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171684
February 24th, 2013 03:00
Inspiron 14Z 5423 Failed BIOS Flash
I had a problem where the laptop stopped closing down properly.
The operating system would shutdown, but the Power LED, Network LED, and fan would continue until I held the power switch down for a few seconds.
I noticed that there was a new BIOS A08 (currently A06 on this laptop) that solved S4/S5 issues (I thought this may have something to do with it).
However, when I started the BIOS update, the machine went into the state mentioned above during the update, and I had to power it off manually.
This action seems to have caused an issue as the laptop will no longer boot.
Now, when I press the power button,
- The Power light comes on
- The three buttons on the right light up in the following sequence: 1, 2, 3, 2, 1, 1+2, 1+2+3, all off.
- The cd seeks to zero (I guess thats what it is doing).
- The fan comes on.
Then all switches off except the power LED, and the laptop emits a sequence of three beeps, pause, three beeps. This goes on...
I can only assume I have messed up the BIOS update and need to fix this.
From several searches, the suggestion is that I can create an emergency BIOS update disc/USB stick. However, I have not been able to get information on how to create this recovery disk. All I have at the moment is the windows bios update file, 5423A08.exe.
Can anyone help before I have to call DELL support ?
Geoff Sim
8 Posts
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February 24th, 2013 03:00
Further to the above, I did find this on how to create a hdr file, but all I got was "Unknown Command":
<ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell>
ejn63
9 Legend
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87.5K Posts
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February 24th, 2013 03:00
If the system is under warranty, call Dell and they'll replace the mainboard.
If it's out of warranty, note that the "recovery" process will only work if the system flash failed late in the operation. That's about 10-20% of the time -- more likely is that it failed early enough that there is no way to recover short of either removing the BIOS chip, flashing it externally in an EEPROM writer, and resoldering it. That is the cheaper of the two options - the other is to replace the system board.
Geoff Sim
8 Posts
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February 24th, 2013 03:00
It is in warranty, but I wanted to try and fix it today. If I can create the recovery disk, I can at least try before calling DELL.
Geoff Sim
8 Posts
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February 24th, 2013 05:00
Well, I've go further. The command to extract the .hdr file is /writehdrfile not -writehdrfile a specified.
I now have to get the laptop to enter bios recovery mode.
ejn63
9 Legend
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87.5K Posts
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February 24th, 2013 06:00
Most of the newer low-end Dell systems use an InsydeH2O BIOS -- they may have some information on crisis recovery.
Geoff Sim
8 Posts
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March 9th, 2013 02:00
DELL replaced the motherboard.
zilber
2 Posts
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July 4th, 2013 20:00
Hi!, I am facing the same problem, and Dell will delay to replace my motherborad.
Does anyone know what BIOS is inspiron 14z?
I found Phoenix BIOS Crisis Recovery procedures on the net. And in this post ejn63 says it maybe InsydeH20....
Is anyone aware of a BIOS Crisis Recovery valid for inspiron 14z??? Thanks.
bfavoreto
3 Posts
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January 26th, 2014 16:00
I'm facing the same issue.
A BIOS update was recommended by Dell's own driver update software (I think it's called My Dell or something similar) for my 14z (5423). I followed the instructions on the screen and after the automatic reset it never booted again. The screen is completely black and a series of 3 beeps keeps being repeated. Dell's tech support says the mother board must be replaced and that I must pay for it since I may have caused the update to fail on my own (how?!).
It's amazing how a situation like this can happen without any reaction from Dell.
sumant123
1 Message
0
January 30th, 2014 08:00
Hi, even I am facing the same issue, is there any way to recover the bricked 14z?, need to try the holding down the end key trick but for that battery needs to be removed and to remove the battery you need to unscrew the machine !!
dgcramer-purdue
1 Message
0
April 16th, 2014 14:00
Have same problem here on my daughters computer. She said she noticed there was a BIOS update but did not apply it. A few days later after powering on she has a brick.
Did you ever get a resolution from Dell.
bfavoreto
3 Posts
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April 19th, 2014 13:00
texxnarr
1 Message
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July 7th, 2014 04:00
Try this...
1. Find the bios chip - mxic mx 8 pins soic (need to dismantle mainboard)
2. Use tweezer to shorted all 8 pins (up & down)
3. Then power up the mainboard
4. If it ok then the bios still the previous version (before flashing)..
Spencer7
1 Message
0
September 23rd, 2015 09:00
I had the same problem. Resetting BIOS by disconnecting the battery solved the problem for me. I did have to do it several times, though, and it involves complete disassembly of the computer. There is a discussion of this on the Microsoft forums. I now believe that the Windows 10 upgrade corrupted the BIOS.
Tom_Fair
1 Message
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September 27th, 2015 14:00
I have had this identical probelm when i updated windows 10, when you say you remove the battery do you mean the main battery or the CMOS battery? would be awesome help!