A03 Bios bricked my M15x

Dell is a business just like anywhere else. Atleast give them until Monday before picking up your torches and pitchforks.

 

Hello, I work for Alienware here in Austin, TX - just wanted to assure folks that this A03 BIOS issue is getting immediate attention. As already noticed, A03 BIOS was pulled the day after it was posted.

If your system was rendered inoperable due to the A03 BIOS flash, it will require a motherboard replacement. Our immediate priority is to get these customers whole again. If you have not already done so, please call tech support to schedule the motherboard replacement.

These systems are designed to be serviced and a motherboard replacement is the fastest way to get back up and running. Most of you should have the standard Alienware warranty contract which is next business day on-site technician.

As for concerns about the on-site technician breaking something - in the rare chance this should happen, we will fix it.

I apologize for the inconvenience this is causing. BIOS updates are suppose to work without any fuss. We don't have root cause on the issue, yet, but we do know it did not affect all users. If your new system already has the A03 BIOS installed or if you successfully flashed to A03, you are fine. For those of you with A02 BIOS, you are fine also and we do not recommend attempting to flash to A03 until we get to the bottom of this.

 

Nagshead, was the A03 supposed to fix the throttling?

 

No, there was nothing in A03 specific to that. There were two fixes in A03 that were fairly minor. One was an issue in certain games like NFS where the Enter key was not mapped correctly in the game menu. The other fix was specific to Japanese keyboards and probably won't pertain to the folks on this forum.

If you have A02 and are anxious about A03, there isn't going to be a huge difference for you, unless you've noticed the NFS issue.

 

Nagshead,
I have to say this. You guys at AW and Dell really need to pay more attention to the software development. The entire line of the "All powerful" is nothing but a powerful hardware crippled by software. From the throttling issue to the bad DPC latency to the bugged out CC and fusion service.

I hope this was a somewhat wake up call. The damage has been done to those who got their machine bricked. Even if you guy will replace the MB, still time is wasted and some of these people are using this laptop for work.

Thanks anyway for coming down here and update us. Hopefully everything gets resolved.

 

Imagine what's gonna happen to the person responsible for this... Like, the guy who pressed the "upload" button without covering all his bases. What's worse than fired? Cus that's whats gonna happen.

 

Hey guys you will want this nearby when the techs come out. Make sure they follow this to the letter. http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/M15x/en/SM/sm_en.pdf

 

All of my previous laptops (acer, compaq, hp) were designed with snap-lock cases.

Snap-lock is designed to be difficult to service and "prying" is the only way to get it opened sometimes breaking the locks permanently.

I hope this machine is designed WITHOUT snap-locks.

 

So what you are saying is that if we call tech support, we will a technician over the next day? and he will have the motherboard with him???

Even for a person that lives in Denmark? Because i will gladly accept a mobo exchange if u can garantee me that its going to be fast and not damage the computer IN ANY WAY.
On the other hand if i have to wait weeks, or even a month for it to get up and running again, i really expect some sort of compensation for this.

 

I am in the same boat with NiklasBrock. I am currently in Philippines which does not have a functioning DELL Service Center. What we have here are DELL CALL CENTER offices which I highly believe are answering many of your "my M15x is bricked by the A03 BIOS" calls.

How about that? I am the nearest to their tech support call center, yet could not get any tech support... The nearest is HK (who will send it back to China factory) . This whole process will surely scratch/dent the very expensive laptop.

I bought this Premium Laptop mainly for "I need a laptop that is technologically good for the next 2 years". I never thought it lasted no more than 2 weeks.

BTW. does anyone knows how to eject the CD inside this BRICKED M15x?

 

I am still able to eject cd´s if u just spam the eject touch buttom while bios is posting message..

 

Hi Nsaghead, does the M15x BIOS have a Crisis Recovery Mode?

Could you advise if we can manage to get it fix using this mode? I read that the M17x has it.

 

Thank you, I'm pleased to see Dell is reaching out to customers to start to address this.

