[Resolved] Failed BIOS Update on Acer TRavelMate 4150 series

Don't ask how to hack password. (BIOS Passwords)
ikossan
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My laptop Acer TRavelMate 4152 NLCI, a Acer TravelMate 4150 & 4650 series, not restarted while upgrading BIOS and will not boot, the screen stand black, Power LED color is green , and the dvd driver is on, after that , nothing happends .
i undrstand that the bios upgrading is not succes.
so i have proceed to desassembling the laptop, a have got the service guide frome this link:
http://www.eserviceinfo.com/download.php?fileid=28287
photos of this operation:

Monitor:

Image

keyboard:

Image

central unit

Image

after opening the main unit:

Image

the fan and Fan heatsink

Image

the processor after demonting the heatsink on:

Image

the mothercard :
Image
Image

at the end the ROM memory chip where the BIOS reside: the flash eeprom sst39VF040:

Image

i desold the eeprom and reprogram it with the old bios file.
and i assemble all pieces of the laptop.
the operation is succesfull. my laptop run now.

(excuse my poor english)
Technical Specification of my laptop is:
=============
- Intel® Pentium® M Processor 740
(1.73GHz, 2MB L2 cache, 533MHz FSB)
- Intel® 915PM Express Chipset
- Integrated Intel® Pro/Wireless 2200BG
- Intel Graphics Accelerator 128MB
- 512MB DDR2-400 (Max 2GB)
- 60GB HDD , Weight 2.84kg.
- DVD/CD-RW Combo, 6-in-1 card reader
- 56K Fax/Modem, 10/100Mbps LAN
- 15.0" XGA TFT LCD(1024x768 pixel)/ S-Video Out
- Li-Ion Battery (Avg. 4 hrs. battery life)
- IEEE 1394 port, Infrared port
- Acer SignalUp wireless technology support
ikossan
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i cant post a reply here and i have this error message:
You must have 10 posts before you can post URL's/Links.
in my new post a have tow link, and some pictures!! :?
admin
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Contact:

ikossan,

you should be able to post links now.

wim
ikossan
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thanks for you Admin
to clarify the procedure i have use:
I unsoldered the integrated circuit of the memory flash: the SST 39VF040 frome the mother board, to localise the memory, it is in bottom of the mother board near the Smart Card Reader, and it has a paper stuck on it, you can remove the paper to read his reference name: SST 39VF040.

Image
Image

and I used a programator of integrated circuit to reprogramme it, the programator i used is LABTOOL:

Image

the programator is very expensive to buy it, I used one of my friend, a repairer technician in electronics.
to reprogram it with the LABTOOL Programer;we need the good file of bios, file of 512KBytes.
i have used the ROM files version 2.30. download the corespandant zip file from the official FTP server of ACER.
ftp://ftp.work.acer-euro.com/notebook/
for me i downloaded the zip file:
ftp://ftp.work.acer-euro.com/notebook/t ... nflash.zip
in this zip file i have this list:
  • dl00230a.bin
    dl00230d.bin
    flash.bat
    FLASHCHK.EXE
    FLASHCHK.INI
    Readme.txt
    WFlashck.exe
    Winflash.exe
to have the rom file execute this batch file: flash.bat, and you have in the same directory a new file created: "all.rom", his size is exacly 512KBytes ( be sure!! because the tow files "dl00230a.bin" and "dl00230d.bin" is not the defenitive bios file).
it's the good file to us for reprogramm the Memory SST39VF040 whith The LABTOOL( or Other programator).
after reprogramming it, i resold it to the mother bord and an reassemble the laptop.
that 's all.
ikossan
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note for removing the optical drive:
in my case , i had a problem to open the upper case, i have used force to remove the optical drive....
do not use force like me, but unscrews a hidden screw on the top, bottem the keybord (you must remove keyboard after). see the pictire:
Image
in the service manual this screw is not mentioned.
good luck for all, and i hope that my topic help members of this forum :)
LinuxGuru
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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.

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 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 charlesvaz.blogspot.com
overideuk
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Booted my laptop up one day and it had the infamous ntldr error. Went into bios and it had a password. Used killcmos on the laptop to try and get rid of the password but now i have a dead kaptop :(. I have tried using the crisis method but still no luck.

Any ideas anyone?
arthur.afarias
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overideuk wrote:Booted my laptop up one day and it had the infamous ntldr error. Went into bios and it had a password. Used killcmos on the laptop to try and get rid of the password but now i have a dead kaptop :(. I have tried using the crisis method but still no luck.

Any ideas anyone?
I'm in the same situation, there are an alternative method to repair my laptop?

My bios version is EDL00 v 1.80

in the website of acer they don't have the crisis method for my motherboard!
ikossan
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sorry for my bad english.
in this link you have what you want: the service manual and the crisis utility to solve an update failure of bios

http://rapidshare.com/files/141544858/A ... 8777031213
nur
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I have the same problem: i need to desolder, reprogram and then solder back the SST 39VF040 chip.
Could you please explain how you managed to desolder the chip? it doesn't seem to be a normal SMD to me!! the pins seem to be folded back? how did you desolder it?
walxdwa
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i follow the crisis methods,but it still can not boot from the usb-floppy.i don`t
know why ~
walxdwa
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i know why i can`t boot from the usb floppy~ when i enter the Caps Lock,there is no response which there should be something happen from the keyboard light, i guess when the bios failed, the keyboard hadn`t been
checked by motherboard, So the "Fn+Esc" method won`t help~
camel_2k3
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Just to thaks all of you, i have followed the detailed instructions following the crisis bootable diskette method and the acer laptop is working again!!

Regards
datta.shubhayu
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OK OK

All is well

I have the same problem currently.

But whats the remedy.

All that was discussed here is the preventive measures.

But now since the harm is done, How can i getit fixed?
starciao
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I have try this method still cannot solved my problem.....anyone of you have the another idea
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