How do I recover from a failed Bios Flash ?

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I have a Dell 1745 laptop and foolishly decided to flash the Bios. Darned thing hung and, after an hour, I had no choice but to switch it off despite the flashing “DO NOT TURN OFF YOUR MACHINE” message. Since an hour is a very long time for a Bios flash, I suspect the damage had already happened.

The laptop is seriously dead at the moment.

Any ideas on how to fix this without forking out for a replacement motherboard ?

I have tried some of the tricks suggested when I googled “1745 bios flash failed” but nothing has worked so far.

Thanks.

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Siggy,

My general understanding is you don’t! That said, here’s what I’d do. If you can get far enough to boot from removable media I’d download the flash files from Dell and try again and just let it run for a while. If that fails I’d call Dell support or use online chat and see if they have any suggestions. If both of them fail it’s probably new computer time, most likely cheaper than a new mother board & labor unless this is a very new laptop.

Good Luck!

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
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Flashing or updating the BIOS is an extremly critical procedure that must be prepared for and well thought out, especially so of a laptop.

You may very well need to have it sent back to Dell for a motherboard replacement.

The only way to reload the BIOS into the motherboard is through external gear (EEPROM Flash), which only technicians have access to.
If there was an option of flashing BIOS Externally, trust me we would be the first to hand the solution over to our customers, unfortunately thats not an option.
Once a BIOS is cleared from the Motherboard the Motherboard is rendered useless unless reloaded by this BIOS in the factory.
The only way out is to get the MotherBoard replaced.

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I can do the replacement so it’s just the $250 for the MB I’d be out. It seems dumb to spend that amount when all that’s needed is a replacement EEPROM but such is the world we live in.

I would actually prefer to replace the laptop wit a smaller one but I can’t justify it since I can’t sell the current one withut fixing it.

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