HELP! Has anyone ever attempted a blind BIOS flash?

aight, ill be around here.

 

Ok I just can't get it to access the floppy - it doesn't even spin up. The only way I can get the laptop to do anything is by holding the power button down when I plug the power cable in. At this point the only thing that happens it the dashboard lights come on and if I have a hard drive installed it spins up. After a few seconds it everything then stops and it just goes back to the power button light being on. I've tried installing the files on a spare hard disk and that doesn't work either.

I wonder if a USB keyboard would help. Only thing is I can't send the Fn key command with a USB keyboard. That's what I think has happened - the incorrect BIOS flash has fooked my keyboard and so it doesn't know that I'm holding down Fn + Esc.

 

the keyboard works, but it takes a few times to get it right if you have never done it.

now what files are on your floppy since you dont have allot of space.

 

AUTOEXEC.BAT
BIOS.WPH
COMMAND.COM
KERNEL.SYS
PHLASH16.EXE

It's not even accessing the floppy though John. I've tried so many different combinations of key presses and plugging the power in at different times and the only combo that does anything is holding the power button and then plug power cable in. It does not try and access the floppy then though, even without a HD installed.

 

well...for starters...your missing one of the main files...io.sys
and none of them other ways are going to work.. it has to be using the fn + esc key then hold power button and turn machine on. if the 3 lights dont come on and stay...means it wasn't done correctly.. unless of course gateway changed something.

 

IO.SYS is just an MSDOS boot loader. The files I am using are from that rar a few posts ago which obviously uses a different boot loader. However that's not the problem as I'm not even getting that far. It's not accessing the floppy at all. And I can't get it to either.

What 3 lights do you mean?

Are there any high res pictures of the motherboard in a 6831 or 6860. I'm just wondering if there might be a bootblock jumper somewhere on the motherboard. 7811: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=256839 - can't see any jumpers on that one.

 

capslock/numbslock/power light or battery light. i forget
if im not mistaken.

you can always send it in. that's what they told me when i thought i bricked mine, but i recovered it so all was good. they told me there was no way to recover it and that they had to put another bios chip in. which basically told me they clearly had no idea....

and i tried that key combination about 100 times before i figured out it had to be done a certain way. then i had some one do it on a 7811 to see if it worked and it did. so i know it works on 6831/6860/7811

at this point you have nothing but time to trial and error it. also...

just use the wincris.exe. it will make your disk for you and u just replace the bios file with your own and rename it to bios.wph

 

I just can't get it to access the floppy. Gutted.

 

hummm, well you can try these as well...

fn+b
fn+r
fn+esc
windows key + r
windows key + b
windows key + esc

 

Yeah tried most of those. No luck. Off to Gateway repair I think.

Thanks again though.

 

Not sure if this helps..but it seems straight forward. Also, seems a lot like what john was explaining.. And yea, just an idea.

http://www.theeldergeek.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=21209

 

oh..also, here's the official crisis recovery zip from Wistron, the company who programmed your BIOS. Just replace the bios with your BIOS. This one is from the 7811FX, but if ya replace the BIOS no reason it won't work on the 6831. Just make sure to rename it. Wincris is included.. heck, if the Crisis recovery from Wistron doesn't work then you may have an issue

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=KZR24888

Uploaded it for ya.. good luck.

 

Cheers E-wrecked. Problem is I still can't get the laptop to even try the floppy drive, let alone load anything from it. I've tried every single possible combination of key presses and power on's. It seems a bit coincidental that I lost on-board keyboard and trackpad right after my major **** up. I really do think that the laptop does not know that I'm holding down keys on the keyboard.

I've even tried a USB keyboard just in case but I don't think that the laptop is in a well enough state to start accepting keystrokes from a USB keyboard. If I'm correct it means the only options are a BOOTBLOCK jumper, but I don't think there is one on this motherboard, or take the BIOS chip out and reflash / replace. I assume the BIOS chip is soldered on the motherboard in which case that would be an expensive option.

I think I'm going to fly over to the USA soon and send it off to Gateway. Will cost over £100 shipping to and from the US so it's a good excuse to come over

Still very pissed off with myself though. I shouldn't have rebooted after it happened - I had a feeling this exact thing might happen. Maybe I could have reflashed the correct BIOS over the top before I rebooted. Ahhhhh hindsight is a wonderful thing...

