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ddyszel

26 Posts

38502

January 11th, 2007 14:00

E521 Bios Flash -- DON'T

I went to the Dell Support web page and in the FAQ section they strongly suggested flashing the Bios on my machine and gave a link.  I then checked the driver area and found a different and what seemed to be a later version.  So, following the directions and unhooking all USB connections I started the process.  Twenty minutes later I got a !!!!FAILURE!!!! notice.
 
I Chatted with tech support and was told NOT to flash the Bios unless ordered by tech support! Just ignore the FAQ. I was  then told to reboot.
 
I now have a totally dead machine. No lights of any sort. I've been pushed up the tech line for some sort of solution.
 
Please learn from my lesson and DON'T flash that Bios!

nwfa

29 Posts

February 3rd, 2007 01:00

>>>DO NOT INSTALL UPGRADE 1.1.04 to the bios on Dimension E521
 
Just finished my own chat with the Dell tech.  I've never been a day without my computer.  I'm going to huddle in a dark corner and mumble to myself. 
 
I don't understand why the upgrade is still on the web site.  The tech told me "never upgrade the bios unless you're told to".  He was very patient though and only put me through a few steps as we both knew the inevitable.
 
I only have my work laptop and am blocked from POP mail.  After a week my personal email's going to shut the internet down.  Cities will go dark as power grids fail *bing*pop*fizzle*.  I will be solely responsible for the Dow plummeting 50,000 points in a single day and the ice age that's certain to descend upon us.  Please forgive me, I know not what I do......


Message Edited by nwfa on 02-02-2007 09:35 PM

Nniixx

59 Posts

February 8th, 2007 20:00

Add me to the list I had installed version 1.1.04 successfully, but discovered that I could no longer get into the BIOS if I had any other USB device than mouse and keyboard connected, specifically Monitor hub.
 
So I tried reflashing with the same flash and got the Failure Failure Failure message and you guessed it my BIOS is now hosed and the machine won't boot.

nwfa

29 Posts

February 8th, 2007 21:00

>>>Add me to the list I had installed version 1.1.04 successfully
 
And I think the upgrade is still there, although I haven't checked today.
 
It's best if you do this on a Monday, because then by the weekend you'll be up and running.
 
Friday - Fried BIOS
Saturday - Slept out of boredom
Sunday - Wandered around, wondering what to do with myself
Monday - Distracted at work all day
Tuesday - Got new motherboard from DHL, installed it in about 15 minutes.  An hour later Dell called and 2 hours after that the installer called, but I was already up and running by then.
 
I set Vista aside and went back to MCE where the world made sense again.  Vista's pretty cool, but I couldn't get anything done.
 
This time I only installed 2 Dell drivers (for Audio and AMD).
 
No more BIOS updates for me,
1.0.3 is where I'll be.
 
Made that up on Sunday....
 


Message Edited by nwfa on 02-08-2007 05:17 PM

Nniixx

59 Posts

February 8th, 2007 22:00


@nwfa wrote:
>>>Add me to the list I had installed version 1.1.04 successfully
And I think the upgrade is still there, although I haven't checked today.
It's best if you do this on a Monday, because then by the weekend you'll be up and running.
Friday - Fried BIOS
Saturday - Slept out of boredom
Sunday - Wandered around, wondering what to do with myself
Monday - Distracted at work all day
Tuesday - Got new motherboard from DHL, installed it in about 15 minutes. An hour later Dell called and 2 hours after that the installer called, but I was already up and running by then.
I set Vista aside and went back to MCE where the world made sense again. Vista's pretty cool, but I couldn't get anything done.
This time I only installed 2 Dell drivers (for Audio and AMD).
No more BIOS updates for me,
1.0.3 is where I'll be.
Made that up on Sunday....


Message Edited by nwfa on 02-08-2007 05:17 PM


Well I got onto Dell and went through my problem and explained what I had done to try and correct the problem ie removing battery and power in attempt to clear NVRAm plus a few other diagnostics plus mentioned that I work in aplications support for the company I work for and that I believed the BIOS flash had corrupted the BIOS.

So after about 10 minutes all up I was told that the supervisor had approved for a technician to come out to my place on Monday and replace the motherboard.

Now in theory this should be a fairly simple process, but what is XP going to do in terms of activation, will it see this as being a major change or does Dell OEM version not require activation.

