acer aspire 1652WLMI Bios updated... and DEAD

Hello.
I have an acer aspire 1652WLMi with ATI MObility RADEON X300 PCI-Express.

I updated my bios with the file "3A45 for ATI M22, M24 and M26" and... its wrong.
The laptop is dead. The screen is always black when I tur the laptop on.

Does any body here can help me to recover or flash my old bios or a new one working?

Thanks again.

 

welcome to the world of acer,

apparently the same laptop comes in with the Travelmate 4101WLMi has a x700 in our region (MEA) as opposed to the wlmi in the US all of them having bios in the same folder, and no clear indication as to what's what...and most of us end up flashing it wrong

i lost mine the same way

wimsbios dot com

i tried the possibilities on this page but got halfway and then nothing

you might want to try this site and it's suggestions

 

Im having the same problem with my 5920g but not after a bios flash.

 

Do you have an inbuilt/USB FDD ?

 

No, I have no CD in the CD drive.

The fact is that I tried everything I could.
I recovered the original BIOS (i made a copy before flashing) and I made the USB bar rescue disk with the BIOS.WPH file.

If I press Fn+ESC I only get two shorts and a long beep (for sure with the USB bar plugged).

If I switch on the laptop with the USB bar plugged, it seems it starts to read from the USB, then stops, then reads again, the the HD starts to work an finally the USB bar is switchd off and the HD too, that its supposed to be the flashing method.

When I switch on the laptop again.... BLACK SCREEN

 

INCREDIBLE!!!

I have tried THOUSAND of times and FINALLY I DID IT. MY LAPTOP IS ALIVE!!!!

I tried everything in my 1652WLMI Acer laptop, and the only thing it worked was:


KINGSTON 512 MB Memory PEN USB with the rescue crisis disk made from "Phoenix_Recovery.rar" with the following files:

COMMAND.COM (from MINIDOS)
KERNEL.SYS (from MINIDOS)
PHLASH16.EXE
BIOS.WPH
AUTOEXEC.BAT with command LINE phlash16.exe /x /s BIOS.WPH


1.- Hard drive Unplugged.
2.- Battery unplugged.
3.- USB BAR plugged.
4.- Press POWER button (withouth pressing any other key)
5.- It started atomatic flashing.

30 seconds and IT RESTARTED ITSELF AND ITS WORKING.

I think the problem is the USB BAR, because i tried 5 different ones and the last one was working.

I attach the Phoenix recovery CRISIS DISK with instructions.

GOOD LUCK

 

Great, glad you made it work. By the way, BigO also mention in his guide that the smallest size the USB drive is the better(he used 256MB drive). So I guess the size matters here

 

you can download the tools here:
www "dot" box "dot" net/shared/j2u98ci67f

Substitute te "dot" with .

 

Hey Raelman!

I have the same problem like you had, man I'm totally frustrated!
I did try as well a lot of USB Bars but they ain't work, even no signal...

Which Bios file did you take now?!
And are your sure, that I don't have to press "FN" + "ESC", so that the USB Bar beginns to work?!

Greetings,
eric

 

Hey Raelman !

Your posting and tools in #8 helped me a great deal to bring my Acer Aspire 1690 (or 1694wlmi to be exact) back to live )
I also did the stupid thing of trying to update with the Flash-Bios posted on Acers support website - and after reboot was presented with a black screen.

Your tools for enabling USB Memory Stick Boot worked like a charm (2 GByte Kingston), but only after I opened the thing up and took out the hard disk (like mentioned in your post #6).

Then downloading all (!!) bios versions for 'Aspire 1690 DDR2' from the 'support.acer-euro.com/drivers/downloads' page and trying one by one, starting from the newest working back to the older ones.
The second oldest one (3a30.zip) finally brought the screen back to live.
This page also helps you to determine which 'submodel' of the 1690 - DDR2 or DDR1 - you are using.