 

after a bad flash, it always seems you lose the keyboard. this is standard.

but if you can't initiate the bios recover option then it wont even attempt to read the floppy drive. so this part needs to be concurred. the safe way is to keep the battery out till after your flash takes place. and just keep trying those key combo's. it will work eventually unless of course if you give up, then it wont.

here is where i crashed my 6860fx and recovered it.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sho...um.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=295016
also looking back, i think your bios flash commands are different than the 7811's as well...still looking over my old post.

 

Right..the keyboard isn't going to function, or not appear to function. There's nothing there to receive the commands. Kinda like giving a person a lobotomy. Someone's there, they just don't know they are. Remove the battery, disconnect the CMOS battery.. Hold down the power button for a good 15 seconds(unplugged). You can even short the connections to the CMOS battery after it's unplugged and that should help discharge the rig. Plug CMOS battery back in after discharge but leave the laptop battery out. Fnc + esc should work. Let me email wistron, and see if maybe Maggie can offer some assistance. It may be Monday before I have an answer, but I'm sure she'll offer some insight. In the meantime, work on it..cause it's not dead. It's just lobotomized.

 

ok..just emailed Maggie. She should reply Monday or Tuesday at the latest. I asked for the official method for Crisis Recovery for the 6831FX. So, let's see where that gets us

 

did she ever give you one on the 7811? i was just rereading that stuff and seen where that key combo didn't work for you.

 

my 7811 never died.. my OCZ did. And, no key combos worked for me.

 

Guys you're amazing. I will have another go at the key combos tomorrow but I honestly have tried them all so many times already. I have already left the CMOS battery out for a good hour or so and held down the power button for 30 seconds whilst it was out. Didn't change anything though

 

One gun, one bullet. Lemme know how it works.

 

kidding.. anyhow, john? You ever come up with any ideas? And iaTa, don't worry man.. I know, easy for me to say. But, you'll get it up and goin.

john, did you use an external floppy?

 

yeah, i had to use the floppy. it acted like it wanted to read usb, but it was a trick.

remember how long i was trying them key combos... for like 5 days straight. but it's how you do it. and after you get it the first time..you then understand how it works. just like how we are telling iata, people we're telling me the same thing. and i tried and tried. till i happen on the correct way to holding the keys. without that...i would have finally reached my deadline and would have sent it off.... but on the very last day, it finally worked and all was well.

 

Box in hand.. I remember. Last try, and you were so stoked it actually worked.

 

oh hell to the yeah!!!
1: i was dreading sending it off
2: the wait time
3: a blind flash i knew i should be able to over come, but yet it alluded me
but when it finally took. i was doing back flips! i don't like it when something slips by me and i can't fix or find a working solutions.

im trying to remember just how it looks when it starts to work...(blind recovery) because when you start the key combo..you can tell if it's going to work without waiting the full time to see that it doesn't.....

iata. get someone who has a 6860/6831 and have them do the key combo. if they can get it to work, this should renew your faith in yours working. ask flynazz. i think he can do his on call like i could do mine. he doesn't have to flash, just to see if it goes into bios recovery mode

 

whats the key combo and the signs of it going into bios recovery mode?

 

1: pull battery out and unplug power.
2: hold fn key down
3: then hold esc key down. while still holding the keys down
4: then plug power back in
5: then push power button
the screen should stay dark and the fans will barely be on and the lights should all light up then either all stay on or one just stays on. i forget.

 

then fans spin up..more than usual.

 

alright...did all that and when i plugged the power back in and pressed the power button (while still holding fn+esc) the media bar lights came on for a split second while the screen stayed completely black, then after 5 seconds or so, it would just start to boot up the computer. does it sound like i did it right? i did this twice to confirm everything.

 

sounds like something happened..not sure what. But, your puter booted

 

thankfully. after spending 6 hours earlier today getting windows 7 beta, my vista installation backed up as i was doing a fresh install of windows 7, installing windows 7, and then restoring my vista installation (that alone took 3 hours...thanks lack of esata support when using acronis boot loader on usb flash) i'm glad it booted.

