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Can't update BIOS on L501X
L501X
Windows 7 64-bit
This morning, my wife's laptop--which is identical to mine--wouldn't start; it hung at "Starting Windows" after the Windows logo appeared. I tried system repair and system restore, neither of which worked. I called Dell, and after an hour, they told me the hard drive needed to be replaced. (For some reason, the woman I spoke with had a hard time with "I was not provided with a restore CD; I created the restore flash drive from the Dell Support Center.")
I ran a fairly recent backup, but I've got some stuff done since the last backup, and I'd like to try retrieve it if at all possible. I noticed that the BIOS on this machine was at A04 instead of A07, so I thought I'd try updating it. I downloaded the A07 BIOS version and put it on a DOS bootable flash drive and...
"This program cannot be run in DOS mode"
Am I doing something wrong? Is there a different version of the BIOS I should be using?
Thanks in advance.
Enceladus
297 Posts
1
July 24th, 2011 03:00
I would not attempt a Bios update on a system that is not functioning correctly. And as a general rule I never flash the Bios from Windows, always from a DOS bootable floppy or USB.
You are unclear, have Dell sent you a new drive?
Do you still have the old drive? I would connect the old drive to a known working system via a USB adapter. See what can be recovered.
If you no longer have the drive anything since the last backup has been lost. If you restored your last backup onto the faulty drive then it might still be possible to recover some of later files, but this is best done by a specialist data recovery company and the bill will be at least hundreds and might be thousands of dollars depending.
The adapter to covert a laptop bare drive to an USB external drive are available from any good computer store, electronics shop or the likes of Amazon. Cost $5-$30. There are essentially two types. One for older EIDE/PATA drives and one for newer SATA drives. Some adapters come with an external 5Volt supply. this is not normally required unless excess current draw was the failure mode of the drive you are trying to recover.
The Dell website implies that the A07 file can be flashed from a DOS floppy. So I imagine a DOS USB is fine. Make sure you have no drivers loaded. No himem.sys etc. Also make sure the USB stick is smaller than 2GB, I use an old SD card from a camera in a reader.
ejn63
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July 24th, 2011 04:00
Remove the hard drive, mount it in an external case and attach it to a working system by USB. Copy the files you need.
The advice you received is sound - if you attempt to flash the BIOS improperly and/or from a faulty system, you could turn the need to replace a $50-100 hard drive into a $400+ mainboard replacement.
If the drive is showing ANY hard errors, it must be replaced.
nmwallace
11 Posts
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July 24th, 2011 03:00
Dell has not sent the new drive; I still have the old one. The disk diagnostics don't find errors when randomly sampling, only when it checks the entire drive, which makes me suspect (hope) that the entire disk isn't damaged; just a block that happens to include the startup files for Windows.
The Dell website does say that the A07 file can be flashed from a DOS floppy. The problem is that when I try, I get the error I mentioned above: "This program cannot be run in DOS mode".
Enceladus
297 Posts
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July 24th, 2011 09:00
Yes indeed. Any doubt about the hard drive then attach it to a working system and recover as much as you can whilst the going is good.
Do not attempt to flash the Bios if there is any suspicion of a fault. Fix and test first.
As I said, in principle, you should be able to flash from a USB stick as the bios update supports DOS floppy. So maybe there is something wrong with your thumb-drive setup. You want the boot files and command.com from plain vanilla DOS or from Windows '98. No config.sys or autoexec.bat. There is a convenient utility provided by HP/Compaq for exactly this purpose You can google it or another forum member reports that clear instructions are available here. www.bay-wolf.com/usbmemstick.htm
I would only remind you to use a USB stick smaller than 2GB which is the FAT16 limit. Since these are now hard to get I use an old 128MB SD card in an adapter. I can format this as FAT12 if required.