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I wanted to flash my bios last night from A09 to A10 on my m17xR2. I downloaded the bios from dell drivers & download and extracted it. Then, I executed the executable inside it that had a similar name to the driver, since it had a self-extracting archive icon.
This was not a self-extracting archive, but rather the utility to flash the bios from within windows. It started without asking me to accept or click anything, and I didn't want to close it since it had alrealy begun to write blocks. So I let it through, let it reboot my computer, and now my computer won't POST anymore.
The laptop still make the same HDD drives noises as usual, and the fan works as usual. Same for the LED's. There are no leds error codes (usually, there is an error code with caplock/numpad/scroll leds indicating hardware failure for this particular computer). However, there is no display. If I boot with a HDMI cable plugged in, I see it freeze at the bios screen on the secondary screen, so the GPU appear to be functional (HDMI is plugged into the gpu). It stays like that for a variable amount of time, then shut down (sometimes after a minute, sometimes after 5-10 minutes).
I tried to "blind flash" the bios. Since I'm on windows 8.1 on my other computer, I couldn't use WINCRIS. So, I made the drive a bootable dos drive through rufus, and put the bios on the root (tried several times, keeping the original filename (a .ROM file) or renaming it to BIOS.WPH, M17R2.hdr). Here is the procedure I followed :
- unplug power cable
- power drain
- put the USB in the esata port
- press fn+b
- plug power cable in
- hold power for 3 sec
- release power while still holding Fn+B.
No sign of activity. Sadly, my usb drive doesn't have any LED showing activity, but the computer did the exact same routine as usual and displayed only the alienware head with F2 and F12 on the secondary screen.
I wasn't able to find the exact procedure for my model, but all of the procedures I found for other similar models (m17xR3, m18xR2) are basically variation of the Phoenix Crisis Recovery method (https://www.bios-mods.com/bios-recovery/phoenix-bios-recovery/)
I tried the routine with Win+B, Fn+R, Win+R, Fn+F, Win+F, DEL and END keys, and various file names, without success. I don't know if I'm just not using the proper key/filename combinaison, or if I am simply unable to trigger the blind flash because the laptop is freezing at the bios screen, unable to enter the bios or follow through.
I also tried to flash the drive with WINCRIS under windows xp sp3 compatibility modes (which I put on every other executables provided with WINCRIS.EXE in order to get it to boot) and it seemed to format my USB properly. Re-tried all of the above with no luck.
I also did a CMOS Reset as instructed in this article : http://www.dell.com/support/Article/us/en/6099/SLN284985 I did the method 3, since I wasn't able to locate any jumpers on my laptop board.
Is there any way left to fix my board, or is it completely bricked?
Kaz
Posted 2016-01-14T16:47:22.397
Reputation: 1
Try to only FAT32 format USB drive and plug into USB2.0 port ( do not make it bootable, just FAT32 format ) ! not e-sata not 3.0. Copy the WPH, BIN and ROM files from BIOS.EXE.. Do the recovery procedure.. Power OFF, Hold Fn+END, Keep holding and power on.. ( Try the same with FN+B and only END as keys).. try again with the ROM file from A09 BIOS version ! – Setekh – 2016-01-14T18:44:59.960
I will try this variation when I get back home and comment the results. – Kaz – 2016-01-14T19:17:08.600
Update : Did not work... I also had the CMOS battery out overnight just in case my previous CMOS reset didn't work properly, which didn't work either. – Kaz – 2016-01-16T05:08:03.387
Better to find another line of communication and talk there until we find a solution. Check my profile. – Setekh – 2016-01-16T15:29:34.953