Since I opened this thread, I will let you know how I managed to update my BIOS. First of all, I believe that since the BIOS update is a very sensitive matter (taking in mind that if something goes wrong you may brick your laptop), the best way to do it is to follow exactly the instructions of the manufacturer. Since there is no official file for linux use, it is advisable to use the .exe file provided for windows. So, I managed to find a way to actually update my BIOS through windows, without actually installing windows. What you need: 1) A windows7 32bit installation. Either on another PC or install same via Virtual Box. (I actually installed win7 via virtual box. I found the iso of win7 from google. I did not have to register windows since they give you a 30 days period of grace and we actually need windows for 5 minutes). 2) A USB stick with at least 1gb of space 3) The right bios.exe file which we get from the manufacturer's web page. 4) A specific dll file. In my case it was oledlg.dll. 5) One empty CD.  Step1. We boot into windows and we create a windows7 rescue disk.  Step2. We format the USB stick at FAT32.  We copy/paste all the files of the rescue disk inside the usb stick. We open command prompt and we follow the following sequence of commands so as to make the USB stick bootable: diskpart (it will change the prompt to diskpart) listdisk (it will list the available disks) select disk 2 (you select the USB stick disk. In my case it was the No2. Be very careful in this step). list partition (it lists the partitions of the usb stick. It will only be 1 since we just formated it). select partition 1 (we select the partition) active (we make it active i.e. bootable)  Step3 We open the usb stick and we create a file called BIOS. Inside this file we put the bios.exe we need, plus the dll we need. In my case it was oledlg.dll. I found it here: [URL]  Step4 We boot the PC from the USB. In case your PC does not have an option to boot from USB do it via Plop Boot Manager CD. Windows will start loading, you will choose language and you will get to a window named "system recovery options". Choose the first option "use recovery tools...." and hit next. On the new window that will open, choose the last option named "command prompt". The command prompt will open. Type the following commands pressing enter after each one: c:  (it changes the prompt to C, i.e. the usbstick drive letter). cd BIOS  (it changes to the BIOS file we created) bios.exe  (it runs the bios.exe file we downloaded from the manufacturer's website to update our BIOS).  Hopefully the BIOS window will open and you just follow the options to update your Bios. In  my case I had to reboot twice. In this case be minded to boot from the USB the second time as well. This is how I updated my Dell N14Z BIOS from A02 to A06. Notes: - It is without saying that I do not take any responsibility in case something goes wrong with your laptop. I just state above how I did it in my laptop - In case you have a friend who uses windows you can kindly ask him to use his computer for 5 minutes to create the rescue disk and the bootable use stick (without having to install windows on VB). I just had to mention the VB option in order to say to you how to do it 100% on your own. - As regards the dll file: When I was experimenting with all above, the first time I actually run the bios.exe file from the command prompt I got an error message that the oledlg.dll is missing. So I found it via google, added same inside the BIOS file and then the bios.exe run just fine. In your case it may ask from another dll or more dlls. Act accordingly.
Hi all. I have a dell inspiron N411Z (or N14z). I have installed as sole OS on the laptop ubuntu 12.04. Present kernel is 3.2.0-30, gnome 3.4.2. The details of my BIOS are: A02 10/19/2011 I have logged in the support web-page of DELL, and after providing my service tag, I was re-directed to the following web page: [URL] Service tag removed per privacy policy>  As you will see, there is a new update for my BIOS, namely A05 4/19/2012, however is an ".exe" file and consequently can only be used with MS windows operating systems. I would appreciate very much if you will guide me through the process step-by-step how to update the BIOS of my said laptop, considering that the sole operating system is linux - ubuntu 12.04. For your info, my laptop is ubuntu certified: [URL]  Thank you.  
Update bios in DELL laptop running ubuntu