Dell XPS12 messed up during BIOS update

Good day ,

To help me resolve this issue I would ask your assistance by performing these troubleshooting steps,

1)Remove all the peripheral components from the system .
2)Disconnect the charger from the system ,battery from the system and perform the power drain test on the system .

3)Plug in the charger back and use F2 key to get into BIOS then use F9 key to reset the BIOS to default settings.

4)If you are unable to get to the BIOS page or if there are any concerns do reply to this post with the service tag of the system (sent via private message ) so that I can look into the specifications of the system to assist you better .

Awaiting your reply .

Have a great day ahead !

Kindest Regards ,

Good morning,

1)I can't remove my battery because it is integrated in the laptop

2) I can't acces the BIOS because the laptop simply won't turn on after the freeze during the BIOS update.. My service tag is 3PVQSY1.

Thanks,

Fabio

thanks for your response.

*) I can connect the charger to the laptop, and the laptop charger stays ON. I can't say nothing about the system leds, because I can't turn on the laptop due to the corrupted BIOS.

*) Again, I can't power it on so I don't hear any beep.

*) Same as above, I can't toggle anything because I can't power it on. The only thing I can do is the procedure to Re-install the bios. I insert a USB stick with some BIOS files, then I keep pressed "end" button and then I insert the charging cable. In this mode the laptop powers on with the power led blinking fast, but nothing happens then. I think I'm using the wrong files to re-flash the BIOS, can you provide me the right How-to? probably it can be the problem, because the laptop was messed up during a freeze in the BIOS update in Windows, as i wrote in the first post.

thanks,

Fabio

Hi ,

Thank you for the reply!I would suggest you to try these steps to isolate the faulty component .

*)Confirm if the light on the charger stays on after its connected to the system and what is the status of the power LED on the system.

*)Do you hear any beeps from the system when you power it on .

*)And are you able to toggle the lock lights (for ex caps lock) and when the external monitor is connected to the system are you able to view anything on the external screen.If you are able to then try to initiate the dell diagnostics by restarting the system and then pressing the Dkey  .

Also I would like to inform that this is out of warranty and once we have confirmed the faulty component we can conclude the same and accordingly arrange for a quotation to be sent out for the parts ,technician's service .

Awaiting a reply from you .

Kindest Regards,

Thanks for the useful tip, unfortunately the XPS12 is totally plain in every side. I searched everywhere..btw now I'll search the web to see if there are hidden buttons.

Thanks again,

Fabio

Sometimes after a BIOS update, the EC(embedded controller) needs to be reset. With a non-removable battery, there is supposed to be a small hole near the battery to use a paperclip to push the reset. See the following post for more info and the procedure:

https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=112416.0

Found some similar situations with the XPS 12. While plugged in and on, bold the power button I to shut it off. Then unplug the power supply and do a “hard reset“, hold the power button in for 30 seconds and see if it boots OK. One poster thinks this is due to a defect in the latest BIOS.

Can you tell me where did you read it? Btw I tried powering it on with the "end" button workaround described in one of my posts, then powering it off, then unplugging it keeping the power button pressed for 1 minute, but still nothing.

I dont know why I messed around with BIOS on my wife's PC, but I did.  Tried to update to BIOS A08

Now I have the exact same problem on this as the original poster.

Please do let me know if there is any way to recover this notebook, especially as it was working absolutely fine just 10 minutes ago.

Best

Hi,

May I have the service tag of the system so that I can look into the details of the system. Kindly send this information via private message .

Kindest Regards,

Jennifer

#Iwork4Dell

I can not believe that there is no provision for an emergency procedure to reinstall or restore the BIOS in case of problems ..

It is sometimes possible to recover -- it depends on exactly where during the flash process the failure occurs.  If not enough data is left so that the system will at least start to POST, the recovery is possible only by having the BIOS chip removed and flashed externally (or by replacing the mainboard).

Since this system has a highly integrated mainboard - the CPU and RAM are both permanently mounted on the board - it will likely be less expensive to have the BIOS chip removed and flashed externally.  This procedure should cost about $150.  One highly regarded repair shop is aqstech.com.

Well..Jennifer can you let me know how much the repair is...?

And ejn63 thanks, I will immediately search on that site!

The one thing I don't accept is that the problem happened to several users upgrading to A07 or A08 BIOS as a RECOMMENDED update by Dell( I can provide various links to other threads to prove this), so it isn't really my fault, and now I have to pay for a motherboard to resolve it. Sounds ridiculous.

Hi ,

Here in this situation the system fails to POST hence we suspect the motherboard failure .Unfortunately that's the only way to fix this issue.I can arrange for a quotation to be sent for the motherboard or alternatively you can contact an external vendor for the motherboard replacement .

Awaiting your reply !

Kind Regards,