Acer Revo One RL85 won't boot after bios update Does anyone know how to fix this?

Hi,

I have updated to P11-B0, which appeared successful, but after boot the BIOS is not finding the RAM and is not seeing the HD. It says "AHCI Port0: Not Present". Same for port 1. The BIOS does not remember any changes I make in the BIOS after a reboot so I can't boot on a USB and it simply comes up with a Windows Boot Manager which states "Reboot and Select proper Boot Device or Insert Boot Media in selected device and press a key". On the Acer website I supplied the serial number of the Revo to ensure I got to the right support page where I downloaded the latest BIOS update.

Does anyone know how to fix this? Or has this BIOS update bricked my computer? If it has, what is my recourse with Acer?

Thanks
[Edited the thread to add issue detail]

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PLSM5882

By the way, I have cleared the CMOS, just in case... to no avail.

PLSM5882

Ok, I am hoping that someone will help after the weekend. Until then I have ordered the SOIC clip to see if I can reprogram the EEPROM with an older BIOS file. However, having never done this before it'd be really good to hear from someone who has.

Thanks

PLSM5882

Acer support has been totally unhelpful and unfortunately here has been no help either. Brill... in the bin it goes. Never Acer again. Don't get these issues from HP and Dell...

gm7eey

Wish I had found this post earlier, my RL85 now also bricked due to P11-B0 bios update, all looked fine,now its unusable. Shame Acer are so crappy about their software, good machine now wasted and money down the drain as there is no fix. Shame on you Acer, wont be wasting any money after that kind of service.

Mick0411

Try this, worked for me after failed upgrade of BIOS. I have listed the steps required

https://tosiek.pl/ch341-eeprom-and-spi-flash-programmer/

Programmer video (instructions):

https://youtu.be/5NYe21nFSDI

*****remember drivers & swap cables around & verify

Bright red light required on programmers for drivers

**************************

1. Ordered a SPI programmer and a Fitting cable for it.

2. Downloaded a SPI programmer Software and Windows 10 USB drivers for the programmer. Don't know if I'm allowed to post the links here. I'm sure you will find something

3. Installed USB Driver for Windows 10. Don't know if this is really necessary.

4. Disassembled the Acer RL85 so I have acces to the mainboard. Removed battery, CMOS and RAM.

5. Attach the cable to the USB programmer, be sure you will take the Connection Points in the back (not the ones which are closer to the USB Port).

6. Make sure the Jumper on the programmer is on PIN 1 and 2. You can see the PIN Numbers by turning the programmer around. By Default it should be already correct.

7. Connect the programmer to any USB Port on your Computer where the Programming Software and the drivers are installed.

8. Search for the EEPROM on your Acer RL85. It is marked with SPI and connect the other side of the Programmer cable to the EEPROM (This is the side with the Clip

). SPI should be Close to the Card Reader.

9. Make sure the Clip is correctly connected to the EEPROM and every elecric line is connected.

10. Start the programmer and make sure that in the lower right Corner "Device state connected" appears. If not the connection is not fitting correctly or you have to turn the Clip 180 degrees and attach it again.

11. To check the final connection press "Detect Chip" in the programmer. If nothing will be shown your connection is faulty. Otherwise you will get back two chips. Choose the first one.

12. Press "Read" and save your current BIOS.

13. Download ther acer.bin from jcd69.

https://mega.nz/#!hUolkb6b!TgZ5th63Vvl4a5oIMO9i5NvI_i9HhizuZTbjWOjsiB4

14. Load the acer.bin with the programmer and press write. Now the acer.bin will be flashed to your EEPROM.

15. Disconnect the cable and put your RL85 together again. Set the CMOS to normal state.

16. Boot into Windows and download the most current BIOS Version from Acer. NOW USE THE FLASH.BAT LIKE DISCRIBED IN THE MANUAL

17. Device is now fully updated with the current BIOS Version of acer.

2rrm

Hi,

We are having the same problem with an RL85, since flashing to P11-A2L, we are unable to make any changes to the BIOS. We have purchased the programmer and are able to read the chip and program it, but have had no success with the conversion of .cap files to .rom / .bin and the download link is not working in this post.

If anyone can help provide the acer.bin file mentioned above that would be really appreciated.

Thanks

2RRM

atodared

Dear Mick0411

Do you still have the "acer.bin" file?. The link does not work.

I bought the CH431A Programmer, but it does not work with .CAP bios format.

Thanks in advance

Rafael.

atodared

thanks to Mick0411,

here you are the acer revo RL85 bios in .bin format for the CH431A programmer:

acer_RL85_bios_P11-A3.bin

cheers, Rafael.

philmck

You guys are absolutely brilliant, this post saved me £100 or so.

In case anyone else comes across this problem in future (still possible, due to Acer's appalling documentation!), a few additional things I found might help:

I found the USB Programmer CH341A and clip on Amazon (for less than a tenner!) which was useful because there's a postal strike here at the moment. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07YDFNYDS/
The programmer needed a hardware mod to change the outputs from 5 V to 3.3. V. The steps by @Mick0411 don't include this and you might get away with using 5V if you unplug the RAM as he did, but personally I wouldn't risk it. https://www.eevblog.com/forum/repair/ch341a-serial-memory-programmer-power-supply-fix/
Step 5 in the description was wrong for me - the pins used need to be the ones closest to the USB port.
AsProgrammer has been replaced by NeoProgrammer, which worked better for me. https://www.mediafire.com/file/1263zy82q612ub4/NeoProgrammer+V2.2.0.10.zip/file
Because of the problem in the original step 5, neither programmer would initially recognise the BIOS chip and I had a hell of a time identifying it because the printed part number was almost illegible. It turns out it's a Winbond 25Q64FV and it's an SPI BIOS type (not I2C).