Notebook not booting up after BIOS update

Hi,

I tried updating the BIOS of my Sony Vaio CS-17G notebook to the latest updates given at the Sony Support Website.

Everything went fine, got message 'BIOS updated successfully', 'Press OK to shut down.'

Pressed ok & now nothing's okay. The system is not booting up!

Tried the following troubleshooting, but no luck;
1) Pressing F2 & F8 keys.
2) Disconnected the AC Adapter, removed the battery & pressed the power button for 60secs.

Pls assist.

 

Usually on the bottom of the laptop is a small pin hole that you can stick like a paper clip or something into to hit a small button that resets the CMOS.

Unplug the unit, take the battery out, and hold that down for like 10 seconds and then try to boot again.

If that doesnt work your probably going to have to RMA the unit.

 

Thanks ViciousXUSMC for your reply. Trying to locate the same, doubt its there.

Is there any other way out?

 

You can open it up to try to find the CMOS battery, so that you can disconnect it.

 

Can you enter in BIOS? If you can see if there is disable AHCI option or something with SATA and change it. It helped me once.

 

So what is it doing? To speed things up, if the answer to that question is "nothing", then you're at the end of the rope already. Don't even try to open the unit; all you could potentially gain from that is to lose your warranty. Your only option is to have Sony repair or replace it.

 

No, am not able to enter the BIOS.

Nothing is being displayed on the screen; only the power light is up, with HDD Light constantly blinking.

 

Yeah, your only option at that point really is to call Sony.

 

Thanks Pirx for your reply.

Spoken to them, will be visiting their repair center. Is that the last resort?
Will removing the battery overnite help?

 

It's highly unlikely that that would help. You can always try, but I doubt it will change anything. Neither would removing the CMOS battery as suggested by others, I'm afraid. There was a small chance that your BIOS can be reset into some default state that would at least allow you to reflash it, but since Sony support did not mention such a possibility to you it's probably not possible. They may actually have to replace your motherboard to revive that laptop of yours.

 

Have you tried any of these methods here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=350859
I don't know what BIOS you have but there are people who have recovered their dead lappys here. Changing your motherboard should be the last option, you could also try to find someone to fix your BIOS chip.
OR this: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=326954

 

Visited the service center today, those guys there gave vague answers like we will have to deposit it for two days & will return with repair estimate.

Thanks ellalan for your reply. Should we try out second option given by you without knowing the exact make of the installed BIOS?

 

I think that getting a professional help might be a good idea, perhaps a local competent Technician.

 

Yup, spoken to one of them too & also will be visiting the Sony IT head tomorrow. Lets see ... fingers crossed.

 

I did a quick check.
This is an Insyde BIOS.
So you need to google on a way to activate the BootBlock and get the correct filename for the Insyde BIOS file.
The bootblock is a code sector when activated grabs a copy of working BIOS off the thumdrive and flash it to recover the system incase of corrupted flash.
I will give you a rough idea.
1)Using another Computer Download the BIOS file (which works)
Then run it but DON'T FLASH!
2)Go to C:\Users\{Username}\Appdata\Local\Temp
You should see a folder created with all the extracted BIOS flashing package
Then copy XXXX.Rom off the folder into the thumbdrive
3)Download the DOS Version of the Insyde Flashing Utility Should be known FLASHlT.exe then copy into the thumbdrive
4)Find(Google) a Keycombo to activate the bootblock and the relevant file name for the firmware.
5)Use the keyCombo activate the bootblock then it will grab the working BIOS and reflash the system.

 

Bingo ... it is an Insyde BIOS, i tried updating my BIOS to version R0290Q2.

 

Tried to google for it, but no luck. Can you assist?

 

I really got no idea if differs across OEM.
I am familar with Acer Insyde but not SONY Insyde.