Skip to main content
Start a Conversation

Unsolved

This post is more than 5 years old

R

roninxian

21 Posts

20924

August 4th, 2014 22:00

Dell Studio 1747

I was using my Dell Studio and a message popped up from Dell about BIOS upgrade/update. Like a fool I clicked ok. Another window popped up from a company name I never heard of before. If there isn't enough trouble online like this anymore, I don't want problems. I closed the window as soon as I figured out what was going on. It took a bit of time for the window to close after clicked the red 'x' several times. Now the computer is dead, the upgrade/update ate my BIOS. After not finding anything regarding this problem anywhere on Dell's support site online I called. Oh what a terrible experience. I got someone who I couldn't understand their English then got passed to someone else. Seems Dell does NOT support this laptop anymore. Then why send out updates/upgrades? Finally the person said he would asked his supervisor what to do. No, let ME talk to the supervisor, I don't need information from one person to another to me. The supervisor simply told me that I should take it somewhere to get repair. I had been to Best Buy, they want $85 for a Dell caused problem, and if they can't fix it they send it out, another approximately $300. I explained this to the 'supervisor' and that it was caused by a Dell (or whoever Phoenix is) that caused the BIOS to disappear. The computer starts, nothing comes on the screen (which the 'supervisor' could not understand) then just goes 'beep' followed by "beep beep' over and over and over. The 'supervisor' told me he couldn't understand what would do that. Now I'm not a techie but what did that is that the attempted upgrade/update ate my Dell BIOS. But they have no intentions of doing anything. The 'supervisor' said he would 'escalate' my problem and someone would call me between 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. within 24 to 48 hours. Well I sat with my phone on my lap both of those days with no call. Two days more go by nothing. Then I get an email from Dell "supervisor" saying they called but there was no answer. How strange I had the phone in my lap during those times for several days, my phone has voice mail. No message, no call, nothing. I emailed this back and said for them to let me know if they were simply not going to solve the problem they caused so that I could start working on the situation from my end. Thank God I live in a state with good consumer protection laws because I will NOT let this die. I have heard NOTHING back from Dell support in two days. Does that tell me something? Yes, it tells me they don't care, won't care, and it's my hard luck. I have bought 6 Dell laptops. I was a very loyal customer. I returned #6 four days after I bought it. Simply told the people at Costco it was an item of such low quality they should not be carrying it. They smiled and imply gave me my money back for it. I will never buy another product of any kind of Dell, this is the way they treat loyal customers, beware of their support, it doesn't exist. Be careful of their smiling face, it's a front. I took the money from the return and bought a really great HP Pavilion TouchSmart 17" for the same money that is working great for me.

Philip_Yip

9 Legend

 • 

16K Posts

August 5th, 2014 00:00

Phoenix is the vendor of the Dell BIOS for your system and the update was legitimate...

Prematurely ending a BIOS update or forcefully shutting down the system during the BIOS update is one sure way of bricking a system.

As you prematurely ended a BIOS update, now your mainboard now has no BIOS hence you have a black screen and the system can't do anything else. Simply put you shouldn't have interrupted the update and there were warnings when updating not to power off the system or to interrupt the update. The update has wiped the old BIOS (as intended) however you terminated it so the newer BIOS wasn't written and the motherboard is now bricked. 

Bestbuy won't be able to do anything unless they have a spare motherboard. On eBay this costs about $100. You will also have to pay them in addition for labour charges, dissembling your entire laptop, taking out your old mainboard and then inserting your new one.

roninxian

21 Posts

August 5th, 2014 10:00

Sure would have been nice if there had been some type of notice on the Dell screen that said the BIOS was being upgraded/updated by Phoenix and that Phoenix is the Dell application. It simply jumped from the Dell screen to the Phoenix screen without saying this. I fully expected Dell's name on the second window to be some type of assurance, in which case I would have let it run. But instead it just started on it's own without this knowledge being extended.

