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    Samsung NP530U3B - Dead after BIOS update

    Discussion in 'Samsung' started by owsam, Jan 26, 2016.

  1. owsam

    owsam Newbie

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    I have a Samsung NP530U3B that was recently upgraded to Windows 10 through the automated upgrade.

    Win 10 worked, but would occasionally blue-screen, even whilst sat doing nothing.

    From the Samsung support page, I downloaded the latest drivers, along with the firmware upgrader (BIOSupdate.exe)

    Running this, it suggested a FW version several revisions newer than what was installed. The BIOS on the machine what what it came originally shipped with.

    After a while of updating, the screen went blank... and stayed like that. I got a permanently black screen, with no hard drive activity or anything.
    After leaving for a couple of hours, I turned it off by holding down the power button.

    Now when you turn it on, the HD light flashes for around 0.5 seconds, and then goes off. The screen stays completely blank, without even getting to the BIOS or any other screen.

    I have removed the hard drive from the laptop, and it does exactly the same.

    Is there a way to recover this?
     
    owsam, Jan 26, 2016
    #1
  2. Ripcord999

    Ripcord999 Notebook Geek

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    Ripcord999, Jan 26, 2016
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  3. owsam

    owsam Newbie

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    Yes I forgot to mention that.

    Pressing the reset button hasn't made any difference.
     
    owsam, Jan 26, 2016
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  4. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

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    What reset switch? There is a battery disconnect switch on the bottom which disconnects the battery when the mains power is not connected (plugging in to the mains automatically reconnects the switch). So disconnect the mains, press the disconnect switch then hold down the power button for a minute. Then plug in the PSU and see if anything happens.

    Upgrading the BIOS from the original to the latest will have incorporated many changes and potential compatibility issues. The brief flash of light when you push the power button is symptomatic of the RAM compatibility bug which Samsung introduced over two years ago and never fixed. This has made the affected notebooks unable to read certain modules. Try taking out any removable RAM and see if the computer will start.

    If that doesn't work then you will have to read through the unbricking threads. We used to have a lot of the bricking problems, but most have been fixed by BIOS updates. For the record was your notebook orginally shipped with Windows 7 or Windows 8?

    John
     
    John Ratsey, Jan 26, 2016
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  5. owsam

    owsam Newbie

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    Yes sorry the battery disconnection switch. I even removed the battery for several minutes.

    Taking out the RAM hasn't made any difference.

    It originally shipped with Win 7.
     
    owsam, Jan 26, 2016
    #5