Win 10 v1803 auto updated my Aspire 5 A515-51G-53RP Laptop BIOS to wrong version. How do I fix?

2

Answers

  • reneH
    reneH Member Posts: 15 Troubleshooter
  • Manny-Acer_Retired
    Manny-Acer_Retired Newbie Posts: 4,453 Guru
    edited June 2018

    Hello everyone,


    We would like to thank you for reporting this and for providing us with information we can use to investigate this further.  The concern has been escalated and is being investigated.


    This topic will be updated once we have more information. 


    Thanks,

    Acer-Manny

  • PrivacyFreak
    PrivacyFreak Member Posts: 31 Enthusiast WiFi Icon
    @reneH: Thank you very much.

    @Acer-Manny: Look forward to driver updates from Acer.

  • PrivacyFreak
    PrivacyFreak Member Posts: 31 Enthusiast WiFi Icon
    @Japa182440: Sorry for the late response. Thanks for notifying about the BIOS update availability. However, I don't see why Acer would release a v1.17 update after Windows has already auto-updated the BIOS to v1.18. Do they expect people to perform a downgrade risking bricking the system if anything were to go wrong? I don't see the point of making this available at this point in time. They could've at least changed the version number to something greater than 1.18. Anyway, I don't intend to use Alexa so I won't be needing this update.
  • PrivacyFreak
    PrivacyFreak Member Posts: 31 Enthusiast WiFi Icon
    Thanks, @reneH. The v1.18 update was not available on my product page when I checked this morning. It is now. It could however help people who have blocked Windows Update from updating device drivers and firmware. They could choose to download and install only specific firmware updates that they need from the Acer website. Besides, it helps understand what a particular update fixes or improves when Acer lists it on their Product Support pages.



    It looks like the v1.18 BIOS/firmware update includes Intel Microcode Update for Skylake processors to protect against Spectre vulnerabilities -> MCU(SKL).  However, my A515-51G laptop has a Kaby Lake R Intel Core i5-8250U processor. This raises a lot of questions. Why is this update being offered for my laptop by Acer? Does it also include Intel microcode for Kaby Lake processors? Was the microcode update applied (compatible?) or was it skipped because of it not being the target processor?  I wish someone from Acer could answer these questions.
  • PrivacyFreak
    PrivacyFreak Member Posts: 31 Enthusiast WiFi Icon
    Thanks to @Acer-Manny, I guess Acer is responding to this thread - going by the BIOS updates being made available these past few days.
  • Manny-Acer_Retired
    Manny-Acer_Retired Newbie Posts: 4,453 Guru

    Hello everyone,


    Thanks to everyone who participated in the discussion on this thread. We appreciate you pointing out that these BIOS was not officially posted on our Acer site before the Windows update.  We have now posted BIOS 1.18 to our download site, which we can confirm is a fully qualified BIOS. We apologize that it was not posted prior to the automatic update.  We have provided feedback to prevent this type of confusion for occurring in the future.

     

    Thanks,

    Acer-Manny

  • reneH
    reneH Member Posts: 15 Troubleshooter
    I guess that the 'missing Detection-Verification driver' issue was caused by including Amazon Alexa support in Bios >V1.17.
  • PrivacyFreak
    PrivacyFreak Member Posts: 31 Enthusiast WiFi Icon
    @reneH: You could be right.

    I wasn't thinking clearly when I posted
    ... Anyway, I don't intend to use Alexa so I won't be needing this update.
    Since BIOS/firmware updates are cumulative, v1.18 would include support for Alexa as well.
  • PrivacyFreak
    PrivacyFreak Member Posts: 31 Enthusiast WiFi Icon
    Thanks, @Acer-Manny. It sure would be less confusing if Acer were to post official BIOS/firmware updates to the product support pages much before Windows auto-updates systems. Also, could you please get someone to address the below queries