Nniixx

59 Posts

February 8th, 2007 22:00


@ddyszel wrote:
I'm sorry about the link. Put in Dimension and Model E521 to get to the FAQ



Ironically on the FAQ page it suggests the lates BIOS is 1.0.03 whereas on Drivers & Downloads it is 1.1.04 which is the one that is causing some of us problems.

nwfa

29 Posts

February 8th, 2007 23:00

>>>Now in theory this should be a fairly simple process, but what is XP going to do in terms of activation, will it see this as being a major change or does Dell OEM version not require activation.
 
That's pretty cool, that they're getting to you that quickly.  I imagine the board will be delivered by Saturday.  I had Vista loaded on my hard drive when I put the new board in and it came up normally.
 
The BIOS id is your Service Tag, so once the tech finishes installing the new board, he'll type in your tag (which is unchangeable once entered) and it should be good as new!  The O/S won't notice any change.  You shouldn't have to reload the O/S, it will boot up as it did before the flash.
 
Good luck! :smileyhappy:

Nniixx

59 Posts

February 9th, 2007 00:00

@nwfa wrote:
>>>Now in theory this should be a fairly simple process, but what is XP going to do in terms of activation, will it see this as being a major change or does Dell OEM version not require activation.
That's pretty cool, that they're getting to you that quickly. I imagine the board will be delivered by Saturday. I had Vista loaded on my hard drive when I put the new board in and it came up normally.
The BIOS id is your Service Tag, so once the tech finishes installing the new board, he'll type in your tag (which is unchangeable once entered) and it should be good as new! The O/S won't notice any change. You shouldn't have to reload the O/S, it will boot up as it did before the flash.
Good luck! :smileyhappy:



Sounds good.

I could probably do it myself as I've tinkered round with many a PC over the years.

The only thing that I'd be wary of is removing the fan / cpu assembly as I've never done one before and wouldn't know what to do with thermal paste etc.

Last CPU I chanegd was a 486DX33 to a 486DX66 in about 1997. LOL

Maybe I'll just leave it to the techo.

Maybe the fact that I had done some diagnostics and written down results helped in convincing the woman I knew what I was talking about.

When we first started, she said "Now I'm going to get you turn the machine on and...." but I cut her off ad said "I'm at work but I can tell you exactly what happens, what diagnostic lights are displayed and the number and length of beeps that sound.".

She asked for those details and then added "what else have yout tried ?" and after I told her I had removed the battery for 15 mins and also powered on with no battery or power cord to dissipate any power in an attempt to clear NVRam, she said "We'll need to send a technician to replace the motherboard".

I can immagine though people who don't understand what they are talking about would get dragged through the effort of checking cables, ram, vide cards etc etc for hours on end.

Message Edited by Nniixx on 02-08-2007 08:13 PM

Majestic

9.4K Posts

February 9th, 2007 10:00

Nniixx wrote:

I can immagine though people who don't understand what they are talking about would get dragged through the effort of checking cables, ram, vide cards etc etc for hours on end.
It always helps to trouble-shoot as much of the problem as you can prior to contacting Dell and then use what you've learned during that call.  Otherwise the Dell Tech on the other end of the line has no choice but to run you through a scripted outline in an attempt to isolate the source of the problem.

Nniixx

59 Posts

February 12th, 2007 11:00

So the technician rang me at 9.01am today and said "will you be home today" and I said that my wife would be.

He said "I'll be there between 1pm and 3 pm".

At 1.30pm he rings me and says "how late can I come there" and when I say "that's up to you", he says "I'll be there at 3.30pm".

According to my wife he turned up at 5.30pm.

She said he hardly spoke English, was rude and seemed like he didn't have a clue.

When she asked him if we would lose any data he said "I don't know, hopefully not" - that was my worst fear that he would wipe the drives or something.

He called me on my mobile at 6.00pm whilst I was on the bus and said "Did you have Windows98 on your PC becuase it's hanging".

I say "No, that's on the 2nd drive and I can't get it to install it just hangs. XP is on the first drive".

He says "OK I'll change the drive boot sequence in the BIOS". So basically he's reconnected the drives in the wrong order, luckily they are SATA.

When I got home at about 6.15pm he'd left.

The PC was on and in XP

After helping getting our boys to bed, I logged on and immediately notice that my card reader was not showing up - I shutdown, opened the box and saw that the cable was left unconnected at one end.

