Aurora-R5, BIOS update bricks system

See this page and it's links.

https://www.dell.com/community/Inspiron-Desktops/Dell-Inspiron-3847-shut-down-during-BIOS-update-and-will-not/td-p/6068453

I don't think I've ever heard of an Aurora-R5 getting permanently bricked-dead. In addition to the enhanced BIOS Recovery Procedures, you can usually simply boot to it's initial ( UEFI ) boot environment and re-flash from a flash drive .

Tried those methods.  Neither Ctrl-Esc nor F2 get me to any sort of screen for the BIOS recovery.  I still get the 3 yellow flashes, pause and 6 yellow flashes that tell me something is wrong with the motherboard.  :(

It states that I need to contact Dell Tech Support to get access to the USB variant.  We will see if they help as I am out of warranty...  

you can make your own USB boot drive. Just download whatever windows version you use onto a USB stick. You'll need about 5GB of space for this, so make sure the stick is minimum 8GB. I have a dummy windows 10 stick I made when my Aurora R5 was having issues....just make sure you have your Windows key handy when using this method.

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@Xbrokeneclipsewrote:
Did you get this fixed? Same thing happened to me today.

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So, tapping F2 or F12 on boot doesn't give you a menu?

Try detailed Dell BIOS Recovery 2/3 procedures (CTRL-ESC)

http://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/04/sln300716/bios-recovery-options-on-a-dell-pc-or-tablet?lang=en

It does not, Nothing happens. Just a blank screen, I tried formatting a FAT32 and inserting straight into motherboard. Will not show up on my screen... Called Dell support, said and I quote "You should not of done the recommended BIO'S update. That I knew the risks" That's insane that I was prompted to do the update that I didn't even want to do.. I haven't had a single thing wrong with my Tower.

Did you ever get past this? I just had the same issue -- my system is now dead dead dead. :Crying:

Same thing happened to my Aurora R5. Completely bricked. Anyone found a solution yet?

I experienced exactly the same problem with bios update 1.44 yesterday. Black screen and 7 beeps error code. I don't usually update my bios, but as my laptop started having BSOD's I thought it might resolve the problem. My motherboard was replaced under warranty shortly after I bought the laptop.  So I called Dell locally who transferred me to multiple operators ending up with Alienware support in Europe where an agent called Patrik Pavlovic literally laughed at me and called me a liar when I explained my problem to him. I'm sure you keep phone records to check this out yourselves. Really? He basically told me since my laptop is out of warranty I have to pay $900 to have the motherboard replaced. I told him that all I did was install a bios recommended by Dell support, so I feel that it's actually Dell's fault. That's what I paid for the laptop. This product has by far been the worst experience. And I thought Alienware was supposed to be synonymous with quality. Not cheap motherboards and bad service.

Prior to my unfortunate experience with support  tried to reset the bios by disconnecting the cmos, power drain, ctrl-esc method. 

Has anyone found a solution to this problem then?

Also experiencing something similar, went through similar CMOS clearing with the Jumper, but don't see anything when I turn the computer on.

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@NotASmartCat wrote:

Has anyone found a solution to this problem then?

Also experiencing something similar, went through similar CMOS clearing with the Jumper, but don't see anything when I turn the computer on.

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You are trying to solve a bricked BIOS?

Does tapping F2 or F12 on boot give you a menu?

Did you try detailed Dell BIOS Recovery-2 procedures (with CTRL-ESC)?

How did your Aurora-R5 machine get this way?

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@Tesla1856 wrote:

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@NotASmartCat wrote:

Has anyone found a solution to this problem then?

Also experiencing something similar, went through similar CMOS clearing with the Jumper, but don't see anything when I turn the computer on.

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You are trying to solve a bricked BIOS?

Does tapping F2 or F12 on boot give you a menu?

Did you try detailed Dell BIOS Recovery-2 procedures (with CTRL-ESC)?

How did your Aurora-R5 machine get this way?

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1. I think so (bought the computer super cheap from someone, trying to get it to work.) The hard drive is totally wiped, no partitions, checked it on a friends computer in Disk Management.

2. Nope, don't see anything when I turn the computer on, no Alienware logo either. Can't access the Bios. Tried the jumper method to clear the CMOS since the battery wasn't coming out easily and that didn't change anything except the color of the lights to factory blue.

3. Tried the ctrl+esc method, nothing happened since the hard drive was wiped, going to try with a USB stick today.

4. Seller says the hard drive was wiped clean and that they set it to do a legacy boot in the bios and now nothing is working.

Yeah, keep trying to knock that thing into submission. :Smile:

Used (working pulls) MB should not be too much. However, not sure all come with burnt-in Windows License key. If this one is always dead, no way to read it's key. 

Did the steps, computer no longer turns off soon after I turn it on. Monitor isn't getting a signal when I held ctrl+esc.

New thing I noticed: front Alienware logo light (power button) is now blinking yellow. Bursts of 3 or 5, any idea what to do now?

Another update, turned it on and it went it gave me two options, one of which took me to the bios! I now need to install windows onto one of the drives via USB I believe. Never done this before, but I'm excited!