Philip_Yip

9 Legend

 • 

16K Posts

August 5th, 2014 11:00

Most "Dell" drivers do not have Dell stamped all over them however have the respective logos of the vendor who made the components e.g. Intel, AMD, NVIDIA, Broadcom, Synaptics, Alps, Atheros. For the BIOS it is usually American Megatrends and Phoenix. Its similar with HP drivers.

More caution should be applied then to update the BIOS automatically. The BIOS update should have required elevated privileges to run i.e. you would have needed to right click the BIOS update and select run as administrator.

See for example this BIOS update.

 

Philip_Yip

9 Legend

 • 

16K Posts

August 5th, 2014 11:00

P.S. I'm surprised the Technical Support team you contacted had no knowledge of what a failed BIOS update was.

N7U

615 Posts

August 5th, 2014 12:00

Do you have ANYTHING at all....does the computer respond when you push the power button? if it does? does the DVD drive flash shortly after power up? do you get any lights on the 1747 that stay on after you turn it on? There are techniques for recovering a BIOS when you have SOME activity left. There is however no point proceeding if your system is stone dead. Describe to the best of your ability ALL details about the computer state from the time you touch the power button until it stops doing anything.

RoHe

10 Elder

 • 

44.4K Posts

August 5th, 2014 13:00

Have you tried resetting BIOS by removing the motherboard battery?

  1. Remove motherboard battery by following the instructions on pages 6 and 18, here. 
  2. Leave it without battery for ~10 min - 30 min
  3. Reinstall battery (right-side-up!)
  4. Close it up and see if it boots now

 

roninxian

21 Posts

August 5th, 2014 17:00

It wasn't that they had no knowledge that the BIOS failed. It was that they seemed to have no idea about what had happened, what the 'beeping' was, although I have read through forums here and I have noticed quite a few people referring to the 'beep'. I'm also surprised that they told me someone would call me back from an 'escalated' position within 24 to 48 hours during a 2 hour period quoted by them, I sat with the phone beside me, got no call yet 96 hours and I got an email saying they called and there was no answer. The I was surprised when I replied to their email claiming they called with questions, and still have not gotten a single response from anyone at Dell support. Like I said before, in my mind, Dell simply does not care about their customers anymore. After purchasing 6 Dell laptops, I would think they cared enough to give me a call and tell me to drop dead, but not even that. One less customer in the future. But I AM expecting they will be surprised when they are contacted by he California State Department of Consumer Affairs office. I told them earlier I have no qualms about enacting action from my end since they don't act from their end.

roninxian

21 Posts

August 5th, 2014 17:00

I open the lid. I push the 'on' button. At which time I get a single loud 'beep'. Then the lights across the top of the keyboard for the DVD player move back and forth as is usual. Then it simply sits there with a single 'beep' followed by a double 'beep' over and over and over. There is nothing on the screen. It will turn off by pushing the 'on' button again. But that's all it will do.

roninxian

21 Posts

August 5th, 2014 17:00

Dear Sir, I thank you for the suggestion. I have never opened a computer before but in this case I am more than willing, what harm can it do? Thank you again so much for this information. I will read what you sent and see if I can manage to do it. I am not a techy, but with some instruction I am willing to try it. I am so surprised that you and a couple of other Dell Rock Stars have given me more information and more support that I got from Dell. So I do thank all of you tremendously.

roninxian

21 Posts

August 5th, 2014 17:00

The only CD/DVD that incudes drivers etc. has ONLY DELL written on it. All the disks and backup anything that came with this computer ONLY say Dell on them. I guess all this other information is inside the computer case? I did not take it apart to make a list of all the parts Yes, I totally agree, "more caution should be applied then to update the BIOS automatically", such as the Dell notification page telling me that it was NOT Dell update but that of Phoenix who supplied the BIOS on the computer. Then I probably would not have been confused and had the update/upgrade eat my computer. I think the 'caution' should have been on Dell's part to inform the user and their customer that it would not be Dell but Phoenix software that would be installing. Nothing as far as 'privileges' was required. The Dell window popped up, I clicked it and away it went all by itself. I will never forgive Dell for this maneuver and I will never once think that I did something wrong. To my mind, this was Dell's oversight and they SHOULD be responsible for taking care of the BIOS on my computer. But from phone call to Dell support person, supervisor, and the oversight of the return phone call to me at an appointed time, and a failure of any response to my mail. I can be sure of one thing, Dell simply doesn't care. They are as quick to deny any problem on their end as is Microsoft when something goes wrong with their programs such as Outlook.

