Acer bios Update fails

I had exactly the same problem with my aspire 1672wlmi. Can anybody
tell me if there's a boot block jumper on this model? I took the
keyboard off but couldn't manage to get the screen off to enable me to
see the rest of the mainboard. When I switch it on I get 2 long beeps
and one short. I've tried a samsung USB floppy drive with various
versions of crisis recovery and bios files. The floppy light always
goes on whether or not I press key combinations. It doesn't ever
appear to read anything though and clearly isn't working. I have my
fingers crossed that there's a jumper somewhere but I'm starting to
think it's going to be a new mainboard job.

Thanks,
Joe

a). Using the buildrim.bat to create 512k rom which match with your
platform, and then rename it to bios.rom.

When it says "512k rom which matches your platform", what does it actually means?

I have a TM 4152LMi, can you tell me which of the 512k rom matches mine?

And when I search the directory, it had a buildrom.bat instead of the buildrim.bat you all were talking about. Is it of any difference?

the only rom files I see there are the dl00220a.rom and the dl00220d.rom. Any difference? Please advise. Thank you all very much...

Firstly, Do not trust ACER Engineers - they have created a mess of the
BIOS Flashing process, which doesn't ever work in Windows correctly.

Acer Laptops have good hardware for reasonable cost, but Support is
where they suck.

Do not use the Windows BIOS version to make a BIOS Flash. I did the
same mistake with my "new" Acer 4152 NCLI Laptop purchased
in 2006 and when I asked for help from Acer support I realized I had
to pay "phone consultancy charges" per 30 minutes.

If you do not find a higher version of a BIOS then
download a lower version of BIOS if your BIOS files are only
"Windows". You need DOS BIOS Flash files for this process to
work, so write mails to Acer if they don't have these DOS BIOS Flash
files for your laptop online

So, Always create a DOS Boot Floppy and then Flash the BIOS, its
simpler and saves you headaches later.

Anyways, this was not the first episode with my ACER Laptop- I had
Windows XP not booting up or "hanging" on boot up, so I
decided to move to Linux - PCLinux 2007 which is a far better O/s. You
can read all about my Acer Adventure and PC Linux 2007 recovery on my
blog http://charlesvaz.blogspot.com/2006/...ppix-time.html .

Ok, here is the step by step instruction since I faced the same
problem and I have fixed it - easily to my surprise.

*Get an External USB Floppy Drive

*Create a DOS Bootable Floppy Disk
(using Win XP from Format Menu, you can also go to any of the
disk recovery sites and get a dos bootable ISO and write that ISO to a
CD and then boot the CD and then make a bootable Floppy)

*Go to the Acer Europe web-site or choose region as Europe from
Acer.com (ftp://ftp1.work.acer-euro.com/notebook/) .

*Download the latest BIOS zip file for your model or the closest model
(Example: If you have an Acer 4152 model laptop, you should choose
travelmate_4150) . From the bios directory, download the latest BIOS
zip file, in which you will find a readme.txt Example for 4150 the
latest BIOS version is 2.50D.

*You have to be lucky to find the following line in your readme.txt
"Using Crisis"

*If you find the above line in your readme.txt, you can proceed with
the recovery, since you have a DOS floppy and you also have a way to
create the 512K ROM file which can be copied along with bfla****.bin
on the Floppy.

*Now when you have downloaded the zip - sometimes there are two
versions as for 4150 model - EDL00_250_WinFlash.zip and
edl00_250.zip.

*Do not use the Windows version to make a BIOS Flash. I did the same
mistake. Always create a DOS Boot Floppy and then Flash the BIOS, its
simpler and saves you headaches later.

*Unzip the edl00_250.zip file and then you will see a file that
resembles the name BUILDROM.Bat or BUIDROM.bat (spelling mistakes are
common with ACER)

*Open a DOS command prompt on your Windows machine or other laptop and
then run the batch file

*You would have created 6 ROM files of 512K length each -
43M.ROM,44MV.ROM, UMA.ROM and their corresponding DOCK versions - i.e.
43Mdock.ROM and so on.

*Now you have to copy bfla****.bin and one of the above ROM files onto
the DOS Bootable floppy you have created.

The process is trial and error and there is no harm done at all.

*I tried without the DOCK versions and when I tried by renaming
UMA.ROM to BIOS.ROM as the first readme.txt said, and copying that to
the Floppy it worked like magic.

*Take the floppy and connect the external USB Floppy Drive to the
"Dead screen Acer Laptop", No need of removing any battery
or any screws from the laptop,

*Just press Fn and ESC keys together on the "dead screen
laptop" and press the power button (making sure that the laptop
is on AC power - since if the power in your laptop fails during the
BIOS Flash, then you may need to replace the BIOS Chip - which is a
sad process.)

*After you have pressed the power button on your "dead screen
laptop", keep the hold on the Fn and ESC key till you see the
green light on your External Floppy Drive with your DOS Bootable Flash
floppy being read inside.

*This is a good sign and you can now release the Fn and ESC keys and
just watch the laptop slowly reading in the Flash from your Floppy and
"Burning"/writing the new flash software into the Flash
EEPROM chip.

