No Display after updating bios m17x R2

Hi All,

Updated the bios of my Alien ware M17x R2 laptop via instructions via dell website.
Bios updated and laptop restarted itself, but no display.

The laptop lights up and fans start but no display.

I have done a Disaster recovering option. Laptop restarts as it is supposed to but again no display.

I upgrade the bios due it being returned from the supplier with A02 bios and my games were locking up the system.

Any help would be appreciated.

Alien ware User.

 

Hello and welcome to NBR.

Do you happen to have the AMD mobility 5870?

 

Hello katalin 2003,
Thanks for the welcome.

Yes I do have 2 X 5870.

Please tell you have a fix.

 

On Dell's support and drivers page for the M17x R2, a vBIOS for the 5870 is available.
Flash that and in DOS.

Or, if you don't know how to, perform a crisis recovery with the A02 BIOS, you should be able to boot and flash the vBIOS in Windows, following the steps on Dell's page.

After, you can flash your preferred system BIOS.

 

Hi Katalin 2003,

Went onto dells website and only see the following:

Alienware-BIOS
M17xR2A10.zip (4MB)

If you could provide a link to the vbios.

Thanks alot for your help

 

What you need to do is this:
- Do a crisis recovery with the A02 system BIOS so your laptop will post again, you can find it here.
- After this, if you followed the recovery steps correctly, your laptop should post again.
- If this is the case, download the latest vBIOS for your AMD mobility 5870 video cards here.
- After that step has been completed, you can now flash the A10 system BIOS and your laptop should post.

Remember, take your time doing this and carefully read the instructions.

Good luck

 

thanks for the support,

I am still unable to get to the post screen.
My steps....

1. I downloaded the A02 BIOS from DELL,
2. loaded it into an XP machine, created a crysis recovery USB.
3. unpluged the Alienware X17
4. removed the battery from the alinware X17
5. held the power button down for 30 seconds to drain the power
6. placed the crysis recovery USB in the E-SATA port
7. held down FN+B
8. Plugged in the power cable (while continuing to hold down the FN+B key)
9. Pressed the alienware power button while again contiuing to hold down FN+B
10. The computer fires up the lights and the GPU fans
11. The Crysis recovery disk starts to flash
12. I let go of the FN+B keys
13. The Crysis recovery disk continues to flash for about 30 seconds then goes dark.
14. 5 minutes later the computer restarts


Completed: The lights all light up and the GPU fans spin up but the computer still does not POST.

Am I doing something wrong?

 

Can you try an external monitor?

 

Do you suggest VGA or can I use the HDMI port?


I am unable to switch off the computer using the power button.
This tells me that even with a screen attached the computer BIOS is either not detecting the GPU or the BIOS is not writing properly.


Tried attaching a screen using VGA cable.
No luck

 

Hi Katalin_2003

I was able to sort it out.

The graphics card in the Primary MXMSLOT1 was causing the problem, I removed both cards and replaced card 1 with card 2.

The system booted up and is running perfectly, I re-ran the BIOS update for A10 and it installed perfectly.

I incorrectly updated the VBIOS a while ago, I used the BIOS from an ASUS BIOS instead of a BROADWAY one, this caused this video problem.

I returned it to the company I bought it from and they gave me the computer back with 2X working cards but using the A02 System BIOS. obvously this BIOS has many issues, especially around the Xfire system.

When I updated the system BIOS to A10 it must have initiated the problem I had in the first place.



I now have identified the problem being the VBIOS on the second card. I read that a guy in Switzerland was able to reprogram his VBIOS chip on his 5870 after a bad flash using a programmer and a solder iron. I will have a look into this possibility, the card is bricked anyway, I might as well give it a try.

If you have any advice yourself to fix this card I am open to suggestions.

Many thanks.

 

HAve you tried updating the VBIOS on the second card through DOS?