roninxian

21 Posts

August 5th, 2014 19:00

I'm thinking your suggestion is one which I will take. I am NOT knowledgeable about computers other than using them and plugging in a USB, etc. I think it's best I find a "geeky friend" as you suggest. A friend has some one who does things for her all the time, so I'll wait till she's back from her vacation and ask about the guy. I am positive the computer is out of warranty, I've had it for several years now. I'll check the link you sent. Again, I'm very grateful to you and the others who have had more suggestions and offered more support than I got from Dell. Thanks a million.

RoHe

10 Elder

 • 

44.4K Posts

August 5th, 2014 19:00

There are NO guarantees resetting BIOS by removing the motherboard battery will fix a failed BIOS update. Sometimes it can fix it and other times not. And if it doesn't, the only solution is to replace the motherboard.

Be sure to read and follow all those instructions carefully. Put the PC with the lid facing down on a soft cloth so you don't scratch the lid while you're working inside, and be careful not to lose a screw or drop one inside the PC.

If this is beyond your capabilities, maybe you have a geeky friend or relative who can do it, or find a reputable local repair shop who will do it for a small fee. You don't want to cause any more damage than already inflicted on this system, and paying a professional is better than a dead system.

BTW: You never mentioned if this system is still under warranty. Here's Dell's official policy for this situation: Bios update failed and the system will no longer post.

Please keep in mind I don't work for Dell, so all I can do is point you at things that might help fix the problem and at Dell's policy for this situation.

Post back and let us know what happens after you reset the BIOS...

roninxian

21 Posts

August 5th, 2014 19:00

It's quite interesting to read "Dell's official policy". I would consider myself #3, but when talking on the phone to Dell support person AND supervisor I was told Dell no longer has any parts for my computer. Can you tell me how to contact Dell about this "official policy", I am really interested in a reply from them. I would be more than happy to pay someone to do the work if I had a replacement motherboard from Dell, which I think is the least they can do in my case. Thanks for the information.

Philip_Yip

9 Legend

 • 

16K Posts

August 6th, 2014 02:00

Parts wise if Dell say don't have the part they won't be able to help you. Even if they did have the parts it would likely cost more.

Parts People are reputable and have the mainboard (but the one with the Intel graphics here):

http://www.parts-people.com/index.php?action=category&id=148&subid=278&refine=category_motherboard

The slightly better one with the AMD graphics may be found on eBay for slightly cheaper. Essentially some sellers buy working systems and dismantle them and sell all the parts separately, making some profit by sell the parts individually.

Try the suggestions of removing the CMOS battery to see if you can get anything back on your existing motherboard. I'm a bit doubtful though as I've had a failed motherboard before.

By the way if you contact Dell support again be more direct and just say you've had an incomplete BIOS flash and think the motherboard is bad. I wouldn't mention Phoenix or the likes as it may lead to confusion with a software rather than a firmware/hardware issue.

 

RoHe

10 Elder

 • 

44.4K Posts

August 6th, 2014 11:00

Since you see some activity when you boot (beeps, lights etc) even though it doesn't complete the POST that gives me some hope resetting BIOS may solve the problem. If you saw no activity, then resetting BIOS probably wouldn't fix it.  Obviously, I can't promise anything... :emotion-5:

If Dell says they don't have the part, then there's nothing they can do to help. You can find the motherboard with ATI video here. Always ask if new / used / refurbished and about warranties.

EDIT: For some reason, I can't insert links today, so look here:

http://www.discountelectronics.com/category?product_model=372&category=1&product_type[181]=181

 

View More

View All

No Events found!

Top