Should I update my Dell N4110 BIOS before Upgrading to Windows 8?

I'm using Dell Inspiron 14R and it can be upgraded(recommended by Dell) to Windows 8. Recently, Dell released latest Bios! The latest bios is for Windows 8 or for Windows 7?

Droid Learner

Posted 2012-10-29T11:13:09.437

Reputation: 65

A BIOS revision release is not targeted to a certain operating system. Its to address specific reported problems within the BIOS itself. – Ramhound – 2012-10-29T11:49:04.477

There are 3 different Inspiron 14r laptops, N4101, N4110, 5420, which is it? see here

– Moab – 2012-10-29T16:30:29.470

@Moab N4110. I'm done with it! – Droid Learner – 2012-10-29T16:37:41.327

@DroidLearner This might help others when searching the internet if you edit your answer and include the specific model number, thanks. – Moab – 2012-10-29T16:40:29.540

@Moab yeah done! – Droid Learner – 2012-10-30T17:05:09.800

@DroidLearner Thanks for improving the community and helping gain some google search hits! – Moab – 2012-10-30T20:32:19.230

Answers

It shouldn't matter, updates to a BIOS very rarely make a difference to the operating system.

For what it's worth, Dell publish information about Windows 8 support for their laptops here. According to the page, all the Inspiron 14R laptops support Windows 8.

If you know your specific model number you can review the notes for each model, including any particular issues that may arise after the upgrade. Some models have issues, and there are workarounds available. For example the one of the Inspiron 14R models has this note:

Inspiron 5425 systems have been tested for support of Windows 8 upgrade. The 5425 does support upgrade to Windows 8, with the following open issues directly after upgrade:

Problem: The video driver shows a yellow bang in Device Manager.

Solution: Be sure to update your video driver from the Dell Drivers and Downloads website before upgrading to Windows 8.

ta.speot.is

Posted 2012-10-29T11:13:09.437

Reputation: 13 727

Bios is rather independent of OS (Or your UEFI bootloader, which more modern systems use) - it prepares the system for the OS to boot then stays out of the way. Unless there's a specific mention of something useful for windows 8 (which is unlikely), your old bios should be fine.

You can go either way - just remember to make sure you do the bios/uefi update safely, if you choose to go that way

Journeyman Geek

Posted 2012-10-29T11:13:09.437

Reputation: 119 122

Bioses are not specific to operating systems, although sometimes they may fix bugs.

Read the BIOS release notes and see what it says. If it mentions that this fixes problems with Windows 8, you may need to upgrade.

In your case this says

Fix issue when system resume from S4 automatically after upgrade to Windows 8

Because this is 2012 and not 1997, bios upgrades are rather painless and you should do it just to fix whatever minor problems they addrssed.

So.

Your specific system needs a bios upgrade
Unless you experience problems upgrading you do not need to update your bios (as a general rule)
Upgrade your bios anyways.

Mikhail

Posted 2012-10-29T11:13:09.437

Reputation: 3 782

It says recommended. Release notes is not there! you can check here.. http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/555/DriverDetails?driverId=H6PF5

– Droid Learner – 2012-10-29T11:34:36.320