Can not say if it makes a difference (and I don't want to give it another try !) - I used the PHLASH16.exe included in the 3a30.zip and used the parameters explained in the readme file - so I edited your Autoexec.bat accordingly.
Your one: phlash16.exe /x /s bios.WPH
MY one: PHLASH16 bios.WPH /mode=3 /X

Once I had worked my way through to the right 'old' Bios version, it took only 20 seconds, a few beebs, and the system rebooted by itself and the screen came back.

You definetely saved my day !

Thanks
Frank

 

I hate to say this once again.....

BIOS flashing is always a risky affair. It has become too easy these days. With links on the Internet etc...

Not too long ago, a BIOS flash was only done under extreme conditions by qualified folks who determined "after loads of troubleshooting" that the BIOS was indeed to blame for the PC's problems. And nothing else.

Nowday's, anybody with a PC and an Internet connection can attempt a BIOS flash. Without really understanding the principles, risks involved and so on.

Corrupt BIOS = DEAD Computer.

Generally, the BIOS is the very last thing you try fixing (or fiddling with) after determining nothing else is at fault when the comp wont boot.

Shoot me down. And tell my thinking is wrong. I will not take any offence

Cheers

 

TeeJay,
Fully agree - at least now after I went through the 'near dead' experience with my Laptop.
The thing is, one only comes across postings like yours, when it's too late and one is desperately searching the Internet for a fix.

Postings like yours should be made ‘sticky’ in front of every Bios related topic.

In my particular case I hoped to come a step closer in resolving the ‘100% CPU during games’ problem – after endless trials with all sorts of different driver packages, tweaks, etc.
But as you said it, never ever touch the Bios – it’s simply not worth the risk.

Cheers
Frank

 

Hi, for the very stupid people (like me):

Wat are you doing after extracting the phoenix recovery files? Do you install the drive key into your usb stick?

 

Please guys, some help here!

I have an Aspire 1642wlmi with exactly the same problem. Can you please help on how to boot from the flash disk?

I can see a green light on the flash disk when I press Fn+esc, but nothing happens...

Please, please, please!

 

Hi bbdiop,

You have to install and run the file 'HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool.exe' from the Phoenix recovery tools from post #8 on another, still working computer... ;-)
This tool will format your USB Stick and turn it into a bootable device.

As mentioned I my earlier post #10, I used the Phlash16 which comes with the zip-package 3a30.zip from support.acer-euro.com/drivers/downloads.

So once you have done all the steps in the 'HowTo.txt' from the Phoenix recovery file, copy the Phlash16.exe from the above zip-package to the USB Stick and edit the autoexec.bat on the USB Stick as follows:
PHLASH16 bios.WPH /mode=3 /X

Besides other things, this version lets you know its actually doing something by beeping distinctivly for about 20 seconds.

If your machine reboots by itself after 20 seconds and the screen comes back, you know you had a compatible bios version, if not, try the next older one.

In my case booting from the USB Stick only worked after I disconnected the hard drive, I guess that is because in the bios the boot sequence was set to 'hard drive' first.
So as long as the hard drive was present - yes the Stick did blink but it did not boot from USB.
With the Bios being messed up, I am not sure if the 'Emergency keys' for booting from other devices are still doing what they meant to do anyway.
In my case Fn+ESC only ended up in a bit of flashing light and lots of Beeps from the Bios: long - short short

Taking the hard drive out is quite simple, its the cover next to the CD Drive and only one screw holding the disk in place. Once you remove this screw, just slide the drive back and it disengages from the plug.

At the end I eventually did reinstall the copy of Bios.bak winphlash made before messing up - checking the version I found out it was the oldest one available on the support webpage.
It helps if you know which Graphic Card you have installed - Intel, ATI 300, 600 or 700 - since you have different Bios Versions for different Cards (check the readme.txt in the Zip File 3a30.zip for which version to use, better explanation than in the other versions)

Hope this helps
Frank

 

Just checked the support page out for your model on
http://support.acer-euro.com/drivers/downloads.html

It offers 2 different models: 1640 and 1640z - the bios packages only include winflash and no Dos Version of Phlash16.
So either use the Phlash16 from the Phoenix recovery tools or download the zip package from Acer for my 1694 and use the Phlash16.exe from there
ftp://ftp.work.acer-euro.com/notebook/aspire_1690_ddr2/bios/3a30.zip

I can only speak for the Phlash16 from the Acer package.

