15 R2, brick after bios update

Hi @PatrickTate ,

Hold the power button until the laptop fully shuts off.

Open the bottom panel and you should see a plug on the board related to the battery.

b25943882ad737df705cd5cacb350ee5.png (800×800) (pinimg.com)

Take out the plug and then hold the power button for 30 seconds.

then let go of power button and reconnect battery to board connector.

Then hold CTRL and ESC together when you press the power button.

I'm gonna try that, thank you so much for trying to help! 

 tried that but didn't work, still blank. 🥴

Hi @PatrickTate welcome to this free user to user Alienware laptop discussion forum. This is not Dell Support. 

Please clean and reseat RAM cards to try and get screen to work. Check to see if there is a faint image on the screen by using bright light placed at angle to screen. If there is faint image, backlight has failed and new screen assembly is required. 

See How to initiate BIOS Recovery using  CTRL + ESC key combination. How to Recover the BIOS on a Dell Computer or Tablet | Dell US 

Done that no help, no faded image, cleaned ram, even reset cmos didn't help. When you start the computer it tries to read from all the medias but with no screen.

Hi @PatrickTate  please clarify when there is no screen image, how it is known that "When you start the computer it tries to read from all the medias". Thank you. 

You can tell that is trying to read from the media's because the light of the HDD and and the jump drive they all blink when it's trying to start but I think I don't have the recovery tool installed because it doesn't go through after it.blinks.

The screen never turns on, always black. 

Hi @PatrickTate thank you for the clarification. 

Getting the screen to work is a must. Please connect laptop HDMI to external monitor or TV to see if the screen image makes an appearance. 

If the recovery image is not available on the primary hard disk drive, or the affected computer is experiencing a No POST/No Boot issue, then creating a USB recovery drive is the only option. Do you have access to another PC and and an empty USB? 

@crimsom I just shot a video of the problem for you

https://youtu.be/C7odURFIoho

Hi @PatrickTate thank you for posting the video. 

Please remove USB recovery drive and ac adapter. Disconnect main battery and CMOS (coin‑cell) battery (page 130). Alienware 15 R2 Service Manual (dell.com)  Hold down the power-on button for 30 seconds so that BIOS settings are removed. Reconnect coin‑cell battery and the main battery. You will prompted to reset the time and date when you power on the computer. Sometimes the loss of BIOS settings may prevent the computer from loading the operating system. 

Hold down Fn key, then press power-on button. This starts the preboot testing and will automatically launch the ePSA diagnostics. The ePSA will test your screen with a series of patterns (similar to LCD built-in self-test (BIST) diagnostics). Resolve No Power, No POST, No Boot or No Video issues with your Dell Computer | Dell US 

Hopefully this reinstates the screen display, so that USB recovery drive can be used. 

Hey @crimsom done that, sorry to say.... no help... same thing as the video. Disassembled the whole thing pulled out the battery, put the parts together, 30 sec power btn, Disassembled plug back the cmos, put together and hold fn and hit power, it turned on, restarted by its own, I kept holding fn, same thing as the video.. blinked hdd led, no jump drives and it stalls in blank screen. 🥴

Hi @PatrickTate thank you for sharing that the screen still has no image. 

Getting the screen to work is a must, so that the onboard diagnostics can be used. 

It seems that you have reached the point where professional diagnostic and repair is the next option. Is there a nearby good computer diagnostic and repair facility that you trust? 

How to Arrange an Out of Warranty Repair on Your Dell Computer | Dell US  

$100 Dell Laptop Repair | Dell Repair | Laptop Repair | Notebook Service Center (parts-people.com)  

Professional diagnostic will reveal what repair is required, but repair could be expensive. 

Hi @PatrickTate ,

I got just the thing for you, try these.

Alienware 13 R2, 15 R2 & 17 R3: Systems Not Powering Up | Dell US

Tried that, no help. After talking to dell for the whole day, I'm sending them the computer.

They will diagnose.

I'll keep this post updated.