Ironically this is why I bought my leading edge notebook from Alienware/Dell as it has the support organization in place to fix this sort of issue if it occurs
- I didn't expect the problem to be caused by a BIOS upgrade
- but being on the bleeding edge I expected something to fail

That said (and being a techie geek) I would be interested in knowing what the root cause is when you dscover it
- I also assume you have ruled out the crisis BIOS recovery (as if it worked it would save you a fortune in sending folks out)
- I would feel safer on future BIOS updates if I knew there was a crisis recovery mode and how to use it
- maybe that at least should be something that comes out of this

 

Hi HisSvt2,

Thanks for the link I was hoping to get a copy of this before they come and tear into my computer. I am extrememly paranoid about an inept tech coming, or even worse a tech that is careless and scratches the case or some of the components.

Rich

 

Mainly a bump
But can folks please post their experiences with the repair (which will happen Monday or Tuesday for some folks in the US, I presume)

Would be good to hear about the experience...

 

Good thing you guys have dell, not original Alienware.
Area-51 m15x

Original Alienware Employee, when you did call.

 

Ok guys, sorry to hear you guys are having that stupid problem. I couldn't believe this thread is growing up to 27 pages in just a few days

Can someone shorten this long story for me? So basically your M15x(s) are just bricked? Dead? Cannot turn it on? Not function at all? No way to fix it yourselves? Something similar to a bricked PSP?

 

Long story short:
1) Dell/AW release A03 BIOS on Friday Jan 8 - mainly fixes the Enter key problem which was mapping to the numeric keypad enter key and causing problems in some games - mainly NFS. The file (in contrast to the A02 update) is a Windows-executable Phoenix phlasher

2) Many of us (assuming this had been QA'ed/tested extensively) downloaded it on day 1 and ran the update. It appears to run through fine and our machines shut down. Folks wait variable periods of time to restart (with no clear instruction from Dell that waiting beyond 5 mins for it to self-restart is required or normal - still unclear).

3) Upon restarting, the machines are dead. You can get early POST-behavior, the AW splash screen, but then you go to a black screen with a blinking cursor in the upper left corner (the "BCOD")

4) You can enter BIOS setup (F2) and see it says A03 BIOS with either 0.96 or 1.00 EC, you can make changes and save, but no matter what you try (including changing boot order to USB stick or to CD-ROM) you get BCOD

5) You can hit F12 either once (to get the boot order quick screen) OR hold down F12 to get to the BIOS diagnostics program - same thing, BCOD.

6) Per AW/Dell rep posting above, the only solution is motherboard replacement for those with "failed BIOS update" - there is no crisis boot sector mode in the BIOS, no other backdoor keys to get us to boot into something/anything to rescue our machines.

7) We have 1 (one) report of a successful A02 to A03 update with no proof from the poster (and some skepticism amongst many of us). The Dell/AW rep claimed that others had success (thereby very gently implying that all of us with bricks had done it incorrectly, though again with what appears to be 99% failure, you have to wonder where the blame should really lie...)

8) The update was pulled from Dell's support site just about 24 hours after it went up.

9) We are all now waiting for appointments with techs to come replace the MB and are worried because if you read the service manual, you see that you literally have to remove every single part of the machine and then re-assemble it and we are all skeptical that the techs (who are Dell not AW techs) will know what they are doing. And if we do have an issue, we will have to file another claim with Dell, and who knows how many cycles we will go through to get our machines right.

And most of us feel this is not our fault. Not at all.

 

I think the people who did not affected is the people that dint know about the bios update,the people who read NBR forum before doing the update and the people who get the m15x with the A03 bios!

so far oni see 1 person succesful with this bios update but do not know wether he is telling the truth or bluff,would like to see anyone else with succes A03 bios update

 

Oops! Can't believe it could be that worse

Yeah, I don't think we can go wrong with a BIOS update unless the problem is already lying in the BIOS itself, like in this case

Well they are not even Dell tech, just some guys out there and most of them have never even see an Alienware in real.

Of course it's Dellienware's fault. I couldn't believe they can release such a bad BIOS. I mean, their tech dep must be gone through trial and error so many times before approve the BIOS...

Thank you ehl1, your post is very informative and I can see a whole picture now.

 

Yes - I know - I meant they are "DCSE" (Dell Certified Service Engineers) and all are outsourced tech folks. And yes, i don't think any of them are either "ACSE" or have even seen an AW machine. And now hundreds (?) of them will be trying to rebuild these machines. This should be fun. Pictures (before/after) will be great...

