Wrong BIOS installed on my laptop

[jovoe_greand]

Help me please!

I have an Acer Aspire 5552G laptop and I tried to reinstall all drivers yesterday. But due to lack of knowledge, I also updated my laptop BIOS maybe to a wrong version that causes me hard time to fix it.

While I was updating the BIOS, process crashed and got a blue screen. I was nervous then I tried to reboot my laptop to see what causes it. But unfortunately, I got no display (as in black screen). My laptop turns on base on power led and I heard windows start up tone but no display at all.

I tried to reboot many times, already tried to push off button for a few minutes and tried to remove battery but still same, it has a power indicator but no display or any flashing on the screen. also tried to removed battery and direct AC to outlet and turn on but still no help....

Please anyone help me, is there any way to fix it without buying any expensive hardware? But if buying or replacing damage is really needed, I'm willling for it just to save my stuff. (OS win xp)

Thank you!

 

[GearUp]

Try to enter safe mode where you can check what BIOS version is present and which drivers may have problems showing in control panel. The BIOS update should not run if the wrong version is attempted. You may also be able to enter the BIOS screen with F5 or some key at startup to check the BIOS version. As a last resort you should be able to run a restore BIOS to return to the old version.

 

[Chainzsaw]

Hello,

Due to the bad flash or wrong flash type that is most likely causing your issue. However it still sounds like it is working - so you might be able to flash it back to your stock laptop BIOS. You might be able to do this by getting another exact laptop as yours (borrow one) and going to the BIOS with both so you know where you are.

Have you tried using the display out on that laptop if it has one to see if a screen comes up?

 

[Supernova1138]

You probably just bricked your laptop when you tried to install the incorrect BIOS. Go to the manufacturers website and look up the manual for that model, and see if there is any way to recover from a bad BIOS update. Odds are though, you probably killed the motherboard, you'll have to find a replacement.

The good news is that your data should be safe as the BIOS update does not affect the hard drive. Simply take out the hard drive and connect it to another computer to pull the data. If you don't have another laptop, you will probably have to look for an adapter to connect the drive to a desktop computer.

 

[szaboaz]

Excellent advice all the way.

For what its worth, if you want to go forward with the BIOS recovery, check out the step-by-step instructions from the link below.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/acer/284686-aspire-5315-bios-recovery-using-usb-thumbdrive.html

I believe it will work for every Acer Aspire, the only difference is that you have to download your own bios (the latest seems to be this file: BIOS_Acer_2.14_A_A.zip) from
http://support.acer.com/us/en/product/default.aspx?tab=1&modelId=3321
(press the BIOS tab)

Unzip it, the bios file is Dos/XEWxx214.FD
You may need to rename it to BIOS.fd (I'm pretty sure you have to, but you can try it with its original name. If it doesn't work, try it with BIOS.fd, nothing to lose. For first try, I myself would copy the same file with both names.)

 

[jovoe_greand]

Thanks gearup, I already tried entering bios or safe mode but no luck. I tried pressing F2, F5,F8, TAB, and all keys possible when booting up my laptop but still no help. no display at all. Do you think the problem is the laptop LED LCD?

 

[jovoe_greand]

Try to enter safe mode where you can check what BIOS version is present and which drivers may have problems showing in control panel. The BIOS update should not run if the wrong version is attempted. You may also be able to enter the BIOS screen with F5 or some key at startup to check the BIOS version. As a last resort you should be able to run a restore BIOS to return to the old version.

Thanks gearup, I already tried entering bios or safe mode but no luck. I tried pressing F2, F5,F8, TAB, and all keys possible when booting up my laptop but still no help. no display at all. Do you think the problem is the laptop LED LCD?

 

[jovoe_greand]

thanks chainzsaw! still working on display out to my desktop but i don't know if its right. no dispaly comes out on my desktop monitor. I think it's still working but do you think the problem is may laptop LED LCD? I heard a windows start up tone but no display at all.

 

[Chainzsaw]

thanks chainzsaw! still working on display out to my desktop but i don't know if its right. no dispaly comes out on my desktop monitor. I think it's still working but do you think the problem is may laptop LED LCD? I heard a windows start up tone but no display at all.

Ok at least we can rule out your video output does not work as well.

As I mentioned previously, can you possibly borrow an exact same acer model that you have - this way - you could turn them both on at the same time - and do exactly the same thing on each laptop - so with the good laptop you can see what your doing, why copying the movements on your "broken" laptop and try and flash your BIOS that way.

I'm still trying to think of other ways.. for you to do this.

 

[GearUp]

I haven't gotten a bootable USB yet but the Acer reference above seems to be your best bet. Windows Store has a bootable USB download to buy. If you did the updates to fix something, even slow running, the graphics for the display may have failed and it won't be worth repair. Shortcut keys can be used without a display but even with a good keyboard and display it can be tricky.