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Forum · Guest

Hi,
I need help..

I upgraded my bios with the program found on the acer's site.
Windows procedure, the notebook does not have a floppy drive to do this
operation under dos boot.
So, after this operation, no error message and reboot.
The problem is here... Impossible to reboot the computer,Black screen, power
on, leds lightened, so, it seems to work but the boot procedure is stopped
here.
I think the upgrade fails.
Looking into the files downloaded from Acer's site, there are some different
files between the dos procedure and the windows one. I think the windows
option doesn't give the file for the model i have, regardless the info files
saying it is for the aspire 1670.
Can anyone help me to recover my config or simply have the possibility to
open the bios panel if a security backup exists oin the computer.
I tried several combinaisons key while turning on the computer but nothing
good.
I tried to open the notebook finding a jumper or battery to reset the cmos,
but, this operation seems to be hard... i resign this option.
I'm looking for a service book or some other help...
If possible, i don't want to return the notebook to acer's maintenance, my
HD contains some personnal and business data and as it is impossible to
acces the hd, impossible to make a backup before sending it to maintenance
site.

Thanks for reading this post ... and if posible respond with a solution.
And... Excuse if there are some errors in this post, i'm a french one, and
my english so far from my school lessons...

Guest · Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2005 8:32 am Post subject: Re: Acer bios Update fails

Sorry, I have no solution cause I have the same Problem with a Acer
Travelmate 4151LMi. I made a BIOS upgrade with the windows utility
without any error message and after the reboot I have only a black
screen. Do you have currently a solution?
Tomorrow I will try to organize a USB Floppy an try to boot with this
device. I'll report the result.

Forum · Guest

I think it is impossible to boot with an usb port..
I tried this way.. but, as the computer does'nt boot, usb ports are not
recognized.
My computer is 3 months old, so i called the maintenance and for now, the
only way i found was to send them the notebook.
the only thing i heard was a long beep with two short beeps. Fans on, leds
on..

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Guest · Posted: Thu Dec 29, 2005 7:32 am Post subject: Re: Acer bios Update fails

I had the same problems. Nothing my Notebook is also only three month
old and nothing seems to work after the windows BIOS update.

On a DOS BIOS disk I found a crisis BIOS update. I pluged in a USB
floppy and did a crisis BIOS update:
a). Using the buildrim.bat to create 512k rom which match with your
platform,
and then rename it to bios.rom.
b). Copy bflashit.bin and bios.rom to floppy disk.
c). Plug in AC and floppy disk to your system.
d). Press Fn+Esc and don't release.
e). Press power button, and then release Fn+Esc.
f). Wait crisis to be finished.

It worked! My Acer runs now again!

What says the customer service to the problems with the update
software?

ldallacqua · Guest

MarkusFried@freenet.de wrote:

Guest · Posted: Thu Dec 29, 2005 7:32 pm Post subject: Re: Acer bios Update fails

For my Notebook the files where at the same archive like the MS-DOS
BIOS update from the Acer homepage. But I don't know where the files
are for the aspire 1673. Maybe you can ask the customer support.

zopiezopie · Member Joined: 12 Jan 2006 Posts: 1

Sorry for my english.
I have a Acer 1310.
"The problem is here... Impossible to reboot the computer,Black screen, power on, leds lightened, so, it seems to work but the boot procedure is stopped here. "
Only try to read on Cdrom (led blinking). Dont try to read on Floppy drive.
Is possible to restore the bios from Cdrom?

zopiezopie · Guest

Sorry for my english.
I have a Acer 1310.
"The problem is here... Impossible to reboot the computer,Black screen,
power on, leds lightened, so, it seems to work but the boot procedure is
stopped here. "
Only try to read on Cdrom (led blinking). Dont try to read on Floppy
drive.
Is possible to restore the bios from Cdrom?

--
zopiezopie

buddy31 · Member Joined: 15 Jan 2006 Posts: 2

Hello,
I have a Acer 1703SC.
After a bios update I have exactly the same problem you wrote.
I gave my Laptop to Acer in Austria and they told me that the motherboard is broken and it costs Euro 800,-- to fix that. So I am also looking for any information to make a crisis Bios update like it is described from "Guest" on the Dec 29 2005. Knows anybody where to find the files buildrim.bat and bflashit.bin?
Thanks in advance!

Forum · Guest

Hey...
My computer was month old.
I called the maintenace without telling them what happened...
They changed my motherboard...
And for now, i can't tell how to make a crisis bios update, considering,
there is no diskette drive, and also, when the problem happends, there is no
way to boot on any drive..
My problem is solved, luckily free (waranty...)
Try calling maintenance as i did

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Guest · Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2006 11:32 pm Post subject: Re: Acer bios Update fails

I had exactly the same problem with my aspire 1672wlmi. Can anybody
tell me if there's a boot block jumper on this model? I took the
keyboard off but couldn't manage to get the screen off to enable me to
see the rest of the mainboard. When I switch it on I get 2 long beeps
and one short. I've tried a samsung USB floppy drive with various
versions of crisis recovery and bios files. The floppy light always
goes on whether or not I press key combinations. It doesn't ever
appear to read anything though and clearly isn't working. I have my
fingers crossed that there's a jumper somewhere but I'm starting to
think it's going to be a new mainboard job.

