A couple of problems

What if:

A) My system didn't ship with a floppy drive.

Luckily I have one from an older system I can use, but not all customers have floppy drives.

B) Even if it did, it either doesn't boot at all or it boots to a keyboard failure prompt irrespective of whether or not a keyboard is installed.

I'll make sure not to flash next motherboard to 1.4.0. If you need a system to dissect, let me know.

Thanks Lionel for this very fast blog post!

We are hoping that new version come soon, but in my case i cannot downgrade my BIOS, when the system reboot shows UPGRADE FAILED, FLASH NOT IN FLASH MEMORY, or something like that. This with 1.1.6 and with 1.1.3, with lower version i not tested yet, but this occur in Windows Upgrade GUI, not in DOS prompt.

 Thanks for all that support, and I'm waiting right now for my second mobo upgrade. And i don't upgrade to the 1.4. Maybe 1.4.1 In the next week I HOPE.

Hi Lionel,

 I'm the "Mike" from the other blog posting who you replied to asking for an e-mail address (I've provided one this time). Well, I finally managed to figure out what went wrong on my XPS 700 after the v1.4 BIOS update and all is working well with the 1.4 update on my system now. Now that I know what went wrong, I feel a little silly, but at the time, it really caused me a whole lot of grief (more than 8 hours worth!) since I didn't have a current backup (a big no no I know), and I thought for sure that I had lost all of my data. It took hours upon hours of fighting with the system in order to get my data back. I'm glad I finally did.

Anyway... It turns out that the solution was very simple had I of realized what had actually happened from the very beginning. My XPS 700 is setup with four WD Raptor SATA drives all run in a stripped array (controlled by the on-board nVidia RAID controller) and another large 500 GB WD SATA drive that's not part of the array. After doing the BIOS upgrade, all of my current BIOS settings were retained, but apparently the boot order of my drives got screwed up. The v1.4 BIOS update somehow reconfigured the boot order of the drives and so the system wouldn't boot after doing the BIOS update. Since all my other BIOS settings were left unchanged, I simply didn't catch this in the beginning (i.e. in my panic). To complicate things even more, my system is dual booting both Win Vista and Win XP and so everything just came crashing down in a big mess after the v1.4 BIOS update and I really struggled to recover my system.

 I guess that the moral to my story is that if your system doesn't boot properly after installing the v1.4 BIOS update, be sure to check the boot order of your drives (especially if you're running a RAID array along with other disks not in the array and not being controlled by the onboard nVidia RAID controller).

What an experience this one has been for me. I've done lots of BIOS updates on my Dell machines over the years and I've never had any problems at all. I guess as systems become more complex, there's more things that can go wrong. I must admit that I was pretty darn mad at Dell in the beginning, but now that the ordeal is over, I now realize that I should have been able to catch the problem sooner on my own and save myself all that grief. Thus, I don't blame Dell. Instead, I give them praise for providing XPS 700 owners with the BIOS update (as many other companies would not have done so).

I'm especially pleased with the news of the XPS 700 mother board exchange program (which I hope encompasses the XPS 700n build-your-own systems as well). Way to go Dell! I've bought lots of Dell systems over the years and will continue to do so as long as you folks continue taking care of your customers as you're doing right now. Kudos to you!

-- MIKE

I'm glad to see XPS 700 owners seeing that their issues are being addressed. How about E521 owners waiting for their Vista upgrades? Will there be a Bios update for us that will work when upgrading to Vista. 1.1.4 has serious issues, 1.1.5 who knows. 1.0.3, does this need to be updated to run Vista, without frying our motherboards? If 1.0.3 works with Vista, where are our upgrades? Waiting, registered 11/29/06.  Thank You

Hi, Mike:

Wow thats not solve my problem, i have 2 160 GB Raptor X too in RAID 0 + 500 GB Seagate + 320 GB WD, and my boot order screw too but i reorder that and the problems continues. And what about the keyboard missing? This is a BIOS problem, without doubts.
 

hey SURIV...

ya everyone knows its a bios problem.....even dell knows that..thats why they pulled it from their website...

you seem to go around the board complaining here and there...crying here and there...just be happy for the mobo upgrade ok..stop being a little girl..and i dont know about other people but its hard to understand some of your posts...

in one your posts...you were crying for a NEW BIOS..when in the thread they already mentioned there was a new bios that supports sli memory...

Hi xps_user:

I cry A ALOT and maybe i'm UPSET ALOT and Lionel knows why...

My original order become delayed for 5 months, i never have a chance for upgrade my PC or have a $200 gift card. The DTS creative decoder, the missing XPS mouse pad, This XPS 700 has been a "all time fight" now with the BIOS problem, if the Dell engineering do not work well i gonna CRY AGAIN AND AGAIN, specially for my condition living in Chile and covered by the POOR Dell Latin-America.