 

Well... probably my flash disk is not the appropriate one... I've tried hundreds of things... but nothing...

I now have a floppy as well... any suggestions? I already tried the same procedures but with no luck... PLEASE HEEELP!!!

 

Ok - first let's try to find out if your Acer is actually booting from the USB Stick.

1. Format the USB stick with the Phoenix Recovery tools (post #8) and follow the steps from post #6 'raelman'

2. Download the 3a30.zip from post #16 above, extract the files and extract the Phlash16.zip. Extract, copy (and overwrite) the Phlash16.exe in the USB stick root directory.

3. Download the bios files for your model from
http://support.acer-euro.com/drivers/index.html

Seems like they are revamping their support site and some of the links do not work currently - but the FTP site
http://support.acer-euro.com/drivers/ftp/ftp.html
is still up.
For the Acer 1640 they have 2 models: 1640 and 1640z.
For 1640 only one Bios file:
ftp://ftp.work.acer-euro.com/notebook/aspire_1640/bios/3A06.zip
For 1640z there are 2 Bios Versions:
ftp://ftp.work.acer-euro.com/notebook/aspire_1640z/bios/3a19.zip
ftp://ftp.work.acer-euro.com/notebook/aspire_1640z/bios/3A24.ZIP

(The 3a19.zip also contains a suitable Version of Phlash16.exe)
So 'roll the dies' and make an 'educated' guess which of the Bios Versions is compatible with your machine
The text files give you some hints (ATI or Intel) in determining a suitable Bios Version your machine - if you check your serial number sticker it may tell you even if you have the 1640z or 1640 model.

4. Rename the choosen bios file (.wph) to bios.wph and copy it to the USB stick root

5. By now you should have the following files in your USB stick root directory as per #6:
COMMAND.COM (from MINIDOS)
KERNEL.SYS (from MINIDOS)
PHLASH16.EXE (from 3a30.zip or 3a19.zip)
BIOS.WPH
AUTOEXEC.BAT

6. Edit the autoexec.bat to
PHLASH16 bios.WPH /mode=3 /X

7. Now your USB stick is ready - so please follow the the next steps in #6
1.- Hard drive Unplugged.
2.- Battery unplugged.
3.- USB BAR plugged.
4.- Press POWER button (withouth pressing any other key)
5.- It started atomatic flashing

So here come the interesting part of this Phlash16 Version - by using the /x switch (and not the standard /s) the programm will actually beep with short, always same length, beeps for about 20-30 seconds.
So with the screen dead one does at least now if the programm is actually running.

8. So now please tell me if this happens and you get those beeps
- if yes and the machine is not rebooting by itself, we know that the thing boots but mostlikely the chosen Bios version is not compatible.
Try another Bios version from the packages above - in my case it was a rather old release

- If no beeps (not the bios beeps with long and short beeps) , start scratching your head
a) did you set a password at boot ?
If yes, just give it a try and enter your password

b) your machine simply won't boot from that stick, so give it a try with the floppy disk you mentioned in your post.
To make the floppy bootable, right-click the floppy drive (and only the floppy drive !!!) and choose format with the option 'Create an MS-DOS startup disk'
Once done, copy the same files as for the USB stick to the floppy.
Repeat step 7.

9. In my case I had to remove the hard drive to make it boot from another device - no key combination worked ! Did you remove the hard drive ?

Good Luck !

 

Ok, I have no result yet with usb stick... One question though is if I need FAT or FAT32 when formatting it with Phoenix recovery disk.

I did FAT i think, and have no beeps at all. I tried also with Fn+Esc (just because at least the green light switches on, but no beeps again).

I'm sure there is no password, and yes I have already removed the hard drive.

Ill try the floppy now and get back... Thanks for everything mate!

 

What size has the USB stick you use? Your chances are better if you have a 256MB stick or smaller.

