Vostro 410 BIOS 1.0.3 update has bricked my motherboard

Try this: Disconnect PC from the wall. Press/hold power button on tower for ~15 sec. Open the case and remove the battery from the motherboard. Press/hold the power button again for ~30 sec. Leave battery out for a while and then reinstall it (right-side up!).

Cross fingers and see if it'll boot. If not, and your under warranty, contact Dell Tech Support for replacement motherboard.

Dell phone support is supposedly available 24/7. So you should try calling. You may get India, but if you're under warranty they should be able to start paperwork for a new motherboard. 

Ron 

I'd tried something similar already -tried your exact steps and still no joy, sadly.

I had tried calling phone support right after it happened but got a recorded message; in the UK they are weekdays only. I'm calling them now as I am under warranty.

You didn't mention you're in the UK, and technically this is a US forum. ;)

At least you have a warranty to  get the motherboard replaced. Could have been worse..!

Good luck,

Ron 

Great, I read this to late, so I geuss this is a warning as well..

I downloaded the bios update from the dell website for my e521, unpluged everything and ran it, and same thing, locked up after failing many times, never let me cancel, just kept saying click ok to try again..then no reboot, with a amber lite instead of green..just runs, does nothing, no cd boot..

Called dell, they actually said I should not have downloaded anything from their website..how crazy is that? And how nice of him to tell me after the fact, so here is my warning..

Dell told me not to download things from their own website, so if you do, your pretty much gambling..ever tried to call them? It took three tries to get the guy from india who spoke some english..

I dont have the luxury of a warranty, also strange coincidence, my warranty expired last month, this is the first update since the warrant expired, got it straight from the dell website, and it killed my computer..thanks dell, cant wait to tell about 50-60,000 more people..and since I do not know if it is the motherboard or chip, I suppose I will have to buy a new computer now..

Todd

Todd,

That advice not to download is just nuts. But there is always a (small) chance a BIOS flash will fail.

Before you give up, power off and unplug PC from the wall. Press/hold the power button for ~15 sec. Open the case and remove the battery from the motherboard. Press/hold the power button again for ~30-60 sec. Reinstall the battery (right-side up!) and see if it'll boot now (with your fingers and toes x'd).

Post back and let us know what happens.

Ron 

Tried that, we did some research and even tried to take the jumper of the pswd and put it on the rtcrst , my brother guided me over the phone, we did not power it on at that point, took it off and put it back on pswd and tried again, when I plug in the cord, it automatically powers the machine, and the amber liter seems to mean power supply or motherboard..

Since I flashed bios, is seems it is the motherboard, and it also seems it might be cheaper just to get a new system, it appears it may be dificult using all the parts in the dell with another motherboard, so it may have to be a dell motherboard, and unless they give me a deal since it happened from their website, I would have to take out my parts and build a new machine..

The worst part, is that just a few days ago, after a installing sp1 a week earlier for vista, I ran across someone mentioning to remove old vista file from the command prompt, I did, and it made it way faster..I was so happy, now back on an older machine, really a bummer, lots of work to do and now a slow machine to do it on..

Were still researching.....

Todd 

just wanted to update..dell didnt bother to put up a warning or anything, any when I called dell support they told me to email dell support, and when I emailed dell support, even gave them the dell support ticket number, they told me to call dell support, so I wrote back and said that phone dell support told me to email dell support, and dell support emailed me back telling me to call dell support..

I realize it looks like I am dissing on dell, but what is going on here? I fry my computer with an update from their site and they wont even try to help me fix it? they want $40.00 to try and fix it, but they wont count if it is hardware, how could this issue not be hardward? how could they offer to help for $40.00 if the already know they can not help? cant even meet me half way? apparently I am not important enough, after all, I am only one person...but I do plan to tell as many people as I can, I bought my computer because I had heard so much about the wonderful customer service..what customer service? every time I call, someone in india answers, and they repeat every thing twice, and then sometimes say things that lead me to believe they barely know what a computer is..

Does anyone have any advice? Do I have any legal rights? Dell did not warn me, or if they did, it is hard to find, I went back tonight to see if they have done anything about this and they have not..

Todd

I sent this awhile ago to you, any luck?

Yesterday while installing updates on my Vostro 410 the Bios update V410-103.EXE failed.

I tried a second time to install it, but that didn’t work either.

After restarting the computer, it doesn’t come back.

I do not see anything on the monitor, it says no signal found.

I have tried 3 monitors.

After searching the internet for possible resolutions, I came across the CMOS.

I unplugged the computer.

I changed the CMOS jumper from 2 & 3 to 1 & 2 for about a minute, this didn’t help.

I removed the CMOS battery for about a minute, this didn’t help.

I changed the CMOS jumper and the battery together for about a minute, that didn’t help.

I unpluged the PC from the wall. Press/hold the power button for ~15 sec. Open the case and remove the battery from the motherboard. Press/hold the power button again for ~30-60 sec. Reinstall the battery. This didn’t help either

When I press the power button, all the fans come on at high speed and no image is displayed on the monitor. The computer does not beep and there are no amber lights, the power light is blue.

I am assuming the BIOS is corrupt and I’ll need a new motherboard, is this correct?

:emotion-9:

If you're still under warranty, contact Dell Tech Support for a replacement motherboard.

Ron

oh yeah, forgot to mention that, I'm 6 months past my expiration date.

I just don't want to spend $250 on a mother board if I haven't tried all my options, and it would be nice to hear from a Dell tech person and have them say, yes, you screwed up.

Not that it helps in any way, but I've just done this to a Vostro 410 I had in for a reinstall... Machine is bricked and it's well out of warranty.

I will be annoyed if Dell don't replace this as there is obviously an issue with this BIOS update.

Still I will be calling Dell Tech in the AM.

Jules

Hi, 

VERY SIMILAR SITUATION. What did you do with your system? New Motherboard?