Need help doing BIOS driver update?

I have a Dell inspiron 1525 laptop with Vista & my browsers are IE7 :mad & Google Chrome. I got the laptop in late 2008.
The following has happened about 5 times over the past 2 weeks. When I have been using Chrome browser (I never use IE), at the very instant I click to close the browser, everything goes black & I then get a message that I've had an unexpected shut down & a lot of other writing which I do not have time to read in the few seconds it gives you before the system auto restarts. The last time this happened was last night. I did manage to catch a few words in the text & they were these words not necessarily in this order; they are just words that stuck in my brain referring to what may be causing this.:

I saw the word shadowing.

I saw something saying something about checking to see if BIOS drivers have an update or needing updating or something to that effect.

So, I have gone to my control panel for the problem reports & solutions. It brought up a report from 10/27 yet has no record of what happened yesterday. Further, it says the report from 10/27 was not reported???????
Here is a screen shot:

Then I clicked on "view a temporary copy of these files" & this is a screen shot of what came up there:


I think this information will also be helpful for you to be able to help me:
BIOS Version/Date - Dell Inc. A16, 10/16/2008
SMBIOS Version 2.4
Intel Celeron CPU 550@2.00GHz, 1995Mhz, 1 Core(s), 1 Logical Processor

Can you please help me to determine the problem & take the proper steps to fix it? If I need to download & install drivers or anything else for that matter; can you please walk me, talk me through the steps? I am not very techie & if you would please "talk down" to me rather than using a lot of techie language I probably won't understand, then it would help. I will say that I love learning & if you put the techie terms in parentheses then I will be able to learn from that.

Thank you so much!
tryingtolearn

 

Since you have a Dell, go to the Dell Support site, click on the Start Here button in the Support for Home section, enter your Service Tag number (located on a sticker on the bottom of the laptop) or let the Dell System Detect software do it for you and then click on the Drivers and Downloads Tab.

If there's a BIOS update available for your laptop, it will show in the list of available downloads. I would recommend that you download all drivers pertinent to your particular computer and keep them in a safe place so you have them should the need arise to re-install your Operating System. Also download any Manuals available including the Service Manual. I've had need of the one for my Dell Precision M70.

Since you're running a version of Vista, right click on Computer in the Start Menu and select Properties. Click on Advanced System Settings on the left of the window then click on the Advanced Tab. Click on the Settings button in Startup and Recovery. In the System failure area, uncheck Automatically restart AND Overwrite any existing file. This way you'll be able to see the information and any changes in the Memory dump will be recorded. In the Write debugging information drop-down, select Small memory dump (64 KB). This is what is used by the Major Geeks experts that have the tools to read these memory dumps. Click OK and OK again and close the System window.

The next time your computer crashes, include the Memory dump in a .ZIP archive attachment. It will be located in C:\Windows\Minidump and have a .dmp extension.

 

Greetings, tryingtolearn, and welcome to MajorGeeks.

In addition to mdonah's suggestions you might also try to determine if this is a hardware or a software problem. Boot the machine into Safe Mode w/Networking: do the symptoms persist?

You might also consider using Internet Explorer temporarily as a troubleshooting tool - could this be a Chrome-specific problem?

Be advised: an improper BIOS flash can render your machine inoperable. To prevent owning a very expensive doorstop I suggest saving a BIOS reload as a last resort.

 

If there's a BIOS Update listed in the Drivers and Downloads Section at the Dell Support site after the Service Tag is entered, it's a recommended by Dell update for his/her Dell computer. It will cause no harm to his/her Dell computer. He/she simply needs to run the update and restart the computer for the BIOS update to take effect.

The remaining drivers would have already been installed by Dell and he/she would have them as backup instead of having to re-download them every time Windows needed to be re-installed — if ever.

