Samsung Series 7 - NP700Z5C-S03CA: My Last Hope

Hi everybody right now I'm looking to extract the BIOS chip to reprogram it with the 1st BIOS my laptop had and solder it again so I can install windows again.

Can somebody confirm if this is (marked in red) the chip I need to extract?



Thank you all in advance and wish me luck!

 

What are the markings on the chip?

The bios eeprom's scribbles should have a pattern similar to *25*64*. The '25' means SPI and '64' is Mbit and can be 128, 32, 16 etc. as well, depending on the bios size and, possibly, the EC and ME firmware as well. Some systems store them on a separate eeprom, but a single chip is obviously cheaper. So before wiping it make sure to read out the chip first and run a hex compare with a stock bios.

 

Hey thanks t456!

Would you recommend me to buy a chip like this one in the link instead? So i just have to find a technician to desolder and solder the new chip instead?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BIOS-CHIP-S...sh=item5d38557f9c:g:GpYAAOSwzOxUXprI#shpCntId

 

Not really, unless you don't have the patience to tighten down those microscopic screws in (sun)glasses ...

A programmer can be had for under $10, the only tricky bit being the desoldering. Heat gun is great, but a decent iron with a flat tip (to heat four pins at once) is perfectly alright. More importantly, if you've managed to do this once then every bios, vbios or me flash can henceforth be initiated with a ' Meh, wth ...' mindset .

ps.
Funny how it says 'last one'. See, the chips themselves are generic, retailing between $0.50 and $0.75. It's only when writing the free-to-download bios to it that it becomes 'Samsung xyz', 'Lenovo xyz' or 'Apple xyz'. Of course, a programmer can write an infinite number of these $0.75 eeproms. Bottom line is that there's no stock at all, just a few boxes (or even reels) of different sizes of eeproms and a (v)bios archive ready to flash whenever a customer orders a ' Brand A, model X' bios or vbios.

 

Nomad, not sure if your problem is the nvram issue that afflicted sammys, but when I got this nightmare-notebook in 2011 series 7 cronos (NP700z3a-s05us) I dual booted Backtrack(ubuntu flavor) and it only booted twice before the machine appeared to brick. After a lot troubleshooting, I disconnected power cable, opened the case to expose main battery, pressed power button then as the led light up, reset the battery with an inserted pin. I then removed the battery, plugged the computer in, held the power for 10 seconds, pulled the power cable again, reinserted the battery, powered on, and it was fixed. I had the machine brick 4 times, each time this process worked as a fix, as i recall. Try this before replacing chip, if it's relevant.

 

Thank you Analog monster for your recommendations. I'll post again after some test following your procedure.

 

Any luck with getting your system to boot? Did you try to replace the soldered EEPROM? I just ordered one of the pre-programmed EEPROMs and will hopefully revive my computer

 

I couldn't still try this last method. I'll post after doing the proper experimentation

 

New here and find a lot of great info on these laptops. We have a NP700 which is now a "brick" and I've been searching for info and have read through some great threads on NBR, but I have some questions:
I see people refer to 'bricked' machines but then I see their problem is really a BIOS issue. In these cases, I assume they really see a charge light when hooking up the charger, and see the power light when they hit power, but can't boot an OS because of the BIOS issue. Is that correct?

Our machine, a NP700Z5C-S01UB is a true 'brick'. It does not light at all. I have checked the power supply and it is OK. The battery has a charge as well but the unit shows absolutely no signs of life.

Knowing little about these, I thought the easiest way of getting back up-and-running would be to just purchase a similar working unit and swap in our hard drive. I picked up a NP700Z5C-S02UB. However, I thought I'd take the opportunity to do a little troubleshooting when the new unit arrived, which booted up fine and worked great when I got it.

Thinking the issue might be some type of battery defect, I took the battery out of the good laptop and put it in the brick laptop. Nothing, no improvement at all. Took the old battery out of the brick laptop and put it in the good laptop. Nothing, now that was a brick too. Took the 'good' battery and put it back in the 'good' laptop. Nothing. Now it is a brick. I could read voltage at both the battery connector on the motherboard and at the power supply connection, so I know both (really, all four) of the power sources were available at the motherboards. I just don't have further info (schematic and component placements) to trace voltages further.

