Acer laptops, BIOS updates w/without Windows, opinions/experiences w quality/support?
I'm looking at this laptop to purchase: Acer Aspire AS8730-6951,
http://tinyurl.com/cwjnme (newegg link).
I've had problems with a Toshiba laptop (their "intermittent screen
blanking" issue) where I've had to upgrade the BIOS numerous times as
a fix (without success). Luckily, I kept the Windows Vista partition
when I installed Etch, because that's the method I've been using to
update the BIOS.
I've looked at Acer's support site but can't figure out or find the
procedures for upgrading the bios. What I think I'm seeing though, is
that Windows Vista will be required to update the BIOS.
I've seen posts in the past, and in googling in the past, I know that
some laptop brands you can copy the bios update file(s) to a CD/DVD or
USB drive and boot from that (or the old method of booting from a
floppy for versions of Windows earlier than Vista, but floppies no
longer come with laptops) to update the bios.
I've also seen a post or two that states that if you update the bios
on an Acer laptop you void the warranty? And if the bios update
process fails for whatever reason and the bios chip is bricked, the
laptop can't be fixed.
Is there a method of updating the bios on an Acer without booting into
windows? I tried asking Acer tech support this question, and while
underlining that I wasn't asking them for Linux support but planned to
run Linux as the reason for the question, they went off the deep end
twice so far with the mention of Linux, and haven't answered me yet
for my third explanation of just asking for _all_ the bios update
procedures (ie: any method other than requiring to update while
running Vista, usb/cd/dvd/other, DOS, FreeDOS...), without any request
about Linux.
Acer's response (and their lack of documentation in various Acer
models' manuals or their support web site for the procedures for
updating the bios is throwing up red flags as to whether or not I
should trust them for a thousand dollar plus laptop purchase.
The reason I'm looking at this laptop is price compared to other
brands with the processor speed, nvidia graphics, screen
size/resolution, etc. I was planning on using the laptop with Lenny
as a front end for mythtv (720p/1080i) especially with nVidia/VDPAU
coming to mythtv, along with general desktop use, development, etc.
Any guidance on updating the BIOS on Acer, opinions on
quality/support/general hardware with Linux kernel will be
appreciated.
Thanks,
Laura
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