Dell Inspirion 1501 Motherboard (BIOS)help needed

Hi all,
I've giving a Dell Inspirion 1501 laptop which is faulty. Apparently the fault happened when he tried to flash the bios and half way through the process something went wrong. So, the laptop won't start, no display no beeps. nothing. I've check the power in and that's ok. Dismantle the laptop and the motherboard seems fine no burnt marks anywhere. The only thing I can think of is that the bios chip is dead. The BIOS Chip is a SST 39VF080 70-4C-EIE 40 pin TSOP . Has any anyone ever tried to flash the bios while the chip is still attached to the motherboard.:unsure: I don't even know if it's possible. I don't have the equipment to remove the chip. So, maybe someone here ( I'm looking at you Zetr0 :bowdown:) can help me.

Hello my friend -

I think i may be able to help with info atleast -

The SST39VF080 has a single read / write voltage and has a tollerance between 2.7-3.6V
(for this purpose i suggest a Vcc of 3 to 3.3volts)

The SST39VF080 also has JDEC standard for programming =D


To be honest, you would need to get a 40pin TSOP flasher you will need to remove the TSOP from the laptop motherboard unless you like soldering 35 connections (that 70 welds) and building your own TSOP flashing adapter -

Thats a great amount of work to be honest, but wither way you need to remove the TSOP as you will be supplying 3 - 3.3volts to the mothervboard and this may cause damage without other circuits open (powered).

Just remove the TSOP with some gentle hot air and then using the TSOP adapter with your programmer. If memory serves you have a Willem programmer, these can be programed on that, but you will need an adapter.

The best I have found in the TSOP range that would convert the TSOP to DILL is over $100 - way to much, but perhaps you could adapte a PSOP?

have a look here -

PSOP44 SOP 44 to DIP 44 Adapter £6.55 + £12.97 postage (ebay.co.uk BIN)
http://i.ebayimg.com/20/%21BlSLNVw%2...Q%7E%7E_35.JPG

you will mostlikely need to modify the DIP array, but thats A LOT easier that welding up a TSOP!

heres a data sheet for the SST39VF080

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lopos2000

Hi all,
I've giving a Dell Inspirion 1501 laptop which is faulty...

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Check if its still on warranty, as some Dell machines come with 3yr warranty.
Dell's site has a support option that you can check the warranty status.


Chris

Thanks for reply. The warranty has expired a long time ago.
@Zetr0
I thought about that option but being a bit of a lazy git:oops: I thought there must be an easier option. Like using an USB flash drive to flash the bios. There is power going into the laptop, CD light comes on and CD spins but no screen etc.
Has anybody ever tried to update bios via USB flash drive? I installed XP/WIN7 via flash drive but than I could see what I was doing. But with no display...??

On my PC, there is an "emergency mode", where I can hold down certain keys on power-up, and a mini-bios (or whatever it is called) will kick in, read a file from floppy, and flash it. Fortunately, I have never had to test this out though, so can't give any pointers.

However. reading here, it may be that the Dell has something similar?

http://www.wimsbios.com/forum/topic9666.html

There is an emergency mode built into Compaq's where it will read a certain file from a floppy disk. A ROMPaq diskette may be obtained from http://www.compaq.com

Quote:

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Originally Posted by blankstare

There is an emergency mode built into Compaq's where it will read a certain file from a floppy disk. A ROMPaq diskette may be obtained from http://www.compaq.com

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Unfortunately this kind of disks are useful when the system boots...
as Zetr0 wrote, the only solution is un-soldering and re-programming the bios chip, or a replacement m/board.




---------- Post added at 16:34 ---------- Previous post was at 16:29 ----------

...personally I recommend to buy a new chip, then de-solder the older by cutting the pins..

chris

Quote:

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Originally Posted by xc8

Quote:

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Originally Posted by blankstare

There is an emergency mode built into Compaq's where it will read a certain file from a floppy disk. A ROMPaq diskette may be obtained from http://www.compaq.com

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Unfortunately this kind of disks are useful when the system boots...
as Zetr0 wrote, the only solution is un-soldering and re-programming the bios chip, or a replacement m/board.


chris

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I've just checked up on it, and it's called "Blind Flashing", designed for recovering when a previous bios update has gone titsup. With my system, I press alt-f2 on power up, and it will load a file called "a8v.rom" from the floppy, then flash. I assume it is the same as the Compaq's RopPaq...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jasey

I've just checked up on it, and it's called "Blind Flashing", designed for recovering when a previous bios update has gone titsup. With my system, I press alt-f2 on power up, and it will load a file called "a8v.rom" from the floppy, then flash. I assume it is the same as the Compaq's RopPaq...

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If the BIOS of the 1501 has a such bootblock then is possible.

Chris

And if that all fails.....

http://www.motherboard-biosflash.co.uk/index.html

Info taken from.....

http://en.community.dell.com/forums/...l=en&cs=&s=gen