After doing some poking around, realized that we didn't hit the battery reset so we tried that on both laptops. Nothing. Pulled the BIOS battery and tried to do a normal startup with the power supply and still nothing. No lights at all now on either machine. They are both true 'bricks'. I've been around electronics for decades now and never have caused an issue like this by swapping parts!!

So, clarify for me if this could possibly be a BIOS issue, or if we should really be seeing at least the 'charge' light before we'd get into a "BIOS" discussion about this? If there is another thread that I missed that addresses truly "dead" machines, could you point me in the right direction? Any other suggestions I'd really appreciate!

Thanks!

 

Hi Analogmonster! Well I've tried your method but without any luck unfortunately...

So now yes cjb-Raiders I'm only focusing into find somebody who can actually do the EEPROM burner thing. Something kind of hard to find where I'm right now in the city of Barcelona.
I just came from some technigian and said that there is no way he could fix it as it's a process only made by the manufacturer because they use some sort os special isolating painture after installing the chips.. Please sombody correct me and tell that story it's just a bucnh of nonsense..
Or if somebody knows where to or who to call here in Europe...

ps: And welcome Hi kmc! I have almost a similar model the 17.3" NP700Z7C-S01UB

 

Analogmonster,

When your machine was 'bricked'... did it have ANY signs of life... like the "AC" or "Charge" lights were lit when you plugged it in, even though it wouldn't boot?

 

He's confusing eeproms with pcb manufacturing processes. Clearly he hasn't fixed bricked (v)bios eeproms before.

You can send the board to me, if you like. Should have enough additional components to test it, even, but can't promise one-week return shipping; it's a hobby, so need some spare time in the weekend.

 

Welcome to NBR, @kmc.

You assumption is correct: The types of bricking we're dealing with in this thread are ones where NVRAM becomes corrupted, usually causing the laptop to be unable to boot anything AND preventing BIOS Settings from being entered with F2. I call this semi-bricking since the computer is effectively useless, even though it powers up and runs fine -- if only it could boot something.

For harder bricking cases such as yours, you can check @TANWare's Accumulated Unbricking Solutions thread which is stickied on top of the Samsung forum.

I also notice your discussion with John about this in other threads. I highly suspect that some hardware intervention will be required in your case.

 

Hey t456!
I would like to send it to you to fix it. I'm traveling most of the time between Spain and Netherlands. I don't know if it will be worth all the hassle as I assume you live in the USA?

Thanks as always Dannemand as well for your input

 

Europe, actually. Send me a pm and we'll get started.

 

Just sent you pm buddy

Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk

 

Mod note: This post was moved from this thread. Look there for context.

I'm running windows 7 though... doesn't that make a difference?

the winPE says its for windows 8 and 8.1, which I'm not running

 

No, it doesn't matter what version of WinPE you use. It is only used temporarily to run the BIOS flashing utility in order to clear NVRAM.

Again (for anyone seeing this) WinPE on a USB stick is only necessary because we need to boot some form of Windows in order to clear NVRAM. For those who are able to boot Windows any other way, there is no need to bother with WinPE.

As for finding, downloading and extracting a BIOS update file for your model, you can do that on any computer and copy the BIOS flashing utility to the WinPE USB stick.

Something I wanted to make sure you understand: After clearing NVRAM, your BIOS will most likely revert back to UEFI=disabled (since that is default for your model and BIOS). If your your current Windows installation is UEFI, then you will not be able to boot it unless you re-enable UEFI. And once you do that, you will be vulnerable to new NVRAM corruption.

On your model, I think long term you have to start over in good old BIOS mode (i.e. UEFI=disabled). But this will require re-installing Windows and re-partition the disk as MBR (as opposed to the GPT partition style required by UEFI). And this re-partitioning will lose everything on the disk.

Please study this post for clarification and background about the difference between UEFI and legacy BIOS mode and how they affect disk partition layout and bootability.

 

Hello,
New to the forum, didn't wanted to create a new thread, replied to a similar thread.

