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[M17x R4] Bricked BIOS FIX


naldor

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Bios chip arrived, thank you very much having it soldered today. My brother identified the chip (cFeon F8075HCP) to replace with yours (Winbond 25Q64BVSLG) just wanted to confirm that they compatible? My brother said they are both SPI EEPROMs but wasn't 100% on the size difference and if it matters.

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Bios chip has been soldered on and we have reassembled but still 7 beeps. One thing i noticed is the lights in the exhaust and trackpad have changed. Any ideas?

Oh my brother mentioned that close to the cFeon chip there was a Winbond 25X20BVNIG, the chip though was smaller. 2nd bios?

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  • 4 months later...

After I read through this entire thread I tried to revert my M17xR4 from the latest A12 bios.

Before I used Flashdrive method I simply reverted Bios to A08, think this might be importent.

Then I just followed the guide step by step and it worked flawless.

Just don't turn off your computer when it beeps and the fans are at full, it took 10-15 minutes while at that state before the pc restarted.

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  • 2 weeks later...
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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi, i also have the official version A012 but i would like to install the unlocked A11, as per you stated, is not necessary to downgrade to A05? instead you went for A08

you had already bricked your bios or you wanted to install any unlocked BIOS version such as A11 or A10?

Regards,

Moises

After I read through this entire thread I tried to revert my M17xR4 from the latest A12 bios.

Before I used Flashdrive method I simply reverted Bios to A08, think this might be importent.

Then I just followed the guide step by step and it worked flawless.

Just don't turn off your computer when it beeps and the fans are at full, it took 10-15 minutes while at that state before the pc restarted.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...
  • 1 year later...
  • 3 months later...
  • 8 months later...

sorry for reviving this thread.

 

i follow the process to blind flash my m17x r4 bios and failed. 

now the laptop does not power at all.

I have done some research about reprogramming the bios and ec chip.

 

just wondering if anybody here successfully got their m17x r4 working back after reprogram those two chip?

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  • 1 month later...

just successfully revive my m17x r4.

for those who bricked their laptop by following these guide:
https://www.techinferno.com/index.php?/forums/topic/1525-m17x-r4-bricked-bios-fix/
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/m17x-r4-bricked-bios-recovery-not-vbios.683080/

you guys still have another method to bring back the motherboard alive without replacing the motherboard.

the process in quite straight-forward but require additional hardware.
u can get from here
1. USB Programmer
2. SOIC Test Clip

You need to tear down your laptop to access the BIOS chip and EC chip.
Use THIS guide until step 26.
The location of chip can be found in this image 
https://ibb.co/mwFYFG

Use test clip to connect the chip with the USB Programmer.
the BIOS chip (at U48) can be connected easily but the EC Chip (at U36) need extra adjustment to connect all pins to the test clip. 

run the usb programmer software. read the content of both chip and save them as backup (its a good practice mention by t456)
after saving the original binaries, you can write the working binaries obtain in here: (thanks again t456)
M17x R4, bios and ec A11, A12 and A13.7z

choose filename containing bios for U48 chip and EC for U36 chip.
please verify the content of the chip with the loaded binary to make sure the content is the same.
in my case, the EC chip failed to store the working binary. thus i need to find new EC chip and replace it. 
you can get the chip name from the USB programmer software if you guys also face the same problem.

after successfully write new binaries to both chip, you can assemble back the laptop and turn it on. 

*i choose A11 bios and its working well. 

I think thats all for now. total cost for this method is less than 30 dollar. changing whole motherboard will cost around 270 dollar.

i posted this first in notebookreview forum and shared it here in case others wanna try this method.

Edited by jimmy_grimble
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  • 1 year later...
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I bricked my M17x R4 whilst trying to update the BIOS from A02 to A14. I was updating it incrementally, in Win7 using the BIOS exe files, first A05, A05 v2, then A08, and it finally killed the machine at A09. When you press the power button the lights come on momentarily then it shuts down. I have read through some of the tips on reflashing the BIOS and am not sure about the file name.

