Latitude C600 Bios A23 problem

Try making a new floppy with a newly downloaded BIOS flash .exe file and do the flash again. Could be the first file you downloaded or the floppy disk you use had some errors/corruption and did not flash properly.

Shut the notebook down, remove the floppy drive completely. Boot the PC and go into the BIOS and reset the BIOS to the default values, look for that option on the BIOS pages (I'm not sure if it's on the first page or one of the others). Then hit the Esc (escape) key to save changes and reboot. If this doesn't start the OS from the HDD or at least get you by the BIOS splash screen I'm lost.

Also take the battery out and disconnect it from the AC adapter then hold down the On/Off button for 15-20 second. Then put the battery back in and connect the AC and see what happens. Holding down the power button for that time period without and battery or AC connected resets the notebook. Or so I've been told by Dell tech support.

Tried your suggestion but no go.  Laptop still goes through the same sequence ...Dell Logo, A23 loading and stops at 95% loading and then the floppy drive comes on.  Any other suggestion?  Thanks.

Still nothing.  Took out the floppy drive and press F2 to access setup but never gets there....gets the same result as before.  Took out the battery and hold down the on/off button for 20 sec several times....same result.  Looks like I cannot seem to clear this A23 bios hurdle.  By the way, I am going thru this via the docking station & external monitor.  The laptop LCD has been down (back light on but no display. Toggle + does not force the laptop LCD to come on) since I downloaded A23.   Thanks. 

Bad move. Never update anything when docked. shut it down undock it, run the BIOS flash again and then see if it starts.

Unfortunately undocking does not seem to help the situation.  After turn-on, the floppy drive does not become active until A23 is 95% complete.  It seem to want to get some files from the floppy...but according to the Dell download, there is only one diskette for this update.    Any suggestions as how to get the laptop to diectly to the floppy drive before trying to load the bios.   Thanks.

At this point I would get a older version of the BIOS and use the /forceit switch to go back to the older version, undocked of course. When the BIOS first loaded hit the F12 key and select the floppy drive to boot from.

I hate to say it BUT you may of fried the BIOS chip doing the flash when the PC was docked.

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@kickNpunch wrote:
Unfortunately undocking does not seem to help the situation. After turn-on, the floppy drive does not become active until A23 is 95% complete. It seem to want to get some files from the floppy...but according to the Dell download, there is only one diskette for this update. Any suggestions as how to get the laptop to diectly to the floppy drive before trying to load the bios. Thanks.

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KickNpunch, I have some very bad news for you. This happend to me. I did the very EXACT thing you just did. I went from A03 to A23 thinking... "hey, I'll stay up to date with the new software and firmware." Well, after I did the A23 firmware, my C600 would no longer boot up. I'd hit the power button and all I'd get were the flashing green lights and to turn it off I'd have to unplug the computer and remove the battery. Nothing I did would fix it. And for you and me, my laptop was out of warranty. Also, when I called Dell support, all they told me was that I did the upgrade on my own and that I should not have done the bios upgrade without being directed to do so by Dell... what a bunch of $^%&^. Even though it's not documented anyware on Dell's site prior to you and me installing our bios, for the C600 to go from A03 to A23 there are numerous intermediary step up bios versions such as A07, then A12, then A14, then A17, and then A23.... don't quote me on this because I hit the roof as the support person was telling me this. All I said was "Why wasn't this documented in the readme or on the web site?" The support person said, "you should have called up before installing the bios." I hit the roof again.

Anyway, I was told that the only solution was to replace the motherboard. I think Dell will charge you about $400 for a new motherboard but I bought a used one from eBay for about $100.