Inspiron 14z Horror Story

[Techtree]

Who knew one of the most frustrating computer issues to resolve would be on one of my own. My girlfriend has a laptop, a Dell Inspiron 14z. It’s a few years old but it’s quite a good laptop. She really wanted to update to Windows 10. The free offering was there of course but the Dell website said it was not officially supported. Oh well I thought. I could get the drivers working and get it running fine. Which I did. This story really isn’t about Windows 10 though, even though the Internet would have me believe differently.

Some weeks pass and everything is running fine. I noticed a BIOS update for the machine and decided to install it. This is where my problems started. At first the computer would not wake from sleep and eventually I would have to press the power button several times to get it started. What made things worse is that the laptop battery for the laptop is buried internally. You have to unscrew the case, remove the keyboard and palm rest and then you can reach the battery. To be fair there is a hard reset button you can use with a pin on the back of the case…. But still.

One day I decided to catch up on some invoicing and expense reporting. Computer would not turn on and then I hear 3 beeps. Great. Service manual says it could be many things but suggest primarily a motherboard issue. I strip the computer down and end up resetting the CMOS. BAM, computer boots up. Sweet! The next time I go to start the computer, no dice. Strip down, reset CMOS, no dice… crap.

I end up doing some research online and everyone is blaming Windows 10 but I don’t get how as the machine won’t even complete POST. Eventually after a gruelling several hours I am able to get the computer booted to MS-DOS off a USB stick and flash the BIOS to a previous version. Now it’s working great!

If you do a search online for 14z 3 beeps it seems to be fairly common and a lot of people blaming W10.

Has anyone run into something similar? Do you have some tips or tricks or something I might have missed? Obviously I got it fixed but always willing to improve.

 

[cypress]

I used to have Inspiron 14z. This was literally 5 years ago as it was just a step up from the Netbook phase. With a system that old I would have rather just stuck with Windows 7.

I only upgrade to Windows 10 if on Windows 8 or if machine isn't too old. Otherwise havoc can wreak like a botched driver.

 

[Techtree]

This 14z was purchased two and a half years ago with Windows 8 on it.

 

[Pixelated Tech]

Yes!

I had a 15z that was completely bricked because of this. Luckily I was not the one who performed the OS upgrade. No POST, no recovery, no redundant BIOS, no chance of boot. I spent hours trying to fix it. I recouped my costs by pulling the drive and recovered the data. My client didn't want to source a new board. I do a vendor Win 10 Compatibility check on all non-OEM shipped Win 10 endpoints because of this before doing upgrades.

 

[cypress]

This 14z was purchased two and a half years ago with Windows 8 on it.

Oh ok, didn't know they were still making that same model.

 

[ohio_grad_06]

I'm just noticing the biggest thing here is the BIOS update. This is why I'm one who does NOT do bios updates unless there is very specifically something wrong. I've been playing with computers since I was 5. I'm 35 now. But really doing this as a job for 7-8 years. In all the time I've spent, I would say I've only done BIOS updates a handful of times. It's great to update things, but in my opinion, when you are talking BIOS, if it's not broken, DON'T FIX IT!

I notice the op said "some weeks pass" and things were fine until he did the BIOS update. That tells me he got Windows 10 on it, it was working fine, until the BIOS got updated. I would not be so quick to blame Windows 10. It could happen I suppose, however a bad BIOS update will certainly brick a computer very quickly. I think you are ok installing Windows 10, but if the older BIOS is working, don't touch the bios unless there's a very specific issue you're having and you've got nothing to lose.

Now on the other hand if you've some some system that is limited to like 2gb of ram and was only made to run XP, don't even bother. But from what I've seen, most stuff that runs 7 well, seems to hum right along with 10 as long as you can get the drivers. That may not be the case every time, but for me, about 90% of the time it's been smooth.

 

[seedubya]

I end up doing some research online and everyone is blaming Windows 10 but I don’t get how as the machine won’t even complete POST.

It's amazing how many internet "experts" can't do basic troubleshooting. You'd think it would be obvious that a computer has to POST before software can become involved

 

[Techtree]

I'm just noticing the biggest thing here is the BIOS update. This is why I'm one who does NOT do bios updates unless there is very specifically something wrong. I've been playing with computers since I was 5. I'm 35 now. But really doing this as a job for 7-8 years. In all the time I've spent, I would say I've only done BIOS updates a handful of times. It's great to update things, but in my opinion, when you are talking BIOS, if it's not broken, DON'T FIX IT!

I notice the op said "some weeks pass" and things were fine until he did the BIOS update. That tells me he got Windows 10 on it, it was working fine, until the BIOS got updated. I would not be so quick to blame Windows 10. It could happen I suppose, however a bad BIOS update will certainly brick a computer very quickly. I think you are ok installing Windows 10, but if the older BIOS is working, don't touch the bios unless there's a very specific issue you're having and you've got nothing to lose.

Now on the other hand if you've some some system that is limited to like 2gb of ram and was only made to run XP, don't even bother. But from what I've seen, most stuff that runs 7 well, seems to hum right along with 10 as long as you can get the drivers. That may not be the case every time, but for me, about 90% of the time it's been smooth.

Yes, you're right. I'm done with BIOS updates unless absolutely needed.

 

[Markverhyden]

Agreed with the only update BIOS if absolutely needed. That being said I did a Google search of "Dell Inspiron 14z bios update 3 beeps". And the first hit yielded "You will need to disable hibernation from the command prompt powercfg /hibernate off". People seem to be able to resurrect the machine by pulling the battery and CMOS battery. Makes me wonder if the OS is setting some kind of flag in BIOS.

 

[Pixelated Tech]

While I had this issue, to no avail, nothing worked. (The 15z requires disassembly to remove the battery and CMOS) I spoke with Dell support and they confirmed (at that time) there was no known fix if Windows 10 was installed with a certain BIOS present. The only known fix was a board replacement with the previous BIOS.