 

OMG This picture thread is not recommended for people have problem with heart attack or some sort

 

There is not a single odm that has not had a bad bios come out

 

Good point - this may be an ODM issue (wonder if we can find out who the ODM is for Alienware boxes right now). But AW/Dell owns responsibility for the quality of output from their ODM partners...

 

The ODM is Flextronics.

 

Dell takes care of the bios

Dell is at fault but don't bash Dell because it happens and no one is perfect. Neither is anyones life take it and roll

the model is the w670 which does not sound like flextronics almost like a clevo ....

Anyway chill out, it ducks but no company is perfect

 

Wow, this absolutely sucks...

And the update didn't do anything major like fix the throttling...

A....£2000....Keyboard....Remap....

 

... The fixes in this were for the arrandale chips ....and fixing the keyboard issues.


So please explain yourself because you make NO sense.

 

Well.. just spoke to dell's technical support here in norway. they were very helpfull. they sending a new motherboard and a tech that will asemble it tomorrow. belive me, im kinda scared that the techy will scratch my m15 but. dell told me if any thing happend or if it became unstabile after the asembly they would send a new one.

So atleast thats good news.

 

I take it the "NFS" related issue is that the enter key is registered as keypad return when numlock is off, and enter when numlock is on?

Also how does one get a request through to dell about getting an updated i7 bios for the alienware? There are some reported problems about i7 turbo boost not working correctly on some motherboards in linux. And intel released some performance details about it, along with updated bioses:
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=intel_lynnfield_add&num=1

 

This is kind of OT but any one else have problems syncing the iPhone to the M15x? it works and then i get some error were the phone is not recognised after a while and it wants me to register as a new phone again. I also have some minor bluetooth issues with my headset, it wont sync correctly its not my headset(works on other laptops and phones) not bios related i guess but still annoying.

EDIT: i heard asus had some kind of bios update that fixed i7 related iphone issue so that's why i was interested in this update to begin with.

 

Getting my MB changed next week (as Im unavailable any earlier) but it was no problem to report the problem and the tech gu was very nice.

Anyways, Ill make sure and set up my camcorder so that I have proof in case something goes bad

 

Is it a good idea to have this bugged A03 BIOS updater available here?

Purpose is as "proof/evidence". Surely some DELL service centers would play dumb and claim WE caused the problem.

 

SIgh..

Why is it that all the Service Centers all play dumb and unaware of this problem.

Dont they have a centralized database of problems? One even KNOW all the items (parts list) in my notebook (when I gave them my Service Tag), then when the heat goes on, play dumb DONT KNOW what it is..

DELL CUSTOMER SERVICE at it's worst.

 

What do you mean? The person I talked to today knew the problem instantly. I guess its hit or miss when you phone them up.

 

Seems so!
Yesterday, I called USA DELL, spent 30 minutes and she dont know nothing.
Today, I called DELL Philippines; and they dont seem to care much because its a product NOT SOLD locally (from my impression).
Then I called DELL HK where I bought it, but due to language barrier, they passed me to DELL Malaysia (who can speak english) which I will call tommorrow.

Can you people who called DELL USA, can you ask DELL USA to acknowledge this problem and have them post it up on their website so we, who are struggling to get the right people can point the service personnel to the link?

I have been telling these service people to this forum, but I fear they dont look at it as it is NOT OFFICIAL DELL WEBSITE.

I know this will be a tall task; but we will surely appreaciate your help! Thanks!

 

Currently on the line with a guy from Dell/alienware/Dellienware
He also knows nothing about the problem..... He is acting like i did something wrong...

Edit: Know he is asking me why i updated the bios Totally owned him (He didnt expect that i knew everything the bios update contained )
Btw. have been on the line with him 22 minutes so far. and we are far from done.. this will take some time

Second edit: Just finished the call. A Technician will come and replace my Mobo tomorrow or the day after Tomorrow.
And He is going to be on video

 

My god... I received my M15X after 52 days of my buy in Brazil.

When i make the upgrade of my BIOS v.A01 to v.A02, no problem. But, when the upgrade was A02 to A03, my computer now only flashing a cursor in upper left corner.

If press the F2, i see normaly my BIOS in version A03... If i press F12, i look the device boot menu but after my choice, i have the flashing cursor in high left corner...

