M17x R4 bios update failed!

I think it is a mistake to put the BIOS update on a flash drive. Next time, put in on your main HD since flash drives are notoriously slow and can cause buffering errors which is really had in the middle of a BIOS update.

 

What? You can't blind flash from an HDD........

 

What do you mean there is no power to the laptop...Do you mean the blind flash method is not working or its not even initiating at all?

Elaborate pls..describe exactly what you are getting..

 

No power as in not even initiating. like NOTHING at all. nada zip zipell. The process won't even start.

 

That's really strange man. You were able to initiate before. And now you say you cant. Just to be sure...do you see the blue ring indicator present on the adapter pin indicating power supply is coming through?

Are you pushing the cord in properly?

I know all this may be silly to ask. but sometimes our of nervousness we would overlook the most obvious steps.

I have noticed you also carry an AMD GPU. Anyhow if the bios is bricked...it will usually start lights flash and it will turn off or beep.

Try placing the battery pack and the power cord in. See what happens if you press the power button..Look for any reaction.

I saw that you had suggested DOS method of flashing rather than from windows environment. Actually if it was unsafe they wouldnt make use of that method at all. Many have flashed..and so far you and another person are the first ones to have encountered this issue. I dont sense a pattern this far.

Edit

I dont know if you have noticed but AO5 bios though listed under Dell Support is not downloadable either with chrome or Explorer. I have been trying since a few hours.

 

Yes, the PSU works. However, computer does nothing. Put the battery back in and tried to start, but nothing happened. I was trying to update from A00 to A05 to fix sound problems, and this happened. I use Firefox.


The only sign of life is a faint pop when I press the power button.

 

I downloaded the files you had uploaded for the A05 bios. Flashed with antivirus turned off. Worked fine.

So your files are fine. Hmmm..the only difference is you have AMD GPU and I have Nvidia. Someone mentioned that this bios update corrects certain 3D aspects etc. And also why is it unavailable for download despite being mentioned as newer bios update.

I am wondering if they are tinkering further with it.

Coming back to you...have you done any other key combos? I dont know where the big guns of our forum are at the moment. There are a few who might know more about this.

Dont you have NBD? You could call Dell since this was an issue that took place based on the bios update they provided. It must be Wednesday at your location. You still could get the service done within 48hrs.

I am out of ideas coz you say its not powering up at all. Keep us posted if its not hassle...Now all of us have to be careful on this one.

 

It's actually Thursday. I'll kee you guys updated, sent an email through Alienware-L_Porras

 

right now i would really suggest you asked for replacement asap.
you can try to fiddle around with things once the replacement or tech otw.
are you in the US? can't you get on the phone with Dell rather than waiting for email reply? unless you have time to wait, which you don't have, judging by your earlier posts.

 

I don't have the time for a phone conversation, I'm constantly on the go between place to place.

 

but you have to time to post messages here? dude seriously, call the damn support...
what do you expect from us? a miracle?
peace..

 

haha I think a lot of us where close to saying this.

 

I called, and my service tag is showing up as a M17x R3 for some reason, what gives? Do you think they could have transferred warranty wrong?

 

sounds like they forgot to upgrade your specs since you got a replacement? thats the only thing I can think of at the moment.

 

How would I get that fixed? All I heard was "don't worry, it will be fine" when I told them it was an R4.

 

Have you tried to blindflash with the GPU removed? I got in the same situation and thats the only thing I have not done. Will try it later today when i get home. If that also fails off to alienware support it goes.

Though it would be great if we can get one of the AW rep to chime in here

 

Did not work with the GPU out either. Did you also brick your m17xR4?

 

Bro...there is no such thing as transferring service tag...The balance of your warranty simply gets transferred to the system with the new service tag. I cant make head or tail about what you are saying on the matter of warranty.

You had an R3...it was replaced with R4...Your R4 will have its own service tag which you simply have to look for at the bottom of your currently bricked R4. Dont mention your R3 service tag etc. You are simply gonna make things even more confusing and complicated.

I have an R4 right now and it was a replacement over an R3. My warranty simply gets transferred etc etc.. sometimes you get additional warranty too. But no 2 systems have the same service tag.

There is no way your current R4 service tag can reflect as an R3 unless there is a glitch......Your R4 is a new construct.

