You Can Find BIOS Version 1.70 on Dell's Driver Website Here
The bad news is that it is a Windows process, meaning you have to do it in Windows. The good news is that it a completely automated process and impossible to mess up. All you have to remember is that you need to have your Inspiron plugged in when you update the BIOS. If your not plugged in, you'll brick your laptop.
There are other ways to update your BIOS, but I don't feel comfortable writing a guide or recommending them to my readers. So many things can go wrong, especially when updating via the DOS command line.
edited by pHreaksYcle
31 comments:
still, I think that there should be some other way to fix it (since it worked VERY well in Feisty). Especially when this fix means downgrading such an important part of the system (I'm not very much into upgrading/downgrading BIOS-es since I ruined a motherboard because of a failed BIOS upgrade :( )
Nice... It works without troble.
I don't have windows. So I can't do it. Anyway, I'd like to say that Sabayon recognize them without problems. So I'd say the solution is to compile the kernel.
It should be noted that dell's .exe to downgrade the bios only works in xp, not in vista. I had to install xp before being able to do this even though my computer came with vista.
I have the 2.4 BIOS version, it's safe to downgrade to the 1.7 version????
yes it is completely safe to downgrade your BIOS
Is there any way to downgrade bios without windows? I can experiment on my laptop.
Igor,
BIOS are not something you want to experiment with, if they mess up or do not get flashed properly your computer becomes a useless brick. It won't turn on, won't load anything, impossible to fix on your own.
I DO NOT RECOMMEND ANY OTHER METHOD BESIDES THE WINDOW METHOD FOR FLASHING YOUR BIOS.
You can run this command to change the brightness without downgrading your BIOS.
sudo -s
echo -n 50 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness
exit
You can replace the 50 with:
37 12 25 37 50 62 75 87 100
100 is full brightness 50 is half brightness ect.
Has anyone tried BIOS v. 2.6.1?
I've downgrade my BIOS without installing Windows :) I've just used so-called WinXP LiveCD to load Windows and start Flash Updater from flash drive :) All works and perfect :)
I've used iNFR@CD, but it's russian release. I believe english wersion can be easily found in Google :)
Igor,
sounds like a lot of work but glad it worked for you.
while downgrading your bios seems to fix the backlight issue upgrading to the latest version fixes the suspend and hibernate issue
I wrote a small GUI (that uses zenity) to adjust the screen brightness without downgrading the BIOS. This must be run with su or sudo.
save the following in an executable file called set-brightness (for example) in /usr/bin and create a new item in the menu that runs 'sudo set-brightness'.
----------------------
#!/bin/sh
ans=$(zenity --width=40 --height=230 --title="Set Screen Brightness" --list --text "Brightness Level" --radiolist --column "Select" --column "Action" FALSE Low FALSE Normal FALSE Bright FALSE "Very Bright";)
if [ "$ans" = "Low" ] ; then
echo -n 25 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness
fi
if [ "$ans" = "Normal" ] ; then
echo -n 50 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness
fi
if [ "$ans" = "Bright" ]; then
echo -n 75 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness
fi
if [ "$ans" = "Very Bright" ]; then
echo -n 100 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness
fi
-------------------------------
hope this helps!
Did somebody try µswsusp? You can find it here: http://suspend.sourceforge.net/ I didn't because I'm using linux for 5 days, and I'm not sure if I would do it well...
...and Happy New Year ;-)
I finally managed to downgrade to bios version 1.7 without having to install windows. It's pretty easy with Bart's Preinstalled Environment (BartPE) bootable live windows CD/DVD.
That's what I did:
First I built a bootable live cd with the PEBuilder (http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/). It requires a Windows-Installation-CD. Afterwards I runned the downloades bios-flash-utility (downloaded from dell homepage) from a fat-partition of the hd (i should work with a flash-stick too). Every thing worked allright. I'm so glad that I didn't need to install Windows only in order to downgrade the bios!
So I hope it helps!
Anyway I got one question: is it necessary to reinstall ubuntu after downgrading bios to version 1.7? Ubuntu seems to work fine (the brightness-Buttons finally work!), but I still got this bios-bug-message right after booting.
Here is a gui way to change the brightness without rolling back the bios.
Make sure zenity is installed, go to Synaptic Package Manager and search for Zenity.
Thanks to Shane for the script, I modified it slightly.
