Dead BIOS, replace BIOS chip or new motherboard?

[Silly Billy]

I recently tried to fix an old laptop (Toshiba) and to do so, I needed to do a BIOS upgrade. I downloaded the new BIOS flash files on another laptop, my new laptop (Acer Aspire 7520G with Vista Home Premium, 32-bit). The problem started when I tried to burn the files to a cd to transfer them to the Toshiba. When I clicked “Burn to CD” in Vista, it executed the files instead of copying them on my Acer. No idea why. And contrary to normal procedures, it didn’t even ask me for confirmation or nothing.

Symptoms:
All of a sudden the screen went slowly black and the laptop seemed to enter sleep mode. Silly me switched the computer off and back on again, breaking the BIOS flash cycle I guess…

When trying to start the laptop again, it beeped a few times (I didn’t pay attention to the number of beeps, as I had never heard of beep codes at that time, I am guessing 4 or 5), the power led was on, the dvd drive whirred as if starting and I heard the hard disk and fan kick in for about 10-15 seconds. In the meantime, the screen stayed absolutely black. Not a hint of light, no BIOS, no POST, nothing.

After several attempts, it stays the same apart from the beeps, which now won’t occur anymore:

-power led on
-dvd drive whirs
-hdd and fan works for 10-15 seconds
- screen stays black
- no BIOS, nor POST

Things I have tried:
Formatting usb pen drive with fat16 and copying correct Flash files onto it and trying to start laptop with that. Same effect.

Tried hard reset with battery removed, power button pressed and held, power lead removed, then reconnected etc. Same effect.

Looked for battery on motherboard to clear CMOS, but battery is soldered on.

Looked for jumper, of course no jumper on laptop. Found J1 jumper connection underneath RAM lid, shorted it for 15 seconds then tried again, same effect. It wouldn’t, I guess if the BIOS was wiped off.

Windows cd in dvd drive during boot. DVD drive whirs a bit longer and sometimes the “NumLock” light comes on. Apart from that, Same effect.

Tried Knoppix 6.4.3 cd, Same effect.

Tried Rescue disk, Same effect.

Took the whole laptop apart, trying laptop motherboard without dvd drive, no hard disk, no memory, no battery. Same effect.

Tried attaching other external monitor, Same effect.

Tried sending it to Acer repair center (out of warranty). I had to pay 70 euro (USD 95, £60) for pickup and delivery + diagnostic. They told me it needs new motherboard. Which costs another 320 euro (USD 435, £270). I declined it - of course - and they returned the laptop.

Now, I think it is obvious that I killed the BIOS chip. That does not mean that the whole motherboard is fried right? I don’t think there is anything wrong with all the other things such as hdd, memory etc, cause they were working fine until I badly flashed the BIOS by accident.

MY QUESTION:
In theory, if sent the motherboard and BIOS flash files in and have him remove the soldered on BIOS chip, then solder a newly flashed BIOS chip back on with the correct BIOS, it should work like normal again, correct? Or do I really need a new motherboard, which would mean I would trash the Acer and buy a Packard Bell EasyNote LM86 for 565 euro (USD 770, £ 475 ) with core i3, 4GB ram, etc?

[TheWiz]

Hi Bill,

In my professional opinion it sounds like you just need a re-program. Ask the guy who reprograms your chip to add a removable BIOS socket an reprogram it with the latest bios. Then ensure the CMOS is cleared beforeuse.

TheWiz

[Silly Billy]

Hi Bill,

In my professional opinion it sounds like you just need a re-program. Ask the guy who reprograms your chip to add a removable BIOS socket an reprogram it with the latest bios. Then ensure the CMOS is cleared beforeuse.

TheWiz

Thank you for your reply Wizzy! Will certainly check with him if that is possible (installing socket). Thanks for your time to answer my question.

[cyberpark]

as i am concerned, there isn't removable socket on laptop motherboard.

I think it should recovery procedure on phoenix crisis on usb floppy disk method.

if you can't do,. sell on ebay.
and buy another motherboard or buy new laptop.

on ebay, lots of crow will gathering on your item to pick cheapest price on your item.

[TheWiz]

If someone can resolder the chip for him, resoldering a socket is just as easy. I'd see if you could get what you ahve back online first before ebay.

TheWiz

[Silly Billy]

If someone can resolder the chip for him, resoldering a socket is just as easy. I'd see if you could get what you ahve back online first before ebay.

TheWiz

Would it actually work for sure with a usb floppy drive and Phoenix Crisis Recovery, or would it be a waste of money and time? Floppy drive is 30 euro and reprogramming chip would cost nearly 90 euro in total including shipping motherboard

[TheWiz]

Wow, if it costs that much for you to reprogram the chip then i agree with cyberpark, ebay the mobo as dead, save the cpu, and pickup a new board.

[Silly Billy]

Wow, if it costs that much for you to reprogram the chip then i agree with cyberpark, ebay the mobo as dead, save the cpu, and pickup a new board.

Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately a new motherboard for the laptp would be 320 euro... waaaaay above my paygrade

[cyberpark]

well, on the ebay.
second hand 100% working ICW50 motherboard is around £120 ~ £150
but it might be heavy customer duty on this.

usb floppy drive is £1.99 (£6.48 international postage) from china

I think it is worth spending the cost to try on usb floppy drive with and Phoenix Crisis Recovery.

then fail?

sell on ebay as dead meat for crows.

I might be one of the crows... lol

[Silly Billy]

well, on the ebay.
second hand 100% working ICW50 motherboard is around £120 ~ £150
but it might be heavy customer duty on this.

usb floppy drive is £1.99 (£6.48 international postage) from china

I think it is worth spending the cost to try on usb floppy drive with and Phoenix Crisis Recovery.

then fail?

sell on ebay as dead meat for crows.

I might be one of the crows... lol

I looked high and low on ebay, but neither the icy50 you're suggesting, nor the icy70 which is actually in the laptop, is on sale on ebay. Thats worldwide. And the FDD is not cheaper anywhere then 15 euro icl shipping on ebay, worldwide. Looks like I am right out of luck, but I will keep checking!

In the meantime I ordered some stuff with alternate.es, including usb fdd Although they forgot to mention on the site that they were based in Germany - the domain extention is .es - it should be with me at some stage this year

I hope it works, otherwise I would just have to dump the stuff, can't afford more than 200 euro on an old laptop.