However like mentioned above, since no other method works..get on the freakin phone and mention the problem. How long will it take ya....otherwise..sit tight until you return. Make up your mind so that this doesnt eat your head during the trip. DO what you have to.....

 

Yeah i kind of did. Though i can still press the power button to light up the led lights and fan. Not sure if i should be a bit more assured or not lol. I'm gonna spend one or two day more on it before surrender though. The del button holding method makes the fan running at max speed but there is no beep whatsoever no matter how long I hold it. The flash drive I plug in will flash rapidly 7 times then change to a pulsing rhythm.

 

Just a long (no pun intended!) shot. Try the Home key instead of delete. I read that key in a dell document about recovering a bricked bios - sorry no link

 

i called alienware support today. They said the mainboard is damaged and I can either send the laptop in to replace the mainboard
for $400ish or get a tech to come and it will be $700. And apparently this is not covered by warranty.

yeah thanks man, rep'd. I tried that too along with Delete key, End key and the Windows + B combination. Nothing works sadly.though when holding down the End key the fans come up full speed.

 

Thats complete and total BS that warranty doesn't cover it. End key caused my fans to come up fullspeed, but to no effect.

 

So bricking your system is NOT covered by warranty?

 

According to them, updating BIOS without a tech's guidance is considered user's neglect therefore isn't covered by warranty. I haven't decided yet whether to pay out of my behind that amount or no.

 

Do this:
Preparation
Download Bios from Dell support web site.
Download and install 7Zip

1. Using 7Zip extract bios file M17xR4AXX.EXE you got from dell. (Right click on the exe, and use the Win Explorer context menu for 7Zip -> Extract to "M17xR3A08\")

2. The archive contains "PAR00MEC.fd". Rename it to -> "PAR00X64.fd" (without quotes) and copy just this file to a Fat16/Fat32 formatted USB stick. Copy it to the root of the USB stick.

4. Shutdown. Remove battery, remove power cord, also remove anything that you have pluged in like other USB hard drives, devices etc.

5. Plug in USB stick with renamed bios file into ESATA/USB combo port.

6. While holding the END key plug in the power cord in the back. You need to keep holding the END key till the laptop shuts down after beeping for a while. (60 seconds or so total time). It will start up and shut down once or twice after that automatically, just wait for this to finish.

7. When this cycle is finished and laptop stays shut down, just put the battery back in, and hit the power button. Once the system boots remove USB stick.

Modified a guide for removing 580m throttling. If your fans come up then you CAN blind flash using this method.

Try my guide above, your fans come up with the end key so it should work, if that does not work then:
Quickest way to get support from Dell: Twitter via @AlienwareTech or Facebook.com/Alienware using the "message" link.

On their social media pages you will see they mention an email address a lot. Email them or use twitter or facebook message or whatever is easiest for you. Explain to them you used the official package from Dell under guidance from Dell support to fix whatever issue and that your system died. You don't know why, but you used their officially provided stuff and if they did not want you to do it they need to remove it or add a massive warning, they can't void your warranty for trying to install an update that they provide and likely list as critical.

FUTURE NOTE FOR ANYONE ELSE: Just never admit what really happened. Your laptop didn't die during a bios update, it just died. They will never know the difference, and you avoid the hassle of a bad tech trying to void your warranty for no good reason. This is always a good idea when working with tech support. You never ever admit that you did anything ever that could possibly be construed as you breaking the laptop. The laptop just died, it was working fine, now it isn't, fix it. That should always be what you say.

 

wth!!! i gotta agree if you say bios update is scary, but dell made an exe file for it and made it downloadable to public, if by downloading said software will void the warranty, DELL shouldn't put the link up in the first place.
were there actually any warning about voiding your warranty when you downloaded the bios update? or even during updating?

 

agree, that just doesnt make sense at all...

 

Yea somethings up or you people are too nice to the Dell reps. They fixed my M11xR1 which had water damage and I didnt have accidental AND my warranty was expired.

 

that doesn't sound right. have you tried getting hold of anyone else at dell to confirm that information? sometimes reps make up answers and try to play it off... lol

call again. keep calling till you get a rep that will cover the repair under warranty

 

That's a bad excuse not to support. If the software is ready for public download without warning of the cancellation of warranty that excuse is not correct.

