EC control a lot of things, e.g. enable/disable devices, notify power states & more. So, something must goes wrong with the EC which lead to BIOS flash failure. When you update the BIOS, does it stopped half way & your system become unresponsive? This is not normal. I have been told by Dell engineer that it should successful & if it is not, the hardware might be faulty. There is only one version of BIOS installed in a computer. It is either Award, Phoenix, Insyde or else. BIOS is not like operating system installed in hard disk (windows, linux) which you can freely format & reinstalled whenever you want. You can't mistakenly update the BIOS with wrong version. Even if you forced it, it only brick the computer. EDIT: BTW, when it come to BIOS, we should apply "If it ain't broken, don't fix it" policy.
Hi, You're correct the original windows bios update failed roughly halfway through the flash update process at 39 of 70 processes if I remember correctly, the laptop then froze completely.
@ Springs, dell also use AMI bioses on some models. When downloading drivers bios e.c.t always use your service tag on the dell site.
Please download the CRISIS package from the first page (2nd post). Decompress it. The recovery procedure also at 2nd post. Or you can follow this instruction carefully:- 1) Plugged in USB flash drive 2) Open WINCRIS.EXE (This version - the one available at first page - doesn't compatible with Windows 7 64-bit. You'll need to create CRISIS disk on 32-bit OS, e.g Win 7 32-bit) 3) Under "Driver" make sure select correct USB flash drive (just disconnect all external drive except one USB flash drive) 4) Click "Start" 5) When it done, close WINCRIS.EXE 6) Don't forget to put your BIOS image in the CRISIS disk. Rename it to BIOS.WPH & put it in the CRISIS disk. 7) On Dell Studio 1745, disconnect the battery & power cord. Also disconnect all peripherals & external drive from it. 8) Plugged in the CRISIS disk to it. 9) Hold-down "End" key. Count for 3 seconds & plugged in the power cord while holding the "End" key. Your Studio should automatically powered ON. Do not release the "End" key. 10) After a couple of seconds released the "End" key. 11) Wait for a while (less than 5 minutes). If BIOS recovery success, your Studio will reboot automatically & you should be able to access you computer again. Don't panic. Do this carefully & patiently. Good luck.
hey thanks for help. i followed the instruction but on my stick i see no files. i think 3 files should be there: 1. BIOS.WPH 2. MINIDOS.SYS 3. PHLASH16.EXE right? i used wincris.exe in win xp mode and andministrator. ( im using win 7 64bit) should i search for a pc with win xp? or did anyone have an idea?
Check your USB flash drive. I think your USB flash drive have problem. Try format it to FAT32 filesystem. Create the CRISIS disk using WINCRIS.EXE again. Disconnect other external drive.
okay i checked it with 3 sticks. (verbatim 1gb, kingston 8gb and noname 1gb) in all 3 sticks were no files after using WINCRIS.EXE in C:\Crisis_Recovery within the BIOS.WPH will will test it on a winxp system this evening
hey. it works!!! i used a win xp system to create the files on my stick. then i put my stick in Dell 1745, pushed "END" for 3 seconds, plug the A/C, and pressed the Power Button. Bios flashed and everything is working now. Thanks for your help
Thx for all, it's late at night here n I was tryin' to recover my consument dell studio 1557 after bricked by unsuccesfull bios flash (the electricity down yesterday, now our computer store full of desktop n notebook that need to repaired, lol) n glad I found this thread! It takes 5 minute n this machine normal again, hoooraaaaaaay!
I might add a little here. After modding a 1640 BIOS and thinking I had screwed my system when windows bluescreened during bootup I went through this entire procedure. Because I dont have a 32bit system lying around here is how I got the crisis USB stick built in Win7 X64. When you have downloaded the kit from the first post, Set wincris to compatibility mode Windows XP SP2 and run as admin. It will run and appear to have copied the files. It does prepare the USB but fails to copy the files. Esay enough to fix, copy them yourself, one at a time, in this order, minidos.sys, phlash16, bios.rom. The three filenames are in the readme that came with the package. Then you will have the three files and the USB key will work. In the 1640 you have to use the USB slot next to the power socket. This is a combined firewire/usb socket. If you dont get a flashing red circle on the left hand side screen axis within a minute of it starting the procedure then something is wrong.
Hey people i was upgrading my girlfriends xps 1640 to a15 bios and the stupid thing froze at block 5, i tried doing everything with all failed except pull the power. i pulled it and became a brick, i followed wuhoatu instructions and all worked trick is letting wincrisis.exe format the usb stick and then with no power, hold end key and plug in usb then add power and then DONT TOUCH. IT WORKS FINE. after all done i retried to update to a15 and it went smooth. thanx all, good luck
Hello every great thread It lighten my day after my laptop went to brick. OK i did the same thing to my dell studio xps 1640. w7 64bit. I got a critical update for my bios on my dell support center. So i was ok download then it happened it froze on block 7. left it for hours, nothing. so i restart computer by pulling out battery. Turn back on nothing only blinking volume buttons and then turns off. Called dell they want 650 dollars to fix it saying my mother board is fried!. My laptop was perfect before i did this gurrrr!. So at this point i followed all directions to the point i am at now is making the rar file i got from mediafire, i have winzip. Making a bootable usb with those files someone help thanks.
PLEASE help. I tried to update my bios on my Dell XPS 8000 desktop and it froze before finishing. When I rebooted, the computer won't turn on now - just makes a beeping noise. I've tried using the instructions here, but so far it hasn't worked. The only bios file I can find on dell's site for my computer is an *.exe file. This is the file I renamed on the flash drive. Am I renaming the wrong file? Please help.
the exe you are refering to is probably S8000A03.EXE, right But starting a PHOENIX recovery (with phoenix flashing tool) for an AMI bios doesnt have sense. note: the bios file is 922D1P29.bin, and can be found in %temp% folder when you execute S8000A03.EXE