E521/BIOS Boot Problems: Dell's Position?

I'm glad i checked here first before I installed it to see if anyone was having any issues with it.

 

I currently have it downloaded to my desktop. I almost went ahead and installed it, but thought maybe I should check the forums first.  Thank goodness I did.

 

Now we just have to wait for some news. TIC...TOC....TIC....TOC...TIC...TOC...

 

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XPS 200 Duo Core 930 3.0ghz
Windows XP Media Center SP2
3 GB PC-4200 533mhz
250 GB Western Digital 7200 rpm
Visiontek X1300 Pro sff 256mb
Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live! 24bit external (usb)
Slimline 8X (DVD+/-RW) w/double layer write capability
19in Dell flat panel lcd
2.1 Dell Surround Sound

E521 AMD X2 3600+ (1.9 ghz. 512x2)
Windows XP Home Edition SP2
3GB 667mhz
80GB 7200rpm
ATI X1300 Pro
16x DVD-Rom
20.1in Dell e207fp (DVI)
19in Dell e197fp (VGA)
5.1 Dell Surround Sound

BIOS 1.1.8
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I am not a Dell Support person, but also another who thought because the BIOS upgrade appeared on the driver page, it was safe to upgrade. WRONG! Their tech support informed me after my motherboard went south, that there was a known issue with this and not to do any more BIOS upgrades. The tech that came to the house today, 07/10/2007, said the same. He has already replace five(5) in the Denver, CO area, from this software.

 

HEY DELL- Take the upgrade off your driver upgrade wab page.!

 

How did you get someone to come to your house?  My board was fried by this BIOS update, Dell has finally sent me a new tower after about a month of delays, and, after promising a tech to come out to switch out my hard drive, now tells me it's not their policy to do this.  Although I made up that promise...

 

This will probably be my last Dell after many years.  BTW, I also hesitated several times before updating BIOS - I've never had to do that before, but the constant Dell pop-ups warning me of security issues if not done finally had their effect.  How I wish I would have read here first.

In talking to about my 20th dell rep in the past month, tonight I was told that my tower was replaced because the failure happened within 90 days of purchase.  If it would have happened after 90 days, they would have had a technician replace the motherboard - to me a much easier fix.  Now I wish I would have waited a week or so to call and just get the new mb...

I have the same problem with my new C521. After using Google to find quite a few forums with lots of posts about this issue I found that they all were related to USB devices. Some had Keyboards causing the BIOS hang, other found USB Hard Drives were the issue. Here it seems to be USB Hubs.

 

For me, I traced it to the WD "MyBook" USB Drive. As long as it was unplugged, I could boot without a problem. As soon as It was connected, The BIOS would hang with the progress bar half way to complete. I found some just moved the offending USB item and all was well, so I moved my USB Drive from the lower left to the lower right USB connection. I don't understand it, but I have rebooted at least a dozen times hence and it has yet to fail! :smileyhappy:

 

Go figure.

 

PS

 

This occured with BIOS 1.1.4 and 1.1.10. I had no problems flashing the new BIOS.

Dell is sending a tech to install a new motherboard in my E521. Hopefully this will permanently resolve the USB anomaly. Barring this, I will probably buy a self-powered USB hub - on the assumption that the root problem is insufficient power on the USB port(s).

 

 

Dimension E521

BIOS 1.1.10

Windows Vista-32

2GB RAM

AMD Athlon X2 3800+ CPU

250 GB Hard Drive

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RMP01 wrote:

Dell is sending a tech to install a new motherboard in my E521. Hopefully this will permanently resolve the USB anomaly. Barring this, I will probably buy a self-powered USB hub - on the assumption that the root problem is insufficient power on the USB port(s).

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How long have you had your system?  Dell is telling me that since I've had my system less than 90 days, they won't install a new motherboard - they just will replace the entire tower, meaning having to reconfigure everything again, install all the software, update everything - all taking much more time...

I've had my E521 for about 2.5 weeks.

I was just coming on here to post about this problem when I came across this post.

 

However, I have a C521, not an E521 (AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+, 2GB DDR2 RAM), with this this - I guess it's the same motherboard though as I have BIOS version 1.1.10 (unfortunately it came with this version as it's so new).

 

I was thinking I had a faulty computer, which didn't inspire me with confidence. Hopefully this is just a BIOS issue that will be resolved shortly...

I guess it depends on one's interpretation of 'shortly' ... :smileywink:

 

The BIOS hangs / USB problem appears to have been introduced with BIOS version 1.1.4 (1st January 2007). I contacted tech support about this and posted in this forum on 5th January 2007 ... and I rather doubt that I was the first!

 

Dell-Elsbeth created the sticky at the top of this forum on 19th June 2007 stating:

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Dell-Elsbeth wrote:

Dell is currently working on adressing the start up issues that some users have been reporting with their E521 and C521 systems.

Currently the workaround is to remove any powered hubs from the system, in order to allow them to boot up. A new version of the BIOS is being tested at this time that will fix this problem.

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The good news...a new motherboard was installed in my E521 today, and it boots up fine with all my USB devices plugged in where I want them.

 

The bad news...the motherboard came with BIOS 1.1.5. Now I need to decide whether to flash-update it to 1.1.10, or leave it be.

 

Any suggestions?

 If everything is working fine,  :smileyvery-happy:  

 

 I would give Dell a little bit more time to figure things out with this revision.  

 

 

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XPS 200 Duo Core 930 3.0ghz
Windows XP Media Center SP2
3 GB PC-4200 533mhz
250 GB Western Digital 7200 rpm
Visiontek X1300 Pro sff 256mb
Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live! 24bit external (usb)
Slimline 8X (DVD+/-RW) w/double layer write capability
19in Dell flat panel lcd
2.1 Dell Surround Sound

E521 AMD X2 3600+ (1.9 ghz. 512x2)
Windows XP Home Edition SP2
3GB 667mhz
80GB 7200rpm
ATI X1300 Pro
16x DVD-Rom
20.1in Dell e207fp (DVI)
19in Dell e197fp (VGA)
5.1 Dell Surround Sound

BIOS 1.1.8
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I'd like to see another acknowledgement from Dell Elsbeth that they are continuing

to work on this problem.

I've had this machine since February and am fed up with it!