BIOS update bricks laptop

[NoviceGamer]

Hey everyone,

Last night I wanted to update my bios which lead to the laptop bricking and wouldn't turn off until the battery finally died. I tried plugging it in afterwards but the laptop would neither charge nor turn on. I tried every trick in the book, but the laptop would not charge or turn on. Nothing. I read online that this could be due to a corrupt bios chip. I want to replace it, but considering the laptop won't turn on at all, does this also mean the motherboard is damaged? I read online that the motherboard cannot be ruined from a bad bios update so I'm hoping I just need to replace the bios chip as it is a cheaper solution than replacing the entire board. Can anyone recommend what to do? Any advice would be really really helpful. Thanks.

 

[Toothless]

First off why did you want to update the bios.

 

[NoviceGamer]

First off why did you want to update the bios.

I have been unable to play Arkham Knight now for some while. I use to play it just fine but then I couldn't load it without it crashing the entire laptop. Out of frustration and without really thinking, I tried to update everything including the bios and that's when it crashed. The laptop won't turn on at all or even charge. Is this an issue with the bios chip or the motherboard?

 

[Yukikaze]

Is the laptop still under warranty?

 

[NoviceGamer]

Is the laptop still under warranty?

No, it is not. :/

 

[Mussels]

sounds like your laptop was failing and it crashed while updating the BIOS. That is not ideal.

most of those bios chips are soldered, so it may take some serious effort to replace it - and since you already had issues with the system with the game crashing, your mobo might already have been on the way out.

 

[NoviceGamer]

sounds like your laptop was failing and it crashed while updating the BIOS. That is not ideal.

most of those bios chips are soldered, so it may take some serious effort to replace it - and since you already had issues with the system with the game crashing, your mobo might already have been on the way out.

Thanks for the response!! This was the only game that would crash the laptop (with a bsod), I played Civ 5 and Tomb Raider perfectly fine. You think this could be a bios chip solution? I found a replacement online for $13 and a place which can solder it. But could a bad bios chip prevent a laptop from booting?

 

[Mussels]

yes, it could prevent it booting. If you can cheaply get the BIOS chip replaced, with a correct BIOS flashed on it in advance it should work as the laptop did before the failed update.

 

[Yukikaze]

A bad BIOS chip can definitely prevent your machine from booting, but there is no guarantee that this is the (sole) problem.

 

[NoviceGamer]

A bad BIOS chip can definitely prevent your machine from booting, but there is no guarantee that this is the (sole) problem.

Is there anyway in determining what exactly the issue is? My fear is that I take it to a shop and they tell me it's a motherboard issue to rip me off (I've had bad experience with repair shops), if I can determine it's a bad bios chip, it'll save me time and money.

 

[Yukikaze]

I don't think there is something simple you can do in a home setting. I'm afraid you'll need to trust a repair shop.

 

[NoviceGamer]

I don't think there is something simple you can do in a home setting. I'm afraid you'll need to trust a repair shop.

Yeah, you're right. Thank you guys! I'll post the status of my laptop when I get it fixed.

 

[Mussels]

the only way to tell is to replace the BIOS chip with a known working one from the exact same motherboard.

 

[NoviceGamer]

the only way to tell is to replace the BIOS chip with a known working one from the exact same motherboard.

Yeah, I'll try this first. Thank you for all the responses.

 

[NoviceGamer]

Hey guys! One last question. I read online about taking the chip off and reprogramming it. Is this an option?

 

[Yukikaze]

If it is soldered, taking it off is not an option. And you need a SPI flash programmer to flash it without desoldering it and you need to wire it to the chip's legs. It is doable, but I doubt you have the hardware needed to do it at home.

 

[qurotro]

Hey guys! One last question. I read online about taking the chip off and reprogramming it. Is this an option?

It is doable but you still need a programmer to flash the bios chip

 

[Ja.KooLit]

I dont know but please someone correct me if what kind of laptop is it? Most of manufacturer's laptop has a how to recovery incase of bad bios flashing.

and also, have you tried CMOS reset? I have a month laptop before (asus f8 something) cant really remember. I dismantle just to reset cmos by taking out the motherboard battery. it was also because of flashing bios.

 

[NoviceGamer]

I dont know but please someone correct me if what kind of laptop is it? Most of manufacturer's laptop has a how to recovery incase of bad bios flashing.

and also, have you tried CMOS reset? I have a month laptop before (asus f8 something) cant really remember. I dismantle just to reset cmos by taking out the motherboard battery. it was also because of flashing bios.

It's a MSI GS70 2PE. couldn't try the CMOS reset because I had no idea where the CMOS was located. The manual doesn't really tell and when I asked on the MSI forum, no one responded. However, I did remove the battery and it didn't change anything.

 

[Ja.KooLit]

It's a MSI GS70 2PE. couldn't try the CMOS reset because I had no idea where the CMOS was located. The manual doesn't really tell and when I asked on the MSI forum, no one responded. However, I did remove the battery and it didn't change anything.

This is a CMOS battery...

you said you remove the battery. So you did dismantle the back of your laptop?

http://www.myfixguide.com/manual/msi-gs70-disassembly/

 

[NoviceGamer]

This is a CMOS battery...

you said you remove the battery. So you did dismantle the back of your laptop?

http://www.myfixguide.com/manual/msi-gs70-disassembly/

Yes, I have. I was sure to be careful and put everything back when I closed it. I removed the CMOS battery and nothing changed. What I couldn't find was the CMOS switch that I've seen other laptops have. But yeah, I tried removing the CMOS battery.

 

[jaggerwild]

I love these titles never hung out at a forum but, BIOS update bricks laptop!!! Suddenly your a lap top computer expert

 

[R-T-B]

I love these titles never hung out at a forum but, BIOS update bricks laptop!!! Suddenly your a lap top computer expert

I know this is going to blow your mind, but I've had bios bricks and I do laptop refurbs for a living. It happens... Particularly when the flash program is windows only and drivers are amuck.

 

[fixerperson]

Howdy strangers, just signed up to give you the run down on what is actually happening with these GS70 turds. I had one come into my shop that wouldn't enter the BIOS but would otherwise work, and this happened after the customer tried to flash. sounded like a bad BIOS chip to me, so i popped it off and checked it out. the chip could read fine, but 2/3 times I tried to write to it, it would corrupt the BIN. I replaced the chip with another one, flashed the latest BIOS, and it works like a charm.

so, what is happening here? well, BIOS chips often fail like this, where they will read OK, but they have issues being written to. so when you properly flash the BIOS, and it fails, it is *not* your fault, it is the fault of a shoddy BIOS chip.

if you need any more info, the BIOS chip is a EN25Q64-104HIP which can be had for $1.50 on ebay, but you will need to program it with a BIOS programmer (bring it to a computer shop and if they aren't a bunch of newbs, they should only charge you a bit of pocket change to program) hope this helps, I'll subscribe to this thread in case anyone has any other questions