Acer 5520 BIOS flash failed

[Danyals7]

Hi, Ok now. Let me start from scratch so there is no confusion or unnecessary ideas that won't help.

 

Ok, so i was on the acer website and i came across a new bios that my laptop (Acer Aspire 5520) had. I downloaded the new bios v1.33 and flashed my laptop.

 

Half way through my laptop was going EXTREMELY slow so i clicked cancel. After a while i cut off the processes. I shutdown my laptop but 10-15 mins went by and my laptop refused to shutdown. Normally it would take like 1 min.

 

So then i decided to cut the power from the laptop by removing the battery and the AC power cord. Thinking everything was OK i reconnected the power and turned on my laptop.

 

My laptop now wont start, and wont even load the bios. It just comes on for 2-3 seconds, spins the fan violently and turns off. Then it starts again, but this time the fan is quieter.

 

I've looked through alot of forums recommending people to "blind flash" there laptops. So i decided to give it a go. I bought a USB FDD from ebay and purchased a new floppy disk 1.44mb.

 

I've used Crisis disk, and various other software to flash my bios but my USB FDD just doesnt react with my laptop at all, even with a blank floppy, it still wont react. No light, nothing.

 

So then i tried a CD. Failure again. I'm not sure i added the data right, or even added the correct data because i set the CD into removable device mode. The CD drive flashes orange when CD is detected for about 10-15 seconds then just goes blank. It doesn't flash the bios.

 

I then tried a USB stick. The usb stick reacted with the laptop, but only from one port. Yet again it did not flash the bios. But then i tried to use the USB FDD from the same port that the USB stick reacted with. Still failed to react.

 

So now i have a dead laptop worth about £40 which could be potentially fixed.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions. http://www.techsupportforum.com/images/smilies/4-dontknow.gif

[Plastic Nev]

Hi and welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help.

It is not looking good I am afraid as it does now look that you stopping it half way through has left you with a BIOS or CMOS chip with no firmware at all.

Have you tried a reboot, and start tapping Del or delete key right from pushing the start button?

If so what result?

 

Nev.

[Danyals7]

Yes i tried tapping the del key from pushing the start button but there is no response.

 

You mentioned something about a BIOS chip, could replacing this solve the problem?

[Plastic Nev]

Hi, Sorry to say but the BIOS chip is not a plug in but is soldered directly into the motherboard in most circumstances.

 

If as you say there is no response at all from the Dell key, it looks like the whole BIOS is dead and beyond normal recovery.

 

I have found instructions to perform recovery, in one case it does require specialist equipment if an older machine, however these instructions refer to a desktop machine and not a laptop, which of course is a lot more difficult to access the motherboard unless you know exactly what you are doing.

Have a look here=

 

http://www.technibble.com/how-to-recover-from-a-bad-bios-update/

 

If any of that applies and you are confident in dismantling your laptop to do it, plus you did first copy the BIOS update to disk, as you will need it, then give it a try.

 

Otherwise I suggest ringing round a few repair specialists, explain where you are at, and ask if they can sort it and how much they will charge, try a few different places to get a good idea of what is needed.

 

Nev.

[Danyals7]

Thank you very much, i just wanted to find out the problem so i could go to a repair store and ask him to do the following instead of him telling me to replace motherboard with him or anything that would trick me into spending more money!

[Synapse]

There is no sure way to recover your BIOS. Don't bother trying USB floppy drives or the like, it won't work. Your BIOS may interact with a CD drive, but not a USB port.

 

A PC tech may be able to write a bootable CD that boots to DOS in exactly the same way as a floppy would, the CD would be written holding all of the DOS boot files, the BIOS flash utility, and the BIOS code file. It may be worth using the original BIOS file, the one your laptop was running before upgrade.

 

Just one thing....

 

 telling me to replace motherboard with him or anything that would trick me into spending more money!

 

Think about how long it may take a tech to sort it out, if he can do it, a mornings work? maybe so, that could be 3 or 4 hours. How much is a mainboard? There may not be much difference in the price of an attempted fix compared to a mainboard replacement. From a tech's point of view, the replacement option is a sure bet, he will get paid at the end of it, spending hours messing about with a dead BIOS won't pay his wages. Just trying to give you a different perspective.......

[Danyals7]

I would have thought of it like that though but i went to a store before who made me pay for trying out another bios chip to see if it would work, after paying he told me it was unsuccessful and that i needed to buy a new mobo.. But it is clear that replacing the chip would solve the problem :confused:

[Synapse]

went to a store before who made me pay for trying out another bios chip to see if it would work

 

Hmmm, not very nice, I used to run an IT business and it was always the case that if I didn't fix it, I wouldn't charge. Taking a risk with a BIOS chip can be rewarding if it works, but I ended up out of pocket once or twice.

 

The only other solution I can think of is sending it away to a repair company that specialise in BIOS replacement. Guess it depends of the value of your machine v repair cost. Its worth emailing these two companies to get a price..

 

http://biosmaster.co.uk/

 

http://bios-repair.co.uk/Index.html

[Danyals7]

So i bought a new chip, and got it replaced. But now i cant even turn the laptop on, its totally dead.