 

nah, it didn't work...

ill go to best buy later today. since it's 12am right now. and ill try it on one of theirs if they still have 6860s on display.

edit: and the enterprise version has esata support...my 60 gig image took like 30 minutes or so.

 

the home version has esata support when backing up an image, but it didnt give me that option when i was restoring the image i made before i installed win 7.

 

did you try restoring from a bootable acronis cd?

 

nope, bootable acronis usb flash drive.

edit:i think it might also have had something to do with the fact that win 7 would not detect my external drive over esata and could not find a driver for the esata port. not sure though.

 

then it should have worked from esata then. when you do the full install boot from the usb acronis disk, it installs all the drivers for usb and esata support.

 

hmm...weird that it didnt detect it then. ill keep that in mind when i give windows 7 a try again later today.

 

Right I'm going for it again. I wanna do those back flips like you! I'm the same, I hate feeling like something like this has beaten me.

 

now your talking!!. im still going to check out best buy and a few other stores to see if i can get them in bios recovery mode..

 

Nope been trying all afternoon and still the only way I can get it to do anything is by holding down the power button whilst I connect the AC cable. At that point there is a 3 second delay, then all the dash lights come on for about 3 seconds, they then turn off and leave just the power button illuminated. The floppy drive light does not come on at any point, however if I have a USB flash drive plugged in this is the only way I can get it to turn its light on.

Also, if I have a SATA hard drive plugged in the dash lights stay on for longer than 3 seconds and the hard drive spins up as if it's looking for something. Just can't get it to spin up the floppy though. I've tried putting the Crysis files on a fresh formatted SATA disc but no luck with that either. Also tried the floppy in every USB port.

This is so frustrating.

 

Ok I have a 6860 here that I'm going to test this on. The key difference I can see is that with my 6831 as soon as I plug the AC cable into the laptop the power button light comes on. This does not happen with the fully working 6860. Will see if I can activate Crysis mode though...

 

nah, that would not be the key difference my friend....

but lets have a go.

 

checked email. no response from Wistron yet.. she typically emails around 3 AM - So, 12 hours to go. I'll let you know if and when I hear back iaTa.

 

still no response iaTa.. I'll keep checking. You having any luck?

Oh, side note.. The BB in Virginia actually had a 6860FX on display. Kinda surprised me! I tried the keystrokes but the BB people kept creeping around me, and the system kept beeping at me.. so I walked off. I'm not the type to cause a ruckus unless necessary.

 

mine didn't have one.
those beeps...was right after you did the commands? or better yet...did it work?

 

didn't work.. I just used fnc + escape on a reboot and the thing beeped so loud it scared me. I didn't really try too much after that.

 

Hello all. I am in a very similar situation with my P-6860FX.

I was tinkering with the Kalyway OSX86 install and managed to get it to boot, but the machine locked up. I rebooted. I am not sure if it wiped my mbr or what but I got nothing when the machine went to load an OS. So I rebooted, still nothing. Rebooted again...

Went into the bios, check temp and make sure it was set in the right boot order. When going to the 'Save and Exit' or whathave you on the notebook. It locked up! The text fractured a bit and just sat there...

Waited... waited... waited 5 mins. Nothing.

So I manually powered the machine off. When I turn it back on, black screen, nothing. I am not with my machine, I've taken the hd out to get files off of it. What methods from the other posts here should I follow when I get home this evening?

Note that sending this thing in is not an option as it was a refurb via Tigerdirect and is outside the 90 day warranty.

 

I've read further and have a crisis disk with the correct BIOS for the P-6860FX ready for testing and a borrowed USB floppy. I will let you all know how that goes (might be a day or 2, tonight being night with the lady etc). If this works though, pints bottles and cans all around!

 

Sorry to spam. But I was able to recover the bios for my machine. It is sitting on my desk working.

The "FN + B" got it up and going, flashed it, done.

I am so beyond grateful for the posts and the directions links etc.

Thank you SOOOOOO much guys.

Saved me a ton of money!!! Where shall I send the beers?!?!?

 

Can you describe exactly what you did sayten. Still can't get mine working

 

do the same thing you tried using the fn+ esc but with the fn+ b

but you tried this one as well?