Thanks,
Joe

danhong81 · Guest

LinuxGuru · Member Joined: 23 May 2007 Posts: 1

Firstly, Do not trust ACER Engineers - they have created a mess of the BIOS Flashing process, which doesn't ever work in Windows correctly.

Acer Laptops have good hardware for reasonable cost, but Support is where they suck.

Do not use the Windows BIOS version to make a BIOS Flash. I did the same mistake with my "new" Acer 4152 NCLI Laptop purchased in 2006 and when I asked for help from Acer support I realized I had to pay "phone consultancy charges" per 30 minutes.

If you do not find a higher version of a BIOS then download a lower version of BIOS if your BIOS files are only "Windows". You need DOS BIOS Flash files for this process to work, so write mails to Acer if they don't have these DOS BIOS Flash files for your laptop online

So, Always create a DOS Boot Floppy and then Flash the BIOS, its simpler and saves you headaches later.

Anyways, this was not the first episode with my ACER Laptop- I had Windows XP not booting up or "hanging" on boot up, so I decided to move to Linux - PCLinux 2007 which is a far better O/s. You can read all about my Acer Adventure and PC Linux 2007 recovery on my blog http://charlesvaz.blogspot.com/2006/09/is-it-knoppix-time.html .

Ok, here is the step by step instruction since I faced the same problem and I have fixed it - easily to my surprise.

*Get an External USB Floppy Drive

*Create a DOS Bootable Floppy Disk
(using Win XP from Format Menu, you can also go to any of the disk recovery sites and get a dos bootable ISO and write that ISO to a CD and then boot the CD and then make a bootable Floppy)

*Go to the Acer Europe web-site or choose region as Europe from Acer.com (ftp://ftp1.work.acer-euro.com/notebook/) .

*Download the latest BIOS zip file for your model or the closest model (Example: If you have an Acer 4152 model laptop, you should choose travelmate_4150) . From the bios directory, download the latest BIOS zip file, in which you will find a readme.txt Example for 4150 the latest BIOS version is 2.50D.

*You have to be lucky to find the following line in your readme.txt
"Using Crisis"

*If you find the above line in your readme.txt, you can proceed with the recovery, since you have a DOS floppy and you also have a way to create the 512K ROM file which can be copied along with bflashit.bin on the Floppy.

*Now when you have downloaded the zip - sometimes there are two versions as for 4150 model - EDL00_250_WinFlash.zip and edl00_250.zip.

*Do not use the Windows version to make a BIOS Flash. I did the same mistake. Always create a DOS Boot Floppy and then Flash the BIOS, its simpler and saves you headaches later.

*Unzip the edl00_250.zip file and then you will see a file that resembles the name BUILDROM.Bat or BUIDROM.bat (spelling mistakes are common with ACER)

*Open a DOS command prompt on your Windows machine or other laptop and then run the batch file

*You would have created 6 ROM files of 512K length each - 43M.ROM,44MV.ROM, UMA.ROM and their corresponding DOCK versions - i.e. 43Mdock.ROM and so on.

*Now you have to copy bflashit.bin and one of the above ROM files onto the DOS Bootable floppy you have created.

The process is trial and error and there is no harm done at all.

*I tried without the DOCK versions and when I tried by renaming UMA.ROM to BIOS.ROM as the first readme.txt said, and copying that to the Floppy it worked like magic.

*Take the floppy and connect the external USB Floppy Drive to the "Dead screen Acer Laptop", No need of removing any battery or any screws from the laptop,

*Just press Fn and ESC keys together on the "dead screen laptop" and press the power button (making sure that the laptop is on AC power - since if the power in your laptop fails during the BIOS Flash, then you may need to replace the BIOS Chip - which is a sad process.)

*After you have pressed the power button on your "dead screen laptop", keep the hold on the Fn and ESC key till you see the green light on your External Floppy Drive with your DOS Bootable Flash floppy being read inside.

*This is a good sign and you can now release the Fn and ESC keys and just watch the laptop slowly reading in the Flash from your Floppy and "Burning"/writing the new flash software into the Flash EEPROM chip.

*Keep the laptop for 2 minutes as it is and you will see the hard disc power light go off and the laptop only showing the AC/Battery light - meaning the laptop has now powered down.

*IF ALL is WELL with the .ROM file you selected then you shall see the BIOS screen as soon as you press the Power Button on your "new ALIVE screen Acer Laptop"

All the BEST and keep trying all the 6 files (maybe 6 files are an example for 4150) - similar process should exist for all the "new" ACER model laptops.

All about Technology http://charlesvaz.blogspot.com

Dudley Pumperdinkel · Guest

Amen brother!!! You told it the way it is!!!

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