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E521 Bios update is faulty
I ran the BIOS flash on my Dimension E521 to upgrade to V1.1.4 last week
It has all been working well....I thought.
Tonight I tried to boot from a USB stick that was plugged into a USB port on my Dell 1907FP monitor, which I have done in the past, but it didn't work - just loaded windows.
I restarted and this time tried pressing F2 at the appropriate moment to get into Setup.
F2 didn't work, the keboard was not receiving power until Windows was in the final stages of loading.
Since the the only other USB device plugged in was the monitor, ie for the ports on it, I disconnected it and rebooted again.
This time I was able to use F2 to get in to BIOS.
I tried the monitor usb connection cable on each of the other 3 rear USB ports and the two front ones and it had the same effect, basically disabled the keyboard from booting into BIOS.
Also whilst the USB stick was plugged into the monitor it wouldn't work either whearas plugging it into a port on it's own it booted from it, so this would imply that the monitor USB hub is also not recieving power either until in Windows when everthing works fine.
Since the information for the 1.1.4 bios upgrade specifically mentions:-
"1. Fixed issue where the USB keyboard would not work in the front ports when a USB 2.0 hub was connected in rear USB port 2."
I'd say that there's still a problem around this whole area.
It has all been working well....I thought.
Tonight I tried to boot from a USB stick that was plugged into a USB port on my Dell 1907FP monitor, which I have done in the past, but it didn't work - just loaded windows.
I restarted and this time tried pressing F2 at the appropriate moment to get into Setup.
F2 didn't work, the keboard was not receiving power until Windows was in the final stages of loading.
Since the the only other USB device plugged in was the monitor, ie for the ports on it, I disconnected it and rebooted again.
This time I was able to use F2 to get in to BIOS.
I tried the monitor usb connection cable on each of the other 3 rear USB ports and the two front ones and it had the same effect, basically disabled the keyboard from booting into BIOS.
Also whilst the USB stick was plugged into the monitor it wouldn't work either whearas plugging it into a port on it's own it booted from it, so this would imply that the monitor USB hub is also not recieving power either until in Windows when everthing works fine.
Since the information for the 1.1.4 bios upgrade specifically mentions:-
"1. Fixed issue where the USB keyboard would not work in the front ports when a USB 2.0 hub was connected in rear USB port 2."
I'd say that there's still a problem around this whole area.
DELL-Chris M
Community Manager
Community Manager
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54.5K Posts
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February 28th, 2007 11:00
I am working on that.
DELL-Chris M
Community Manager
Community Manager
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54.5K Posts
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February 28th, 2007 12:00
If you experienced this failure of the bios update, please provide me with the following information in a private message, not on the board -
Name:
Shipping address:
Phone:
Service tag number:
Reason: Bios update through Dell Support Tool failed
firstdue398
14 Posts
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February 28th, 2007 12:00
Majestic
9.4K Posts
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February 28th, 2007 12:00
Flytyer06076
176 Posts
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February 28th, 2007 18:00
Majestic
9.4K Posts
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March 1st, 2007 09:00
arbeitstier
15 Posts
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March 2nd, 2007 10:00
I've got an e-mail from the UK support and they ask me to flash to version 1.1.4. However, this version is also a version which does not detect the keyboard at boot time. Can you please advise me which version I should flash. I've connected a floppy drive to my machine and it boots nicely without keyborard intervention MSDOS. So I can start now via AUTOEXEC.BAT a BIOS flash.
Thanks
Regards
/Bernd Porr
Dear Mr Porr Please see the link below for the 1.1.4 Bios update:
http://support.euro.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=uk&l=en&s=gen&releaseid=R142795&SystemID=DIM_P4_C521&os=BIOSA&osl=en&deviceid=308&devlib=0&typecnt=1&vercnt=4&formatcnt=1&libid=1&fileid=190570 There are instructions on the bottom which give instructions on how to run this.
Regards Bxxx Mxxx
Dell E-Support Dimension/Inspiron
Original Message Follows:
------------------------
Dear Bxxx,
can you please advise me which BIOS version I have to install. Here is a recent posting from one of your colleagues: http://www.dellcommunity.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=dim_bios&message.id=51683#M51683 He recommends to flash the version 1.1.2 which will (hopefully) enable the keyboard again at boot time. I've got a bootable DOS disk now and can boot with that image however I cannot type. Does the BIOS flash need any user interaction? I'm asking because I have to start it from the autoexec.bat.
Regards
/Bernd Porr
Message Edited by arbeitstier on 03-02-2007 06:54 AM
arbeitstier
15 Posts
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March 2nd, 2007 15:00
arbeitstier
15 Posts
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March 2nd, 2007 23:00
So I've tried first version 1.1.2 (flashed with a floppy) as suggested by "Dell" Chris in this forum. Result: keyboard doesn't work.
Then I've flashed to 1.1.4 which is the version which has been suggested by the UK tech support and which was on the PC when it was delivered to me. Result: keyboard doesn't work. A newer version is not available.
Now the system reports that I've got an "invalid configuration" information and that it askes me to press F1 and F2 to run the setup. However, because the keyboard is still not working, I cannot enter the setup and I'm stuck with that screen. Same story as before.
A newer BIOS version is not available so basically every C521 on the market has got this problem and there's no fix to it which means that it's not possible to boot from CD with that machine, to install Vista from CD or to install any other operating system.
I could buy a new motherboard from Dell which I have to pay for which has the same keyboard bug which wouldn't change anything.
/Bernd
Majestic
9.4K Posts
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March 3rd, 2007 12:00
arbeitstier
15 Posts
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March 3rd, 2007 22:00
/Bernd
arbeitstier
15 Posts
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March 6th, 2007 13:00
/Bernd
Majestic
9.4K Posts
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March 6th, 2007 14:00
arbeitstier
15 Posts
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March 6th, 2007 15:00
/Bernd
arbeitstier
15 Posts
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March 22nd, 2007 10:00
Got it running as a dual boot with Vista and Ubuntu which also works nearly without any problems (had to tweak the xorg.conf a bit). End of story. Happy end.
/Bernd