> computer's BIOS is version A02, and the latest is A05. I thought you
>>> only
>>> needed to upgrade the BIOS if your computer was encountering problems?
>>> The instructions for upgrading the BIOS seem a tad complicated to me, so
>>> it's something I'd like to avoid if possible.
>>>
>>
>>You've got no problems, therefore there's no need to flash your BIOS to a
>>later version - no matter what the Dell website states.
>>
> A couple mail order houses told me to update bios if increasing RAM.
> Have no idea why.
>


That's why forums/groups such as this one are so helpful.


Stew

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

<hooper34@aol.com> wrote in message
news:91m8j0plarbfh8nb75m4hl0sde3gp214j5@4ax.com...
<snip>
> But, why the need for me to install A01 to A09 in consecutive order?
> A01 is just a patch. Each issuance of bios is just a patch. Why
> isn't each bios issuance the whole bios in one package? A strange way
> to do things.
>

Unless this is unique to the 2400, it's not true! In fact, I can't see HOW
it can be true. It erases and reprograms the BIOS, so a patch just wouldn't
make sense.

Tom

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"Tom Scales" <tomtoo@softhome.net> wrote in message
news:f9GdnXWGQ-nvw6ncRVn-iA@comcast.com...
>
> <hooper34@aol.com> wrote in message
> news:91m8j0plarbfh8nb75m4hl0sde3gp214j5@4ax.com...
> <snip>
>> But, why the need for me to install A01 to A09 in consecutive order?
>> A01 is just a patch. Each issuance of bios is just a patch. Why
>> isn't each bios issuance the whole bios in one package? A strange way
>> to do things.
>>
>
> Unless this is unique to the 2400, it's not true! In fact, I can't see
> HOW it can be true. It erases and reprograms the BIOS, so a patch just
> wouldn't make sense.
>
> Tom
>

I've personally bounced 2400's from A00 or A01 up to A03 or A04 many times.

I suspect there's either some confusion here or perhaps a unique system/CMOS
glitch.


Stew

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

You were obviously doing something wrong!

<hooper34@aol.com> wrote in message
news:k7g7j0dd5ph6qlleaomdsbtqm9dt567eqk@4ax.com...
>> I upgraded the bios on my Dell 8200 last week. I had BIOS A00 and the
> latest was A09. I tried installing just A09, but it didn't work. Had
> to install A01 to A09 in consecutive order. You have to install A03,
> A04, and A05 in that consecutive order. A pain in the butt and time
> consuming, but that's Dell.
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

On Tue, 31 Aug 2004 05:58:13 -0500, hooper34@aol.com wrote:

<SNIP!>
>>
>A couple mail order houses told me to update bios if increasing RAM.
>Have no idea why.
>

That's a totally bogus idea from somebody who is pretty darned ignorant of the
way computers are set up. Need I say more? You can add or remove memory from
any computer I've ever touched in the recent past without need to update the
BIOS!

Maybe this fine advice was given by someone still working with IBM MicroChannel
286s, which DID requre running the MicroChannel setup every time even the
smallest change was made to a computer configuration or the owner of the
computer passed gas. Even then, MicroChannel computers had a permanently burned
BIOS, not one which could be flash updated... Ben Myers

 

[Fixer]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

As A Dell Engineer I can quite catagorically state that you do NOT have to
flash BIOS in consecutive order, and many times we upgrade from A01 to A09
direct np
"Tom Scales" <tomtoo@softhome.net> wrote in message
news:f9GdnXWGQ-nvw6ncRVn-iA@comcast.com...
>
> <hooper34@aol.com> wrote in message
> news:91m8j0plarbfh8nb75m4hl0sde3gp214j5@4ax.com...
> <snip>
>> But, why the need for me to install A01 to A09 in consecutive order?
>> A01 is just a patch. Each issuance of bios is just a patch. Why
>> isn't each bios issuance the whole bios in one package? A strange way
>> to do things.
>>
>
> Unless this is unique to the 2400, it's not true! In fact, I can't see
> HOW it can be true. It erases and reprograms the BIOS, so a patch just
> wouldn't make sense.
>
> Tom
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

On Tue, 31 Aug 2004 19:28:42 +0100, "Fixer"
<steve@kelly90.wanadoo.co.uk> wrote:

>As A Dell Engineer I can quite catagorically state that you do NOT have to
>flash BIOS in consecutive order, and many times we upgrade from A01 to A09
>direct np

I couldn't.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

<hooper34@aol.com> wrote in message
news:2bs9j0hv8tr7j1u6e1hcqnibi5c51beicj@4ax.com...
> On Tue, 31 Aug 2004 19:28:42 +0100, "Fixer"
> <steve@kelly90.wanadoo.co.uk> wrote:
>
>>As A Dell Engineer I can quite catagorically state that you do NOT have to
>>flash BIOS in consecutive order, and many times we upgrade from A01 to A09
>>direct np
>
> I couldn't.
>


But I repeat myself; "something is mucked" - either your methodology or the
system itself.


Stew

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

That actually makes more sense and agrees with my experience flashing (at?)
other Dells, not necessarily Dimension 2400's... Ben Myers

On Tue, 31 Aug 2004 19:28:42 +0100, "Fixer" <steve@kelly90.wanadoo.co.uk> wrote:

>As A Dell Engineer I can quite catagorically state that you do NOT have to
>flash BIOS in consecutive order, and many times we upgrade from A01 to A09
>direct np
>"Tom Scales" <tomtoo@softhome.net> wrote in message
>news:f9GdnXWGQ-nvw6ncRVn-iA@comcast.com...
>>
>> <hooper34@aol.com> wrote in message
>> news:91m8j0plarbfh8nb75m4hl0sde3gp214j5@4ax.com...
>> <snip>
>>> But, why the need for me to install A01 to A09 in consecutive order?
>>> A01 is just a patch. Each issuance of bios is just a patch. Why
>>> isn't each bios issuance the whole bios in one package? A strange way
>>> to do things.
>>>
>>
>> Unless this is unique to the 2400, it's not true! In fact, I can't see
>> HOW it can be true. It erases and reprograms the BIOS, so a patch just
>> wouldn't make sense.
>>
>> Tom
>>
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

>
> Dell throws out that "upgrade the BIOS" recommendation like people say
> "how ya doin' ?"
>
> If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
>
> Dave


Where Dell BIOS upgrades are concerned, I'd disagree.

They have to be the easiest upgrade ever - try flashing an Award BIOS!!

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"Alex Flaherty" <vanessa.savage@webtribe.net> wrote in message
news:8fe7dc43.0408312311.49044276@posting.google.com...
>>
>> Dell throws out that "upgrade the BIOS" recommendation like people say
>> "how ya doin' ?"
>>
>> If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
>>
>> Dave
>
>
> Where Dell BIOS upgrades are concerned, I'd disagree.
>
> They have to be the easiest upgrade ever - try flashing an Award BIOS!!


Yeah, they're great, except when they go bad. However, a system board makes
for a rather novel serving tray.


Stew