W860 BIOS Problems

I read that the 470M needs the new bios, so I decided to flash my NP8690 in hopes of getting the new card sometime soon. And then the problems started.

I downloaded bios 1.16s from Sager's support page, burned the ISO to a CD, booted from the CD and did the EC update. After it finished, I had to push the power button to turn off the computer. I turned it back on with the CD still in the drive, but all it did was the screen flashed a few times then went black. I had to turn it off and on a few times before it would even let me hit F2 to get to the bios. Finally it did, then it booted from the CD again and then I update the bios.

After that, it restarted on its own. Then it said Operating System not found. I had to turn it off and on several more times before it finally booted to Windows (7 Pro). When it went to Windows, it said found new hardware and updated alot of stuff. Then it restarted and booted back up just fine.

Then I shut it down, waited a few minutes, restarted and it did the OS not found thing again a few times before it would boot to Win. So I read some more, and found an updated EC here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/416916-clevo-bios-thread-91.html#post6847398

and thought that might help. I put that on a bootable USB flash drive, installed it successfully, then it started the OS not found thing again. I went in to the bios, and under SATA Port 1 it said none, SATA Port 2 was the CD drive and nothing was ever under SATA Port 3. After resetting it a few times, it booted up. I used it for awhile, then shut it down for about 3 hours. Just now, I turned it back on and it did the OS not found about 3 times before it would boot up.

In the bios, it said SATA Port 1 none again the first few times. BIOS Revision is 1.01.16s LS3, KBC/EC Firmware Rev is 1.00.11.

I have a Corsair Force 240GB. It is firmware 2.0. Ive had it for awhile, with no issues. My laptop was plugged in during the flashes and didnt loose power. Every flash said it was successful. Also, I ran some HD benchmarks, and all have dropped since the new bios. And not that its that important, but the WEI went down after the flash too.

Anyone have issues with the 1.16s bios or know what might be the problem with my laptop now?


Edit: Ok, so now when my computer is shut down, it will go the the OS not found over and over. I have to go into the bios, then exit saving changes before it will boot even though I didnt make any changes. It will say SATA Port 1 None, and under boot order it says 1. IDE HDD 2. IDE CD. SATA is set to AHCI. If i restart and go to the bios, it will recognize the SSD under SATA Port 1 and will have the correct things under the boot order, which is hard drive first. Its as if the SSD isnt turning on until I go in to the bios and exit, no matter if I change anything or how many times I turn off and on the laptop.

 

That sounds bad I updated my machine last time with 1.16 and didn't have any problems I was using EC 1.00.10

I think the best idea would be to downgrade and check if the error still happens

it's not a problem to downgrade I have done it a few times to check if my fan problems were bios related.

 

Update - if I turn on the computer and let it sit at the OS not found screen for about a minute, then Alt-Ctrl-Del, it will boot up. I guess the problem is its not powering or reading the SSD right away. Its still first in the boot order. HDD benchmarks are still about 50%-70% on the write from what it was before I updated.

My questions:

I kept reading that the EC had to be updated before the bios. My problems started with updating the EC to 1.00.10.

Do old bioses (?) have an old EC?
Do I need to go back to an older bios if I get an EC earlier than 1.00.10?
What is the EC, and what does it have to do with my SSD?

 

First of all the BIOS 1.00.16 support only the GTX 460M. To support the GTX 470M also, you have to update to 1.00.18

Second, I think the booting problem is due to that when you install frist your Win7 on SSD, your AHCI was disabled, and after you update BIOS your AHCI is enabled, so you might have booting problems. Or the BIOS was installed incorrectly somehow.

Any way, what i advice you to do is :
1- Updating BIOS to 1.00.18 by USB key : http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/416916-clevo-bios-thread-94.html#post6910008
2- When the system restart for the first time after BIOS update, immediately enter BIOS (F2), remove USB key, then load default (i think F9), save and restart and enter BIOS again and check the AHCI to be enabled and change any desired options (booting order for example).
3- Back up all your data on a second HDD or SDD or whatever.
4- Boot from any bootable media and DELETE ALL PARTITIONS on SSD and even delete the partition table, it's better; Sorry for that but it's the best way to insure the AHCI support for your SSD.
5- re-install Win 7 again.

I know that some could say that step 4 is not necessary, and it could be true, but in case like yours with problems come and go and a loss of SSD performance, I prefer to make a very clean install.

 

Thanks for all the advice. Since my last post, I reflashed some old bioses and tried going back to EC 1.00.10. This is what happened:

bios .15 - same problem with not recognizing SSD immediately. Had to sit at OS not found screen for a minute, then reboot.

EC .10, then bios .11 - would boot right away.

EC .11, still bios .11 - screen flashed a few times at boot, but then booted.

EC .11, bios .16 from the thread here (not from sager's website) - problem came back with not booting right away and none under SATA Port 1.

EC .10 and bios .12 from MySN - boots normally.

However, under all configs my SSD still had very slow writes. The reads were about normal. I thought I had AHCI enabled when I installed Win7. I didnt know there was a .18 bios. Ill try what you said and flash .18, then wipe my SSD and reinstall Win7 this weekend.

 

Yes and re install also EC11, it's always better to have latest firmwares. Note : you can install EC11 after BIOS18 since this EC has been released after the BIOS18 any way

 

I am purchasing a NP8690 with GTX470M. I am wondering what is the consequence of not updating the bios. Would it "not recognize" 470M? What does it mean to not recognize it? Thanks!

 

When you get new hardware (processor, graphics card), sometimes the bios needs to be updated so it can recognize it.

Like the original bios didn't know about the 470M, so the update tells it there is a new video card and to look for it when booting and how to use it. If you are buying an NP8690 with the card already in it, it should have the latest bios, otherwise it wouldn't work when you got it.

 

Well, nothing worked. I think Im screwed. Anything after .15 bios wont recognize my F240 on boot. Even after doing a secure erase to it. I put my older SSD back in with Win7 still on it, and it will boot to it but now writes are at 50% of what they were before I replaced it with the F240. I even went all the way back to the .04 EC and .04 bios and it will boot, but the writes are terrible.

Since this is happening to 2 different SSDs, I think the problem has to be my computer. And it will read the F240 immediately on a bios earlier than .15. What could have screwed it up when I updated? Anyone know where I can get a new motherboard?

 

Your system comes with the 470M, so it should have the BIOS version supporting the card. Generally, if your system works fine out of the box, I'd recommend to avoid updating the BIOS. It's one of the very few updates that when done incorrectly, can brick the system.

Before replacing the motherboard, have you tried disconnecting the BIOS battery for 1 minute?

 

I havent tried it with a regular HDD yet. It "works" with my older SSD, just the writes problem. But it doesn't really seem slower or anything in gaming or normal use. The only other HDD I have has a Windows install from my wife's computer that she might need and blame me for if I erase it, even though I told her to back up all her stuff.

Ill try disconnecting the bios battery, but don't know if it'll change anything cause when I put it back in, it'll still have the same EC and bios on it. Is there anyway I messed up the SATA controller when I updated the bios? And if so, is there any way to fix it? I also tried reinstalling the Intel Chipset drivers on the F240, but nothing changed. And I selected load defaults in the bios after every flash.

BTW, the benchmarks Im using are atto and CrystalDiskMark x64, and WEI went down too.

 

If it works "ok" with the older SSD, I doubt you messed up the controller, though your first BIOS update wasn't very promising. I'd make an attempt to optimize the old SSD performance (there are plenty of guides on this forum) and see if you can achieve the adequate speeds.


Edit: Noticed your post #9, looks like you already tried erasing the partitions and reinstalling the OS.