Helios 500 Not booting up after system update

Morning all,

Ran updates for my Helios 500 this morning, the screen said something along the lines of "Please wait while installing system update" and the progress bar was moving along. Walked away for a few minutes and when I came back I noticed the screen was black and I couldn't hear fans, but the keyboard was lit. Left it alone for a while and had no change. Tried to restart by holding the power button, but it's the same story. Keyboard lights right up, no screen or fans.

I've also done a battery reset (https://us.answers.acer.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/34843/~/acer-internal-battery-reset) to no avail. One thing to note is that when I plugged it in this morning (before updates) it made loud *beep* that I wasn't used to hearing. When I unplugged it to attempt the battery reset, it made the same noise. After resetting the battery, I plugged it in before attempting to turn it back on and no noise was made. The light that indicates charging is on.

I did search a bit to see if anyone else has had this issue, but I've got to run out to a job and may have overlooked an answer. Apologies if that's the case.

Dropped a lot of money on this baby and have only just started making it back, hoping to find a solution that doesn't involve pricey repairs or shipping.

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Commodore_1995#

What is the exact model of notebook? Example an515-51!

fejerm

Have you tried it with an external monitor?

Was it a green progress bar under the Acer logo?
If yes, then Windows was doing a bios update to 1.16. (I assume you have the Intel model)
It seems that your bios update failed.

Hopefully just the ec got only damaged and the bios was written succesfully so a cmos reset can force the bios to reset the settings and to rewrite the ec.

Have you tried a cmos reset?

Disconnecting the battery is only half the thing needed for a cmos reset, you also need to connect 2 pins!
Sort these 2 large pins for 30 sec while the battery is disconnected:

Mine has a button to make cmos reset easier but yours will not have one installed, just the pins.

Sort these for at least 30 sec while battery is disconnected.

After this turn on the laptop.

The laptop will turn on+off for about 4 times because the bios is rewriting the ec.

If this does not happen you either did something wrong or the bios itself is also damaged.

If you!are positive you did everything correctly than the only thing left possible is to rewrite the bios.

You need to manually rewrite the original .bin file to the bios chip with an spi programmer.
I can share the original v1.16 .bin file if you wish.

However if you dont have an spi programmer (and cmos reset is not working) then the only thing left is to RMA the laptop.

If I am correct please press yes to accept my answer.Thank you.

fejerm

Sorry, double post.

BrandonTRLLC

egydiocoelho said:

What is the exact model of notebook? Example an515-51!

PH517-51

fejerm

BrandonTRLLC said:

egydiocoelho said:

What is the exact model of notebook? Example an515-51!

PH517-51

Then what I wrote unfortunately seems to be correct.

Windows update downloads the latest bios (1.16) when it first gets on the internet and updates it with it's own update software and not Insyde's software.
Seems an issue has occured with your bios update, do what I wrote in my post.
If it does not work and you do not have an SPI programmer, then you need to RMA your laptop.

BrandonTRLLC

fejerm said:

BrandonTRLLC said:

egydiocoelho said:

What is the exact model of notebook? Example an515-51!

PH517-51

Then what I wrote unfortunately seems to be correct.

Windows update downloads the latest bios (1.16) when it first gets on the internet and updates it with it's own update software and not Insyde's software.
Seems an issue has occured with your bios update, do what I wrote in my post.
If it does not work and you do not have an SPI programmer, then you need to RMA your laptop.

Thanks for the help. What do you mean by sorting the pins?

I know there's a chance it's a totally unrelated problem, but I found the following solution in a thread from about a year back. Any input on if it applies here? https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/533670/screen-not-turning-on/p2

Thanks again

msmith123 said:

Hi, you can try to do a BIOS recovery.

Here's the procedure for a Predator G9-591:

First of all, download the following file (BIOS 1.11 with the correct recovery name): drive.google.com/file/d/1zsz6F6HonvnlDbOJMHi6OzpncW4GkwFX/view
Then, do the following steps:

1. Copy the BIOS file to an empty and with FAT16/32 formatted usb stick.
2. Unplug the AC adapter.
3. Plug in the USB flash disk.
4. Press and hold <Fn> and <Esc>, and then plug in the AC adapter while still holding <Fn> and <Esc>.
5. Press the Power button. You can now stop holding <Fn> and <Esc>.
6. The BIOS flash should now begin, the fan will spin up and the power led should change its state.
7. After everything is done, the notebook will shut down.

fejerm

BrandonTRLLC said:

fejerm said:

BrandonTRLLC said:

egydiocoelho said:

What is the exact model of notebook? Example an515-51!

PH517-51

Then what I wrote unfortunately seems to be correct.

Windows update downloads the latest bios (1.16) when it first gets on the internet and updates it with it's own update software and not Insyde's software.
Seems an issue has occured with your bios update, do what I wrote in my post.
If it does not work and you do not have an SPI programmer, then you need to RMA your laptop.

Thanks for the help. What do you mean by sorting the pins?

I know there's a chance it's a totally unrelated problem, but I found the following solution in a thread from about a year back. Any input on if it applies here? https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/533670/screen-not-turning-on/p2

Thanks again
msmith123 said:
Hi, you can try to do a BIOS recovery.

Here's the procedure for a Predator G9-591:

First of all, download the following file (BIOS 1.11 with the correct recovery name): drive.google.com/file/d/1zsz6F6HonvnlDbOJMHi6OzpncW4GkwFX/view
Then, do the following steps:

1. Copy the BIOS file to an empty and with FAT16/32 formatted usb stick.
2. Unplug the AC adapter.
3. Plug in the USB flash disk.
4. Press and hold <Fn> and <Esc>, and then plug in the AC adapter while still holding <Fn> and <Esc>.
5. Press the Power button. You can now stop holding <Fn> and <Esc>.
6. The BIOS flash should now begin, the fan will spin up and the power led should change its state.
7. After everything is done, the notebook will shut down.

Well, that could work, however I do not know how to prepare the flash drive because older Acer laptops used 1 .fd file which had to be renamed but newer Acer laptops with 8750H CPU (including the Helios 500) use 2 .fd files and both would need to be renamed.
Maybe an Ace can check in the service manual if it has anything regarding this.

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