Dell XPS 9530 BRICKED by latest BIOS - HELP!

[davedogcady]

I've had my Dell XPS 9530 for about a year and a half. Tonight I attempted to go from BIOS version A07 to the new A09 released a few days ago. (http://downloads.dell.com/FOLDER03220277M/1/9530A09.EXE ) Ran the Windows based bios update, All seemed normal until the laptop went to restart, went to a black screen, fans on full blast, stayed this way for a long time. Finally I tried to force a power off by holding down the power button. No dice. Ended up pulling the battery. Now unit won't power on at all.

Found out about holding down the END key and putting the power cord in. Extracted the hdr and rom files from the dell A09 bios and put them on a freshly FAT formatted 1GB usb drive. the light on the flash drive comes on for about 10 seconds every 30 seconds when entering recovery mode with the END key - but all I get is the power light blinking on the laptop, and the fans on full blast. Left it like this for 20 mins - nothing.....

I think it's an American Megatrends / AMI BIOS....

what am I doing wrong?

HELP!

Thank you all so much!

[Sml6397]

Hello davedogcandy,

Have you tried following these instructions EXACTLY?

~Steven

[davedogcady]

Hello davedogcandy,

Have you tried following these instructions EXACTLY?

~Steven

I have, and thank you, but it seems this dell has a Insyde / Aptio BIOS.

I have made some progress:

I made my flash drive bootable.

I used Andy's PhoenixTool tool to find the recovery file name should be: VAUB0A09.hdr, I changed the original 9530a09.hdr to this file name, dropped it on the flash drive, and booted to recovery mode by holding down the END key while inserting the power cord. The laptop does this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqGoo5-z8rY

but that's it! Supposed to reboot I guess but the fans just click off and it does to a blinking power light forever (I even left it overnight). Have tried several times, does the same thing each time.

One thing - many sites I'm reading state that Andy's tool should have given me a recovery file name for the .rom file as well (9530a09.rom)? But it only gives me the recovery name for the hdr file.

Also, it seems in some fashion that the machine did make it to A09 bios, I cannot get the results above with the recovery file named A07 version of the HDR file.

Thank you all for your time. I feel like I'm getting closer - but I'm obviously a noob at this and missing something critical.

thanks.

[Sml6397]

Hello davedogcady

Try clearing the CMOS. This is unlikely to fix the issue, but ruling it out is not a bad idea. To clear the CMOS, you will need to remove all power sources from the computer, including the CMOS battery. You will need to disassemble your computer to remove the CMOS battery.

Keep all of the aforementioned power sources removed from the computer for at least 10-15 minutes. Sometime during that 15 minute period, press and hold the power button for 15 seconds to help dissipate any remaining power.

As this situation deals with an Insyde BIOS, it is outside of my normal range of troubleshooting experience. For further troubleshooting of this issue, I recommend that you contact BDMaster by PM. He is the site expert when it comes to the Insyde BIOS.

~Steven

[BDMaster]

Ok friend,
Files extracted seems to show that .HDR file is the Bios Region only and .ROM is Full Firmware !
I don't know if during the Bios Update it will write all Firmware but the Regions can get an
Error and It will cause the Brick anyway !
So try to use the .ROM file 8192 KB size and rename as Recovery Name VAUB0A09.hdr then try again !
After that only the SPI Programmer can rewrite back the Firmware into the Eeprom Chip !
I will help You if You get the Tools . . . look here :

https://www.bios-mods.com/forum/Thread-R...val?page=3

let me know
Regards

[davedogcady]

Ok friend,
Files extracted seems to show that .HDR file is the Bios Region only and .ROM is Full Firmware !
I don't know if during the Bios Update it will write all Firmware but the Regions can get an
Error and It will cause the Brick anyway !
So try to use the .ROM file 8192 KB size and rename as Recovery Name VAUB0A09.hdr then try again !
After that only the SPI Programmer can rewrite back the Firmware into the Eeprom Chip !
I will help You if You get the Tools . . . look here :

https://www.bios-mods.com/forum/Thread-R...val?page=3

let me know
Regards

thank you so much. I actually already tried to rename the .ROM file VAUB0A09.hdr - and it refused to talk to that file.

The ONLY time I can get the bios recovery to pull up is with the actual .hdr file and it does the same thing every time, re-writes a bunch of stuff, then shuts off. See this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqGoo5-z8rY

Thanks so much for taking the time to respond. Looks like I'm SOL then unless I replace the board or pull the chip?

[BDMaster]

Yes I saw It and I think something wrong into different Regions as Bios Region
is rewrited using the Recovery !
So as I wrote above using the SPI PGM We can rewrite directly the Firmware into
the Eeprom Chip (all Regions not only Bios Region) !
Let me know
Regards

[davedogcady]

Yes I saw It and I think something wrong into different Regions as Bios Region
is rewrited using the Recovery !
So as I wrote above using the SPI PGM We can rewrite directly the Firmware into
the Eeprom Chip (all Regions not only Bios Region) !
Let me know
Regards

thanks! I'm seeing if I can identify the BIOS chip now...

[davedogcady]

two more questions....I'm good a hot air re-work station. Could I just buy this? Would that bring the laptop back to life? Just solder in and I'm good to go?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BIOS-Chip-dell-X...3cb4aa6614


have I correctly identifed my BIOS chip?
http://i.imgur.com/iucKNqh.jpg

[osayn3t]

have you try do by cd/DVD not USB flashdrive?

please give me any reports if you have try this