About Dell BIOS recovery

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

  1. LatinMcG

    LatinMcG Bios Borker

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    #141 LatinMcG, Jul 9, 2012
    Last edited: Jul 9, 2012
    post readwrite report.
    or do u need the hdr file no slic to recover bios ?
     
  2. spusgun2011

    spusgun2011 MDL Novice

    Aug 1, 2011
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    Would anyone happen to know the right codes to rename the HDR files for a Dell Latitidue D520 and a D630?

    Been trying to use winhex on the rom/bin but the results are gibberish.
     
  3. LatinMcG

    LatinMcG Bios Borker

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    #143 LatinMcG, Aug 2, 2012
    Last edited: Aug 2, 2012
    D520 SHEL?à. BIN.. HDR = SHELAxx.HDR
    D630 BRIS?à.0BIN.. HDR = BRISAxx.HDR
    Axx is the version (use older as sometimes new would not recover and USB port and device brand can matter.. sandisk works for sure)
    recovery steps
    Unplug battery and ac power cord and HDD.
    plug in USB flash
    hold END and Power button while plugin in power cord (power button is optional sometimes)
    let the battery LED flash orange green for 1 to 2 minutes.. when done it shutsdown/restart auto.

    HxD has a search bug.. have to click under the last highlighted result then search again to continue with second result

    the names come from the Motherboard Codename from dell. BRISbane is one i know
    so if u search for Schematics D630 u see the boardname on schematics.. same as HDR but shorter.
     
  4. spusgun2011

    spusgun2011 MDL Novice

    Aug 1, 2011
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    Thanks for the help. No luck unfortunately. Either my USB key is not compatible (it does have an activity LED that only lights when I insert the power jack and release the end key. nothing after that) or the file names might need to be different?

    I have tried your suggestions with older bios files (A01 for the D520 and A12 for the D630) and the wild card route with SHEL123, BRIS123 etc, but both laptops just keep going with the red/green led and fans full blast. No shut down and obviously no recovery.

    For the D520 I also tried my D-Bay 3/5" floppy drive as the bios file is smaller and still no luck (directly in the doick and by USB as well).

    Am I missing something or are both boards knackered?
     
  5. LatinMcG

    LatinMcG Bios Borker

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    #145 LatinMcG, Aug 2, 2012
    Last edited: Aug 2, 2012
    how did u get the .HDR file?
    did u use CMD to the D630_A0x.exe /writehdrfile
    ?
    or did u just rename the exe to HDR ?? (wrong way)
    hold END Power button while pluggin in powercord.. take dvd drive out ?check ram. take 1 out
    .. try different ports
    get a sandisk cruzer 8gb at radioshack $8
     
  6. spusgun2011

    spusgun2011 MDL Novice

    Aug 1, 2011
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    I have been doing that with the end key when trying the procedure and I am using an 8gb Sandisk cruzer. I even reformatted it to a 100mb Fat16 partition to see if that might be the issue but still no luck.
     
  7. LatinMcG

    LatinMcG Bios Borker

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    #147 LatinMcG, Aug 2, 2012
    Last edited: Aug 3, 2012
    fat32 plain 8gb works for me.
    try holding the power button and END while pluggin in power (no battery in). hold it 5 seconds or so.. maybe 8

    if it dont work IN DIFFERENT USB PORTS, board has chip issues or ram
     
  8. spusgun2011

    spusgun2011 MDL Novice

    Aug 1, 2011
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    Yes, it looks that way. Will have to write these 2 off and offload them as spares on ebay.
     
  9. LatinMcG

    LatinMcG Bios Borker

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    d630 isnt a bad one. check in support.dell.com the svctag to se what original config says on base system.. if its nvidia it needs reflow.
     
  10. spusgun2011

    spusgun2011 MDL Novice

    Aug 1, 2011
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    Ok,
    Just found out what I thought was a D630 is a D830 (doh!!). Does anyone have the right name code for that one?
     
  11. LatinMcG

    LatinMcG Bios Borker

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    drag bios.exe to cmd window then add to it /writehdrfile
    example
    D830_A13.exe /writehdrfile
    this will make it. then u can read with wordpad.

