Question Dell Inspiron 15 3502 wont boot into BIOS

[alisdisco]

Hi all, I have this pc, only a year old and I have bricked it. The only thing it will do after power on is illuminate the caps lock led - thats it. I have been fiddling in the BIOS (Aptio UEFI) to install Windows 10 32bit to enable me to use an old program on this Windows 10 64 bit. The last thing I did was use the windows meadia creation program to put Win 10 on a usb. However, obviously the last change I made in the BIOS has corrupted it. I have tried the BIOS_IMG.rcv file from Dell on a FAT32 USB as the laptop is BR3 enabled and I have absolutely no joy in getting it started. Is it recoverable in any way please????

Cheers all

Al

 

[alceryes]

Make sure you have nothing plugged into the laptop.
Hold the power button for 30 seconds.
Plug power back in and see if you can power on and get into BIOS with F2.

 

[alisdisco]

Hi alceryes, thanks for replying. I have tried your suggestion, and also waited 60 seconds and still nothing. There is a sequence that I have found that involves pressing together Esc & Ctrl and inserting the power - again this does nothing too.

 

[mrmike16]

Why did you need to change BIOS settings in order to install Windows 10 x86?

If that reset method didn't work, it is probably because you have a removable CMOS battery. I believe the Dell Inspiron 15 3000 Series does have a removable CMOS battery, so turn off the laptop, unplug it, take out the battery, and then remove the CMOS battery (of course while following safety precautions).

Wait for about 5-10 minutes before putting it back in, just to be sure. I would also press the power button to try to let out excess power that it may have, although I don't know if that actually makes sense.

What was the last change you made to the BIOS?

 

[alisdisco]

Hi mrmike16, thank you for your suggestion, just waiting the 10 minutes. I changed bios settings out of desperation as this uses a UEFI bios, which looks to me in the boot settings a lot more unintuitive than a legacy bios. The legacy is what I am more than used to. I have looked on the old YouTube for what I wanted to do, but I always have a different screen or setting to what the video has, so I stupidly tried on my own. I find this website after I've bricked the bloody thing...typical. Anyway, I honestly can't remember what the last thing I did in the bios was.

 

[alisdisco]

Nope, that didn't work.....

 

[mrmike16]

Nope, that didn't work.....

If resetting the BIOS doesn't work, then the BIOS wasn't the only issue- that's why I asked. It could be that some setting caused damage, but I have no idea how that could be. Maybe a CPU setting could do that.

When the caps lock LED is lit, are you able to toggle it?
If so, connect another monitor.
If it doesn't let you toggle it, I suggest removing all parts of the computer except for the essentials, including the battery. That leaves the screen, mouse, keyboard, and charger. At first try without the RAM and see what happens.

 

[alisdisco]

Toggle it as on/off? No I can't. I have tried earlier with no ram or ssd too

 

[mrmike16]

I think something went in the motherboard. But just as a last attempt maybe take out the CMOS battery (and the other battery and charger) and press the power button for 30 seconds, and then wait a few minutes before putting it back in. Sometimes it takes a few tries to reset it for some reason from what I have seen.

 

[alisdisco]

Hi Mike, tried those and still nothing.

 

[mrmike16]

Hi Mike, tried those and still nothing.

Then unfortunately it seems to me like the motherboard had been fried somehow.