 

unfortunately, neither the floppy is doing anything...

It starts working for 3-5 (maybe) seconds when I press the power button but then it stops. It worked again after half minute maybe, again for another 2-3 seconds but nothing again...

 

Yes it's 256MB

 

Hmm...about the file system I'd say FAT or FAT16, after all you're dealing with DOS files. What file system are you using now?

 

the flash disk is with fat32... could that be the problem?

 

that may be completely stupid... but i'm just trying to think of something...

I have upgraded the RAM memory about a year ago. Could that be a reason for not booting?

 

I think you should format to FAT only and try it again..I guess the file system could be a problem..

I don't think so, it doesn't make any sense.

 

nothing different at all with FAT... gosh i'm completely helpless!

 

i really can't understand why it can't boot even from the floppy...

 

should I remove the cdrom as well?

 

Hey bbdiop,

Is your Floppy connected via USB as well ?
If so, something seems gone wrong with the booting capability from USB. May be you should try with a bootable CD ROM instead.
You can use a program like Nero to make a bootable CD Rom and copy the same files as you used before to the CD.

Apart from that, it is difficult to say if any of the other things -mentioned in this and other forums- I tried before the steps described in raelman's post #6 did anything to help finally resolve the problem.
One step was to disconnect power and battery, press Fn+ B (in another post Windows key + B), reconnect power and keep them pressed for some time - with the USB Stick connected.
Another was to disconnect power and battery and press the Power Buttom for 30 sec, then do step one above.
With the screen gone it is just impossible to say what actually did something - and I do not want to give it another try

Anyway - a last thing you can try is to press F5 after initial booting.
Phlash16 sometimes waits for the user to confirm an action by pressing F5

 

So, I make a bootable cd (I don't know how, but I'll search for that) and just copy the usual 5 files?

 

do i need a bootable disk based on the floppy bootable disk I already have? In that case, do I need to add the 5 files to the cd rom?

 

With booting from the USB Stick not working, things get a bit ugly...

May be some of the other members have a better and more elegant solution than this ?
Organize yourself either Nero (free trial version http://www.nero.com) or the free ware CDBurner XP ( http://www.cdburnerxp.se.
CDBurnerXP is only about 3 Mbyte, Nero is about 100

I used CDBurnerXP:
-Start the programm and choose Data Disc
-Menu Disc - Boot options
-Click 'Make Disc Bootable' and download the image file 'boot.ima' from their homepage
-Emulation Type 'Floppy 2.88'
-check 'Disable Iso Version...' and OK

Copy the 'old' Phlash16.exe (from previous post)
ftp://ftp.work.acer-euro.com/notebook/aspire_1690_ddr2/bios/3a30.zip
and a couple of Bios sourcefiles *.wph which you believe are promising for your model...
to the root directory

So now comes the ugly part without having a screen:
When you boot from this CD later, it will assign the system part (which is formed by the 'boot.ima' image) as drive A - and the CD Drive as Drive X.
So all the files you copied on this CD are after sucessfull boot in Drive X and not in A.
I could not figure out a way to modify the 'boot.ima' and include further files.

So having to type blind without screen is where it gets really ugly.
I suggest you make a couple of BAT files to minimize the blind typing

With notepad create and save as 'Flash1.bat' (save as type 'All Files' and not as .txt file) just containing this line:
PHLASH16 ZL9A3A19.WPH /mode=3 /X

Similar create Flash2.bat and so on referencing the other hopeful Bios files
Copy all these files to the root directory of your CD and hit Burn.
You can use a rewriteabe CD, did not make any difference on my Acer 1690 - just make sure you erase the CD before you give it another try

So in the spirpit of the other posts - remove hard drive, battery and power
Press and keep pressed at least for once at the beginning Fn+ESC while Reconnecting Power and hold it down until CD Drive spins up.
Don't expect it to boot though - never worked in my case - but worth a try.
Switch off and back on - and if your lucky it should start booting from CD - just hard to say without a screen
So wait for about 30-45sec and type blind:
X:
Flash1

If it works you should get short beeps for about 20-30sec and the machine will reboot immediatley afterwards.
If only beeps and no reboot and screen - reboot yourself and try Flash2, etc.

