update_firmware: "dellBiosUpdate: error: no such option: -f"

[James Hogan]

Hi again

Just to let you know, I've now managed to flash my BIOS using biosdisk and 
it's install option (http://linux.dell.com/projects.shtml#biosdisk) so am no 
longer blocked by this update_firmware bug.

Cheers
James

On Thursday 08 January 2009 15:58:10 James Hogan wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm trying to update my BIOS on an XPS M1210 laptop with fedora 9 x86_64.
> I've setup the repositories, yum installed "system_bios_MXC062", but when I
> do "update_firmware --yes" I get "dellBiosUpdate: error: no such option:
> -f". Anybody got any ideas what's wrong or how I can work around it?
>
> I have tried restarting and I still get the same error (even from a virtual
> terminal without logging in graphically), and this is with 4gb of RAM so I
> don't think it is the memory fragmentation problem.
>
> Slightly OT but if anybody has any idea how to get the BIOS to release more
> than 3.3GB of my 4GB to 64bit Fedora then I'm all ears (that's what I'm
> hoping to fix by updating my BIOS).
>
> Full output of the "update_firmware --yes" command is below.
>
> Thanks
> James
>
> > Running system inventory...
> >
> > Searching storage directory for available BIOS updates...
> > Checking System BIOS for MXC062 - a06
> >         Available: system_bios(ven_0x1028_dev_0x01d7) - a08
> >         Found Update: system_bios(ven_0x1028_dev_0x01d7) - a08
> >
> > Found firmware which needs to be updated.
> >
> > Running updates...
> > -       Installing system_bios(ven_0x1028_dev_0x01d7) - a08Installation
> > failed for package: system_bios(ven_0x1028_dev_0x01d7) - a08 aborting
> > update...
> >
> > The error message from the low-level command was:
> >
> > Could not update the system BIOS.
> >
> > Many times, this is due to memory constraints. The BIOS update can
> > require from 1 to 4 megabytes of physically contiguous free RAM in order
> > to do the update. Because memory can become fragmented, this is not
> > always available. To correct this, try rebooting and running the update
> > immediately after reboot.
> >
> > The output from the low-level bios update command was:
> >
> > Usage: smbios-rbu-bios-update
> >
> > dellBiosUpdate: error: no such option: -f



-- 
James Hogan