BIOS Recovery in case you brick your M17x R3

Tried to reflash, did everything, fans started to kick in, but no result.
It started to make the same knock noise and didnt reboot after 3 minutes.

 

i didn't say for you to flash your bios but anyway it sounds like you do need a reflash but try to pull the cmos first before jumping into a blind flash are you doing it right using the software provided renaming the fd from the bios file that you put into phoniex software it gives you the recovery .FD file to what the software told you to rename it

how long are you holding the end key for???

what system do you have???? r3/r4

 

I have a M17x r3, I held the end button for about 1 min
Oh and I did all of the steps btw, so thats no problem (got the file, extracted, renamed)

 

ok i know how to fix it you need to remove your graphics card then blind flash it will 100% work trust me i had similar issues a few days ago

 

I just saved my M11x R3 using this method, man this made my day.
Thank you so much!

 

Hello, sorry for my english I'm french
I need help with my M17xR3,
After change in bios mode switch graphics cards "muxless dynamic and fixed", select PEG primary card,and modify a resolution in integrated graphics ( just for test ... heee xD) my computer would not start and restarting more constantly.

I tried to flash the bios via usb key with and without the GPU, but now I have just RAID screen separated with a line, and after 8bips and no POST

Here is a picture of the screen
http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/6599/sdc10235q.jpg
Edit : URL fixed
The screen can be death due to mishandling in the bios?

Thanks !!

 

what files to copy into the formated usb?
i allrady have copyed dump folder, BIOS0.BIOS,BIOS4.BIOS,PAR00X64.fd

i have an bios fail i try to turn it on but he just beebing, he dont stop and the screen is black. will this work?

 

I bricked my R3, and there is a disc stuck in the drive. I followed your instructions from the first page of this thread with no success. Is the stuck disc impacting my bios recovery? I have removed the video card as well with no success either.

 

Not sure if the stuck disk would impact the BIOS recovery process but you can temporarily disconnect the optical drive and pursue with the BIOS recovery steps.
Do let us know how it went. Good luck.

 

I finally was able to successfully blind flash my m17x r3. It took about a dozen times with different flash drives and other different scenarios, but I'm back in business. Thank you very much for BIOS recovery guide. I had to remove my video card to complete the recovery, but it does work like others have said. Great community. Thank you for providing so much valuable information.

 

First, big thanks for writing this - it has helped me to save my r3! However, I ran into follow-up issue.

The laptop starts and states that no disks are RAID compatible. Then it goes to the Alienware login screen (with the head) and than to a black screen that says:

An operating system wasnt found. Try disconnecting any drivers that dont contain an opperating system.
Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart.

What should I do? I can go into BIOS and change it back to AHCI, but I think I will have to reinstall the operating system. Wont I? I dont want to loose all my data on those two hard drives (SSD + regular drive).

If there is no other way but to change it back and reinstall - how would I go about saving my data from those two drives?

Thank you very much!

First, big thanks for writing this - it has helped me to save my r3! However, I ran into follow-up issue.

The laptop starts and states that no disks are RAID compatible. Then it goes to the Alienware login screen (with the head) and than to a black screen that says:

An operating system wasnt found. Try disconnecting any drivers that dont contain an opperating system.
Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart.

What should I do? I can go into BIOS and change it back to AHCI, but I think I will have to reinstall the operating system. Wont I? I dont want to loose all my data on those two hard drives (SSD + regular drive).

If there is no other way but to change it back and reinstall - how would I go about saving my data from those two drives?

Thank you very much!

 

Hi,

I have an Alienware M17R3 and a slightly different problem. After trouble with the NVIDIA GPU which did not show up anymore I tried to put on the A12 Bios. Doing this the flashing software stopped with an error message I do not know anymore. After restarting the computer which maybe was not the wisest thing to do there was just the black screen and many beeps.
So I tried the reflashing, first with, then without gpu. No success. The computer always starts for about 5 seconds, then all lights went red for an instant and the computer shuts down. No sign that the pen drive is recognized. I tried different drives, different usb ports and even the esata port (until today I didn't even know that an usb plug fits in). Always with the same result. The computer starts and after 5 seconds stops.
Do you have any idea what else I can try.