Sure in the past post I'm crying AGAIN, coz i cant put DDR2 800 MHz IN MY TOP LINE XPS 700. Thats why...

And sorry if you can't understand my posts, i don't talk in English i talk in SPANISH!!!!!!!!!

SURIV

you may talk in spanish but you are surely trying to type in english. regardless of that.

being a cry baby wont get you anywhere. there is always a start to something good which dell has done (mobo exchange). everything you buy or get in life there will be a problem.

like in the post where lionel mentioned that there is a new bios posted which supports sli memory, you went on crying "when will there be a bios that will support it" just doesnt make sense does it? mouse pad? didnt they already mention that dell will send it out with the mobo replacement??? i know they did. maybe instead of talking spanish or trying to type in english, you might want to LEARN HOW TO PAY ATTENTION AND READ ENGLISH???

5 months delay? didnt you have an option to cancel your order???? you did. you could have cancelled your order and not cry about it. you have a choice and you made it. so dont blame dell. i dont think dell is the only manufacturer out there selling computers.

DTS decorder. you really notice a difference??? i already see you have a problem paying attention to what is being said. you really think you can figure out what the diff. is with DTS? again i think not. people like you always find a reason to cry about...regardless of that. didnt dell mention they are working on the DTS issue???

dell engineers are engineers for a reason and you crying over and over again wont make change them...so keep crying til people like me have been patient.

i upgraded the bios and it works fine for me and with 800mhz MEMORY to add.

200 gift card. didnt they say they wont do anything about it? which i can understand is not fair. but you crying and not understand half of the stuff here wont make it better.

be logical..all your problems have been addressed so cut back on the crying cuz i am sure lionel is sick and tired of it.

he does his best..your crying wont move him 1 bit. a lot of us have been in the same boat. and been understanding. sure its been frustrating, but man you need to CHILL down in CHILE.

Ho sorry, i don't know u are a lucky man, no delays on your xps, no xps BIOS problem, works the 800 MHz memory, and don't WORK with music decoders.

 Have fun paying with your XPS

Greetings!

Currently, in my MBA marketing class at the University of
Dallas, (I did my undergrad work at Temple U in Philadelphia)
we have been having a discussion with the questions I have
posted below. Could someone at Dell please take a shot
at these questions. I would truly appreciate it. 

Is the Internet channel the ideal means for sustaining Dell's
strategy of made-to-order computers and direct sales to customers?

Will the availability of the Internet as a marketing channel
for competitors quickly erode Dell's competitive advantage? 

Sincerely,
Rodney Gray

hundred thousand welcomes too you too m8 :)

Hi SuriV !

I just read your comments and I feel bad that you have continued to have some negative experiences. I met with Lionel and others back in February and worked through the major issues and I want to encourage you to hang on a bit longer. Dell is going to take care of their XPS 700 customers and that includes you! The XPS 700 customers in many ways are very fortunate! Dell's provision of a new motherboard, nearly a year after the point of sale, provides customers with a new lease on their computer life! It has been a long wait, but in the end I believe that the customers will be satisfied and Dell will be a better customer centered corporation.

Don't worry about not speaking or reading perfect English! My wife and I teach in the same high school. She is an English teacher and I often read the papers she grades and your English is better than many of her students! Send me an email! I miss chatting with you! David

I sent a comment approx 1 - 2 weeks ago...regarding the mobo exchange in Europe (that Dell EU has no knowledge of it...and that I had to tell them about it and about direct2dell...I see the internal communications haven't improved much since the fiasco of the XPS 700 launch...!) and have yet to see the comment in any of the mobo upgrade threads.

 I have an xps700 and am (relatively) happy but my mobo will not run with 4gig RAM, with Vista premium 64-bit and the SLI isnt working (the last problem is an NVidia issue I know..)

 Jesus..I have a fully loaded system that cant run the hardware I want to use on it and that I have paid for. Dell XPS reps can't help me and don't have enough technical knowledge to resolve my issues (the RAM issue could just be a stability problem with Vista I know...). They just say:

 "Yeah...have u tried using different different banks, maybe its because the memory is from two different vendors..." ...hmm...sound technical advice...

 Anyway...when is the mobo replacement going to be rolled out in Europe? Because otherwise I cant use 1/3 of my hardware....and I didn't pay out 4000 euro's for a part-working system...

 And I don't expect to KEEP having to chase Dell up, for crying out loud. This is the wrong kind of role reversal.

I enjoy reading that I am not alone with my XPS problems, but not the woes that each person is experiencing.  I am pretty patient with this whole matter, but a BIOS update could not come soon enough for me.

