How to recover from a bad BIOS Flash (Phoenix BIOS ONLY)

lol, np.

 

Hi guys, I bricked my m17x R1 while trying downgrade the bios from A09 to A07 (my cards started to lag since I updated to A09), the winphlash crashed during update, a nice BSOD... I tried the Fn+B process using A07 rom but lappy has been iddle for almost an hour, do you guys know how long should it take to finish flashing? The lap has been running with alien led eyes on for almost an hour and nothing seems to happen... the USB stick I'm using doesn't have a led light...

Thanks!!

 

vertigo, is it the (Dell) M17x you have?
If so, there is no A09 BIOS for it, latest version is A07.

Confirm the model of your laptop, or post some specs (CPU, GPUs) and we'll go from there.

 

While trying to follow the given method i got stuck because i coudlnt find the usb drive while selecting the drive to put the files into but later i managed to put the files in by running the application in windows xp. Compatible mode but do u think i can use that usb to recover my bios?

Ok i got the usb made and i followed the procedure of holding the fn+ b while starting the system. But when i do that my alienhead does not light up and my my usb only keeps blinking once fir like 30 sec or something but it does not flash and my system has no output and my screen is blank how should i proceed now?

 

Greetings and Salutations!

Reading through this forum and the lot of you seem like you know alot more then any dell/alienware tech; so I thought id try my luck here.

m17xR2
model number PO1E
I5 processor, windows 7 home premium
8gb ddr3 ram


bricked it a week or two ago during an update to bios version A10(that was supposed to fix the adapter not recognized problem)...computer froze, went off adapter power and burned through the battery (thus turning off probably mid update)...followed the steps above, however the alienware head does not light up, the usb stick flashes for a few seconds, stops, flashes again, then stops...there IS a CD stuck in the drive (forgot it was in there when i started update)...Any Ideas? aside from "contact dell" cause they kept screwing with my account and blaming other things other then the bios...

 

You have to get that CD/DVD out of there or disconnect the optical drive and try again.

 

UPDATE*********************************

well CD drive is now disconnected (really buried in the laptop isnt it)...however, still following the steps, the HDD alien head lights dont light up, coud this be because i dont have the original hard drive in it?

upon further checking my thumbstick, it shows thats its empty, even though ive been following the steps...any ideas? (i know im missing SOMETHING easy...ive gotten farther then i have been...but still hitting a wall)

***************************************************
edit 2: still no luck... optic drive is still dc'd to prevent it from trying to read a disc thats stuck in it.
flash stick will flash a few seconds, stop, then flash again, then stop...computer still does nothing (even after an hour)...
alien heads do not light up, everything else does...currently have no hdd's installed, and one of my ram sticks...

I know this is double posting...but i know editing doesnt really let people know who follow this that someone posted.........

Still no luck with the USB stick, and the local comp shop does have USB floppy drives in stock...should I grab one of those and try it out?

again I apologize for the double post D:..


ps...course now after a night of fiddling, it doesnt want to turn on at all in the morn....yay technology...

editedit...so it seems like that little ribbon connector port right under the power button somehow become excessivly loose and fell off the chip it was attached too...held it on using a non metal tool (cause hey, electricity and all)...then the comp went beserk...one little puff of smoke and a very quick reaction time involving "ohsht" and pulling the power cord out fast enought to make my cat go all poofy...long story even shorter, it wont turn on cause the cable connector for power isnt attached anymore...go cheap glue holding it on!

seriously, its like some great computer god is like "haha he has almost fixed his comp, lets break something else during the night to kill his spirit" or something......

attempting to either resaulder the part...(which was even sauldered to begin with o.o looked more like stick tac...) or super glue it on...

 

Hello, Broketoon, sorry I didn't get back to you earlier.
Before you attempt any modifications to your system, please tell me your status.

Which of the connectors fell off, the one under the media panel? The pins that connects it to the PCB are very close to eachother (~1mm) so the cause of the short is most likely due to pairing the wrong ones.

Now hopefully you only short the media panel.

Can you take some close up photos of the following:
both sides of the ribbon.
Both zif connectors , motherboard and media panel.

I'm going to keep an eye on this thread and get back at you asap.

 

Here they are...
ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting
ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting
ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting
ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting

its the connector right under the power button....
I DID however find exactly what i was looking for to replace both the connector AND the cord (seperatly of course )
Dell Alienware M17x Switch Board
Dell Alienware M17x Various Item

and I've double and triple checked everything else on the computer...it was just this small section that fried...if you still want to see the motherboard, i can send some more photos....also, the other zif connector on the media panel is fine from what I could see.

 

Ah that's great. Looking at the photos, the old one is an easy fix too.

Anyway, as soon as you get those installed we're going back to your BIOS issue.

First of all what size is your USB key? It should be flashed to FAT32 or FAT not NTFS.

 

hey i have a problem when i hit the crisdisk exe it says no available removable devices are plugged in so its not working

 

Dan, what system model are you trying to recover?

 

How to make wincris autoinstall all the files need to the usb drive?
When i double click on the wincris, pop-up window saying :
i) Error : Failed to start service "WinCrisis"
ii) Warning: the driver loaded fail.

I'm trying to blind flash A10 bios in alienware m17xr2.

 

Did you attempt to do this on a Windows 7 system? You can only create the crisis recovery media under Windows XP. Follow these instructions explicitly. Let us know how it goes. I hope it works out for you.

 

Hey

Tried this method with no success.

I'm not getting any response from the laptop (Alienware M17x R2) when I plug in the power cable while holding Fn+B and then press the power button. Its still completely dead.

Any idea what I can do?

Update - I don't have a windows XP machine to hand so haven't tried that. Will try create the disk that way and see what happens.

 

Ok finally got an XP laptop to create the recovery usb stick. Tried the steps above with no luck, no response from the machine at all.

I have tried to few different recovery disks with different BIOS versions in case I was using the wrong version. Double checked and I have an Alienware M17x R1, is is possible to recover the BIOS in this case?

 

HELLO, I HAVE An m15x and well bios flash didnt go well for me and, Well i tried the steps above FN+ESC WinKey+B and FN+B, None of them work, I have no flashing scroll lights etc. But!!!!!!!!!!!! MY alienware lights come on touchpad keyboard etc

IF it is pre 2008, You'll have to lurk around on google finding it. But if it is after 2008 then go on dells website