Dell Precision T1650 MT Workstation bricked after BIOS update

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  • trix11
    New Member
    • Jan 2020
    • 4
    • Australia

    #1

    Dell Precision T1650 MT Workstation bricked after BIOS update

    I have a Dell Precision T1650 MT workstation (of the following spec.) that was bricked yesterday when attempting to update the BIOS from A27 to A28 per:
    - https://www.dell.com/support/home/en...-t1650/drivers > Dell Precision T1650 System BIOS

    - Dell Precision T1650 mid tower Workstation
    - Xeon E3-1225 V2
    - 32Gb PC3-12800E RAM
    - 4Tb SATA HDD
    - motherboard: Dell part: 0C3YXR CN-0C3YXR-72200-39C-01GR-A02

    I see now that others have experienced like issues e.g.:
    - https://www.dell.com/community/Preci...d/td-p/7278685

    Coincidentally, my flash process also stopped at exactly 33% and similarly denoted "Updating your system's firmware cancelled".

    I waited an hour before powering off, after which the unit powers on with flashing orange power-on/off button only, system fails to POST, system fan ramps to max speed , no display or response to peripherals, etc.

    Draining power/state, removing CMOS battery, pulling RTCRST jumper, removing RAM/all peripherals/cables, etc. saw no change in behaviour.

    I've since removed the motherboard and identified the two SOIC 8-pin BIOS chips each printed with the following:
    - 25Q03213 EC0 VS CHNG0027 315A (e4) - Micron/Numonyx/ST flash chip "N25Q032..3E" (32MBit / 4096 kB, SPI)
    - 25Q064A 13EC0 (e4) 99 CHN 317023 - Micron/Numonyx/ST flash chip "N25Q064..3E" (64MBit / 8192 kB, SPI)

    After some initial googling, my first course of action was to dump the content of both chips.
    This was performed using flashrom on Raspberry Pi (Raspbian GNU/Linux 8 (jessie)) fitted with an 8-pin SOIC clip.
    For anyone interested, chips were only detected with ATX power connected to motherboard (system not powered on).
    Three reads from each chip with no diffs between resultant images confirmed consistent capture.

    -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4194304 Oct 25 12:21 32-orig-read1.bin
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4194304 Oct 25 12:23 32-orig-read2.bin
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4194304 Oct 25 12:25 32-orig-read3.bin
    .
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8388608 Oct 25 12:27 64-orig-read1.bin
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8388608 Oct 25 12:29 64-orig-read2.bin
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8388608 Oct 25 12:31 64-orig-read3.bin

    I've also extracted the various firmware from the Dell .exe using:
    - https://github.com/platomav/BIOSUtil...date-extractor

    For former BIOS T1650A27.exe, this produced:
    -rw-rw-r-- 1 root root 6291456 Oct 24 16:57 1 T1650A27 -- 1 System BIOS vA.27.bin
    -rw-rw-r-- 1 root root 16384 Oct 24 16:57 1 T1650A27 -- 2 Gigabit Ethernet v1.3.bin
    -rw-rw-r-- 1 root root 65536 Oct 24 16:57 1 T1650A27 -- 3 Legacy Video OROM v2.1.3.2.bin
    -rw-rw-r-- 1 root root 121856 Oct 24 16:57 1 T1650A27 -- 4 Legacy RAID OROM v11.2.0.1527.bin
    -rw-rw-r-- 1 root root 7843840 Oct 24 16:57 1 T1650A27 -- 5 Intel Management Engine Update v8.1.72.3002.bin
    -rw-rw-r-- 1 root root 418 Oct 24 16:57 1 T1650A27 -- 6 ACPI OS support v4.0.0.0.bin
    -rw-rw-r-- 1 root root 4 Oct 24 16:57 1 T1650A27 -- 7 Intel AntiTheft v3.0.0.18.bin
    -rw-rw-r-- 1 root root 91 Oct 24 16:57 1 T1650A27 -- 9 Model Information v1.0.0.0.txt

    For latest T1650A28.exe, this produced:
    -rw-rw-r-- 1 root root 6291456 Oct 24 16:59 1 T1650A28 -- 1 System BIOS vA.28.bin
    -rw-rw-r-- 1 root root 16384 Oct 24 16:59 1 T1650A28 -- 2 Gigabit Ethernet v1.3.bin
    -rw-rw-r-- 1 root root 65536 Oct 24 16:59 1 T1650A28 -- 3 Legacy Video OROM v2.1.3.2.bin
    -rw-rw-r-- 1 root root 121856 Oct 24 16:59 1 T1650A28 -- 4 Legacy RAID OROM v11.2.0.1527.bin
    -rw-rw-r-- 1 root root 7843840 Oct 24 16:59 1 T1650A28 -- 5 Intel Management Engine Update v8.1.72.3002.bin
    -rw-rw-r-- 1 root root 418 Oct 24 16:59 1 T1650A28 -- 6 ACPI OS support v4.0.0.0.bin
    -rw-rw-r-- 1 root root 4 Oct 24 16:59 1 T1650A28 -- 7 Intel AntiTheft v3.0.0.18.bin
    -rw-rw-r-- 1 root root 91 Oct 24 16:59 1 T1650A28 -- 9 Model Information v1.0.0.0.txt

    I've reviewed the forum's suggested reading below that touches on DMI editing, though nothing is listed for Dell systems:
    - https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=103526 BIOS Guides, methods, resources and tools

    Armed with original corrupt images and extracted firmware, I'm seeking assistance with the Dell-specific process/specifics of how to repair/modify/produce a viable set of firmware images to flash the system with.

    Any/all assistance is greatly appreciated.
  • hoaca388
    Badcaps
    • Jan 2022
    • 11164
    • Viet Nam

    #2
    Re: Dell Precision T1650 MT Workstation bricked after BIOS update

    Post your original corrupt bios file here.


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Any donations to Badcaps are welcome. Become a Badcaps supporter >>>>> click this link to donate <<<<< Thank you to all the supporters. -- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Comment

    • trix11
      New Member
      • Jan 2020
      • 4
      • Australia

      #3
      Re: Dell Precision T1650 MT Workstation bricked after BIOS update

      Here you go - thanks!
      Attached Files

      Comment

      • hoaca388
        Badcaps
        • Jan 2022
        • 11164
        • Viet Nam

        #4
        Re: Dell Precision T1650 MT Workstation bricked after BIOS update

        Originally posted by trix11
        Here you go - thanks!
        Precision T1650
        Service Tag: BGV66Z1
        Attached Files


        -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Any donations to Badcaps are welcome. Become a Badcaps supporter >>>>> click this link to donate <<<<< Thank you to all the supporters. -- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

        Comment

        • trix11
          New Member
          • Jan 2020
          • 4
          • Australia

          #5
          Re: Dell Precision T1650 MT Workstation bricked after BIOS update

          @hoaca388, thank you so much for quick and superb effort.
          I'm happy to report that since flashing the system with your modified images, I'm back up and running again (now with latest BIOS A28).
          I am indebted to you sir! +1

          Comment

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