 

Unfortunately not. There's a possibility the BIOS chip became completely corrupted or even failed.

 

Alright, I know I am resurrecting a dead thread, but I have a serious problem with my M14x R2. My M14X R2 was fine before this, I just needed a method to go back to A03 to get the GT 650m back to not being throttled/limited to 65-67C. I did the steps, and my laptop was siting at the black screen for quite a while (about 2 hours) after all the beeping. Eventually, I accepted the fact it would not boot up, and attempted to turn it of via holding the power button. This did not work. The laptop stayed with its keybord LED and fans still going, so I did what some other people said to do to get it to turn off and unplugged the internal battery, which worked. But after this, my laptop will not power on at all. I have tried turning it on plugged in and not plugged in, either way does not work. Even trying to repeat the steps to change BIOS does not work. Do any of you guys think there is any way of recovering the BIOS? Or am I stuck with a Brick laptop?
Thanks in advance guys.

 

did you find a way to fix it?

How can i change the Chip? is it soldered or just plugged in?

 

Pretty sure it is soldered onto the board. Most likely replaceable but someone would need to point it out on the board.

 

finally was able to successfully blind flash my m17x r3. It took about a dozen times with different flash drives and other different scenarios, but I'm back in business


Hbk4ever......do you remember what flash drive worked please?

 

what you have done differently so that you could successfully flash?

 

I love that a thread I created 4 years ago is still active good stuff.

 

I am having this issue, but I am certain I dont have a brand of USB stick recongized. For those of you that it worked what brand and size was your USB stick? Thanks for your help

 

This really really sucks i have had this issue for about 2 years i stare at my computer sad as hell i have tried to blind flash it with the gpu and without i have tried different bios versions. since i messed with the settings in the bios my computer has been doing the 8 beeps i cleared the cmos and i changed the graphics card too so this is really lame i hate alien-ware and im never getting another computer from them ever again! if anyone knows where i can repair it cheap that would be great cause it sucks staring at 3,500 dollars of paper weight

 

How to tell if its a problem with the USB stick?

 

can someone please repost these files, my m17r3 wont get past bios alienware head logo, i had a mobo failure so i replaced it and im assuming it wont get passed bios because its not the correct bios for my device...

EDIT :: figured it out, didnt freaking help... still getting stuck on the alienware hard logo bios part...

 

hi i have a alienware 14 the 4700qm laptop with a09 was wondering if u can post a instructions and what filename to rename because. i dont see a .fd file

 

That's because...the Alienware 14 has an encrypted BIOS. You will need Phoenixtool to decrypt BIOS and try to figure out recovery file name. Even then, it may not be the same procedure.

 

When i use winrar and unzip the files the files are as follows
Name Type
Ding wave sound
FlsHook Application
Flshookdll.dll Application extension
FWupdlcl Application
InsydeFlash Application
IscFlash.dll Application Extension
Iscflash.sys System File
Iscflashx64.sys System File
xerces-c_2_7.dll Application Extension


Also when i disconnect the battery and press the end key and plug in the power the computer boots up and there is no beeping noise

 

You notice there is no BIOS image there, right? It has been encrypted and packed into the EXE itself and cannot be extracted using the /writeHDRfile command. I have no idea how to extract a proper BIOS image file since Alienware started encrypting their BIOS updates.

 

Okay so. I ordered A BIOS CHIP: Alienware 14 NOTEBOOK (MID 2013) from biosdepot on ebay. Luckily I bought the last one. i just hope it works as soon as i put it in the board.

Also thank you for clarifying about the bios.exe file i spent 2 days digging in to find you can not play with the bios file.