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December 1st, 2019 11:00
m17, urgent bios update black screen
I recently purchased an Alienware m17 laptop from best buy.(just a few months ago) When I first got it everything was great and quite frankly is still great however it recently crashed on me which had been happening somewhat frequently but then I would update and everything would stop for a few weeks or even a month until new updates were needed. But this time it was different, I didnt get a blue screen like usual and when it started back up it went into a diagnostic screen and told it sensed the video fan was failing. I scanned the service qr code and it said I said I should update the BIOS and it gave me a link so I followed the links until I got to the download area and let the website install everything for me. It said the bios needed a manual install and there was an instal now button next to it so clicked that and started installing. Then it made the laptop restart and it loaded to a black screen and sat there for 25 minutes the entire time it was heating up. Finally decided to turn off the computer so it didnt heat up and fry anything. I couldnt turn it off until I hit ctrl+all+del, it made a noise and the power button flashed 3red and 4 blue. I looked it up and it said it meant there was a recovery image found but invalid. It's under warranty so if need be I can take it in just trying to find out what's wrong so I can fix it and avoid it in the future. If more details are needed I cam try to provide them.



JOcean
9 Legend
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12.6K Posts
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December 1st, 2019 18:00
If you were directed by a Dell update or service bulletin on your system to update the BIOS and it failed, you may be covered under warranty (look at this post). In which case call Dell tech support and explain the problem. A failed BIOS update could brick your motherboard and the only solution is to replace the MB. Forcing a reset was not a good idea while the BIOS update may have been in progress. But 25 minutes is way too long usually for a BIOS update. So by that time the update may have already failed. The only other thing you can try is to reset the BIOS and see if the system comes back to life. That procedure is here.
It randomly started working again and because I was no longer having a problem I forgot I submitted this. While I can't say that this site specifically helped it was nice to have this option available. Thanks for trying to help me. I think the laptop ended up recovering itself and so when I started it again it just loaded right into before I tried to update. Since then I have successfully updated and its been running great.
Devildog2091
speedstep
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47K Posts
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December 2nd, 2019 08:00
You forced it off and now its bricked.