Rather ugly considering the elegant solutions the guys have come up with for other Acer Models
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=3765453&postcount=14

Cheers and Good Luck

 

Oopps - just gave it a real test run and phlashed my bios - and of course:
can not use the 'boot.ima' from CDBurnerXP - it loads all sorts of programms which conflict with Phlash16
Have to use the one from Nero - let me see if they can be interchanged...

 

The bootimage of Nero can be used instead and phlash16 works without any glitches - flashed old and new version of my bios, but thats the last time I ever touch a Bios again

I will try to attach it to this post but the size is 1.44MB, hope it still works splitted in 3 parts
[Yep - Server does not like the ending .z01 and .z02, so I added .zip at the ends, you have to rename the 2 files to nboot.z01 and nboot.z02 - since the file is also in the free trialversion (at least in version 8) I hope I am doing nothing wrong here ? ]

Difference to imagefile of CDBurnerXp is that under Menu Disc - Boot options the Emulation Type is 'Floppy 1.44' and that the CD-Drive (with the bios and phlash16 files) is not assigned fix but the next free drive letter (not counting B: though).
With your hard disk out, this could be C: ?

Anyway - you can verify even without screen - after initial boot type DIR and the CD should start spinning again.
The same you can try after you change the drive to C: or D:

You can 'Test boot' this CD on another windows machine with a screen - but don't try the flashing bit

 

Uhh i have a similar problem which i think only started when updating the bios of the 6935g. The screen of my laptop won't go on and nothing will happen during a restart or switch on most of the time. However it will if i leave it unplugged for a few seconds. Should it be something to worry about? ¬_¬

 

Hey bbdiop,
Came across an interesting thread: Help - Blind flash on Acer
http://www.wimsbios.com/phpBB2/topic8541.html

Have a look - looks like there is no such thing as THE solution for Aspire Bios problems !
Just keep trying...

 

I've already read this topic and tried most of the ideas there... I'll try the cd with the above now...

 

ok... my acer doesn't like it either... it spins then it stops. By pressing random buttons I can make it spin again. After some time I can also see a green light when i change drives (c:, b: x: etc) but dir doensn't make it spin. Neither flash do anything...

My other computer is mac, and i tried the cd. I can make it book from and after some dos-things it stops at a:. Unfortunately the keyboard doesn't work. So, I can't do anything else (e.g. dir, x

Are you sure I don't need any of the other files (that I previously had on my floppy)?

 

Your Acer is really a hard one to tackle...
Could you determine which submodel you have ?
Is it Acer 1640 or 1640z ?
When did you buy it ?

Time permitted I will give it a try and prepare an image boot file (*.ima) with all files you need for your Acer 1642wlmi.

One question though - which other computer are you using to generate the boot disk(s) - is it your MAC or a 'real' windows machine ?
I have not much experience with MACs, so no idea if these 'emulated' OS versions are doing what they are supposed to do, when it comes to boot disks and other hardware related issues.
To make the 2.88MByte attachment exchange easier you can drop me a personal message with your email - GMail would be best with almost no size limitation for attachments

 

I think it's 1640 (that's the only thing stated on the manuals - 1640 series)
What do you mean by submodel? All I can see on the back is: 1642wlmi
It was bought on the second half of 2005.

I need more details on the image boot file. Was that what I did before?

Yes, I'm using a mac. That may be a problem...

I also tried (maybe a stupid idea again) to use an external monitor but it didn't work either... sending you a pm now... but please give me all the instructions on what to do with the 2.88

 

Aspire 1640 seems to be a Model distributed in Germany only, at least the manuals are only available in German.
Finding out the submodel is essential for determining the compatible Bios version, but there are no 'hints' on the Acer support webpage for your model.
For the 1640 series there are 3 different bios versions available:
ftp://ftp.work.acer-euro.com/notebook/
-3a06 for Intel Alviso Chipset (1640)
-3a19 (1640z) containing 2 different Versions for ATI or UMA graphics

Based on your purchase date, I would guess that the first one 3a06 is the correct one, the second one only starts with initial release dates in Oct / Nov. 05 and 'production releases' in Dec '05.

