NP355V5C black screen, BIOS issue?

Hi, i'm new here and i need help. I don't know what to do.

I have Samsung NP355V5C-S02PL. Everything was fine until i wanted to boot from USB to reinstall Windows 8.1. I entered BIOS, disabled "secure boot" or "fast bios", i don't remember exactly, and saved bios. My Laptop was dead from that point. Black screen, nothing. The fan is spinning.

I have read this forum and threads about flashing BIOS but i don't even know which bios should i download. I can't find a bios in download section on samsung website.

Sorry about my bad english.

 

It's under " Update Software" (bottom of page); links to BIOSUpdate.exe. Mind that this is, of course, useless unless you can boot from the usb drive. Can you still get into the bios or see the one-off boot menu (F10)?

Reset bios to default would work regardless, but you'll have to remove the cmos battery. Not sure where it's located on this model, though if it is where it seems to be, then it'll entail removing the keyboard as well as the palm rest:

Spoiler: NP355V5C motherboard - top view

 

Probability is the system already had windows 8.1 installed once from the USB and this now is the issue. The UEFI info on these gets locked into the iSSD when you reset bios settings but the iSSD is not available as a SATA device before bios post. removing the HDD's and trying his cure below may work.

I have not had the time yet to research this but it looks good.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...00z5c-s03ca-my-last-hope.762595/#post-9792769

 

But i can't get a BIOS file from this. It's only an update on a working pc. I have only black screen, no bios.

I found this battery but i think i can't remove it without soldering. It looks like that:

System was installed from a DVD. I removed the HDD and DVD now. Still black screen.
This link is useless for me i think, he at least can see something on screen

I would like to try flashing this bios but don't know how. Don't even have a bios file.

 

Right ... that Samsung thing is only a shell, which wants a working NP355V5C to start the actual rom/bin download. Could send a message to these two users, asking them to run the bios download. Alternatively, there's this link, which points to a 4MB LA-8864P bios (Compal's number of the NP355V5C motherboard). Looks like an Ami 8 bios, so can use AFUDOS 4.40 to flash it.

You can now make a bootable usb drive with the Ami flasher and bios, but the problem remains; how to flash if it won't boot from the usb port. Try an external monitor first; might give back a display ... If that didn't help and there's still only a black screen; might be the system is booting nonetheless, only without display. Place this AUTOEXEC.BAT on the usb drive:

Code:

@echo off
set PATH=.;\;\LOCALE
mkdir TEST

Boot and reading out on a different pc will tell you whether it has, in fact, booted from the usb (TEST folder exists). If it did, then it's possible to auto-flash the bios:

Code:

afudos.exe LA-8864P.bin /P /B /N /C /E /K /L0 /X /Q /REBOOT

This would force-flash without requiring user input, reset defaults and reboot automatically when done. Remove usb drive upon reboot, obviously, otherwise it'll loop and flash ad infinitum.

If usb boot isn't working then de- and resoldering the cmos battery is the last resort.

 

1. There is a USB led flashing for a few seconds everytime i plug in a USB so he can read from this, but he is not booting from this(no dummy2.txt).
2. Not sure if i think right but i see that Afudos is for AMI bios and ami bios files are in .ROM, not .BIN.
3. No, there is no display on external monitor and i think the system is not booting in the background.

 

AMI editor can open it; rename to .rom ( UEFI MMTool v4.50).

Verify the usb drive is actually bootable by running on a different system; sometimes MS-DOS works, sometimes FreeDOS.

 

This program only let me save the bios file in "Aptio file (*.fd)".

USB led is flashing but there is no boot from usb on MS-DOS and FreeDOS. At least i can't see nothing...

When i turn the laptop on, sometimes i can turn it off with power button, but sometimes i just can't even if i hold it. I need to unplug the power.
Usually after the unpluging power when the laptop was on, i can't turn it on again, he will switch off after one second. I need to wait couple of minutes with no power.

 

Sorry, wasn't clear enough; the bios tool's unnecessary, you only need to rename the file .bin > .rom (tool's only to check it is an AMI bios and not something else).

Spoiler: AMI Aptio UEFI MMTool v4.50.0.23: LA-8864P.rom

With " no boot from usb on MS-DOS and FreeDOS" you do mean on another system, right? This is only to confirm it is a properly formatted drive and that the autoexec.bat does what it ought to do.

