How do i flash new bios with usb and black screen of death

Captain Carling · 3 Oct 2014 at 12:09

Can anyone talk me through it please. I have an acer laptop that I have put a new cpu in and I think it's corrupted the bios.
It's trying to start but nothing is coming on the screen. It was fine before and I tried the old chip back in but it was still the same.

Purgatory · 4 Oct 2014 at 20:39

Laptop model number would help. That way we maybe able to find you the service manual for it. Also you may want to try pulling out the BIOS battery for a while and also make sure to remove the Laptop battery too and the power brick for a while to clear it.

Also what CPU did it have originally and what did you replace it with ? You may have also damaged it when doing this or not plugged everything back in correctly so check all cables are in and the CPU is sat right without damaged pins.

Captain Carling · 4 Oct 2014 at 20:56

Thanks for the reply.
It's an aspire 5738z, and I tried removing the bios battery but that didn't work.

It had an Intel t4300cpu and I tried to install a t9600.

I double and triple checked all connections and all the pins are fine.

I've also tried removing the battery pack and pressing the power button for a minute to drain all the power, then plugging the power lead in and pressing fn and esc together with a flash drive that had been readied as a boot device with the bios on but I wasn't 100% I was doing it correctly.

Oh and I also tried to reinstall the original cpu but it still black screened

OspreyO · 5 Oct 2014 at 01:11

Those two chips have a different FSB speed. Can the motherboard do both and what speed is your ram?

Captain Carling · 5 Oct 2014 at 09:35

I was told the board could do both. The ram is 800mhz

OspreyO · 5 Oct 2014 at 09:39

But does the ram speed not need to match the cpu

I could be wrong but it think they cpu need s faster ram

OspreyO · 5 Oct 2014 at 09:40

Do you get any beeps

d_brennen · 5 Oct 2014 at 09:44

External video? Have you double checked the video ribbon cable?

Captain Carling · 5 Oct 2014 at 10:03

I don't get beeps, it tries to start then stops, then restarts. the fan is working and the hdd starts to run but no bios.

I have checked the ribbons and they all look good

OspreyO · 5 Oct 2014 at 10:33

Sounds like everything has power but the board or bios is gone.

Can you locate another one with a broken screen or such.

Captain Carling · 5 Oct 2014 at 10:43

I have just ordered a bios chip from America to try that. Was only £13 so worth a try I suppose.

OspreyO · 5 Oct 2014 at 10:48

Did you flash a new bios before switching the cpu originally

nightmare99 · 5 Oct 2014 at 11:04

Yeah does it boot up with the old CPU in?

If so flash it then swap the new one in.

Captain Carling · 5 Oct 2014 at 11:09

No, I didn't flash the bios first. I just took the laptop apart carefully and swapped the cpu over then rebuilt making sure I kept earthing myself along the way.
I tried reinstalling the old cpu and it still wouldn't boot, that's why I figured I must have upset the bios.

Captain Carling · 5 Oct 2014 at 11:12

I can't figure out how to flash the bios. It involves holding down the fn and esc buttons without the battery in and connecting to the power supply but it doesn't seem to work that's why I've ordered a new bios chip

OspreyO · 5 Oct 2014 at 18:26

Captain Carling said:
No, I didn't flash the bios first. I just took the laptop apart carefully and swapped the cpu over then rebuilt making sure I kept earthing myself along the way.
I tried reinstalling the old cpu and it still wouldn't boot, that's why I figured I must have upset the bios.

I've never seen a bios die like that. Maybe it is the bios. I would suspect something else though. As you say you've ordered a new one (is it socket ed?)

OspreyO · 5 Oct 2014 at 18:27

Did you try with one ram stick only? Or no ram? Do the errors change?

Captain Carling · 5 Oct 2014 at 20:08

Yes, I tried the one stick of ram and no difference