Got a Samsung Series 7 Chronos (NP700Z5C-S01UB) laptop.
Previous owner said it's running fine in linux but bricked when tried to install Windows 8.1.

Current state is:
Powers up to Samsung logo, 1-2 sec later goes to black screen, 8-10 sec later full fan load and stuck there forever.

Can't enter to Bios menu (F2) or Recovery menu (F4), and no luck with Boot menu (F3, Esc, F10 etc), but it responds to Ctrl+Alt+Del in Samsung logo phase.

Bios reset methods didn't worked. (Not tested the 48 hours method)

Didn't load bootable USB stick with Windows 10 or Ultimate Boot CD when removed the all other drives.

It comes with SSD and HDD, but previous owner wiped all data before it's given to me. And no information about current Bios version.


Any other possible method/option/solution before i go to a local computer repair center?
It's maybe a hardware failure?

Thanks.

 

Welcome. There is a lot of discussion here about bricking problems on that generation of Samsung notebooks. Fortunately, some members have managed to resurrect their notebooks using various techniques which have been brought together here. You are fortunate that the notebook is not completely bricked so getting it running again should be easier than the situations where the notebook shows no life at all.

John

 

Hi @CAKyPA, welcome to NBR. Sorry to hear about the problems with your NP700Z5C.

It is definitely possible that there is a hardware problem that prevents the computer from booting anything. But it could also be caused by the NVRAM corruption discussed in this thread. And it could be both, since many users never know they have NVRAM corruption until something bad happens and they realize they cannot get into BIOS settings.

You said you already tried unplugging the HDD and SSD. I assume one of those must be in the optical bay, since this laptop only has one drive bay. If you were referring to the integrated iSSD, that one cannot boot and cannot be removed (unless you have mad soldering skills like this member).

The key here is being able to boot some form of Windows, which is required to to clear the NVRAM.

With the drives still unplugged, keep trying variants of WinPE on a USB stick, with different combinations of MBR/FAT32, MBR/NTFS and GPT/FAT32 since we don't know whether you are currently set for UEFI or legacy BIOS mode. Rufus should help with this. Microsoft's good old USB/DVD tool does NOT work if you are in UEFI mode (although newer versions may).

You can also try booting from DVD instead. Some members who could not boot from USB reported success with that.

If you manage to boot any form of Windows, then just LEAVE it running, don't assume you can boot it again (though you probably can). Now proceed to the guide in post #7 and follow the steps to locate, download and extract a compatible BIOS update file. That can be done on any computer.

If your laptop originally came with Win8, I believe the latest BIOS is ITEM_20131114_21267_WIN_P07ABJ.exe (that was a link). If it came with Win7, I believe the latest BIOS is ITEM_20130412_1087_WIN_P05AAG.exe. Those are NOT interchangeable. I cannot guarantee these are the correct versions for your laptop, but apparently I investigated it in the past and I rely on that now.

If you are NOT already on the latest BIOS version, simply running the correct BIOS update should clear NVRAM. If you already ARE on the latest BIOS, you need to extract the flashing utility from the BIOS update file and run it with the parameters to clear NVRAM. Again, described in the guide in post #7.

Please keep us posted

Edit: Oops, John beat me to it...

 

I just gave the lazy answer! Yours is much more comprehensive.

John

 

Thanks for replies, wanted to report back my current state.

@Dannemand DVD drive is replaced SSD with caddy and found out original OS was Windows 7.

Tried to boot Windows 7 x64, Ubuntu 16.04.2 x64, Gandalf's Win 7 PE x86 ISOs using Rufus combination of MBR/GPT/FAT32/NTFS, also pre installed Windows 7 and Ubuntu 16.04.2 on hard drive. But all time got same black screen. Things didn't check myself was DVD drive boot (don't have DVD drive) and Phoenix Crisis Tool (found out later).

So i went to my local repair shop.
Their repair was removing BIOS chip from motherboard, make a backup DUMP file of BIOS chip, flashed similar model DUMP file from their files or internet using some BIOS flashing hardware tool and soldered back to motherboard. It's worked but got new issues.

