I'm trying to recover the bios, i am using a usb stick. I have 3 files on it, phals16, minidos.sys and bios.wph. I used the key fn+b and windowskey+b and END, but nothing seem to work. Someone else that recovered a vostro 1520? What am i doing wrong? Thanks in advance.
I used vostro 1310 and had a problem like u. I couldn't come to recovery mode by FN+B, winkey+B,FN+Esc,Winkey+Esc,FN+End,Winkey+End. How can you extract exe file to rom file?
copy the exe file to your c drive, start command prompt (cmd) with elevated privaledges, cd\ (to c 1400_a09.exe -writehdrfile 1400_a09.exe -writeromfile this gets both the hdr file and the rom file (i think the hdr file is the rom file plus a header) the files will be on the C drive now. replace 1400_a09.exe with the name of your exe in the commands.. let me know if you manage that?
But when I type this command in my computer winflash will start, but I affraid when I click continue it will flash my bios and I will stuck in one more laptop PS: I'm using Windows 7 now.
Leave the update there (don't click OK or Continue), looking for the BIOS1.ROM or BIOS1.WPH within Temp folder (C:\Users\Your_User_Name\AppData\Local\Temp\WinPhlash\ or C:\Windows\Temp\WinPhlash\) Copy it to other place to get ROM file, then you can exit/cancel the update.
I think you have to hold down the end key as you plug in the ac adaptor with the battery removed, the files on your memory stick should just be the HDR file... it might have to be usb floppy!!! Tell me if you get anywhere i need to do this also!!!
I did that holding end while plugin ac adaptor, and this HDR file your talking about, where can i get it?
Download the latest bios from DELLs website. Then copy it to your C drive. type the name of the file (i.e. 1400_a09.exe) add the command -writehdrfile for example for me its 1400_a09.exe -writehdrfile, a window will open saying header file written. You will find the hdr file on the C:\ drive. Does that help? The next stage might involve renaming the file (but try first without) I am trying to find out how to find the name of the file, there is a user "redalerthan" search for posts by this guy, seems to be the one to have this all figured out, and he did pm me a while back offering assistance, if you type his username in google you will find him talking about how he suceeded in doing this on other forums also. Please keep updating me on how this is going, if we are both succesful I will try and publish a decent guide for everyone on exactly what is needed to recover a dell phoenix bios.
OK Garty, I am assuming you are on a Windows Vista or Windows 7 machine... Press the start button on the keyboard, immediately type CMD, and press enter, this will open a black MS-DOS style command prompt. Make sure you have copied your bios file onto the main C:\ directory Now in the command prompt type CD\ and then press enter, this means your command prompt is now looking at the same directory as your bios exe file. I don't know what your bios file will be names as however mine is 1400_A09.exe, so when you see 1400_A09.exe replace it with the filename of your bios file. Type 1400_A09.exe -writehdrfile and press enter. A window will open saying header file written succesfull, you will now find the HDR file in C:\1400_a09.hdr Dan Hope this helps
It doesn't make a .hdrfile only a .rom file, i seem to find it in TEMP. With that .rom file, i transfer it to an .hdr file with the lzss-r tool. With that .hdr file, i looked it up in hex, couldn't find any hdr name. So i just put the .hdr file on the stick, but it doesn't seem to load from it at all. I think this bios is just not recoveredable
I tried your bios update file, seems like your uses winphlash... im not sure if my method works with this... if you hold END as you plug in the power key what happens?
I have already told you that your bios is a Phoenix bios and no Dell's own, so the write commands don't work. Also there is no HDR file. You have to make a Phoenix crisis disk preferably a floppy! I'm quoting my reply (PM): To create a Phoenix crisis disk and to exchange the bios.wph with your biosfile HPBA05.ROM. To boot with the bootable flash usb stick. minodos.sys it the dos driver, phlash16 is a dos flash application, your biosfile is HPBA05.ROM to be renamed to bios.wph.... ...........also some older PC do only work when a floppy crisis disk was made and refuses to recover by using a usb flash drive.. Some work with a usb floppy drive, too. .... So why don't you try what could work? Dell uses different kinds of bioses. Don't get confused by others. There is NO bin file and NO hdr file!!!
For the record: The ones withe the writehdr file command are also phoenix bios! If you open the HDR files you will find phoenix copyright information at the top. It must be a different type of the phoenix bios, but i'm willing to be if you can extract a ROM / BIN or HDR file you will be able to use the standard method.
i cant also get to the recovery mode using a DELL VOSTRO 1520, had a bad flash and i wanna fix it do you guys know an alternative method to go to the recovery mode? caps lock LED is flashing on and off, blue tooth, and the others are steady, only the caps lock led flashing. please help FN + F, FN + B and END keys dont get me to recovery mode and even wont turn on
Hello!Sorry to answer this old thread.... After ten years of flashing bios on several pcs,i tried to flash my vostro 1520's bios running 7x64. So winphlash crashed (i guess i shoulda run it with administrator rights ). Here i am with a bricked vostro with half a bios written... I've read all topics related to phenix bios with no luck. The first problem is the exe,i explored it to grab directly the bios,wich is one .rom format. Cannot extract the hdr file because of the exe format (writehdrfile). Crisis recovery program asks for the rom and the hdr files to create wph. I renamed the .rom to .wph,then the bootdisk was created. The second problem is that i cannot access recovery,power led remains green (but the usb stick's led blinks,so i think something's happens). So my two question are: How to access bios recovery on vostro 1520? Wich bios extension and name works? In the .exe,the bios name is HPBA08.ROM. Thanks by advance!!!!!