1. Download files from here: http://tp-txdp4282.content-type.com/48395805/68030/1408338/1/screenbrightness.zip
2. Extract files.
3. Go to Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal
4. Type in: sudo nautilus
5. Click Go -> Location (Ctrl+L)
6. Enter /usr/bin
7. Paste set-brightness into /usr/bin
8. Press reload to make sure the script is there.
Optional
1. "Put Set Brightness Icon" on the desktop.
2. Rightclick the icon -> properties
3. Click the image in the upper left hand corner, find the icon image.
Try typing the following command in a terminal:
xgamma -gamma 0.75
If that doesn't work you need to install xgamma from the repos.
I have posted my own solution here on setting it up:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=4168042#post4168042
Try typing the following command in a terminal:
xgamma -gamma 0.75
If that doesn't work you need to install xgamma from the repos.
I have posted my own solution here on setting it up:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=4168042#post4168042
I coded two functions in C for changing the brightness of the screen using the
echo -n XX > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness
so you can run it using Ctrl-UP or Ctrl-Down by configuring Compiz
Remember that this should be run using gksu
http://iie.fing.edu.uy/~mdavid/1501brightness.tar.gz
You will see some lame programming in these functions... advises are welcome ;)
The brightness keys (fn+up/down) work with the new 2.6.24.1 kernel and Gutsy. I have bios version 2.6.2.
Apparently, the "video" kernel modules responsible for the brightness were rewritten in the latest kernel release.
I think hardy heron is going to have the 2.6.24 kernel, so the brightness keys should work by default on the next Ubuntu release.
In addition, suspend and hibernate work with the fglrx drivers.
If fn+up/down don't work, you need to replace 2 files.
Look here.
http://habrahabr.ru/blog/ubuntu/35013.html
It works!
Very nice Malek.
In case you cant read russian:
1. backup /etc/acpi/video_brightnessup.sh
and /etc/acpi/videobrightnessdown.sh
2. sudo gedit the first one
3. replace everything in it with:
#!/bin/bash
CURRENT=$(grep "current:" /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness |awk '{print $2}')
case "$CURRENT" in
100)
echo -n 100 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness;
;;
87)
echo -n 100 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness;
;;
75)
echo -n 87 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness;
;;
62)
echo -n 75 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness;
;;
50)
echo -n 62 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness;
;;
37)
echo -n 50 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness;
;;
25)
echo -n 37 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness;
;;
12)
echo -n 25 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness;
;;
*)
echo -n 100 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness ;
;;
esac
4. sudo gedit the second one (brightnessdown) and add:
#!/bin/bash
CURRENT=$(grep "current:" /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness |awk '{print $2}')
case "$CURRENT" in
12)
echo -n 12 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness;
;;
25)
echo -n 12 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness;
;;
37)
echo -n 25 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness;
;;
50)
echo -n 37 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness;
;;
62)
echo -n 50 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness;
;;
75)
echo -n 62 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness;
;;
87)
echo -n 75 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness;
;;
100)
echo -n 87 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness;
;;
*)
echo -n 50 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness ;
;;
esac
5.save and now your fn+up and down work great.
I need to upgrade my bios but now I can't. Some error I get. ;(
How do you upgrade your BIOS back? I get some error every time I try going from 1.7 to latest.
hi drew,
there is a utility to upgrade the BIOS... read these instructions here:
http://direct2dell.com/one2one/archive/2007/12/05/37446.aspx
http://www.ubuntu-unleashed.com/2007/09/howto-easily-upgrade-dell-bios-in.html
its pretty easy.
For what it's worth, I threw together a ruby-gtk version of the gnome-brightness-applet that works using Shane and Marcelo's techniques:
http://dcberner.blogspot.com/2008/04/its-rubygtk-time-again.html
Enjoy.
I'm having Ubuntu 8.04 with BIOS ver 2.6.1 and brightness, suspend and hibernate do not work
Millions of thanks to malek and d00d!!
Can't believe could exist such an elegant and easy solution to this entangled problem...
No need of downgrading BIOS, no need of any trouble; in a couple of minutes brightness keys work just fine.
Again, thank you very much malek and d00d; you deserve a big hooray!!
BRAVO!
Thanks a lot dOOd
I followed your instructions. Now my brighteness controls work properly.
thanks, the last fix works for me (editing videobrightness*.sh), but what about when we unplug/replug AC ? I can see that Ubuntu tries to set the brightness level to the minimum, but it has no effect. I guess it as to do with power.sh. What needs to be done?
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