9 Legend

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33.4K Posts

June 5th, 2021 04:00

Older Dell's with a corrupt BIOS and the motherboard is "toast".   The BIOS chip could be replaced, but you would need a good BIOS chip from another exact motherboard and that is iffy at best, desoldering and resoldering could zap the chip or cause damage to the printed circuits on the board.

The Dell cases are not complete ATX standard so fitting a non Dell, or even a different model Dell motherboard is a challenge.  Dell uses partial motherboard hole standards, the rear motherboard I/O shield is built into the case on many.  Front panel connections are proprietary and undocumented and varies from model to model.

The remaining components, such as optical drives can be reused.  Hard drives can be reused, although SSD drives are becoming the "standard".  The power supply is custom and considering the age of the XPS435 its not a good candidate for reuse.  Case fans are another Dell custom item.  For the price of a standard case, don't even consider reusing the Dell case.

9 Legend

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47K Posts

June 5th, 2021 08:00

You have antivirus software installed and you have killed your board.

This crashes the bios update just after it erases the rom.

Its dead forever.

RIp XPS

You will have to replace it.

https://www.amazon.com/DELL-X501H-Dell-Motherboard-Studio/dp/B014VUB7L0

https://www.ebay.com/itm/194119901507

10 Elder

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45.2K Posts

June 5th, 2021 16:00

@Bricked  You can try clearing BIOS:

  1. Power off, unplug
  2. Press/hold power button for ~15 sec
  3. Open case and remove motherboard battery (check Service Manual for details)
  4. Press/hold power button for ~30 sec
  5. Install fresh CR2032 3-volt coin cell battery, ~$2
  6. Close up and connect mouse, monitor and keyboard
  7. Reboot

If that doesn't help, then the board is gone...

2 Posts

June 5th, 2021 17:00

Thanks for the reply Ron.

Although I haven't followed your instructions exactly I have done all but put a new battery in. Unless you think that could make a significant difference.

Even before posting my question I was thinking the board was a goner, I just didn't want to be believe it. Even all of the items left in it are largely not useable because of age and low specs.

I'll grab a new battery and give that a go before packing it up for the junk yard.

Thanks again.

10 Elder

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45.2K Posts

June 5th, 2021 19:00

Can't hurt to try a new battery, especially since the PC hasn't been used for a while, but no promises.

Do all the steps I listed, in order.

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