[Problem] Bricked Dell Precision 5510 BIOS

Hi,
My Dell Precision 5510 stopped working: Black screen, fans spinning, power led turns on and after several seconds shuts itself off. CMOS / RTC battery was ~2.4V. gives the black screen and shuts down. Thumb drive with BIOS rcv file didn’t work. Display test using the power + D key works.

Next step is to check the BIOS. Ordered a CH341A which will arrive in 2 weeks but I have some questions on the process:

  1. Is there a guide specifically for Dell 16M + 4M BIOS configuration?
  2. I understand that the 16M and 4M chips need to be read and combined. How should they be combined? 16M then 4M? is there padding, alignment…?
  3. The BIOS Precision_5510_1.23.0.exe file needs to be unpacked. I ran a python unpack script and got a .hdr file. Now what?
  4. Which offsets need to be overwritten from the files that were read?
  5. What if the current BIOS is completely corrupt. Isn’t there a file that can be flashed as is?

Really appreciate the assistance!


Edit by Fernando:
Thread moved into the “BIOS Problems” Forum Category and title shortened

Plenty to read and learn about it (extraction/combining/cleaning ME FW, etc…), in the forum till you get the programmer and share the dumps, SN and board ID.

[Request] Dell Precision 5510 BIOS flash using CH341 - BIOS/UEFI Modding / BIOS Modding Requests - Win-Raid Forum