Yesterday I noticed my main desktop computer was running slow. Although it should be able to handle it, it’s been running rough ever since I upgraded to Windows 10. I searched Google for “Windows 10 performance tips” and one list I found suggested making sure your BIOS firmware was up to date. I’ve never updated the firmware on that machine, so I downloaded the latest one from Acer’s website and double-clicked on it.
The firmware update unpacked, got 75% done flashing my computer’s firmware… and then, Windows 10 blue-screened on me.
My computer is dead.
I tried moving the CMOS jumper to the “erase” position and back. That didn’t work. I tried removing the CMOS battery and letting it sit for 5 minutes. That didn’t work. Then I let it sit for an hour. That didn’t work, either. I tried a few emergency methods to get the machine to boot from USB, floppy, or anything at all… nothing.
Just like that, it’s dead.
95% of my data is stored either on my server or in the cloud, so I haven’t lost much, if anything — and the hard drive still works, so whatever I’m missing can be plucked off at a later date.
With my tail between my legs, I scrolled through computers on Amazon last night and picked out a new one. Amazon Prime says it will be here Monday. I’m really hoping for Saturday…
Somewhere in this, I think there’s a valid debate to be had about the ever-ballooning size of operating systems and how that relates to making internet access available/affordable to everyone. Desktop hardware continues to drop in price, but now it’s the software and the OS itself that’s raising the bar to entry.
Ugh. This brought back some bad memories.
Ya know, I’m having problems with my music recording PC and I thought upgrading the bios might help but after hearing this..I dunno man. I didn’t know there’s no way to recover from a bad flash. I always assumed there was some way out, some way to at least get the mobo working and try again. Yeeks!
That is my perpetual story any time I try to upgrade anything. I take a bad situation and make it worse. And the end result is usually the same as yours: buy a new computer.
BIOS upgrades should be easy, but they are a shot in the dark. Back in the DOS days they were easier, but within Windows there are just to many things that could go wrong. I bought a Brix system from Fry’s last fall and put it together for something to have as a media PC. Their web site had a new BIOS update and all the stuff I read in the forums said it was needed. So I followed the instructions to a tee. Well after the reboot nothing, bricked. At least it was under warranty so I spent the shipping charges and sent it back to them. A week later it came back good as new with the newest BIOS. Most MBs now the chip is socketed so if you do screw it up you may be able to get a replacement on the manufacturer’s web site, or even eBay.
Most newer motherboards I’ve bought have a “fallback bios” in case you bone one of them (but you probably already knew that). I once had an Intel DuoCore CPU that would turn off / burn out boards due to the system fans not kicking in when things got hot until I got around to upgrading the BIOS, but other than that I avoid it like the plaque.
There should be a bios chip that can be removed (hopefully socketed) and then flashed. There are ebay sellers who will sell you a chip with the bios you require. Worst case it needs to be desoldered (ran into this once on a crummy Toshiba Satellite laptop).
But before that there might be a flash protection scheme that can get you going (this varies per system, but might involve a specially crafted usb stick or even a floppy disk.
It’s a crap problem to have but almost always fixable.