Similar model DUMP file had P02AAG BIOS version, i believe it's from NP700Z5C-S01SG (Different dedicated GPU GT640M).

1. Slow cold boot, 10+ seconds to boot just BIOS screen.
2. Dedicated GPU GT630M got Code 43 on Device Manager. P02AAG or other AAG BIOS update didn't fixed. Later i found out P00AAS was original BIOS and fixed GT630M Code 43 issue. However there is only one AAS update in Samsung website. I can't update MICOM version. It's still P05AAG.
3. DMI serial number is different than back cover sticker.

I think iSSD is good, it's showing in Easy Settings and 100% health in Crystal Disk Info.
BIOS chip DUMP file is 8192KB, extracted ROM files from Samsung BIOS.exe are 3072KB.
I can deny issue 2, 3 unless they are root of issue 1.

Since it's possible to flash BIOS chip again with hardware tool, i'm thinking modding original corrupted DUMP file is best solution to me.
Anyone familiar with BIOS modding can help me out here?
Or any other things to try?

 

@CAKyPA: Thanks a lot for the update. You did good there!

It does ring a faint bell in the back of my mind that the P00AAS BIOS was unique to the "Best Buy model" (S01UB) and was never updated. Searching now, I found this post about it, which you may have already read. And I notice that I even pointed it out to another member later in the very thread which I linked in my last reply to you

There is plenty of discussion about the Best Buy model in our NP700Z5C owner's thread. As I recall, the difference between it and the other NP700Z5C models was in the amount of RAM and VRAM and GPU speed, which may explain why the AAG BIOS didn't work properly with the GPU.

So as I understand, you force flashed the P00AAS, which fixed the GPU problems, but you still have the P05AAG MICOM. That may not be a practical problem since the peripherals controlled by MICOM should be the same. But you can try force flashing both the P00AAS BIOS and MICOM using @isosunrise's advice in this post from his very informative BIOS rollback thread.

If that fails (and if you notice problems attributable to the MICOM) my only suggestion would be to extract the P00AAS file and ask the repair shop to flash that .ROM (or whatever binary it contains) which should contain the proper MICOM.

More concerning is the fact that you do not have a newer BIOS version, which may prevent use of newer Windows versions. I am afraid I don't know anything about BIOS modding myself (well, I did a lot of it on IBM PCs back in 1982/83, but not more recently...) Hopefully other members with this kind of experience will see this.

Thanks again for keeping us updated!

 

Mod note: The following posts were moved from this thread and are a continuation of that discussion.

I gave up, I did everything to make my laptop boot with USB or CD ROM but unfortunately to no avail. I downloaded Gandalf's Win 8.1 x64 created the bootable drive using different partition schemes and file systems as suggested in the forum, but I cannot boot from a USB with WinPE for windows 8.1.

 

One other thing I didn't mention is that, when I try creating Gandalf's Win 8.1 bootable USB using Rufus with BIOS or UEFI-CSM partition scheme and NTFS file system, I get this error. "ISO image extraction failure". But if I change the partition scheme to something, say, GPT-UEFI it goes smoothly but is not detected by the laptop.

I attached the screenshot maybe it will help.

 

@Mdbahmad: Understood. Thank you for the update.

Unfortunately there are cases where the computer simply will not boot from USB no matter how you format it (nor from HDD, of course, which is why you disconnect it). Make sure you try from USB2 ports, not just USB3 ones.

Also make sure you try hard enough to boot from DVD. First try with a regular Win7 and 8.1 DVD and see if it will boot or you can force it using F3. (Though in cases of NVRAM corruption, F-keys generally don't work.) Booting one of those Windows DVDs unfortunately won't let you run the flashing tool directly, but it shows you that you CAN. Next try different WinPE images on DVD.

If that fails too, I am afraid your computer may be in the harder bricking territory that requires re-flashing of the BIOS chip. Cases of that are discussed in this thread, as well as a number of other tricks that members have tried.

I assume you already checked our Accumulated Unbricking thread for other solutions. Otherwise make sure you do.

It is quite likely that more reading in these threads and less experimenting will be the most productive in this stage.