*Keep the laptop for 2 minutes as it is and you will see the hard disc
power light go off and the laptop only showing the AC/Battery light -
meaning the laptop has now powered down.

*IF ALL is WELL with the .ROM file you selected then you shall see the
BIOS screen as soon as you press the Power Button on your "new
ALIVE screen Acer Laptop"

All the BEST and keep trying all the 6 files (maybe 6 files are an
example for 4150) - similar process should exist for all the
"new" ACER model laptops.

All about Technology http://charlesvaz.blogspot.com

Amen brother!!! You told it the way it is!!!


"LinuxGuru" wrote in message
...
Firstly, Do not trust ACER Engineers - they have created a mess of the
BIOS Flashing process, which doesn't ever work in Windows correctly.

Acer Laptops have good hardware for reasonable cost, but Support is
where they suck.

Do not use the Windows BIOS version to make a BIOS Flash. I did the
same mistake with my "new" Acer 4152 NCLI Laptop purchased
in 2006 and when I asked for help from Acer support I realized I had
to pay "phone consultancy charges" per 30 minutes.

If you do not find a higher version of a BIOS then
download a lower version of BIOS if your BIOS files are only
"Windows". You need DOS BIOS Flash files for this process to
work, so write mails to Acer if they don't have these DOS BIOS Flash
files for your laptop online

So, Always create a DOS Boot Floppy and then Flash the BIOS, its
simpler and saves you headaches later.

Anyways, this was not the first episode with my ACER Laptop- I had
Windows XP not booting up or "hanging" on boot up, so I
decided to move to Linux - PCLinux 2007 which is a far better O/s. You
can read all about my Acer Adventure and PC Linux 2007 recovery on my
blog http://charlesvaz.blogspot.com/2006/...ppix-time.html .

Ok, here is the step by step instruction since I faced the same
problem and I have fixed it - easily to my surprise.

*Get an External USB Floppy Drive

*Create a DOS Bootable Floppy Disk
(using Win XP from Format Menu, you can also go to any of the
disk recovery sites and get a dos bootable ISO and write that ISO to a
CD and then boot the CD and then make a bootable Floppy)

*Go to the Acer Europe web-site or choose region as Europe from
Acer.com (ftp://ftp1.work.acer-euro.com/notebook/) .

*Download the latest BIOS zip file for your model or the closest model
(Example: If you have an Acer 4152 model laptop, you should choose
travelmate_4150) . From the bios directory, download the latest BIOS
zip file, in which you will find a readme.txt Example for 4150 the
latest BIOS version is 2.50D.

*You have to be lucky to find the following line in your readme.txt
"Using Crisis"

*If you find the above line in your readme.txt, you can proceed with
the recovery, since you have a DOS floppy and you also have a way to
create the 512K ROM file which can be copied along with bfla****.bin
on the Floppy.

*Now when you have downloaded the zip - sometimes there are two
versions as for 4150 model - EDL00_250_WinFlash.zip and
edl00_250.zip.

*Do not use the Windows version to make a BIOS Flash. I did the same
mistake. Always create a DOS Boot Floppy and then Flash the BIOS, its
simpler and saves you headaches later.

*Unzip the edl00_250.zip file and then you will see a file that
resembles the name BUILDROM.Bat or BUIDROM.bat (spelling mistakes are
common with ACER)

*Open a DOS command prompt on your Windows machine or other laptop and
then run the batch file

*You would have created 6 ROM files of 512K length each -
43M.ROM,44MV.ROM, UMA.ROM and their corresponding DOCK versions - i.e.
43Mdock.ROM and so on.

*Now you have to copy bfla****.bin and one of the above ROM files onto
the DOS Bootable floppy you have created.

The process is trial and error and there is no harm done at all.

*I tried without the DOCK versions and when I tried by renaming
UMA.ROM to BIOS.ROM as the first readme.txt said, and copying that to
the Floppy it worked like magic.

*Take the floppy and connect the external USB Floppy Drive to the
"Dead screen Acer Laptop", No need of removing any battery
or any screws from the laptop,

*Just press Fn and ESC keys together on the "dead screen
laptop" and press the power button (making sure that the laptop
is on AC power - since if the power in your laptop fails during the
BIOS Flash, then you may need to replace the BIOS Chip - which is a
sad process.)

*After you have pressed the power button on your "dead screen
laptop", keep the hold on the Fn and ESC key till you see the
green light on your External Floppy Drive with your DOS Bootable Flash
floppy being read inside.

*This is a good sign and you can now release the Fn and ESC keys and
just watch the laptop slowly reading in the Flash from your Floppy and
"Burning"/writing the new flash software into the Flash
EEPROM chip.

*Keep the laptop for 2 minutes as it is and you will see the hard disc
power light go off and the laptop only showing the AC/Battery light -
meaning the laptop has now powered down.

*IF ALL is WELL with the .ROM file you selected then you shall see the
BIOS screen as soon as you press the Power Button on your "new
ALIVE screen Acer Laptop"

All the BEST and keep trying all the 6 files (maybe 6 files are an
example for 4150) - similar process should exist for all the
"new" ACER model laptops.

All about Technology http://charlesvaz.blogspot.com