No power - notebook dead (Targa visionary XP-210)

[r2mahara]

I have a Targa Visionary XP-210, which did not recognise 2Gb of memory. (it would blue screen when it had more than 1.5 GB). I found a bios update which claimed to fix this.

I was wary, but took a deep breath and dived in. I did not flash in windows - I burned a disc and booted from CD. Part way during the flash, everything froze. I waited a long time ... nothing was responding, so I pulled the power cable and managed to turn the notebook off, hoping it would reboot.

Now, nothing works. The power light doesn't even come on when I plug it in. I did not think a bios update could do this - at the very least I expected a POST beep or at least the charging light to light up when I plug the notebook in. It is totally lifeless.

I am thinking that my only option is to reprogram the bios chip which is removeable PLCC (from one of these internet sites - any recommendations? I am in the UK.) Any other advice? I don't have access to another notebook to hotflash, and I don't have a floppy drive.

Wish I had never tried this - but I really wanted to upgrade the RAM. Can a failed BIOS upgrade cause this, or is something else fried somehow? I'd rather not spend money programming a chip if it is not going to work.

[edwin]

Where did the bios come from? Targa? If not, your warranty is void to start with. Next, what bios flavour is it originally? Sometimes you can actually do a recovery without replacing the chip.