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How Do I Recover from a Bios Update Failure?

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I downloaded a new bios update from the toshiba website onto my pendrive.
As I ran the application, my screen went blank and did not respond again for more than an hour. I forcefully swithed off my pc and turned it on again but thre was no response. What do i do?

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Clarifications

In reply to How Do I Recover from a Bios Update Failure?

Clarifications

If the BIOS is corrupt

In reply to How Do I Recover from a Bios Update Failure?

then the motherboard is dead, for all intents and purposes.

Is this a desktop or laptop?

The only possible thing to try would be to remove the CMOS battery and try to reset the bios settings. Most desktop motherboards have a jumper to force a reset, but laptops do not.

As this is a Toshiba and it’s a Note Book

In reply to How Do I Recover from a Bios Update Failure?

You need a new M’Board. There is a very good reason why all NB Makers give a Warning Notice about BIOS Flashes. You do it wrong or use the wrong BIOS Code and you kill the M’Board.

Col

Laptop BIOS

In reply to How Do I Recover from a Bios Update Failure?

There is a way to reset the BIOS back to default on a laptop but it takes a sharp tech to do it and it will cost you. The CMOS battery or the equivilent thereof needs to be zeroed out so the BIOS will load from the firmware chip and not the flash BIOS chip that holds the corrupted BIOS. It isn’t easy but it can be done and Toshiba deliberately makes it difficult.

Reponse To Answer

In reply to Laptop BIOS

Please explain: “Toshiba deliberately makes it difficult.” If your response is based upon fact and not opinion, it will alter the way I see Toshiba as a recommendation to my clients.

Reponse To Answer

In reply to Laptop BIOS

Toshiba Deliberately makes life difficult because they do not share with anyone but Authorized Techs to way to clear problems in Toshiba NB.

Things like their product setting BIOS or Power On Passwords by themselves and requiring a visit to the Service Tech to clear the problem with no possibility of obtaining a Service Manual is probably the most obvious.

They are OK units provided that nothing goes wrong with them and when it does you are stuck with Authorized Service Agents and the associated costs to get the unit working again.

Not a real problem if the unit is Under Guarantee but a expensive repair when the required Repair isn???t covered by the Warranty. And the unit setting it???s own Password is a real problem. Doesn???t happen to every model but it is a known issue that is impossible to fix by anyone but the Toshiba Techs. Not great if you own one though.

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In reply to Laptop BIOS

To clarify this a bit; correct me if I am wrong, but I believe there is only one place BIOS is stored, not a separate firmware chip and flash bios chip.

Modern laptops have a security chip which has firmware and flash, but it’s sole purpose is to store/manage the power-on password and BIOS security. The security chip makes it practically impossible to defeat the power-on-password since draining the CMOS battery or ultracapacitor has no effect on a flash chip.

But there is no ‘second copy of BIOS’, there’s only one. And if you corrupt that, your PC is bricked.

Reponse To Answer

In reply to Laptop BIOS

Robo, The Gigabyte NB’s have a Dual BIOS that allows you to recover from a Bad Flash but they are the only ones that I know that has that.

The Power On Passwords that where Pioneered by IBM where most certainly held on a Flash Chip that was unaffected by a BIOS change or at least an Attempted BIOS Change. Though it was possible for them to be cleared it wasn’t a simple or easy process as it involved shorting out 2 Solder Contacts on the M’Board.

In the case of the Toshiba’s they simply do not have the Dual BIOS Option. 😉

Col

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