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updating dell mini inspiron 910 bios
My mother bought a Dell mini inspiron 910 laptop a few years ago and she has always used it on adapter since the battery never charged, I just found this out and I want to fix this problem. I saw on some forums that I should try to update the bios, right now it is running version A01 and I tried updating it to A04 and A07 but neither worked, I got error 144 from the winphlash utility. My adapter is plugged in, so that is not the problem. Any thoughts?
-David
ejn63
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July 24th, 2011 10:00
You cannot - and should not - update the BIOS without a fully charged battery. Doing so is inviting disaster.
The BIOS update will not fix what is a hardware problem - you either have a faulty adapter, mainboard or battery - get that fixed BEFORE you try to update the BIOS (as noted, a BIOS flash will not fix this problem).
EEngineer2008
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July 24th, 2011 10:00
but this "chief blogger" at dell seems to think it should work:
en.community.dell.com/.../initial-battery-charge-for-the-mini-9.aspx
If the computer runs on the adapter (I am using it right now) how could the adapter be faulty?
ejn63
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July 24th, 2011 10:00
If the system recognizes the adapter (i.e., it's listed in BIOS setup, and not showing "unknown" -- F2 at powerup), then the adapter probably is fine - the fault is with the mainboard or the battery.
If the adapter IS showing 'unknown", then the adapter is likely not making good contact with the sense circuit - that, or the power jack on the board is bad.
speedstep
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July 25th, 2011 11:00
You can do a bios recovery flash but it requires a usb boot floppy.
I tried various ways but was only successful with a usb floppy.
CONFIRMED: Recovery from failed Windoze flash method!
I recommend you Buy good diskettes and format the diskette using the usb drive BEFORE trying to make a recovery floppy.
To download the file will require you to register on the mydell mini site but its free so not a big deal.
NOTE: Requires USB Floppy drive for recovery: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi ... y%20Drives
To Use: Remove battery and power adapter. Confirm USB floppy drive is plugged in. While pressing and holding Fn & B keys, attach power adapter plug. The power lights will momentarily blink and your Mini will beep once. Continue to hold Fn & B and press the power button. Release the keys once floppy drive begins reading. Your Mini will beep continually until the flash is completed and reboots. Note: The display is not available during this process.
Download and extract attached file below:
Attached Files