Unsolved
This post is more than 5 years old
161 Posts
0
5221
BIOS Flash Not Working
I have a Inspiron 17-3737 Laptop that has no OS or HDD on it. It is not starting properly, and will only start every so often. I thought I may be able to fix it with a BIOS Update. I created a MS-DOS Bootable USB Using Rufus. Copied the latest BIOS to it "Inspiron_3737_A09.exe" from the link below. I Booted it from the pc in question, and after typing in Inspiron_3737_A09.exe after Diag C:\> prompt, got this message: "Bad command or file name"
I tried this over and over, even with different variations of the text, to no avail. Am I doing something wrong, or is there some trick to do this? Do I have to use the Dell Tools to do it? It seems to me Rufus should work just the same, so there must be something else I'm missing that you Dell guys would know about.
I've also seen others with this Not Booting issue and some that are similar, so it must be a problem with this laptop.
http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/drivers/driversdetails?driverId=V8F4Y
Thanks, Max
ieee488
1 Rookie
1 Rookie
•
11.1K Posts
0
December 17th, 2017 07:00
No hard drive you say, and yet you are trying to execute a command on the hard drive.
Hmmmmm
User1190
161 Posts
0
December 17th, 2017 07:00
@ieee488, Good point, I just don't know what I am doing, I didn't even think of that. I wonder what Command I would need to use, o-boy...more googling. Do you have any suggestions?
User1190
161 Posts
0
December 17th, 2017 08:00
1. Why is that, the BIOS is not on the HDD? I wonder if it needs to be renamed?
2. Just to get to the Dell Screen, it seems to have some kind of Power issue, but was hoping it was a BIOS Problem, maybe from a botched Windows 10 Upgrade, or something else, I don't know? The power light and Disk Light are also weird, sometimes light up and sometimes shut down shortly after, just all over the place. So the BIOS Flash is really just a last stab at saving the laptop, as it may be the System Board? If this is not correct: Diag C:\> prompt then why would dell say to do it this way? I was under the impression that this could be done this way, but as you pointed out the "Diag C:\> prompt" is not going to do this with no HDD. I guess I could rob a HDD from another laptop for now, but am light on cash, so this was more a long term project.
I ran all the Dell Diagnostics except for the HDD and the Battery, kept the battery out to prevent other variables.
I checked the PSU, and booted from Linux a few times to check the temps, and get the specs for my records. But it took many tries to get to the Boot Order, or even to the Dell Screen to come up.
Thanks so much for your help, I think I found a good answer, will try it ASAP.
en.community.dell.com/.../19464216
ieee488
1 Rookie
1 Rookie
•
11.1K Posts
0
December 17th, 2017 08:00
You won't be able to update your BIOS without a hard drive.
I don't know how you expect a laptop with out a hard drive to start "properly". What is "properly"?