Alienware Area 51m-R1 bricked

[Jasonexe]

Hi everyone, i got a Alienware Area 51M-R1 that recently stopped working after downgrading the bios from 1.5.0 to 1.3.2. When powering on the laptop with the charger plugged in it does not post, fans don't spin and the keyboard doesn't light up either except the power button logo.

The logo shows a green light for a few seconds and then goes off for a second and keeps repeating for about 4-5 times. After that i get 2 red flashes followed by 1 blue flash which keeps repeating. This code usually means cpu failure but i can confirm that the cpu works because i tested it on a other system

After some research i found out that this code can also be caused by a corruped bios/rom flash. After hours of searching online i finally found someone that uploaded the bios/ec files that can be flashed on the IC's by using a external programmer. On my motherboard i found 3 IC's which are the following: W25Q128JVSQ, W25Q80DVSIG, GD25Q80CSIG

I flashed the 3 files on the IC's and the laptop started working again. I wanted to try to downgrade again but i made a backup of the bios first with my external programmer before doing it but the results ended up the same. When flashing the backup bios i still ended up getting the same symptoms as i mentioned at the beginning. Is this motherboard completely dead now ?

System Specifications:
Service Tag: 3W0QMV2
i9-9900K
RTX 2060
2x16GB DDR4 2666
Kingston KC3000 1TB
Samsung 970 EVOPlus 2TB
Firecuda HDD 1TB

[hoaca388]

Hi everyone, i got a Alienware Area 51M-R1 that recently stopped working after downgrading the bios from 1.5.0 to 1.3.2. When powering on the laptop with the charger plugged in it does not post, fans don't spin and the keyboard doesn't light up either except the power button logo.

The logo shows a green light for a few seconds and then goes off for a second and keeps repeating for about 4-5 times. After that i get 2 red flashes followed by 1 blue flash which keeps repeating. This code usually means cpu failure but i can confirm that the cpu works because i tested it on a other system

After some research i found out that this code can also be caused by a corruped bios/rom flash. After hours of searching online i finally found someone that uploaded the bios/ec files that can be flashed on the IC's by using a external programmer. On my motherboard i found 3 IC's which are the following: W25Q128JVSQ, W25Q80DVSIG, GD25Q80CSIG

I flashed the 3 files on the IC's and the laptop started working again. I wanted to try to downgrade again but i made a backup of the bios first with my external programmer before doing it but the results ended up the same. When flashing the backup bios i still ended up getting the same symptoms as i mentioned at the beginning. Is this motherboard completely dead now ?

System Specifications:
Service Tag: 3W0QMV2
i9-9900K
RTX 2060
2x16GB DDR4 2666
Kingston KC3000 1TB
Samsung 970 EVOPlus 2TB
Firecuda HDD 1TB

Alienware Area-51m

Service Tag: 3W0QMV2

[Jasonexe]

Alienware Area-51m

Service Tag: 3W0QMV2

Hi, thank you for responding to my post. I tried the following file you send me but same symptoms unfortunately.

[Jasonexe]

Alienware Area-51m

Service Tag: 3W0QMV2

Would it be possible to split the EC file from bios file ?

[ro.man]

Would it be possible to split the EC file from bios file ?

Try this, not sure about size, if need 128 - just cut it.

[Jasonexe]

Try this, not sure about size, if need 128 - just cut it.

My apologies, i mean for the W25Q80DVSIG IC, not KB9542Q. At this point i’m not even sure if the board is still alive. Today i found out why my programmer was getting really hot. When i connect the clip to the bios IC (W25Q128JVSQ) the chipset gets hot in one specific spot. Which makes me think it’s possibly dead maybe.

[ro.man]

My apologies, i mean for the W25Q80DVSIG IC, not KB9542Q. At this point i'm not even sure if the board is still alive. Today i found out why my programmer was getting really hot. When i connect the clip to the bios IC (W25Q128JVSQ) the chipset gets hot in one specific spot. Which makes me think it's possibly dead maybe.

Check if PCH gets any power, usually some warming it is fine if it's not burning hot.
Here is your file..

[ro.man]

My apologies, i mean for the W25Q80DVSIG IC, not KB9542Q. At this point i'm not even sure if the board is still alive. Today i found out why my programmer was getting really hot. When i connect the clip to the bios IC (W25Q128JVSQ) the chipset gets hot in one specific spot. Which makes me think it's possibly dead maybe.

Try my file, I had similar issue and machine started to work only from 1.7.xx version. File I used for my job with yours ST and Windows key. Later you can go to 1.5.0 with USB drive.

[Jasonexe]

Try my file, I had similar issue and machine started to work only from 1.7.xx version. File I used for my job with yours ST and Windows key. Later you can go to 1.5.0 with USB drive.

Thank you for trying to help me, unfortunately i still get the same symptoms after flashing the IC's

[Jasonexe]

Try my file, I had similar issue and machine started to work only from 1.7.xx version. File I used for my job with yours ST and Windows key. Later you can go to 1.5.0 with USB drive.

Do you have a bin file with version 1.28.0 for both Winbond IC’s? I ordered a pre-programmed KB9542Q and would need that version to flash on both winbond ic’s.

[ro.man]

Do you have a bin file with version 1.28.0 for both Winbond IC's? I ordered a pre-programmed KB9542Q and would need that version to flash on both winbond ic's.

This board has 4 ROMs + EC

Main Bios "UH4" - 16MB
Blank chip "UE2" - 1MB
Thunderbolt "UT2" - 1MB
Video "UG22" - 1MB
EC KB9542Q-B "UE5" - 160KB

I don't have that board anymore, so it's extracted main BIOS region and EC fw from 1.28 update. You can take ME region from your original corrupted image and combine them. Just copy DMI and Win key from original ROM. You need to work only with main BIOS, rest chips are not that important for start. And do not use any clips etc - take chips out of the board and flash.
Good luck.

[Jasonexe]

This board has 4 ROMs + EC

Main Bios "UH4" - 16MB
Blank chip "UE2" - 1MB
Thunderbolt "UT2" - 1MB
Video "UG22" - 1MB
EC KB9542Q-B "UE5" - 160KB

I don't have that board anymore, so it's extracted main BIOS region and EC fw from 1.28 update. You can take ME region from your original corrupted image and combine them. Just copy DMI and Win key from original ROM. You need to work only with main BIOS, rest chips are not that important for start. And do not use any clips etc - take chips out of the board and flash.
Good luck.

Thank you for providing me the files. I’m not familiar with doing these stuff unfortunately.. Is there a guide for this somewhere?

[ro.man]

Just need to read all possible guides you find... Concentrate on main BIOS UH4 only, do not use clips as you can mostly read with it but not write properly. Flash all 1Mb chips back with taken before firmware and live them alone.
I created a main BIOS file from clean 1.7.3 update + your original ME + your DMI and Windows key. I've done exactly the same procedure for one of our customers which bricked the same machine with downgrading to version 1.3.2. I managed to make a working BIOS with lowest version 1.7.3, btw you both have ME version 12.0.93.2331 from latest 1.28 update. From the file bellow you can safely go to 1.50 with USB drive (I've done it myself by customer request) or normally update with latest version. Not sure about version 1.3.2 as didn't try it myself but do not think it is a good idea to go to few years old version - all this mess around thermal and power limits just showing a lack of proper cooling. Check your cooling system, remove fans and clean radiators inside, use a proper paste (not MX4) and do not switch to "High\Best Performance" power profile as it force to boost CPU with no reason all the time - always keep "Normal" or "default" power profile and CPU will boost only when needed.