Inspiron 1420 Bricked

Ok I already feel stupid.. but I've searched and searched and can't find an answer I hope someone can help.

I updated the bios on my 1420 from A09 to A10. I downloaded this from Dells support site. The utility runs from within windows and looked like it was working fine. It stated it would shutdown windows then reboot. Well it never rebooted. It is briecked. It gives me two LEDs onthe front and does nothing, no hard drive, no POST beeps.. nothing.

I called Dell and guess what, I'm 18 days past my warrenty. They are not much help.

I've searched for a way to revert back to the last bios but it seems laptop makers don't keep the old version on the chip like desktops do.

I've seen some people have had luch with a USB floopy drive but this is for Mini 9's. I've tried removing the battery and hlding the power button down for 20 secs but it does not start up (didn't think it would).

Does anyone know of anyway to restore the bios? I definately don't want to replace the motherboard.

 

I just read a simmilar thread yesterday.

I'll take a look to see if I can find it again.

 

Here it is, very similar problem:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=428653

 

Depending how how far it's gone, it may not be recoverable with a USB flash drive methods. You can try and demand that Dell take action due to thier BIOS update utility. Worst case is contact aqstech.com for a BIOS repair rather than replacing the moterboard.

 

This is better, call Dell and take to a supervisor to explain that this is a real problem they created.

For others Bios updates must be done laptop plugged in and do not jump to do them right away, 99% there are no problems this is the 1%

 

Well thanks everyone for your help. Thanks Moral Hazard, I saw a similar thread and might try that out this weekend but I don't think the notebook even boots support for a USB drive. MasterUMC thanks for the lead. I did call a AQStech and thier repair is the most cost effective. He stated the he sees many of the Vostros with this problem, not as many inspirons, but to me notebook manufactured need to support reflash of the previous bios like PC motherboards do.

For others, I did call Dell support but they don't really give a damn. My notebook is 18 days out of warrenty and to add insult to injury it was bricked by Dells own software. They did not care. A repair from Dell would run $438. Not a chance in hell I'm paying that. I asked to speak to a superviser and he said "no" there is nothing that a superviser can do. He won't even put me through.

I could get a refurbished motherbaord from various eBay vendors for about $190 but there appears to be two part numbers and I'm not sure which is which (UX283 or KN548). All these are refurbished as are the Dell repair parts.

So if I can't flash it myself with a USB floppy I will send it to AQStech. For others thinking about flashing the bios... DONT! I learned my lesson the hard way!

I bought this Dell notebook because my previous HP suffered from the DC power connector failure problem. Now that I see how Dell is I'm wondering what my next brand of notebook will be. At this rate I'll be running out of notebook options in a few years.

 

Hmm Asus then?

Did you ever think of trying to get to upper management? Dell does care but you are talking to customer service who have a script they follow in India this is more important then that.

I know of a few who have emailed and sent certified letters to Dell who got results.

I would at least try, what do you have to loose?

 

I've always been hesitant about BIOS flashes. There is no backup incase of an error.

While I sympathize with your situation, it is a bit immature to blame Dell. The A09 to A10 BIOS upgrade is a minor one. And the download clearly states the dangers of flashing the BIOS. Plus the Program at launch also states the dangers of flashing the BIOS.

 

Well personnaly I don't think it is asking too much to expect a computer manufacturer to make a bios upgrade that works on thier own product. It is not like this is an aftermarket hack. After researching it seems bios upgrade failures are more common than they should be. Many Mini 9 owners can tell you this. My expectation was to be able to revert to the old config if the new bios did not function. This is standard on most desktops that I have flashed. Sure the program warns you but everything warns you about something nowadays. I don't recall the warning saying that a failed upgrade would cost 440 bucks. If that were the warning I probably would have stopped.

I'm shipping it out to AQStech for a new Bios chip. That seemed like the cheapest and quickest route and I need to get the laptop back as soon as I can.

Thanks again to those who helped. I'll try to report back on how the repair went for the next guy who falls in this hole. No doubt it will happen again to someone. Maybe even to you.

 

This may be a stupid question, but you say the lights come on your machine, which LEDs are you talking about?

Most recent Dell notebooks don't have POST beeps, but instead have light sequences. If we know what those are, I can tell you what the problem is.

 

Google for BIOS Recovery procedures or Phoenix BIOS Recovery this wil help you correct your bios.

 

If you haven't already, take advantage of the Unresolved Issues form. This will put you in contact with a senior Dell representative. Make sure you make it clear that this happened because of Dell's own BIOS flash utility, and everything was working perfectly up until that point. Be firm, but polite; nobody will want to help you if you throw swear words and insults around.

Explain that you know your warranty just expired, but you feel that Dell should at least take some responsibility as it was their own utility that caused this whole fiasco. A sob story might help as well; let them know how you have important work data on that computer and you're not in a position to afford a replacement.

 

The LEDs on the front were the power LED and the Bluetoth LED lite briefly but I can't recall how many times it flashed. Then they both went out. I tried all other recovery methods but the bios seemed so scrambled nothing was working, not even a fan spinning.

Since I was going out of town the next week I decided to pack it up and send it to Joe at Aqstech.com for a bios chip replacement. http://www.aqstech.com/ I didn't have time to mess with Dell since thier tech "support" was less than helpful and not at all sympathetic and in fact insistent that the only way to fix it was a $438 motherboard replacement. I that point I decided Dell was not getting a penny from me.

Anyway, I talked to Joe before hand to understand the process. He basically takes the motherboard out, desolders the old bios chip, and solders in a new chip with the latest bios installed. It took 4 days to ship out, 4 days for him to make ther repair, and 6 days to ship back. A bit of a PITA but at $99 + shippinig both ways it saved a lot of money over the Dell approach. I'm typing this on the laptop now. I removed the hard drive before I shipped it just in case the machine got lost, stolen or damaged. Everything seems fine.

Lessons Learned for whoever is reading this next:
- Don't trust Dell's bios update utility. Even if they post it on thier website they will not stand behind thier product if it damages your laptop. To me this is not acceptable.
- Dell's tech support was less than helpful in this situation. All they do is follow thier script and try to get you to ship in your laptop at a high cost. They would not tell me about any other bios recovery methods even though I know there are some out there. The tech support person I talked to would not even connect me to a supervisor. He insisted the $438 was the only way to fix it.
- There is an alternative to a motherboard replacement and it is a lot cheaper.

For me I will not buy my next laptop from Dell. After a design flaw with my last HP laptop which left the DC power connector intermitent for thousands of owners, I decided I would not buy HP anymore. That is how I ended up with this Dell. When it is time to replace this I'm skipping Dell. I don't think Dell will miss my business at all but I can't send my hard earned cash to them. If they had even acknolwedged some responsibility for the problem and worked with me to get it fixed I wouldn't feel this way but they cared more about getting me to part with $438 than keeping my business. So they will get neither.

If you are in my situation make your own decision, but at least there is an alternative.

 

Well at least your computer works.

Lesson learned? If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

Sometimes however a BIOS update can improve the way your computer works even though it wasn't broken in the first place though. Clearly not in this case obviously, but sometimes it can, so really I don't think that 'lesson' should be learnt. I do however think that Dell should have provided better support.