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1842
e4310 bios
Okay, so i'm an idiot. I was upgrading an e4310. Apparently I had not (as is my habit) named the computer with the svc tag. The svc tag (computername) was for an e6410 so I downloaded and flashed the e4310 (that had a14 bios) with the e6410 a16 bios. Computer is now dead. I did not stick around but after launch of a16 file, the system shut down and looked like it was doing the flash as I have seen a hundred times. I now get no POST. With battery out and charger only, the power button flashes on for about 5sec>off 500ms>5sec continuoulsly with wifi light solid. Other than that, nothing. I pulled the cmos batt, pressed and held the power button for 20sec and re-tried. NADA. Is there any way to force bios to a previous version. No problem breaking down laptop to the bones and I do have a soldering iron. I have come close to this before but the "wrong" bios update caught my mistake by looking at the system before. Any help greatly appreciated. I sincerely hope I haven't bricked this machine.
ejn63
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October 19th, 2016 15:00
You must have force-flashed to get this far -- a BIOS from an E6410 would have failed to flash without doing that, as it won't match the ROM image detect part of the flash loader. That said, if the system won't complete POST, you can't go back.
You CAN unsolder the BIOS chip but you're going to need access to an EEPROM writer to reflash it before soldering. Buying such a device will cost more than a replacement mainboard will - and having a shop flash it may come close to the cost of a replacement board, so the board replacement is the least expensive in terms of money AND time.
DELL-Hemalatha
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October 19th, 2016 14:00
Hi Billb1313
Thanks for writing to us.
Really sad to know the system is not posting now.
Usually upgrading to a wrong BIOS will lead to a motherboard failure.
The only one steps you can try is to remove the memory modules and then try with one module at a time.
If its still the same, then the motherboard is faulty.
If the system is under warranty, Please click my DELL-username and write me a private
conversation with the service tag and your contact details(Name, Phone#, Address and Email). If
there is no warranty, then you could contact our team to get a quote for a paid service call -
http://dell.to/1vnT6CQ
Regards
Hema
billb1313
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October 20th, 2016 12:00
I dont know about "force-flash". I ran the exe as administrator from windows, approved the upgrade and left as things were proceeding nominally. If will admit to not having fully read the upgrade notification but saw current a14 and upgrade to a16 and clicked okay. If there was a warning in there the message looked no different than upgrade approvals I have done hundreds of times. My EEPROM writer is an antique but I do have another 4310 that I may try to frankencomputer the two into a functioning unit. Thanks for your reply- it is what I feared. Lesson learned.