    DAWSxxx.HDR xxx= version like A13 DAWSA13.HDR
     
  12. ashere

    ashere MDL Novice

    Aug 7, 2012
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    thank you, this helped alot
     
  13. Space_noob

    Space_noob MDL Novice

    Nov 6, 2012
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    Hello, I'm trying to recover a dell N7110, I tried most methods (the phoenix crisis recovery with the end key trick) but it won't work the power and internet adapter leds turn on as well as the fan and it reads the usb with the recovery files but just briefly and then keeps turned on with the fan running and it does not restart until I press the power button.
    I tried the end key method but the battery led won’t turn red no matter what I do (In fact it doesn’t turn on at all). I extracted the BIOS1.wph from the %temp% directory from the winflash installer renamed it to the default BIOS.wph and copied it to the flash drive after formatting with the miniDOS, according to all the guides I’ve been reading it should work but it doesn’t. :confused: can you help me please?
     
  14. asriphet

    asriphet MDL Novice

    Jul 12, 2009
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    How to recover Inspiron 14R N4010 bios?
     
  15. LatinMcG

    LatinMcG Bios Borker

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    its a phoenix EFI.. BIOS.WPH ?
    try version A05 or A07 .. read the Fixes in the description on the page for A05
     
  16. asriphet

    asriphet MDL Novice

    Jul 12, 2009
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    It was fixed with Phoenix CRISIS method using Fn+B hot key. Thank mydigitallife!!!
     
  17. DWORD:

    DWORD: MDL Novice

    Jan 18, 2013
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    #157 DWORD:, Jan 18, 2013
    Last edited: Jan 18, 2013
    Hello, everyone

    I am owner of Dell Latitude E6400, which latest bios update A32 decided to fail at 90% and randomly shut down my computer. This has lead to bricked computer, no POST screen from bios.

    I have tried the method which is mentioned in the first post of this thread, have successfully unpacked the hdr files and renamed them accordingly to this string:

    Dell Latitude E6400 : RSH????.bin, RSH????.hdr, RSH????.hdc, E6400??.bin, E6400??.hdr


    So I have tried HDR files on different USB sticks with names like:

    RSH A32.HDR
    RSH_A32.HDR
    RSHA32.HDR

    E6400A32.HDR
    E640032.HDR (should be only correct one from the strings in OP)

    However, the USB doesn't get loaded. I have tried 3 different sticks. Have even made a partition on the smaller one to make it even smaller. The USB stick turns on for a second when the electricity goes through it but thats all, no data is being read from it. I have tried all USB holes with all file names I can possibly think.

    I have also tried different bios version with their extracted HDR files.

    It checks for the CD, I also have put the same files with according names on a CD, nothing seems to happen besides some small reading. I have no idea what it is looking for there.

    So I am currently getting myself USB-Floppy reader (this seems to be a common recommendation in this thread) and the question which hasn't been answered in this thread is following: How do you exactly fit a HDR file which is 3.5mb big on a floppy which is 1.4mb??

    Also, are the file names correct which I have made in bold?
     
  18. LatinMcG

    LatinMcG Bios Borker

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    u dont just plug it in.. u take battery out.. hold the key END while pluggin in power AND power button press.

    this file should work RSHA32.HDR however try different versions of bios.. not all recover.

    floppy is not needed.
     
  19. DWORD:

    DWORD: MDL Novice

    Jan 18, 2013
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    Thanks for your reply.

    I indeed didn't specify before but I am starting it up in recovery mode.

    The battery is removed, USB is inserted before AC is connected. I hold the end key, plug AC - release the end key while the battery led is flashing in red colour and then it boots up.

    However it does not seem to be loading any files from USB. Tried 256mb stick, 2gb stick and 8gb stick.

    I will go ahead and try with all bios versions then.
     
  20. LatinMcG

    LatinMcG Bios Borker

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    sometimes u hold power button and end before plugin in power does trick.

    in your case it is flashing battery led red green purple ?