Please keep us posted.

 

@Dannemand Extracted files from BIOS update using WinFlash and don't have CAP file. So didn't tried this method.

But successfully edited original corrupted dump file and flashed to BIOS chip, it's working fine now. No slow cold boot, Code 43 or wrong MICOM. DMI data changed.

Using UEFITool to locate BIOS region offset address from dump file. In my case dump file was 8MB and BIOS region started from 5MB to end of file. Replaced that part with fresh BIOS ROM file using hex editor.

 

I updated the guide in post #7. After three years it was about time!

Not much changed to the guide itself, but I added a status on NVRAM clearing results in general (it works!) and links to a few of the many other threads where this has been discussed.

I also took the liberty of injecting a note in @Fitztorious' opening post to reflect that this is our go-to thread on NVRAM corruption and clearing. Many people arrive at NBR from Google searches, and with so many threads mentioning UEFI and boot and bricking problems, it can be difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff.

 

hello people...

i really hope that you would help me :

i have a samsung N150+ model NP-N150;
was running w7/nux, until i had to backup a computer on it for a night;

at morning, laptop is frozen.
i shutdown it holding power down.

i powerit again, samsung screen, then just a blinkin cursor with no image;

it's exactly this :

http://support-us.samsung.com/cyber....jsp?modelname=NP-N150&idx=166758&modelcode=&

since this, i cannot longer use internal HDD, which is working on another laptop;
however, i can boot on usb key; there is no optical disc available.

what i tried :

reset bios many times
removing cmos battery
removing general battery, power cord and holding power button for few minutes
changing ram
even changing drive parameters in the bios did nothing..


nothing works, it cannot boot to HDD

i tried yesterday to boot on windows 7 liveusb, to update bios;
i can't : windows start with usb key, then i install some drivers, can launch the bios update software but it stops when trying to write on the flash;
i tried to do it with the afudos, same : error accessing flash..

so i tryed it with : afudos, winflash tool and another one; not working at all.

now i dont know what to do; frenchies forums told me to reset nvram, which i think by removing CMOS battery (but doesnt works, however i didnt tryied remove it for a night) it should do it;
but not, so maybe boot on freedos and try to reflash bios.

what i did under windwos : find the samsung folder and gather files about bios flash, like bios.mph and so..


now i dont know what to do, if somenody of you could rise up my laptop..

additional info:
w7 x64 dualboot with linux (grub doesnt launch, nothing from hdd)
intel atom based
bios based (no uefi)


please help;.. thank you!

 

Hi @lm22, welcome to NBR.

If you are looking to clear your NVRAM, you have come to the right thread!

I will say if you are not running UEFI, and never have been, I am somewhat doubtful that corrupted NVRAM is the problem in your case. The fact that you are unable to flash BIOS further indicates that the problem may be something else -- I am thinking a bad BIOS chip, though there could be other causes.

That said, there is a good chance that you will be able to clear NVRAM even though you cannot flash a full BIOS. And so far we have had no reports of ill effects, so I consider it relatively safe. The fact that you are able to boot from a USB stick is excellent, since you need some form of Windows or WinPE in order to do this.

Basically follow steps 1 through 5 in the guide in post #7 of this thread (that was a link): Download and extract a BIOS update file for your laptop model (which you may already have), boot Windows or WinPE (whichever you are able to boot), and run the BIOS flashing utility with the /cvar /patch parameters ( sflash64 /cvar /patch or WinFlash64 /cvar /patch).

There may be ways to do this without booting Windows, such a through a Linux or DOS-like OS or even Windows Setup command line, but I am not aware of any that are compatible with Samsung's BIOS update files. If you find one, we would love to hear about it.

Good luck. Please keep us posted about your results.

Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving to all members in the US and any others who celebrate Thanksgiving.

 

thanks for the reply!

unfortunately i can't acces the flash under win7, i think it's due to windows drivers on winPE..
maybe in freedos, i'll try.. (and retry under win7 with winflash in cmd line

 

Many others have done this running various Windows and WinPE versions, something must be different in your case. Again, please study that guide in post #7 -- and maybe this entire thread -- for clues.

