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Authored by: Wol on Wednesday, February 20 2013 @ 06:57 PM EST |
Upgrading the bios is scary (get it wrong and you'll brick the computer) but
it's not really that difficult. I just googled your model number, and it led me
to a bios update. The real scary thing is making sure you get the right bios,
and from what I can see you've got a choice of one. (Several versions, but the
model number means you won't get it wrong.)
Beyond that, I can't really help much - the last bios I remember updating I did
from DOS, I think. But it looks like your bios is a windows program - read the
instructions, make sure the laptop is plugged into the mains, and let the
program do its thing.
Do you have a mom-n-pop computer shop, or a geek squad, nearby? Find out how
much they'll charge to do it (and what guarantees they offer against it all
going pear-shaped!).
Just bite the bullet and go for it - it's not likely to go wrong - it's just
scary because if it does go wrong, it goes badly wrong.
Cheers,
Wol[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, February 21 2013 @ 02:06 AM EST |
Your Acer 77739Z laptop drivers, bios and associated applications downloads can
be found on the tabs within this page here
. Obviously if you use only Linux, only the BIOS tab is relevant to you
:)
Unfortunately, as you have realized, Acer only supports the Windows
operating systems with their latest BIOS v1.06, presumably because they now only
cater for the non computer literate that sticks with the Windows OS bundled with
their purchase :(.
In such cases, generally the windows executable is a
wrapper that contains the BIOS binary but also provides some logic, which
presumably checks the SMBIOS data and ensures that the BIOS you actually
downloaded (you know, the one Acer placed in their support page for your
specific laptop) is indeed the correct one for your specific laptop. It's a nice
check to have but not imperative as long as Acer places the correct BIOS in the
correct laptop web page and their customers download the BIOS from the correct
web page :) So, I'm not really sure who Acer is trying to protect by forcing
such checks via a Windows only solution, themselves or Joe public, probably a
bit of both i would think. And smarter people than me can extract the binary
file needed for a DOS BIOS flash from these windows utilities.
It should
also be noted that Acer did previously provide DOS based utilities with earlier
versions of their BIOS (v1.05 and lower) zip files. These could be used with a
DOS bootable disk or usb stick and presumably useable with freedos bootable disk
or usb stick. This old
page describes a general how to flash BIOS for linux users. Since Acer
previously provided DOS based BIOS updates, i would ask them to continue with
this practice and make the DOS based utilities and binary file available to you.
I would also ask them to confirm that freedos is an acceptable OS to use with
their DOS based utilities if you want to go the freedos route (easiest).
I
just hope your Acer laptop does not have the BIOS bug that resulted in Samsung
UEFI installs of linux bricking those machines. I'd stick with teh old BIOS and
leave UEFI for alone for now.
With any risky updates like BIOS flashing, i
would have a very good backup of your important files just in case the worst
happens. backup backup backup is the best insurance from loss of your valuable
data. [ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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Authored by: Bas Burger on Thursday, February 21 2013 @ 04:14 AM EST |
Hi PJ,
A solution might be, and I say might, as I am on Linux for so long that I can't
guarantee that my solution in the windows world works.
I hear a lot of things about portable programs and know there are portable
windows OS too.
If you could run a copy of XP on CD or USB than that might help you.
Example:
http://www.dl4all.com/portable/7221-portable-windows-xp-live-usb-usb-tools.html
But be very careful out there, in windows world things never appear as they
really are.
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Authored by: ukjaybrat on Thursday, February 21 2013 @ 12:22 PM EST |
was going to appologize for re-purposing a thread into a tech
discussion then i noticed you were in on it too lol.
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IANAL[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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Authored by: BJ on Thursday, February 21 2013 @ 01:54 PM EST |
Or Fedora won't go ahead with some update because of your BIOS version?
I'm not that into laptops, but it's the first time ever I hear of anything like
this.
Maybe you should place an RFC here and attract some comments
on the problem in the first place??
bjd
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