Alienware17 R2 BIOS update error and following repair

Hello,

In summer 2015 when I was in Myrtle Beach, SC I bought Dell Alienware 17 R2.

The date of purchase is August 11, 2015. The laptop was bought in Walmart.

Serial Number:  

After a year and a half of use I decided to update BIOS. The last version of BIOS was downloaded from your official website:

http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/4/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=1WTD5&fileId=3485796646&osCode=W764&productCode=alienware-17-r2&languageCode=en&categoryId=BI

As the default version was A02 and the latest A06, it was recommended to update the BIOS.

And the other reason for BIOS update was to Modify thermal fan table.

I followed all the instructions for successful BIOS update – the battery was 100% charged, the power supply was connected, all the programs (including anti-virus) were closed.

I opened the downloaded BIOS update file with administrator rights and it started to update. At 25% the process stopped. Mouse cursor didn’t move, the laptop fans were running at high or even max speed. It was working like this for about 2 hours, then just shut down and I wasn’t able to turn it back on anymore.

As I am from Kazakhstan, Karagandy I started to look for an authorized service centre in my town. According to the list on your website (http://www.dell.com/downloads/emea/services/ru/ru/KZ_Service_Centres.pdf) there was just one – ALSI Service.

I brought my laptop to the service centre on January 17, 2017. In 3 weeks on February 7, 2017 they gave it back and recommended to change the motherboard.

I still have a strong feeling of absolute incompetence of the whole service centre and its employees. During 21 day there were only 2 managers and (!)one computer specialist.

During these 3 weeks I was calling them to ask about the laptop and they were constantly telling me nothing and asking to call them back later in 3-5 days.

Here’s their conclusion:

-During the diagnostics was detected damaged BIOS service area (might be DMI Table), which is responsible for the initialization of the main components. Also Bootlock BIOS area was damaged.

-DELL component repair or overhaul is not possible. We suggest you to replace the motherboard.

I paid for the laptop $1969.30

The price of the suggested motherboard is 570.750KzT. According to the current exchange rate 1 dollar = 317 KzT. This means that the price of the suggested motherboard by your authorized service centre is $1800.

This is absolutely ridiculous. The first thing that comes to my mind that this is some kind of fraud. This is the same as if after driving my car for 15.000 miles and having problems with fuel pump, someone would tell me to buy a new car.

There are two more authorized service centres in the capital city Astana in the list. Can any of the following service centres provide qualified diagnostics and repair of the laptop?

ALSI Astana providing such service options as 4 Hours On-Site / NBD On-Site / Partner Led Carry-In

Comel Astana providing such service options as 4 Hours On-Site / NBD On-Site

Or if there is any other reasonable way to repair the laptop, please let me know.

Thank you for your answer and sorry for my bad English.