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    ASUS F5SL Bios update

    Discussion in 'Asus' started by xwing, Jul 16, 2008.

  1. xwing

    xwing Newbie

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    Hello.

    Ok, before you call me stupid or anything, let me explain my problem. :)

    I have an Asus F5SL laptop and I wish to upgrade its BIOS, in hope that it will stop hanging sometimes while working on battery power. I downloaded the latest BIOS version (301) and I've installed Winflash from the driver DVD.

    Tried upgrading using Winflash. Failed. I get "Fail to backup the BIOS file, Please press bla bla bla". No matter how many times I press, the result is the same.

    Then I rebooted and opened up the BIOS and used 'Start easy flash' and tried to do the upgrade from there. Failed. I mean, I can browse my Windows partition from it, I can see folders, but I do not see the bios update file. Gave it the .ROM extension and the result is the same.

    Just for the record, I have never updated a BIOS before. I'd appreciate if anyone would offer me some guidance in updating this BIOS. Thanks. :)
     
    xwing, Jul 16, 2008
    #1
  2. ClearSkies

    ClearSkies Well no, I'm still here..

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    It's kind of old, but here's the help I got from Eddie over at BTOTech a while back. You have to Extract the BIOS file after you download it, and before you try to start Winflash.

    If that doesn't work, you could also try downloading Winflash from the Asus website - it's possible that the one you installed from the driver CD isn't playing nice with your system.

    Be sure you do this on AC power with a full battery charge backup. If something were to go wrong before it completes, you end up with a very expensive paperweight.
     
    ClearSkies, Jul 16, 2008
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  3. xwing

    xwing Newbie

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    Hi again. :)

    Sorry for the late reply. Using a different WinFlash versions did not generate that error, but instead something else happened: flashed, then windows shut down for reboot. Then nothing happened; power LED was on, HDD activity stopped, screen blank, no reply to mouse/keyboard. After a forced reboot and 'Load defaults' from BIOS, the version did not change. I even tried shutting down completely with no luck. I only tried with winflash.

    Has anyone encountered this problem? :(
    How can I update the BIOS using different methods? Please help me. :)
     
    xwing, Aug 10, 2008
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  4. E.B.E.

    E.B.E. NBR Procrastinator

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    Alrighty, at this point I would suggest you stop trying. You may have gotten reaallly close to bricking your laptop...

    You could read thru my BIOS guide (link in sig) to see if you followed all the steps properly. There is also a third way of updating the BIOS there, using DOS and AFLASH.

    But try again at your own risk... I don't know what's wrong with the computer when you try and why it doesn't work, but it sounds dangerous.
     
    E.B.E., Aug 10, 2008
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  5. xwing

    xwing Newbie

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    Ahh, I remember trying with EasyFlash as well. For some reason it does not see my update file. I can browse folders, but I see no files. What's wrong?
     
    xwing, Aug 10, 2008
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  6. E.B.E.

    E.B.E. NBR Procrastinator

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    I don't know. Did you unzip the BIOS file properly?

    Also, you can try the AFLASH method from DOS. It is variant #2 in my guide.
     
    E.B.E., Aug 10, 2008
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  7. xwing

    xwing Newbie

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    Yeah, I unzipped it. Even moved it in the root folder (\) and it still does not see it. The file is named 'F5SLAS.302'. Well I will try AFLASH sooner or later, however, what could go wrong?
     
    xwing, Aug 10, 2008
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  8. E.B.E.

    E.B.E. NBR Procrastinator

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    Did you try putting the BIOS file on a USB key? That's how I did it most of the times.
     
    E.B.E., Aug 10, 2008
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  9. xwing

    xwing Newbie

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    Trying that now. Going to use AFLASH.
     
    xwing, Aug 10, 2008
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  10. xwing

    xwing Newbie

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    Ok. I've tried with AFLASH and SUCCEEDED. I've created a bootable USB stick with the 'HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool' (as a friend suggested) and then copied AFLASH there. The process was pretty smooth. Thanks for helping. :)
     
    xwing, Aug 10, 2008
    #10
  11. E.B.E.

    E.B.E. NBR Procrastinator

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    No problem. Glad you solved the problem. Hopefully the BIOS update also solves the original problem you had.
     
    E.B.E., Aug 10, 2008
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  12. Oldman

    Oldman Notebook Evangelist

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    HAVE YOU SOLVED THE HANGING PROBLEM?
     
    Oldman, Aug 10, 2008
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  13. xwing

    xwing Newbie

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    Well this update is supposed to solve the problem. However, the update is pretty new, so I'll need to test it a while. No hanging occurred during the first test, though, but, as I said, the freezing occurs randomly, not each time the notebook runs on battery power. :)
     
    xwing, Aug 10, 2008
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  14. fthtrky

    fthtrky Newbie

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    I have same "hanging" problem with the model ASUS F5SL too. Does BIOS update solve the problem? xwing, can you please inform us about it?
     
    fthtrky, Sep 27, 2008
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  15. fthtrky

    fthtrky Newbie

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    I have updated the BIOS to ver. 304. I am now working on laptop. I hope it doesnt hang anymore. In the description field of ver. 302 (one of the earliest updates) it is said that hanging problem solved with that update.

    E.B.E. your guide is absolutely awesome. I used that for the update process. I preferred to use Easy Flash method. And the process is very straight forward. Thank you very much for your valuable assistance again.

    After a couple of days I will write about problem.
     
    fthtrky, Oct 2, 2008
    #15