I swapped the HD cables around whilst I was in there and got into the BIOS which is now back at 1.0.03 and swapped the HD boot sequence back.

Happy days.

Ironically tonight the Dell Support program has popped up a window telling me there's a BIOS update I should download.

ROTFLMAO Dell that's toooooooooooooooooooo funny.

nwfa

29 Posts

February 12th, 2007 14:00

>>>Ironically tonight the Dell Support program has popped up a window telling me there's a BIOS update I should download.
That's funny and sad.  I'm glad I did my own install.......

andreychuk

527 Posts

February 12th, 2007 16:00

I installed the latest Bios Flash under Vista and did not have a problem. It solved a big issue for me. Sometimes, certain USB Devices introduced a long delay in startup before it would exit the dell screen and show windows booting. Up to a 25 second delay! Installing this BIOS solved this problem, and also the issue in Windows Vista where if you had a your PCI-E Slot occupied along with all the PCI Slots taken up, Windows would not start the PCI-E device because it couldn't find any free resources. I guess your really taking a chance on the roulette wheel if you flash your BIOS. It worked out for me , and I'm happy.

nwfa

29 Posts

February 12th, 2007 18:00

>>>I installed the latest Bios Flash under Vista and did not have a problem.
 
Many have.  It appears to be intermittent and doesn't seem to be dependent on any one particular config.  That's what leads me to believe it may be a hardware issue.
 
I'm certainly happy that you're happy, but many of us experienced a variety of other emotions.  Panic, fear, anger, frustration, panic and of course fear and frustrion, not to mention anger and panic.......and fear......
 
After having our motherboards replaced we're happy again like you, but the problem is still occuring.  Hopefully less frequently now that the forum has enough warnings.  It did snap me out of my complacency and I'll be very careful before making any changes to my beautiful E521 in the future. 
 
I really do like the machine - it's a work of art. 

jradue

11 Posts

February 25th, 2007 00:00

I purchased a new E521 in December, 2006 after many years of building my own systems. Like many experienced computer users I look for updates and found the 1.1.04  bios upgrade and installed it. Initially the upgrade software failed to install, but after several attempts it worked. I have not experienced any of the problems so many others have.  As far as I can tell, the update has taken. However, I am very concerned by the response of the technical support on this issue as reported by others in this forum.  As much as I distrust Microsoft, they have alway had good technical support of any issues I have had.  This makes me wonder if I should stick to building my own systems. To be fair, I think the quality and engineering of the E521 is excellent IMHO.

nwfa

29 Posts

February 25th, 2007 00:00

I purchased a new E521 in December, 2006 after many years of building my own systems. Like many experienced computer users I look for updates and found the 1.1.04  bios upgrade and installed it. Initially the upgrade software failed to install, but after several attempts it worked. I have not experienced any of the problems so many others have.  As far as I can tell, the update has taken. However, I am very concerned by the response of the technical support on this issue as reported by others in this forum.  As much as I distrust Microsoft, they have alway had good technical support of any issues I have had.  This makes me wonder if I should stick to building my own systems. To be fair, I think the quality and engineering of the E521 is excellent IMHO.
 
Maybe the difference between your experience and ours is that rather than rebooting after the flash failed, you kept trying until it succeeded.  It never occurred to me to do that.  Once you shut down, it's over.  That might be a good lesson for those who follow: 
 
"Don't reboot if the bios flash fails - keeping trying until it succeeds."
 
I like my E521 as well.  I just put a 3rd HD (WD Raptor) in the floppy bay as a scratch drive and it fit like a glove.  It's a very fast, well built machine and I think the only downside is that I can never have more than 4 GB.  Maybe if they come up with 2 GB sticks.......? :smileyhappy:

jradue

11 Posts

February 25th, 2007 00:00

The issue with the 4 GB memory is the same with others in the mainstream market, As the technology advances, then the maximum limit will increase, You could buy higher-end boards now with more capacity, but it takes $$$$$. Overall the E521 is descent. It troubles me however that there is a BIOS problems. I have flashed many "generic" boards with no problems. In fact, I have never had a BIOS flash fail ever. To me, updating a new board to the latest BIOS is routine, Perhaps I am lucky, but it seems that Dell has an issue with this update on specific configurations.  Perhaps those who load up the system with maximum peripherals. 

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