How do I flash BIOS on a bricked Aspire A5600U-UR11 using a USB flash drive?

Hello,

I've been experiencing a major issue with the Acer A5600U-UR11 where I am unable to enter into BIOS or boot. I turn the computer on, hear two to three clicks, see the screen light up black, then shut off. The fan is still spinning and the power light is still on. I've detailed my attempts to fix and trouble shoot here:

All-In-One-PCs/Acer-A5600U-UR11-will-not-boot-Black-Screen-Unable-to-enter-BIOS

I feel like my only option is to flash the BIOS, but the only information I can find is either outdated or pertains to a laptop.

1) Which are the correct BIOS files that I should be using for the Aspire 5600U? There is a P11.A4 and a P01.A0 in the drive download section.

2) How do I prepare a USB flash drive with the correct files to flash the BIOS?

3) What are the steps to boot the USB flash drive to flash the BIOS? I saw a lot of suggestions to press Fn and Esc, but that is only for laptops.

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IronFly

2-3 clicks seems more an HDD issue, if you are out of warranty period, i would try to take off the HDD and then try to boot to BIOS pressing Del, instead of flashing random BIOS version (can be worse).

mingo1

Hi IronFly,

Thanks for your response! Unfortunately the computer is out of warenty (2 year old computer with only a year warenty). It is also not the HDD. With the hard drive in or out, I am unable to enter into BIOS. I also connected a USB keyboard to make sure there was no delay with the supplied wireless keyboard.

A more recent test I did was to remove the hard drive and the cd drive and turn on the computer while the back was off. I have determined that the clicks are from the speakers at the top of the bezel. I disconected the two speaker wires from the motherboard to confirm this.

Other troubleshooting steps I have done:

- Clicked the other buttons on the right hand side of the monitor

- Reset the CMOS

- Removed and Reseated the RAM

- Connected to another monitor via the HDMI Out

- Attempted to boot off of a Linux flash drive

IronFly

check your private messages.

phil3

Hi. I have the same problem with my 5600U - black screen on startup etc. Where is the CMOS reset jumper?

Did you manage to reflash the BIOS? Thanks

mingo1

Hi Phil3,

The CMOS jumper can be found near the hard drive. You will need to take off the top back panel to get to it. There should only be two screws to take off the top back panel.

The CMOS jumper itself is 3 pins sticking out of the motherboard with a blue cap (jumper) over two of the pins.

With the system powered off and unplugged from the wall, move the jumper over so the 3rd exposed pin is now coverd. The middle pin is always covered.

Plug the power in and power on the system. Nothing should happen. Shut the power off and replace the jumper to its original position. This was successfuly for me the 2nd time I tried it, but is not working for me anymore.

Unfortunately, the BIOS flash did not work. I tried a few different methods to flash the BIOS, but without any success. I'd like to thank IronFly for helping me attempt to fix the bricked Acer.

phil3

Hi Mingo1,

Thanks for the info. I did find the CMOS jumper in the end. I found that with the jumper in the reset position and no power connected it helped to hold the power button in for about 20 seconds, presuambly to disspiate any energy in the system, so effectively skipping your step of powering up with the reset pins shorted. After holding the power button in I put the jumper back to its original position and then powered up again as normal. It took quite a while before it beeped and started up, but in the end it did. I managed to get it into BIOS and changed a few settings. I changed halt on error to none and a few other things which I can't remember. Strangely it happily restarts from BIOS but if I shut it down it is a pain to restart but at least it is working. I just let it sleep now and never turn it off! When a family member turned it off once it took some time to boot but it did eventually.

I suspect that the BIOS is the issue but I have not been brave enough to reflash it, especially because you have to reboot it from BIOS to apply the update. My 5600U has P11-A0 BIOS (13/8/12) with V2 EC firmware (8/8/12). I also have a 7600U which has P11-A4 firmware (27/12/12) and V1 EC firmware (20/9/12). I have downloaded P01.A0_A_A.zip & P11.A4_A_A.zip as well as Firmware_Acer_1.0.0.6_A_A.zip but I have no idea which will safely work with the 5600U using Win10 so haven't risked any. However these are later files than the one on my PCs. I believe P11-A0 is EFI while P11-A4 is UEFI. Both my PCs have Win10 so maybe UEFI would be better. If anyone has succesfully updated the BIOS on a 5600U to a newer version it would be great to hear.