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Bios Flash Fail - Bricked ACER 5720 Laptop

  • 03-06-2009 10:58am
    #1
    Slicklink
    Closed Accounts Posts: 131 ✭✭


    Hi Guys,

    I have an Acer 5720. It’s less than a year old and still within warranty. I have had issues with the sound cutting out at regular intervals. (I have all the latest sound drivers per Acers support site). Recently I learned that upgrading the Bios would resolve the issue. So... I downloaded the latest Bios v 1.45 for my model from the official support site to hopefully solve my sound issue. I ran the exe within Vista and the Insyde box began. It recognised that it was updating the bios from v1.06 to 1.45 and continued. Within a couple of seconds of the run it came up with a "Verify ERROR" which locked up the laptop completely. So there was no other way of rebooting or resetting the laptop other than pulling out the battery.

    Since then it doesn’t switch back on. The fan kicks in for 2 seconds then black screen and nadda which basically has resulted in bricking my laptop.

    I contacted ACER support and 1800 which results in tech support from the UK. They have informed me that the Bios is not covered in the warranty and that I will have to return it to them at a cost of £51. It seems it is my fault for attempting to update the bios without their say so.

    So let me get this straight again. I have updated the Bios from their support website which has resulted in my laptop being bricked and it is going to cost me money even though I have a warranty which is apparently worth nothing.

    Despite spending close on 45 minutes to obnoxious call centre employees I am getting nowhere. I am no conspiracy theorist but it would seem to me that it is in their interest to brick machines with their updates!

    To be honest I am appalled by the customer care to date and would strongly advise anyone thinking of buying anything ACER to think again.

    I have been checking on the web and it seems to be a common occurrence. Anyone had a similar experience here ? Anyone have any magic solutions ?


Comments

  • #2
    cpu-dude
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,089 ✭✭✭cpu-dude


    Slicklink wrote: »
    Hi Guys,

    I have an Acer 5720. It’s less than a year old and still within warranty. I have had issues with the sound cutting out at regular intervals. (I have all the latest sound drivers per Acers support site). Recently I learned that upgrading the Bios would resolve the issue. So... I downloaded the latest Bios v 1.45 for my model from the official support site to hopefully solve my sound issue. I ran the exe within Vista and the Insyde box began. It recognised that it was updating the bios from v1.06 to 1.45 and continued. Within a couple of seconds of the run it came up with a "Verify ERROR" which locked up the laptop completely. So there was no other way of rebooting or resetting the laptop other than pulling out the battery.

    Since then it doesn’t switch back on. The fan kicks in for 2 seconds then black screen and nadda which basically has resulted in bricking my laptop.

    I contacted ACER support and 1800 which results in tech support from the UK. They have informed me that the Bios is not covered in the warranty and that I will have to return it to them at a cost of £51. It seems it is my fault for attempting to update the bios without their say so.

    So let me get this straight again. I have updated the Bios from their support website which has resulted in my laptop being bricked and it is going to cost me money even though I have a warranty which is apparently worth nothing.

    Despite spending close on 45 minutes to obnoxious call centre employees I am getting nowhere. I am no conspiracy theorist but it would seem to me that it is in their interest to brick machines with their updates!

    To be honest I am appalled by the customer care to date and would strongly advise anyone thinking of buying anything ACER to think again.

    I have been checking on the web and it seems to be a common occurrence. Anyone had a similar experience here ? Anyone have any magic solutions ?
    Try having a look at this post in the following thread:

    Link!


  • #3
    Voodu Child
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,706 ✭✭✭Voodu Child


    It may be possible to recover from a failed bios update. The solution would be too specific and specialised for this thread, but google is your friend in cases like these. example.

    In addition, if it's still under warranty I would call them again and tell them something different (don't mention you tried to update the bios). It depends on whether they keep good records of calls, but you may get away with it. I wouldn't feel dishonest doing it, as they have a fairly lousy reputation when it comes to bios updates.


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