Oh boy, I've bricked again......

So I decided to update to A11 right? Big mistake, bios update failed. I am trying the recovery method now, but it doesn't seem to be working. 100% face speed, keyboard lit up, but USB is indicating no activity, plugged into eSATA port. What do I do?

 

Doesn't sound good. I always saw a brief USB drive access even if I had not got the correct filename on the BIOS. Just an FYI but make sure you are not attempting to use an earlier bios file. There have been instances of machines going completely dead needing a MB replacement when using a pre A08 file

The boot code could have got messed up and blind-flashing part is now not working properly

 

Again? As in you've done this before?

 

I've bricked going from A04 to A05, and now A09 to A11. Seriously the worst luck i've ever had updating a BIOS on any system.

 

I hope you don't update bios from within windows? Replace the bios chip and you should be good BIOS CHIP:ALIENWARE M17x R4 | eBay

 

Yes I do, as per Alienware's utility. I always have for all my systems (including M17x R3), but the R4 has had terirble bad luck with the Dell utility. How else would you flash it? I am sending it to Dell to take care of it, still under warranty!

 

Usually you want a DOS based flasher.

 

Been lucky having updates from A09 > A10 > A11 with no issues, from within windows 8 as well.

Hope it sorts itself out soon enough.

 

Yes either DOS based or flash it from the bios, windows isn't anywhere near as stable for a bios flash and isn't recommended among the majority.

 

So nobody has any ideas or tricks for future reference? Kinda sad that the M17xR3 bios recovery was flawless, and this bios recovery has failed 2/2 times for me on the R4. I've had both systems, and the R4 has been the most troublesome by far in terms of bios.

 

I got nothing except I hope you are under warranty still. Cause you were on the Dell BIOS and flashing to an official BIOS update, if under warranty, Alienware should cover your motherboard replacement.