Alienware Area-51 R4 motherboard bios

Question

As a dummy, I went and install the bios upgrade from the site. Now I have a 35lb boat anchor. There is NO SERVICE TAG, and on the Dell site you are up a creek without the paddle and a boat. All the upgrade did was give me a black screen and no keyboard or mouse function. I had v1.0.3 bios version and in the bios it reported that the service tag no. was <private info removed.>, and of course Dell says it does not exist.

The mother board is MS-787ver1.0. The board identification tag say CN-0HC9F0-69702-7AS-0197-A00.

Now I need to find a copy of the original bios so that maybe I can reload it.

Thanks in advance for any one that can help.

rc

user_61a4b5 · Answer

Sorry fat fingered the model no. Mother board is Ms-7A87ver1.0.

ejn63 · Answer

Before you try flashing anything, unplug the system and hold the power button for 30 sec.  Then plug it in an see if it will power up and POST.

user_61a4b5 · Answer

@ejn63​ Still a black screen and not POST.

bradthetechnut · Answer

Reminder: No posting service tags. That's private info. Also, service tags are in Dell's system only for so many years.

Try testing or replacing the size 2032 CMOS battery. Bad batteries affect BIOS and PC operation. Problems depend on individual PC.

Next, reset BIOS via the blue jumper method.

ejn63 · Answer

I doubt a CMOS battery is the issue here -- if you think it is, remove it completely and see if the system will POST.

You may be able to recover the firmware using the process detailed here

https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000132453/how-to-recover-the-bios-on-a-dell-computer-or-tablet

bradthetechnut · Answer

It's still a good idea to make sure the battery is good in a somewhat older unit before performing BIOS recovery.  Also:  Alienware Area-51 R4 bios recovery

redxps630 · Answer

HC9F0 is not recognized as a Dell part number. common A51 R4 motherboard  Part Numbers: N4R4N, 0N4R4N, 0HJ5Y7, HJ5Y7, THJX5, 0THJX5 Model Number: MS-7A87

Tesla1856 · Answer

@user_61a4b5 ,

How's it going?

If the UEFI-Environment placed BIOS-firmware did not complete successfully, the BIOS-Recovery system should help the motherboard to not be bricked.

Unplug from wall and dissipate the motherboard's flea-power.

Carefully remove the CMOS coin battery (and put it aside).

Do the BIOS-Reset jumper-procedure (see PDF Service-Manual).

Leave it unplugged and dead for a day or so. Also, remove the video card and use the onboard video-port (if you have one).

bradthetechnut · Answer

Resetting BIOS is also linked above in my 1st post in this thread.

Alienware Desktops

Alienware Area-51 R4 motherboard bios

Was this post helpful?