Sorry anything but my english is horrible.

 

Where do u live? Or why did it take so long?

 

Brazil, South América... I purchesed the M15X in 11.16.2009 and i received then only in 01.08.2010. Very very long time...

 

That is terrible! Haven't u complained?? or is it hard for post to get back and forth in brazil ???

 

Sorry to derail this subject but just a quick curios how you did that. The best I have been able to do is 1300.

 

Just got off the phone with an AW representative (I had to call them again, cause they said they'll contact me today, but still nothing, and I can't spend my whole day just waiting for a call).

He didn't ask me anything and said that I will get a call to arrange the MB replacement either today or tomorrow. When I asked whether the technician that will come is familiar with the system, he said that the technicians they're using are perfectly familiar with the system and there shouldn't be any problems. I asked whether they're going to use DELL certified technicians, he said "No, we're using Alienware certified technicians" and again assured me that everything will be fine.

While I know that that's what they are supposed to say, do you think that they'll be sending out technicians who will have at least basic (which is not comforting, but better than none-at-all) knowledge of the system? I'm debating whether to go through the hoops of NiklasBrook and record what he/she is doing, or just rest and expect that everything will be fine, and if they indeed break something, I'll get compensation for that.

 

What i would do (What i am doing ) Is to take a lot of pictures (HQ) Of your computer now (before). So if something goes wrong you have proof. It something happens inside the computer and it doesnt function correctly i am 100% sure that dell will take the heat and compensate for it. So just take some pictures and relax

 

well guys i just bought mine here in 6th of jan and bricked on 8th..of jan (great)
but since the BIOS is phoenix i am sure that if there is no key combination to get to Crisis Recovery then on the mobo there should be (Boot -Block Jumper) it should be right under the cover if someone can verify this then i have a way to reflash the bios once again through USB Floppy Disk or a USB Stick..i can't check on mine because in my country there is no Dell reseller or anything though they will give me a new one from where i purchased so if anyone is willing to open the cover as pulling out the hraddrive which will not void the warranty and check if there is a jumper that would be great help...if not then please when the tech guy come to replace your mobo check with him if the jumper is there and am sure that this jumper is there because the chip is SecureCore Phoenix chip and thanks alot.

 

Viper - that sounds exactly what the AW guy I spoke with on Saturday was trying to make me do. He said that there should be a "block jumper", and if I remove the back cover (he was waiting while I was trying, but the right screw was so tight that I was scared not to break anything, so we stopped there).

I'm pretty sure if you call AW and ask them if there is something similar, they would tell you.

On the other hand - it makes no sense, if there is a boot-block jumper, for AW to send out so many new motherboards to fix such a problem.

 

the problem is i am Egyptian living in Saudi Arabia so it will be difficult for me to call them and also i think that those techs is not have very good knowledge of thier systems if they are acting like this otherwise the tech guy should have told you if there is a boot block jumper or not instead of asking you to check .

 

It makes no sense not to have some sort of recovery option either

 

the SecureCore Phoenix BIOS always having two ways of recovery :
1-By triggering the Crisis Recovery through the key combinations (mostly FN+B or WIN+B) to access the recovery mode doing hard reflashing. but this is not implemented here as of my trial with many other combinations.

2- the Boot-Block Jumper which let the mobo disable the BIOS itself and look for Bootable BIOS Flasher which is (PHLASH16) on the USB Stick or a USB-Floppy or Normal Floppy and a BIOS image or file.

so it should be there and i think that Dell People not aware of the system maybe because they just purchased the AW Company and AW hiding something like that just to screw them up...lol who knows

and the reason am saying this because thre previous model of m15x adn m17x many other AW machines has the boot blocker jumper on the back of the mobo

 

My Alienware Call Experience:

I called Alienware (1-866-287-6727) talking to RUSS; he does not know anything about this problem. He is now digging up on A03 for whatever problem this is causing.

1. He told me to try F8 (Windows Boot Option)
2. He told me to try booting up from the A02 CD
3. Digged up reports and decided "we need to replace your motherboard".
Honestly, he is FAST for someone who dont know anything about this problem. He did not have me to go through all the test procedures you all encountered.

4. He told me that, since I bought this in HK (Asia Pacific), I need to contact HK for the repair/replacement....