Bricked Dell Inspiron 3721

[Agnoeta]

        Hello! New entry, poor PC experience and poor English.
A few days ago Dell suggested me to upgrade the bios from version A12 to A14. I obeyed but ... the process stopped, with no apparent reason, at 26%, leaving on the screen the image that you can find in the attachment 1. Impossible to shut down the notebook. After about half an hour I decided to remove the AC adapter and the battery. From that moment on, dark screen and no POST.
As soon as I realized that I might have bricked my Dell, I started studying on the web. In about one week I have learned that it is quite difficult to resurrect a Dell notebook. Dell bios are executable files which don't allow to extract .hdr/.rom/.hex files. In the attachment 2 you can see what is inside the 3721A12.exe file. 
Does anybody know what to do? I am ready with my old 128 Mb USB flashdrive, waiting for suggestions.

Thanks in advance

[BDMaster]

The Bios File is hidden into the isflash.bin and We can Extract then the Recovery
Procedure is another history !
I haven't tried yet on a Dell PC but don't think will work just better to get the Tools
SPI PGM and Clip and read that Firmware then Rebuild it nad reflash back !
Look here :

https://www.bios-mods.com/forum/Thread-R...5#pid74575

I will help You in this job !
Let me know
Regards

Recovery File :

http://rghost.net/8VFZZPKHL

Recovery Procedure :

Prepare an USB Stick FAT32 Formatted and copy into the file VAW00X64.fd
then perform this . . .

Performing the emergency flash:
- Shutdown the netbook (notebook)
- Remove all peripheral devices
- Remove battery, Remove AC power cord
- Press and hold the power button for 10 seconds (battery and AC power still out), then release
- Put the USB Memory Stick in the USB port
- Hold "Fn" + "Esc" and plug the AC power cord in
- Now press the power button (whilst still holding Fn + Esc).
  Wait until the fan will run, then release "Fn" + "Esc" keys
- The fan will run for about 2-10 minutes and the USB drive activity LED will blink
- I think the netbook rebooted automatically. If it doesn't, unplug the AC power cord once the fan has turned off
The bios should be updated with the modified BIOS, and boot as per normal.

P.S. Try all couple Keys FN+ESC - FN+B - WIN+B etc. find on Google . . .

[Agnoeta]

The Bios File is hidden into the isflash.bin and We can Extract then the Recovery
Procedure is another history !
I haven't tried yet on a Dell PC but don't think will work just better to get the Tools
SPI PGM and Clip and read that Firmware then Rebuild it nad reflash back !
Look here :

https://www.bios-mods.com/forum/Thread-R...5#pid74575

I will help You in this job !
Let me know
Regards

Recovery File :

http://rghost.net/8VFZZPKHL



Recovery Procedure :

Prepare an USB Stick FAT32 Formatted and copy into the file VAW00X64.fd
then perform this . . .

Performing the emergency flash:
- Shutdown the netbook (notebook)
- Remove all peripheral devices
- Remove battery, Remove AC power cord
- Press and hold the power button for 10 seconds (battery and AC power still out), then release
- Put the USB Memory Stick in the USB port
- Hold "Fn" + "Esc" and plug the AC power cord in
- Now press the power button (whilst still holding Fn + Esc).
  Wait until the fan will run, then release "Fn" + "Esc" keys
- The fan will run for about 2-10 minutes and the USB drive activity LED will blink
- I think the netbook rebooted automatically. If it doesn't, unplug the AC power cord once the fan has turned off
The bios should be updated with the modified BIOS, and boot as per normal.

P.S. Try all couple Keys FN+ESC - FN+B - WIN+B etc. find on Google . . .

[BDMaster]

So I can reply . . . Greetings from Italy

[Agnoeta]

So I can reply . . . Greetings from Italy

What a weird coincidence! Please let me know if I can use Italian.

I tried the Recovery file with no success. I used the procedure for each of the 3 USB ports and also checked the "End" key.

You suggested me to buy the tools, read the chip and so on, but I don't think to have the expertise to follow that procedure.
Maybe with your help ....., but I have many questions:

• I studied the scheme of the motherboard (HannStar J MV-4 94V-0 E89382) and I "think" I found the bios chip. Not sure! Matter of fact there are 2 chips, soldered in an exactly opposite position on the two sides of the MB , one 16 Mb (QH16-104HIP) and the other 32 Mb (QH32B-104HIP). Should those chips really be the ones for the bios, how can they be read? Separately?
  
• I can even buy a hot air station for reworking those chips, but I am not sure to be able to do this very delicate precision work.
  
• I don't understand what I should write into the chip(s). Dell does not provide .rom/.bin/.wph/.... files!!
  

Please let me know.

[newuser38]

I'm a new user seeking help with my laptop...

I inherited a non-working Dell Inspiron 3721 laptop. 

When the power button is pressed, one beep is heard, a pause, then one beep, then a pause, and this process repeats itself over and over.  The display/screen is black and doesn't attempt to turn on at all.  What I have found from researching around is that this is a BIOS that is corrupt.  As such, there is no way to repair this board without either desoldering the BIOS chip and then flashing it or purchasing a special USB flasher and cable to clip onto the board. 

While searching this forum, it appears I need a modified BIOS, but the original link provided by user BDMaster is no longer working.  I am extremely good at following step-by-step instructions, and would really appreciate any and all help.  Thank you.