 

This is very good advice. I never waste time either telling them what I have tried. Just follow their advice and if they ask for something I have already tried i tell them the results.

 

Bios update not covered in warranty......TOTAL BS! Then why do you put it up there for downloads and often the Dell Software would even give you alerts that new Driver or Software is available. That is my experience with Dell Studio XPS 1640. Its the bloody same in any other system. The dingbat who responded to you is an idiot. It is for this reason its best to refrain giving too much details to them in such cases. We just dont know man. When business is good they will bend over for us, but if business is bad sometimes they cut corners in everyway possible including taking responsibility.

Call again and say the comp just died. Its a technical issue. So if you got warranty, it is covered. *** I dont know if you any of you have made this observation but this is the second system with AMD GPU that has bricked with A05. I hope both users have been exact in what exactly happened meaning no modification were done prior to flashing as in GPU overclocking etc. ALSO there seems to be some issue in downloading this bios from Dell support website. Its been the same since yesterday. Perhaps something is going on.


TO BE ON THE SAFER SIDE -

ITS ALWAYS BETTER TO CALL DELL SUPPORT AND MENTION TO THEM THAT A NEW BIOS HAS BEEN RELEASED AND YOU WISH TO UPDATE.

I had just called and this was the advise given by them. They simply guide you over the phone and supposedly if anything goes wrong they would take care of it.

On a second note, I repeat..never mention you bricked your system. Touchwood..i hope it doesnt happen to any one else.

I hope someone finds out what is the correct method to Recover or Blindflash R4. The R3 method was very useful at critical times.

Technos's case is strange since no power at all. But in case of long2905's I am wondering if the file naming convention is all wrong.

WHERE IS CHUCK WHEN WE NEED HIM TO FLASH!!!


Posted by DELL-Chris M on 4 Feb 2011 6:59 PM
Mercs,

They are incorrect. The Bios came from our Driver Library. You loaded it on a Dell PC that is still under warranty. They should replace the motherboard. Also, the Driver page specifically states, "Windows - Execute W851A10.EXE, follow instructions.". Use the UK Unresolved Issues form. Explain to them that in the USA, the standard procedure for this scenario is to replace the motherboard.

 

Agree, that is just weak. First the bios update on the dell site is stated as 'recommended'. Second, when you run it you only get a single prompt where to extract it. After that it goes straight into the flash, no warnings at all, not even to make sure you are not running on battery or to close any other open applications, so their update is at fault. If you were using a different bios and told then so then you are probably SOL.
Arg, like the new forum format but no multi-quote, guess it's separate responses till I figure it out
Edit found it - dingbat, sry for multiple posts

 

I was thinking the same thing..I hate the new bios format. It starts without any warnings or precautions right from the bat. I freaked out the first time I did it.

Is there anyone who can clearly mention the steps of creating a bootable MDOS usb drive for the purpose of flashing bioses. I am gonna take technos advise for the future.

 

Just one last ditch thing. Since the fans come up and the drive flashes it might be as simple as the USB format. I see it states fat16/32. I used a stick I had already formatted as a dos boot USB, only because I had it around, but maybe it can't read the file if the stick is NTFS?
This was on my R3.

 

The stick should be fat/fat32.

 

^^This is VERY important.

Also, for anybody attempting to update their BIOS version, i recommend flashing in DOS and following these instructions:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...sh-drive-flash-aw-bios-updates-under-dos.html

If you see any activity from your laptop, it is recoverable, you just need to keep calm and follow instructions to the letter.

 

I would call back and ask for everybody's supervisor until you get the answer you want.

 

just checked my usb's and they are all NTFS except the one I used for the bios recovery. That states just FAT in disk manager so a wrong format could be the problem...

 

Wow thanks for the support guys. The love here is overwhelming @.@.

i will try again as per your instruction when i get home later today. Previously I did format my flash drive to FAT32 and put the bios files in with multiple naming variances. Holding the END is the only eay to trigger the fans to come on full speed. I guess I will try to leave it on for half an hour to see if something come up. But as I mentioned before, doing this doesn't get me any beeping sound, just maxed out fan.

none that I can remember I'm afraid. Even on the download page and inside the package.

or you're just too awesome .

i tried 2 reps actually. The first one has an indian accent and he put me on hold for 20 minutes to do research before giving me the offer. The second guy has the same name as Valve's boss. He told me right away what they can do. Both reps told me the same thing to either send the laptop in or get a tech on site. I asked him to give me some time to consider so he will call me back on Tuesday.