Regarding Chrome browser — I don't have it installed on Windows Vista but did have it installed on Windows XP. It blue screened my computer because it was trying to access restricted memory. I uninstalled Chrome and will never have it on my Dell Precision M70 again. I use Firefox as my default browser

Regarding IE7 — I'm running Vista Business and used wsus offline to install SP2 (my DVD came with SP1 which Microsoft ended support for in July 2011), IE8, .Net Framework 3.5 and 4, Silverlight, MSSE, Windows Defender definitions and the other 118 security updates it offers. When I then run Windows Update, I've got it set to include other Microsoft products. It offers IE9 on the first pass which I decline.

 

I thank you both for answering!!!! There are some things you have told me to do which I don't quite understand & I will ask for clarification on those things if it comes to it.
I wanted to touch base & say that I wrenched my back on the 30th & sitting in an upright position is pure hell but I'm starting to get better this evening. I have been unable to do hardly any of the items recommended. I think I will be able to work on this tomorrow --- I hope I will be able to sit for longer periods of time.
I did however, get to check the Dell site & there are no BIOS updates for my computer. Plus, all except 1 or 2 of the updates, driver or otherwise, that they list for my service tag were published prior to the date they made my laptop so I don't understand why those items are showing up as they should have been installed originally.
Also, I did find mini dump files which were created each time the crash has occurred. I believe the clues to the crashes will be revealed there. I will get on that stuff asap when my back will allow me to. I did attach one of those to my original post even though at the time it was not listed as a mini dump file.
BTW, I have no clue how to do a zip file.:confused
I have dearly wanted to install FireFox but dare not mess with things until I get this crash problem figured out & taken care of.
BTW, I'm a female so you need not use the he/she anymore. You can just refer to me as a she.
Oh, & just FYI, I have run numerous virus scans & come up clean. I have AVG paid version & the first thing I do when I encounter any problem is run a scan as well as doing a weekly scan religiously.
I have an Iomega eGo portable hard drive which I back up my files with every 30 days or sooner if I go to make a big change in case anything goes wrong during the change.
Again, thank you so much for responding & trying to help me. I appreciate it immensely! I will be back tomorrow or the next day with more info. for y'all.

 

Sorry to hear about your back — I've been there.

They would have been installed. But having them available should you need to re-install Windows will prove to be invaluable. I've had to re-install Windows numerous times while running XP. Vista does an excellent job of configuring my devices but there are two devices on my computer that it doesn't install drivers for.

If the file didn't have the name "MiniXXXXXX.dmp, it wasn't a minidump.

Right click on the file and select Send to > Compressed (zipped) folder.

I update Firefox as soon as a new Final version becomes available. This time version 25 has some issues so, I'm going back to version 24.

Thanks for that clarification.

I hate to be the harbinger of bad news, but AVG isn't all that good any more. Avast! is better but heavy on resources. I simply run Microsoft Security Essentials. The definitions are updated at least twice daily.

I recommend you do a daily backup, either differential or incremental just before shutting down the computer for the evening. All it takes is one poorly written program or inadvertent malware installation to really wreak havoc.

You're entirely welcome. That's what we volunteers are here for.

 

Thanks! It's not progressing as quickly as I had hoped for but I've been through this before & will get through it again.

 

To do the multiple quote, put QUOTE (inside brackets []) immediately before the section you want to quote and /QUOTE (inside brackets []) immediately after. The word QUOTE opens the quote and /QUOTE (with the forward slash) closes the quote.

Since you have all of the disks from Dell, you're "good to go" for now as far as drivers are concerned — but CDs/DVDs can develop cracks, get scratched or gouged, etc. and that would render them unusable. You might be able to get replacements from Dell, but I feel it's better to have them (the drivers) in your possession should such a situation arise.

Since you have the re-installation DVD for your operating system but it's Service Pack 1, I recommend downloading the Service Pack 2 stand alone installer. Microsoft support for SP1 ended in July of 2011. Any security updates you get now are dependent on having SP2 installed.

Regarding incremental or differential backups — you would need a program that supports such actions such as the paid version of Macrium Reflect or Acronis True Image, and its a subject for another discussion — what you're doing now seems to work for you.

