In trying to upgrade BIOS for a 2012 Aspire Z Series and a 2014 E Series, the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) are very different. While the Z's P01.B0_Windows has instructions for DOS or Windows, the E Series 2.30 SOP says simply to run the executable Windows file. Until now it's been considered safest to upgrade a BIOS via DOS. But since the E Series SOP provides no such option, I'll temporarily disable the virus protection and "hold my breath" while running the executable.
As to the Z Series this archived post of January 2013 states we "need to create a bootable flash drive" to update by DOS. But the post is from a Windows 7 and XP world and my even older February 2012 SOP envisions the new BIOS on a CD and mentions nothing about creating a "bootable" -- although the SOP writer(s) may have assumed we know that.
Both my E and Z are on Windows 10 Version 1511, Build 10586.589, and I plan to move each to Version 1607 upon BIOS upgrades. So, I'd greatly appreciate if someone can point me to a newer supplement to these very cryptic SOP instructions for P01.B0_Windows:
In [DOS Mode]
- Power on System and Boot to DOS
- Key in ‘cd DosTool’ (Go to BIOS path like “A:\DOSTOOL”)
- Key in ‘Flash2M.bat’ or ‘Flash2M
- Press <Enter> and start to flash System BIOS
- Reboot system and Press <Del> to enter BIOS setup menu.
- Load default setting, and Save & Exit.
