Soldering in new BIOS chip

I don't think you can soder a new bios chip on. If your still under warranty, you could call dell up and get a new board.

Hello,

I am just recovering from flashing my system (Inspiron 3500) when I probably should not have flashed it in the 1st place.  Anyway, during my troubleshooting, I learned of a reset procedure to be used when your machine won't boot up ... unplug the machine, then remove and replace the battery.  You should look up and verify the procedure yourself.  I really doubt your BIOS chip has failed and attempting to remove and resolder it could be disastrous.  Also, my solution was to go back to the original BIOS; of course, you may need the updated version - I don't know anything about your situation.  I am by no means advising you to revert back to the original, just something to keep in the back of your mind.

Good Luck ...

Message Edited by Computer_Engineer on 03-25-2005 07:10 PM

"unplug the machine, then remove and replace the battery." -I pulled thre battery out and put it back in.. i tried it when ti was runing.. It didn't work where can I look up this procedure.

I actually learned of the procedure from the annoying automated message I heard while on hold waiting to talk to someone from tech support.  I do believe the system was supposed to be turned off though.

So, you can't get into the BIOS, but it is powering on now?  Can you boot to DOS?  Sounds like you should try finding the original, or at least an older version of the BIOS.

I just read your previous posting - scary situation.  Yea, try finding an older version (original hopefully) of your BIOS.  You should be able to find an older version on the Dell website.  I believe you should try to re-flash your BIOS from a floppy disk.  Hopefully you have a floppy drive and it is still working after your initial BIOS flash.  Unfortunately, if your previous flash attempt was truly a complete failure, your computer may not know how to access the floppy ... and that is the reason you may have heard you need a new motherboard ... but, maybe & hopefully you don't.  Maybe you also need to write Dell a strongly worded letter explaining how you can't believe Dell hasn't helped you and how problems like this will eventually affect their business as they can't support their products.

Good Luck!

Message Edited by Computer_Engineer on 03-26-2005 10:19 AM

I cant get into anything, it's just a black screen so I dont think it's possible for me to reinstall the BIOS. I dont think my computer knows how to access anything, even the harddrive doesn't sounds right when it starts up, it's has a weird spin sound to it, not like before. I think your right about the letter, I am gonna write one thats the only thing left that I can do.

Still, you should try flashing the BIOS from a floppy ... do you have a floppy drive?  If there is a chance your floppy still works, then loading an older BIOS could solve your problems.  Its worth a try ...