Yeah that bugged me too. When i last flash my former R3. The was a small windows prompt to ask me to plug in the charger, close other windows and click OK or something. This one however just froze everything and work the fan full speed with no prompt whatsoever. Then the screen shut off and I have to hold down the power button to turn it off. Wen I tried to turn it on again, a string of single beep greeted me as most of you have already known.

well i was under the impression that anything bootable need to be in FAT/FAT32 so my flash drive is set liek that already. But thanks for the reminder anyway .

i plan to do so whenever I can find spare time during their work hours lol.

from my limited knowledge i guess the procedure is mostly the same as R3 but there could be a slight change in file name and/or key press or something. Again, if only we can get someone in the know to chime in .

 

LOL so BIOS updates are not covered by warranty? I can understand that they want to follow the way the Alienware owners flash their BIOS, since there are some methods that are less safe than others. Thats the theory allright, but you can`t expect to baby sit thousands of users....

You made the files available, you deal with the consequences.

Sorry to hear about your problems long and technos

 

Note to self: Mess with bios and this could happen to you....

Indiana Jones Special Effect - YouTube

Do not pass go.
Do not collect 200 dollars.

 

Great that you have communicated with some sensible people. I wonder whats going on with Technos. It really sucks when something like this happens to you.

I also advise that its better to be connected to an ups especially if you live in a place where there are power cuts. We just may never know our luck. My power went off as I was typing this. Talk of timing!

As for you having to press the power button to completely turn it off, that is not how it usually goes. Perhaps something in the windows environment prevented the bios from flashing properly. Its best to have no applications especially like anti spyware/antivirus etc running. We just cant be sure.

Once flashing is done, it reboots on its own.

 

Well i stepped right in the marks technos left behind... And my laptop now behaves the same as his...no power on whatsoever...SO A LATE WARNING TO ANYONE WHO BRICKED THEIR LAPTOP AND IS STILL ABLE TO TURN IT ON, STAY AWAY FROM USING THE RECOMMENDED FILE NAME GIVEN BY PHOENIX TOOL. Although this time I did copied a few more variations in the flash drive. The led indicator on it flashed rapidly 25 times (compared to the previous 7) so I guess the laptop did try to look for a correct file to reflash.

Oh well, i wil try to call a rep tmr and follow you guys' advice not to give out any detail or anything since I can't see any reasonable story to convice them otherwise haha.

 

Good luck dude!!

 

Almost gave me a heart attack when i was updating the BIOS. you were right, when you run the file it goes straight to flashing it without any warning.. what the hell..

Glad my machine updated successfully.. ( Updated through windows )

 

I had extracted the A02 and A05 files using 7zip out of curious comparison. File naming convention on the A05 appears to be atypical compared to A02 bios file.

Could repeated attempts at bios flashing drain the coin cell battery in the motherboard? Is that why its not powering up at after several attempts.

Getting it Done by Dell is one thing. But the question here is why is the flashing going wrong and going dead after several attempts. We need the wizards of notebookreview to crack this mystery.

I think it would be wise for the board admin to sticky this problem so that people dont mess with the bios until some knowledgeable persons are able to shed some light on this. More than the failure of A05 flashing on these 2 systems..its even more critical that we dont have a back up recovery method like that in R3.

 

Thanks guys.

Okay so I just made the call today. I did not mention anything about the bios flash. He asked to remove the adapter and battery then held the power button for a minute. That obviously wouldn't work so he made the request to send me a box to ship the laptop into depot free of charge covered by warranty. So hopefully it will work out.

 

Anyone know if these bios updates would already have been applied to a new AW laptop that is still in production?

 

Agree. There are links on the forum for these flles that Dell have pulled. We don't know the reason and it might be as simple as the missing warnings before flashing. Whatever, it is very clear that dell need to take responsibility for the broken machines here.

I see that the R4 bios file .fd is almost twice the size of the R3