 I will definitely upgrade the motherboard for free, but not sure if I can afford a Quad proc.  I figure that the 25% reduced price offer will be on their "list" price. 

I have not exhaustively read all of the info on the XPS 800 but I think that I remember reading that the 4GB of RAM in my XPS 700 motherboard will not work with the new version.  Is that correct?  I wonder if Dell will subsidize the memory that I will need to replace too.

Waiting for news,

DC

It's been quiet for a while now, can you give us the status of the Bios fix or the motherboard upgrade?  I hate to beg for information, but you guys need to be better getting news out.

romills: My apologies. Have been quiet because there hasn't been an update to give.

I'll push this again early next week to see where we stand on development and testing of the updated BIOS.

Hello Lionel,

Just thought maybe you would like to know that I have been speaking to the  dedicated XPS support in Europe (based in Ireland I believe) due to Vista 64-bit, 4 gig Ram problems. My problem is I have purchased 2 gigs of RAM from a third party (locally here in Holland) and a Dutch OEM version of Vista 64-bits (to be able to use the 4 gigs). Dell says (as expected...) "Did you buy them both from us?" and of course when I answer no the reply is "Can't help you, put the machine back in its delivered state (i.e. with win XP media centre 32-bits OS and 2 gig ram) and it will work...if that goes wrong we will support you." So, basically to keep any form of support I have to keep ordering everything at Dell...riiiiggght...as if I am going to pay over the top prices for memory and an OS...

Very interesting these guys....totally oblivious to this blog and infact they said its not an official communication medium from Dell. I explained about the MoBo exchange programme and that it was worldwide (as stated in this blog) and they just said "Only in America and don't believe the hype" - that is literally what they said.

 Oh, their names:

 Don Begley (support engineer) and John Bradley (senior support engineer). I got very angry at them and the fact that they just said "The official dell site is www.dell.com" (or whatever) and I even said I would go to an ombudsman in Holland and let them know how this whole pathetic XPS experience has developed.

Now I am REALLY getting annoyed. I have a computer that I paid LOTS of money for to be fast, upgradable and future-proof in as much as is possible in a fast moving IT industry. Dell just seems to frustrate me. Firstly with the delivery, secondly with the idiotic regulation and no support when I have a 'Vista Compatible' machine and thirdly with the pathetic customer service and internal communications.

 I would like some sort of response please. Email me or via this forum. I am getting to the point of just selling my XPS and buying from a non-Dell supplier or just building my own system. Why on earth I didn't do that in the first place I am not sure, maybe the promiss of the XPS Experience was too good to resist....unfortunately up until now its just been 'Too good to be true' ....

Hello again,

I have been doing some research. Whois etc so I can prove to XPS support that this domain is from Dell. Will send that when the time comes. Anyway, my message is more shocking (I feel) ...

The engineers were telling me I had a 680 chipset, I thought 590, now another engineer told me mcp55 c19, and I read on a dell forum that in fact its a 570...wtf....I will be checking my invoice and taking my system apart next week to check but if that is the case then all I can say is...refund.

Any comments?

Found this thread in preparation of fixing a Dell system that failed to update to BIOS 1.4 and now doesn't boot. Don't know what model the system is yet but it was killed at the weekend (12/13 May 07).

It's always nice to have your convictions confirmed - I try to steer my customers away from any company that designs it's own motherboards etc., not only do you have lock-in to that manufacturer but when things go wrong it's often spectacular, plus painfull for those affected to get sorted. The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

One satisfied customer may tell 5 others how good a system is, one dissatisfied customer will tell - how many?

Hope everyone gets sorted to their satisfaction.

 

so i have a problem that involves all of this.

i was given this computer from a guy who knew nothing about firewalls. so his computer got viruses. and he didn't realize any of this, until it started to destroy windows.

so a guy came and wiped the hard drives.

now i have the computer.

when i try to boot, it says:

Loading PBR for descriptor 2 . . .done.

Bad PBR

and then nothing happens, i hit enter, and:

No boot device available -

 strike F1 to retry boot, F2 for setup utility.

i dont have the windows install disc, but the guy who wiped the computer says it wouldn't recognize  the drives as being there (3 160 gig SATA, no PATA).

any advice for me, before i embark on the great journey? 

Why would you stop this program in October of '07?

 I  bought the XPS 700 in Sept. '07, including loading it up with your nvidia Quad SLI configuration. 

I'm only now looking into upgrading my XPS 700 and find that the program that would resolve the hardware compatability issue when upgrading to the newest Vista OS has been terminated.

Why would you leave out those of us who were not looking to upgrade their PC's less than a year after they purchased it?

Please advise,

Robert