    It looks like the v1.18 BIOS/firmware update includes Intel Microcode Update for Skylake processors to protect against Spectre vulnerabilities -> MCU(SKL).  However, my A515-51G laptop has a Kaby Lake R Intel Core i5-8250U processor. This raises a lot of questions. Why is this update being offered for my laptop by Acer? Does it also include microcode update for Kaby Lake processors? Was the microcode update applied (common/compatible?) or was it skipped because of it not being the target processor?
    Thanks.
  • PrivacyFreak
    PrivacyFreak Member Posts: 31 Enthusiast WiFi Icon
    @reneH: On second thought, I still think it has to do with Intel. The HP Support link where a user mentions that it was fixed using either the Intel Chipset Driver setup or the Intel Management Engine setup, the third party site offering Detection Verification driver download, your Intel SST driver installation that fixed Detection Verification and now knowing that the v1.18 BIOS update included an update for the Intel Management Engine Firmware all point towards the Intel Management Engine.
  • reneH
    reneH Member Posts: 15 Troubleshooter

    @PrivacyFreak: Maybe we are both right. I read on the Intel website that SST drivers were used in cooperation with oem sound drivers to  improve realtime sound-recognition. Maybe including the Alexa support in the bios caused a search for updated Intel SST drivers?

  • PrivacyFreak
    PrivacyFreak Member Posts: 31 Enthusiast WiFi Icon
    @reneH: Quite possible. Only Intel would know for sure. As long as it doesn't negatively affect anything on the system, I'll just let it be. I have downloaded the Intel SST driver from the link that you provided. Thanks for the same. I'll install it if I need it anytime in the future. It sure was nice interacting with you on here. Happy computing, my friend!
  • reneH
    reneH Member Posts: 15 Troubleshooter
    @PrivacyFreak: Thank's for sharing this with me.
  • Manny-Acer_Retired
    Manny-Acer_Retired Newbie Posts: 4,453 Guru
    Thanks, @Acer-Manny. It sure would be less confusing if Acer were to post official BIOS/firmware updates to the product support pages much before Windows auto-updates systems. Also, could you please get someone to address the below queries




    It looks like the v1.18 BIOS/firmware update includes Intel Microcode Update for Skylake processors to protect against Spectre vulnerabilities -> MCU(SKL).  However, my A515-51G laptop has a Kaby Lake R Intel Core i5-8250U processor. This raises a lot of questions. Why is this update being offered for my laptop by Acer? Does it also include microcode update for Kaby Lake processors? Was the microcode update applied (common/compatible?) or was it skipped because of it not being the target processor?
    Thanks.
    My apologies for the late response, the BIOS v1.18 update includes both Microcode Updates for Skylake and Kaby Lake.

    Thanks,
    Acer-Manny 
  • PrivacyFreak
    PrivacyFreak Member Posts: 31 Enthusiast WiFi Icon
    @Acer-Manny: Thank you very much for the clarification and for making available the latest BIOS updates for my laptop model.
  • PrivacyFreak
    PrivacyFreak Member Posts: 31 Enthusiast WiFi Icon
    @reneH: Did you update your BIOS/firmware to the latest v1.19? I downloaded and installed it from the Acer Product Support page a few days after it was made available. There seems to be a bug in Windows 10 v1803 where the Device Manager indicates a different version (wrong) than the other areas such as the actual BIOS and System Information. Do you see this too? Also, did Windows update your firmware or did you update it yourself?




    At least one other person on this website seems to have this (glitch?) as well.
    https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/546005/firmware-updation

    I also happened to notice that @brummyfan2 had posted a screenshot of Device Manager indicating the correct firmware v1.19 in one of his responses to someone on here. He must have had Windows update his laptop's firmware.

    It looks like Windows is sourcing the current BIOS/firmware details from its update list for the system rather than from the actual BIOS. I guess this would get fixed if Windows were to install the next firmware update instead of me performing it manually.

  • PrivacyFreak
    PrivacyFreak Member Posts: 31 Enthusiast WiFi Icon
    Found a Firmware folder under Windows containing two .FD (firmware driver?) files corresponding to the two versions of the firmware that Windows Update installed over time on my system.



    The below links shed some light on the Windows UEFI Firmware Update Platform and an overview of the process how firmware updates are submitted to Microsoft by the firmware manufacturer.

    https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/bringup/windows-uefi-firmware-update-platform#overview-of-the-uefi-firmware-update-platform

    https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/bringup/system-and-device-firmware-updates-via-a-firmware-driver-package