 

Oh i read that wrong. So now i tried it on different pc. MS-Dos was not booting, but FreeDOS booted. But i think i do something wrong. Shouldn't it run afudos.exe automatically even on different pc? It just booted to FreeDos and that's it.

Files in my USB looks like that:

And my autoexec.bat is that:

 

Don't run that autoflash on another system; it force-flashes without checking . Only check the autoexec with something safe, like the dummy.txt copy or, even easier; ' mkdir':

Spoiler: autoexec test

So if it works you'd see a new "TEST" folder on the drive.

edit:
FreeDOS copy command might require specifying a path; so 'copy dummy.txt c:\dummy2.txt' won't copy empty files; use XCOPY for that.

 

Ok, so i tried this and there is new TEST folder so this is working. But that previous autoexec.bat with afudos.exe command did nothing i think. But that's all on a different pc.
There is no TEST folder on laptop so he is not booting from it i think.

Is there even a way to force USB boot on laptop? I read a lot about flashing bios when there is black screen problem, but how did they do that? Normally laptop doesn't boot from usb by default.

Edit:
I would try methods for different models(like this), but i don't even know how i should named this BIOS file.

 

If there's no TEST folder on the stick after running it on the Samsung then it is indeed not booting from the usb drive. If it was there you could've proceeded with afudos in the autoexec (a.k.a. blind flash); it would work on the Samsung, but (hopefully) not on another system. It's a Catch-22; no flash = no usb boot (need to change boot order in bios) and no usb = no flash.

That embedded fail-safe method bypasses boot entirely:

Since you already have the LA-8864P.ROM, why not try it like that? Can't see the " Flashing..." bit, of course, so will have to guess and keep it going for a minute or so (whatever time it may need to flash).

Hmm ... and if that didn't work; boot with the autoexec mkdir drive and keep hitting F12. That would normally give the one-time boot option screen. It'd give a list of possible boot devices out which you'd use the arrow keys to select and enter to confirm. Without a display this is a bit tedious;

• boot, F12, no arrow down, hit enter, check for TEST
• boot, F12, 1x arrow down, hit enter, check for TEST
• boot, F12, 2x arrow down, hit enter, check for TEST
• boot, etc ...

 

I should note, if you are attempting the emergency recovery, there is no actual OS boot it is a bios boot only.

 

• I tried this all, still nothing. Laptop is doing nothing in the background, no boot at all. But USB led is flashing for 2 seconds each time.

So this is my only hope? But i don't know BIOS correct name. Is there even a way to get it?

 

T456 is having you boot and run an OS without the benefit of a screen. This essentially is a type of blind flash as well and with the correct parameters should allow a flash without intervention. This is the reason he asks if the directory is created as it then says the OS and commands are running.

The blind flash, if it works, is just a bios boot to do a flash, nothing else. For here there is certain criteria to be met. That too assumes it is still enabled, if you have the test directory, TBH, that is the best bet as you know the flash can be run.

 

So if i have no test folder, i need the BIOS correct name to try this above, and this is the only thing i can do now right?
But i don't know from where i can get this file name, so the laptop i dead forever?

 

No, there's still the last resort; you know where the cmos battery is, disconnect/remove this for 30 seconds or so and it would reset bios to factory defaults. This will work because you don't have a misflashed bios, only erroneous settings (blame Samsung for making that possible in the first place).

Unfortunately, it's indeed soldered, but this is not terribly difficult to correct; desolder either the large "+" or "-" spot on the board, wait a few minutes (for good measure) and resolder. However, I'd do one more step; get a simple battery holder and make a permanent fix:

Spoiler: NP355V5C motherboard - cmos battery mod

If you're not into this kind of thing then no problem; any electronics store can do it for you in a minute or so (they'll have holders too). But you will have to bring them the laptop with the keyboard and palm rest removed:

Spoiler: Samsung NP355V5C Disassembly Guide

The state you want is at ~8:55, only then do you have access to the cmos battery. It's underneath that semi-transparent rectangular tape thingy.

 

Actually before that there is one more thing. Try removing the HDD and optitical if there and try the usb boot with the test folder.