 

Good evening.

I stand by this statement:

@tryingtolearn:

A few quick questions:

1. What version of Chrome are you running? I'm not familiar with the Chrome browser: does it use addons and extensions like other browsers, and if so have you tried disabling them to see if your symptoms change?

2. You mentioned in your first post that the Chrome symptoms started 2 weeks ago - have you tried to revert the machine to a time previous to the onset of the symptoms?

3. Are you still experimenting with Safe Mode, and if so what are the results?

 

IE7? ...Vista supports IE9. I would make sure that all the Microsoft Updates are installed before I did anything.
Then update your Anti-Virus software and run a full scan.
Then you can consider updating (or "flashing" your BIOS). Caliban is correct...an interrupted BIOS Flash (power or the updated flash is corrupted) can brick a computer...per-ma-nant-ly. I have seen it done once while updating an older Dell laptop that I used a corrupted/bad flash update I had downloaded.
Don't use Chrome till the updates and scans are finished. It does use memory differently than IE or Firefox does. Open Task Manager on a Windows PC and while one Chrome Tab is open, you will see numerous instances of it open...all using different amounts of cpu, memory and process ID's.
The suggestion to use Firefox is a good one too.

 

Ah, I was missing the slash before the end quote. Thanks!

 

Since the Dell site revealed no BIOS driver updates then I think the BIOS being an issue or the cause is moot at this point.

Answer to 1. I am running Chrome version 30.0.1599.101m. I have no extensions loaded on mine. No add ons either.

Answer to 2. I thought of doing a system restore to a point prior to this happening. I have done that a few times in the past to resolve problems but this time my gut told me I had better check out the driver updates first.

Answer to 3. No, I only ran safe mode for a short time, a few hours, & everything seemed to be working fine so I switched out of safe mode.

 

I have hesitated to install any newer versions of IE since there were such huge problems with IE8 & vista when IE8 was released.
I get regular updates from MS & am up to date excepting newer versions of IE. When I have any problems, the 1st thing I do is check to see if any updates have become available that day or that hour & if so, I install them.

I appreciate this info. & have taken heed but as I said in my reply to Caliban; since there are no BIOS driver updates on the Dell site for my computer then the problem is less likely caused by any missing BIOS driver update so it's a moot point right now but a future lesson to be aware of.

Don't use Chrome till the updates and scans are finished. It does use memory differently than IE or Firefox does. Open Task Manager on a Windows PC and while one Chrome Tab is open, you will see numerous instances of it open...all using different amounts of cpu, memory and process ID's.

As I stated earlier, i am itching to install Firefox but I don't want to muck up the waters until I get this straightened out.

 

I, like you, made sure I got all of the backup CDs for everything that was installed on my Dell Dimension 4500S desktop computer when I ordered it from Dell in 2002. My OS re-installation CD (Win XP Pro) must have been slightly warped causing it to vibrate/wobble. Just the act of the disk spinning up inside the CD drive caused a crack to form near the spindle hole which eventually spread to 3/4" in length. At that point, the CD drive couldn't even recognize the CD.

Fortunately, the computer was still under warranty. The original OS CD didn't even have SP1. But when I called Dell about the CD, they were kind enough to send a re-installation CD with SP1 integrated at no charge — it's for reasons like that I only get Dell computers (plus the fact they're relatively easy [for me] to work on if you need to/want to replace parts).

 

I will download the drivers & such mdonah! Thank you for the lesson. I had no idea about the possibility of warping.

Well, I am rather embarrassed!:-o:-o I should have thought to do this right off when I began having problems but it slipped off my radar. I picked up my laptop & looked underneath & yep, dust in the vents. I vacuumed it out & haven't had a crash since the 5th on Chrome. I've tested with 7 to 10 tabs open & still doing fine.

I thank each & every one of you for the help & information you gave me. I'm sure one day in the future, I'll benefit from the lessons I learned here from you good people.

Sincerely,
tryingtolearn