Updating BIOS on an Aspire E5-411 running Windows 7?

KirkLee70
KirkLee70 Member Posts: 9

Tinkerer
edited October 2023 in 2020 Archives
Hi guys, hope you can assist.

I am helping a friend with fixing some issues she is having on her Acer ASpire E5-411-C7CF and I am trying to update the BIOS, however as she runs Windows 7 the Acer support site won't offer BIOS updates before Windows 8.1.

Also, the older 'Acer Updating Tool' is not showing her model number in the available list.

Now before people start asking 'Why are you updating the BIOS" and so on, let's just assume that it needs updating for a specific reason I am not going to go into here. I just need it updated, plain and simple.

I am looking for helpful answers, so please, if you are able to point me toward a site that offers older BIOS downloads for the Windows 7 OS, I am all ears.

Many thanks in advance,
Kirk.

Answers

  • aphanic
    aphanic Member Posts: 959 Seasoned Specialist WiFi Icon
    I'd be surprised if you weren't able to upgrade it using the file Acer provides. Firmware upgrades aren't tied to specific Windows versions, it may be listed for Windows 10, or 8.1, but the executable only requires 64-bit Windows.

    You can go ahead and use the one available in the support page ;)
  • KirkLee70
    KirkLee70 Member Posts: 9

    Tinkerer
    aphanic said:
    I'd be surprised if you weren't able to upgrade it using the file Acer provides. Firmware upgrades aren't tied to specific Windows versions, it may be listed for Windows 10, or 8.1, but the executable only requires 64-bit Windows.

    You can go ahead and use the one available in the support page ;)
    Thank you aphanic for your reply, I will try what you suggested and see how that goes. I did not want to update the BIOS using the Acer Support page after reading the big red warning message (see below).

    As such can I ask is it safe for me to update the very latest file from 2016?
  • aphanic
    aphanic Member Posts: 959 Seasoned Specialist WiFi Icon
    That warning is there because firmware upgrades are different from updates to the operating system or programs for example. The memory that gets updated with those is located in one or several ROM chips soldered into the motherboard.

    Since that code is meant to initialize the hardware of the machine among other things, if something goes wrong during its upgrade (which requires erasing the old version before being able to write the new one) the machine could end up in an unusable state, with the only way to fix it being replacing that/those chip(s) for another one or re-programming it/them in a different way.

    There are safeguards, it's not that grim to flash the system firmware nowadays. For example, some machines have a backup chip which isn't initially updated and if something goes wrong it would be used to recover the main one. The updater programs also perform tests before the process begins to minimize the risk of bricking the machine, like checking if you're trying to install code not meant for that machine or if the AC adapter is disconnected in laptops.

    It used to be riskier years ago, specially on desktops with single chip BIOS and without UPSes, if energy was cut for whatever reason the machine would be rendered unusable for the time being; I suspect that's the reason some people recommend not to update the firmware unless something is not working correctly.

    Newer updates usually contain updated microcode for the processors, tweaks to how the system behaves or support for other components that weren't compatible previously for example. Given the change stated in the 1.16 version I would upgrade the machine to it.

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