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XPS 8700 failed at BIOS update via Dell Driver utility, won't display anything, and restarts every 10 seconds repeatedly.
Ok, I know, NEVER upgrade your BIOS, ever. Well I was prompted by the Dell upgrade/fix it utility at start up and went for it. About halfway through the process, it shuts my computer down, and I wait... and wait... and wait. Nothing. I power it off and on, and it will turn on the case fan, the CPU fan, and the amber LED on the mobo, but the keyboard will not light up, and there's no display. IE: it never reaches post. After about 5-10 seconds it reboots and continues this cycle.
So far I've tried checking to see if it was a coincidental RAM failure. Pulled out all the sticks and the mobo beeps when I boot it up. Mobo is still ok. All sticks swapped in produce no different results. I assume they're all ok.
I've tried removing the mobo battery and seeing if it will clear the BIOS settings and restart, No dice.
I've tried playing with the RTCRST jumper and moved it from position 2-3 to 1-2 and nothing.
How can I fix this? It's evident that I need to reset the BIOS to factory settings, but I'm not quite sure how and with what. Can anyone shed light?
RoHe
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February 8th, 2016 10:00
Did you press/hold the power button for ~15 sec after unplugging PC from the wall and then press/hold the button again for ~30 sec after removing the motherboard battery to clear BIOS settings?
Ryan429
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February 8th, 2016 12:00
Hey, thanks for the reply!
No, not yet. Currently I have power to the unit via wall, but the PC is off and the RTCRST jumper is on 1-2
and same goes for the PSWD jumper. I think I had power off to the PC when doing it yesterday. Will try that though if this fails. So depress the button for 15 seconds with the PC unplugged, release, then remove the battery... and depress for another 30 seconds?
Ryan429
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February 8th, 2016 12:00
I'm almost curious if the BIOS drivers were wiped. Is there a clever way to install the BIOS from a USB drive when I can't load into the BIOS, or rather get to Post? I heard holding Windows key and B while the PC boots will normally load from the USB.
Ryan429
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February 8th, 2016 14:00
Tried the button hold trick, no dice. Gonna start looking for a replacement mobo, looks like. Someone said something about using Wincrisis and the BIOS update to try and repair the corrupted BIOS... Not sure if it's possible.
RoHe
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February 8th, 2016 16:00
Put that jumper back where it was before you originally moved it, and see if it boots.
What version of Windows?
If you're still under warranty, contact Dell Tech Support for a replacement board.
At one point, Dell had a policy that they'd replace the motherboard, one time only, if a BIOS update failed after the warranty expired, if -and only if- the PC is still within 6 months of the end of the warranty period. Don't know if they still do that, but if you're within that extra 6 month period, it's worth checking with Tech Support.
Ryan429
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February 8th, 2016 19:00
Wow, I wish they would honor that. Unfortunately, the PC was bought in Dec 2013, and the warranty expired Dec 2015. So I'm just over a year roughly out of the warranty. That would've been fantastic if they did it regardless of the warranty phase. I've re-seated the jumper already. Nothing. I would have to find a way to load the BIOS back on, via USB stick or something. I have a feeling its wiped the BIOS. Resetting CMOS just resets settings to factory. That'd be fine if there were actually settings to reset.
RoHe
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February 9th, 2016 10:00
I presume you meant the warranty expired in Dec 2014, not 2015.
Sounds like you bricked the board so you probably have to replace it or maybe put the money toward a new PC.
Sorry... [:'(]