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Another E521 BIOS Update Failure - Mother Board is Toast
If you are not having problems with your E521, you may want to think twice before updating your BIOS with the latest Dimension E521 1.1.8 System BIOS.
I noticed there are several other posts on the failure of the "recommended" BIOS and want to add that I had the same problem. I followed the instructions and disconnected all USB devices except the keyboard and mouse, as well as closed all programs so I am not sure why this happened. I have a wireless keyboard but am not sure if that would make a difference.
After the update, I had no video display, no active USB's, no diagnostic LED's, and my hard drive was spinning and spinning. Also, the Power button was glowing orange. However, I still spent over an hour with the chat support people taking nearly the entire PC apart to "troubleshoot" by taking out this card and that module, etc then trying to reboot. After an hour or so and at least 5 attempts to reboot, I finally told them enough is enough and to send a motherboard and a tech - my E21 is only a week old so it is covered under warranty. It is pretty obvious there is no magic you can perform on a box with no working floppy, display, keyboard or mouse.
Tina
Mick63
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May 26th, 2007 11:00
tinab300
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May 26th, 2007 12:00
I used the Technical Support Chat instead of calling. It seems someone is always available on the chat support - no Memorial Day weekend in India, anyway (ha ha). They were the ones that issued the dispatch # to get the motherboard and arrange a tech to come on Tuesday. I have used the chat support many times and have never been disappointed with the outcome. On 2 separate occasions, they have arranged warranty replacement parts to be sent to me and were on my doorstep in less than 18 hours - I was amazed both times!
Here is a list of my system in case you see any similarities with yours:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 5600
4 GB DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz
500 GB EIDE SATA II Hard Drive
48X CD RW/DVD Combo Drive
16 x DVD+/-RW SONY SATA,
ATI Theater 650 PRO Combo Analog/Digital TV Tuner
1394 Controller Card
ATI Radeon X1300 Pro PCI Express
Mick63
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May 26th, 2007 13:00
easywriter182
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May 28th, 2007 01:00
dave in pa
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May 24th, 2013 19:00
I had a similar problem, My Dell Support Center said there was a recommended update for my Inspiron 620.
It was to upgrade from ms-ao8 to ms-a10, downloaded, and saved file, and when I tried to install it received an error message "GetMeVersionError, GetLastError=2. I did the online chat, they are sending someone to replace my motherboard. I'm not sure the motherboard needs replacing, I think it's a bad update.
Any idea what that error message means? The My Dell Support Center program says my motherboard is ok.
If there is something wrong, would it not show up when I run the checkup program?
rdunnill
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May 24th, 2013 20:00
Those sound like Windows errors, and typically BIOS updates are run from DOS.
If your 620 still boots Windows, it's OK. A 'bricked' motherboard will not boot at all, still less Windows.
dave in pa
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May 24th, 2013 21:00
I tried installing in windows and tried using command prompt (windows 7 home premium).
Still get same error message.
Let me know if you hear of anyone with a successful upgrade of this.
rdunnill
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May 24th, 2013 23:00
The Command Prompt is not DOS. You need to boot from a DOS-formatted floppy or USB flash drive to perform the upgrade.