 

The BIOS update file is: M17R4A09WIN64.exe

 

Unzipping this reveals a number of files, however the only '.fd' extension file is isflashWIN.fd'. I renamed this to M17R4.hdr, put it on a FAT32 USB stick, removed the battery and power cord, inserted the USB stick into the E-Sata slot, pressed end key, reinserted power cord, and the machine's lights all came on and the fans were at full, and it stayed like this for a few minutes, then a bleeping started every second for a while and then a few minutes later a faster bleeping, for a minute, then the bleeping stopped and the machine continued with the lights on and fans at full so after a few more minutes I pulled the power cord out. I didn't think it was working.

 

However I later read in one post that it can take 10-15 minutes to complete. Unfortunately most of the posts were non-specific about what actually happened after restarting it with the USB. Do I try it again with the same file and file name or do I rename it to something else? I tried switching it on again but now the lights don't come on. I spoke to Dell who said it needs a new motherboard but a USB restore might work but he was doubtful as I couldn't get into the boot menu but then they probably would say that.

Edited by PliSsK
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  • 4 months later...

So U48 is definitely the BIOS chip and U36 is the EC chip? I just want to double check as I saw another thread on this forum where it seemed to imply it was the other way around, although was rather ambiguous. Thanks!

 

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  • 1 year later...

hello everyone, my m17xR4 BIOS got bricked (1 beep) , and i tried the method exactly as it says but the screen just stays dark and no beeps, fans are loud though, i waited for 30 minutes.

 

I tried almost all BIOS versions.

 

im suspicious about the M17R4.hdr name , maybe my laptop doesn't recognize it for some reason. 

any ideas?

thanks 

 

EDIT: Nevermind, I got it fixed.

 

if anyone's interested, it worked on the USB port not the E-SATA. also i formatted the USB drive into a bootable drive using Rufus, that's it.. hope it helps

Edited by sushi
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16 hours ago, sushi said:

hello everyone, my m17xR4 BIOS got bricked (1 beep) , and i tried the method exactly as it says but the screen just stays dark and no beeps, fans are loud though, i waited for 30 minutes.

 

I tried almost all BIOS versions.

 

im suspicious about the M17R4.hdr name , maybe my laptop doesn't recognize it for some reason. 

any ideas?

thanks 

 

EDIT: Nevermind, I got it fixed.

 

if anyone's interested, it worked on the USB port not the E-SATA. also i formatted the USB drive into a bootable drive using Rufus, that's it.. hope it helps

Hi,

I'm nearly in the same situation. Have you used the A15 bios for the installation?

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2 hours ago, Lelinnor said:

Hi,

I'm nearly in the same situation. Have you used the A15 bios for the installation?

 

nope, the A15 didn't work at all using this method for some reason, i downloaded the A05 bios on dell website then extracted the .fd file and renamed it to M17R4.hdr, after that I created a bootable fat32 USB using Rufus and copied the hdr file on it.

 

you put the usb in a normal port (not the e-sata) i used the port on the upper right side, remove the battery and power cable, now hold 'END' and while holding put back the power cable, keep holding for like 4 seconds then let go.. 

your fans will go loud and after a few seconds the laptop will start beeping really loudly for several minutes (that's totally normal, let it beep) eventually your laptop will restart and become unbricked.

 

that's basically it.

   

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  • 1 month later...
On 7/6/2022 at 11:36 PM, sushi said:

 

nope, the A15 didn't work at all using this method for some reason, i downloaded the A05 bios on dell website then extracted the .fd file and renamed it to M17R4.hdr, after that I created a bootable fat32 USB using Rufus and copied the hdr file on it.

 

you put the usb in a normal port (not the e-sata) i used the port on the upper right side, remove the battery and power cable, now hold 'END' and while holding put back the power cable, keep holding for like 4 seconds then let go.. 

your fans will go loud and after a few seconds the laptop will start beeping really loudly for several minutes (that's totally normal, let it beep) eventually your laptop will restart and become unbricked.

 

that's basically it.

   

 

A brief update: thanks to you suggestions, I managed to downgrade from A15 to A05 using a normal USB port. After that, I succesfully re-installed Windows, then gradually upgraded from A05 to A15. This resolved my 1beep error.

Edited by Lelinnor
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