About Dell BIOS recovery

Discussion in 'BIOS Mods' started by redalerthan, Dec 5, 2009.

  1. crashnburn

    crashnburn MDL Addicted

    Mar 18, 2010
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    Posted a response. Would appreciate a response :) Please. Thanks.
     
  2. submix8c

    submix8c MDL Novice

    Feb 2, 2010
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    I said -
    "Are you saying the BIOS in those two desktop are actually bricked and won't POST at all?"
    You didn't say (in spite of you saying you replied). Also, I have the Vostro 200 SFF laying here in pieces. Yes, it (did) boot and run (power supply is dead). I ripped everything (peripherals) out of it and (basically) destroyed the power button/front panel section (to get the front Sound cable). Now, DID YOU get your BIOS extracted and is it dead as a door nail (just sits there with no screen output at all, i.e. No POST messages at all)? PM me and we'll talk about it before I send the MoBo to the grave yard.
     
  3. crashnburn

    crashnburn MDL Addicted

    Mar 18, 2010
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    How would I know, which chip on the MoBo?

    It gets to that Dell BIOS screen and freezes - I think I posted some links of that above? If not, will post again.
    PS: Thanks. I will PM you as well with more details.
     
  4. submix8c

    submix8c MDL Novice

    Feb 2, 2010
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    I don't see a link number one. I see several posts about "freeze" but you links lead to "solutions" - for LAPTOPS, and yours isn't a laptop, so that "stunt" won't work the same.
    Here's the last one you gave, only talking of the "freeze" -
    hxxps://forums.mydigitallife.net/posts/1336848 (replace the XX with TT)
    You are aware that there's an oddity in many older Dell called D2D, right? In that function (when turned on), a SECOND splash screen may appear which comes from the Master Boot Record. D2D means "Disk-To-Disk" Recovery from the Hidden Recovery Partition on the HDD. There's actually a setting in the BIOS to enable it (doh!). Normally, having it enabled and pressing "<Ctrl><F11>" will "activate" the process.

    Have you by chance REMOVED all peripherals to test your "freeze" theory? IOW, is the HDD still in there? Is the DVD and Floppy (if it has one) still hooked up? If so, unplug the connectors and try AGAIN!

    Seriously, you're not giving any info at all. "Freeze" doesn't say much. You should be using the normal Technician Troubleshooting procedure of removing everything but RAM, CPU, Video (and keyboard, although not strictly needed) or else you'll never know which component is causing the problem (see previous paragraph). If you have a camera, take a pic of the "freeze" screen (with the "extra" peripherals removed) and attach it.

    Also, FWIW, there's a Jumper somewhere near the edge of the board (towards the front of the box) to Reset BIOS and additionally a Password Clear. You DO have the Manuals for it, right? AFAICT, it's the same MoBo as in a Dell 530b.

    Quoting the Manual here -
    b Remove the jumper plug from the CMOS jumper (CLEAR CMOS)
    pins 2 and 3.
    c Place the jumper plug on the CMOS jumper (CLEAR CMOS) pins 1
    and 2 and wait approximately five seconds.
    d Remove the jumper plug and replace it on the CMOS jumper
    (CLEAR CMOS) pins 2 and 3.

    HTH (and yes, right there it is - I looked at mine)
     
  5. crashnburn

    crashnburn MDL Addicted

    Mar 18, 2010
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    I have been a little sick so do not have physical access to the machines right now, but will do next week or so and then can give you more details (when I originally posted & asked + had physical access there was not such a response). Give me a week or so to recover till I can go there & come back one the above stuff.
     
  6. lqthai

    lqthai MDL Novice

    Aug 8, 2012
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  7. LatinMcG

    LatinMcG Bios Borker

    Feb 27, 2011
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    make 2 or 3 backups and compare them all with a hex editor like Hxd.

    if they are no good then use flashrom for ch341a not the crappy china flash prog.
     
  8. Robert Taylor

    Robert Taylor MDL Novice

    Aug 17, 2018
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    I need to unbrick my Vostro 3500 I had a failed bios update I was successful and getting laptop to run continuous but stuck at this point please help
     
  9. Robert Taylor

    Robert Taylor MDL Novice

    Aug 17, 2018
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    what files need to be on usb drive for bios to recover and I tried the holding end key down and that whole processs my laptop doesn't show a red light just green
     
  10. LatinMcG

    LatinMcG Bios Borker

    Feb 27, 2011
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  11. ykr123

    ykr123 MDL Novice

    Feb 6, 2011
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    my dell inspiron n5010 is dead during bios update.according to your advice how can i create writehdr file and writrom file in another laptop?(i have a working dell 15r 5537 with me).please help
     
  12. ykr123

    ykr123 MDL Novice

    Feb 6, 2011
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    many many many thanks to one and all.i revived my dell n5010 system.