Solved Device Manager is reporting wrong BIOS version installed

x BlueRobot · Sep 18, 2023

wiganken said:
However, seeing the source is not fixing the issue and messing with the registry in these circumstances is too dangerous methinks. What say you guys.

Well, there isn't actually any issue to resolve, what you're seeing in device manager is completely normal. I just wanted to point out where they information was coming from. Any device which have a device instance path with "UEFI" in it will appear as firmware in device manager. It is completely separate to your UEFI/BIOS version. I suspect that the Dell update is a UEFI application update, this runs within the UEFI itself and includes things like your Boot Manager.

More information: UEFI in Windows - Windows drivers

BamaInArk · Sep 18, 2023

wiganken said:
@x BlueRobot - You may have pinpointed the source of the problem. The different places in the registry show different BIOS versions. See photos. It seems that DM is getting its wrong BIOS info from first photo location. The second photo shows the correct BIOS info. However, seeing the source is not fixing the issue and messing with the registry in these circumstances is too dangerous methinks. What say you guys.

View attachment 71451

View attachment 71452

Now that's interesting. I wonder but it looks like it's reading an oem inf file. oem17.inf. Perhaps an inf file not updated with the correct revision? For comparison with my Amd Ryzen system the HardwareID shows "....&REV_4601..." where 4601 is my bios version number.

x BlueRobot · Sep 18, 2023

Here's some additional information on UEFI drivers and applications: 5.1 Begin With INF File · GitBook

I believe that Tianocore is one of the SDKs for UEFI applications.

ShamrockRig · Sep 18, 2023

BamaInArk said:
I don't think that "System Firmware" reflects the bios image. That suggests a Microsoft driver version only.

exactly..this is what i was getting at lol.

wiganken · Sep 18, 2023

wiganken said:
I give up! I think I will disable Windows Update Driver updates and rely on DELL SupportAssist for drivers and BIOS

I ran the 'disable' reg file in this tutorial but it didn't work because I am still seeing Windows offering the firmware update after I restarted the DELL after running the reg file: - Enable or Disable Include Drivers with Windows Updates in Windows 11 Tutorial

hsehestedt · Sep 18, 2023

I blitzed through the responses and did not see anyone comment on this yet...

Maybe the discrepancy in versions in simply because Microsoft is using Decimal and Dell is using Hexadecimal. Note that 16 decimal is equal to 10 Hexadecimal. Bottom line is that the information shown may be correct, assuming a decimal value

EDIT: For clarity, this is only a guess, but it makes sense in my head

wiganken · Sep 18, 2023

@Helmut @x BlueRobot @ShamrockRig - Thanks for the pointers in your posts #2, #21 and #24. These caused me to check online that BIOS and Firmware are different. Having been satisfied by what I read and you guys I installed that firmware update fairly confident that it would not overwrite the BIOS and it didn't. It must have been for some other hardware. It took less than 20 seconds to download and install and I was not asked to restart the computer afterwards. The firmware update has now disappeared (at last).

All that hassle because I thought BIOS and Firmware were the same thing.

wiganken · Sep 18, 2023

DM Firmware version is now showing as v1.10.0 (it had been showing v1.4.1) so maybe the firmware update was only updating the registry entry for whatever hardware it referred to since it was that quick.

I learned a lot today. Solved.

Fabler2 · Sep 18, 2023

wiganken said:
DM Firmware version is now showing as v1.10.0 (it had been showing v1.4.1) so maybe the firmware update was only updating the registry entry for whatever hardware it referred to since it was that quick.

I learned a lot today. Solved.

No. Imho what happened is that WU started to facilitate the flashing of the UEFI. WU itself doesn't flash the UEFI as it is done outside of Windows. It found that the UEFI was already up to date so it simply fixed the registry and ended the process. Nothing was actually updated.
Your Device manager is now showing the correct UEFI version.

zbook · Sep 18, 2023

This is from a Dell link:

Code:

2. What is a Firmware?
The firmware is a software program permanently etched into a hardware device such as keyboards, 
hard drive, BIOS, or video cards. 
It is programmed to give permanent instructions to communicate with other devices and perform functions
 like basic input/output tasks. 
Firmware is typically stored in the flash ROM (read-only memory) of a hardware device.

It can be erased and rewritten. Keep a server up to date is important to have the best interoperability between 
OS and server, and avoid issues. To better understand the changes and improvements introduced by a firmware, 
it is advised to read the Release Note associated.

Dell PowerEdge : Update Server Firmware for Optimal Performance | Dell US

Helmut · Sep 18, 2023

You are done and good to go, I would not worry about the details.

You know it was not a BIOS/UEFI update as such, but some other related hardware.

Fabler2 · Sep 19, 2023

Helmut said:
You are done and good to go, I would not worry about the details.

You know it was not a BIOS/UEFI update as such, but some other related hardware.

Depending on the motherboard manufacturer UEFI firmware updates is a thing. This thread was about system firmware update and not device firmware update.
Most likely only mid to low range of laptops (mobiles) motherboards offer this system firmware updates and high end (expensive) laptops and desktop motherboards don't.
This was related to the UEFI. See this article as it should clear up any confusion.