Do you know the type of graphic card installed in your system ?
Which Bios Versions have you tried so far ?

 

Thanks a lot for the inormation in this thread.
BIOS Update funktion with ACER 1650 Spezialy 1652.
The Acer Homepage is really terrible: (, because I can't find out which BIOS update is compatible with the computer typ.

So i update whith the last bios und then !!!

 

Hi Stephan101,

Did you actually manage to 'revive' your Acer ?
In 'bbdiop's case nothing would work...

 

hi everybody
I have the exact same problem with realman. I have an Acer Aspire 1652wlmi and while updating bios it failed. I tried to do everything here, but nothing happened. Could you help me?
for example can realman send me the right bios version since I have the exactly the same model it must work with me. There are different choices for the same model so I am confused.
thank you in advance

 

I've had exactly the same problem with my aspire 1694, up untill I read this post!

I re-flashed it (2gb mem stick) and it worked right away. Thank god you guys just saved me 2-4 weeks of waiting. And to think it was acer themselves who first suggested I should reflash to help a heating problem I had. Their suggested bios caused the black screen in the first place.

For those that had some trouble deciphering the first set of instructions let me reiterate:

Download the Phoenix Recovery.rar from post #8 in this thread.
Unzip it anywhere (desktop for easier access?)
Run HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool.exe and go through the short install
Navigate to C:\DriveKey
Run HPUSBFW.EXE
Make sure the correct USB device is selected, select FAT (did the trick for me, milage might vary)
Select "Create DOS Startup disk" -> Using DOS systemfiles located at ....
Browse to where you unzipped the rar and select the "MiniDOS" folder, hit OK
Press Start

Copy the files from the Rescue folder (also from the unzipped rar's location) straight to the USB stick.
Download the correct bios files for your acer aspire from here *click*
copy the .WPH file to your USB stick and rename it to bios.WPH
Edit the Autoexec.bat file on your USB stick to look like:

Code:

echo off
phlash16.exe /x /s bios.WPH

Now remove your laptop's battery and harddrive (see laptop manual if you're not sure how).

Insert the USB stick in whatever USB slot you have, turn it on and press FN-Esc.

It should now start flashing it. When it is done and its rebooting itself, remove the USB drive, turn off the laptop and put your harddrive back in.

Theoretically, it should be booting as normal again now.
Hope this helped a bit for the less tech-savvy people around

 

Hi There

Im just wondering if anyoone can help me i have a acer aspire 1690 and i biosed it with the wrong bios now when it turns on lights up but has no screen does anyone know how i can make a bootable bios cd what will run automatiucaly to bring the screen back and bios back to the correct one thanks in advance

 

Hi

Frank i see from your post that you had a acer aspire 1690 wich was dead and brought back using a kingston 2gb ive got the same problem with my 1690 ive been trying to flash the bios for days now when i connect the usb it has one low beep and three higher ones then does nothing else any help would be greatly aprechiated thanks

 

My acer 5920g laptop was working fine and had the latest bios 1.3818. When i saw that the video memory was fixed by the latest bios to 8mb fixed(non changeable).

I used windowsxp and flashed the bios to an older version of 1.3508. After which now my laptop led's are on but nothing can be seen on the screen(blank). I gave it to the acer people but they told me that i may have to change my motherboard. Please help me. I tried using blindflash by using a pen drive but wasnt successful. If somebody can help me or make me a crisis recovery disk iso format to download i will be very thankful.Hey i think i am unable to make the crisis disk right and that my procedure is wrong.can u give me tips to do it and Can you please make me an image of a crisis disk with the bios of my acer 5920??

 

dear karot,

when i/m running the HPUSBFW.EXE file, i get the message that the dos system files are not compatible with fat32. there is no other choise though. i can only choose fat32 or nfts.

what should i do?