 

'Working' as in booting to it or merely reading its contents? If it's not booting on a different system then the boot sector may have corrupted. Windows PE usually does the trick when it comes to fixing that.

Did you try a clean install on a spare drive? If that works fine then the issue is not with the bios, at least.

 

i have another netbook : fujitsu one;
both have linux/windows dual boot;
when i take the fuj HDD into the samsung one, it doesnt boot; the blinking cursor with no image is here, anyway the HDD i plug;
only usb boot is working;

the samsung HDD has been tried in the fuj', it's booting properly, like the samsung was before;

so i think it's a bios problem; both HDD can be read/rewrite/booted on any other laptop;

unfortunately, after trying on freedos, the afudos software stops me at the same error :
"error: problem getting flash information"

here, now, i dont know what to do......

maybe flashrom under linux....

i'm thinking to that..

 

Use an MS-DOS bootable stick and drop a copy of afudos v3.07 on it. Boot it and run 'afudos.exe backup.rom /O'. If that fails as well then it just might be that the bios eeprom is defective or that it has a bad solder joint. If it succeeds to write a backup then we can use it to make a plain, fixed binary that can be flashed using afudos or the like, assuming the eeprom itself is still ok.

Flashrom can also work, but it can write to non-bios eeproms as well, so do take care when using it; with '--chip xyz' you can force writing to a specific eeprom.

 

afuwin.exe abc.rom /O
error : problem getting flash information

i seen about flashrom.. very unrecommended to use it with laptops..

now i'm out of idea.. i'm mailing samsung, but i dont know how to rise up my netbook.. i feel bad..

 

Yes, flashrom has to be used with care. Unlikely it's going to help in this instance anyway.

Assuming Samsung will even help with such an old, out-of-warranty laptop then they'll likely charge an arm and a leg (replacement motherboard + labour). If you're confident with a soldering iron or happen to know a good electronics repair shop nearby (doesn't have to be a pc-repair shop) then I can tell you the steps you have to take in order to fix it. Since a live stick still works; drop a copy of ' Universal BIOS Backup ToolKit' on it and see if that can write a copy of the current bios. It's portable, so no need to install.

Might also ship it to me. Only have to pay return shipping, but I'm in Europe, so don't know whether that's worth the trouble; good shop shouldn't charge you more than $40 or s0.

 

I cannot unpack the bios update files and have followed the tip to use the Administrator command prompt with now success. Is there something else I can try

 

Check the BIOS rollback thread if you haven't already (linked below):

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/samsung-laptops-roll-back-bios-updates.696197/

In particular, check the updated guidance in post #350 (linked below) which includes unpacking different types of BIOS files.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...ack-bios-updates.696197/page-35#post-10728275

Unfortunately I won't be available to provide more detailed help the next week or longer. But do post nevertheless if you continue to have problems. Others may be able to help, and I'll take a look whenever I have some time.

Edit: Oh, and welcome to NBR

 

Thanks for the reply, I was finally able to unpack the Bios file on a Acer laptop without problems, interesting that I had tried and failed on a Dell, HP and generic PC running windows 7 and also a Dell running windows XP without success. I guess the lesson is try, try and try again

 

Hey guys,

I am another victim of the bad Samsung firmware. I have fully read this thread and the start of this one, and tried multiple solutions, and none have worked.

This is basically what happened:

1) I bought a Samsung 7 NP700Z3C-01 in late 2012 with Windows 7. I imediately installed Ubuntu in it, in dual-boot, and life was good during the last 6 years.

2) Recently, I bought an SSD because I wanted to boost the performance of the laptop. I also briefly read about GPT and how it is better than MSDOS. From my Win 7, I created a Win 10 USB stick.

3) I put the SSD in my laptop and then:
-- Sliced up the SSD in several GPT partitions using GParted
-- Installed Windows 10
-- Installed Ubuntu 18.4

4) During the Ubuntu instalation, I got an error, due to making the /boot too small, so I decided to reinstall it. That's when I noticed I couldn't boot from USB or access the BIOS via F2.

Initially I tried to get to the BIOS via other keys and to access the recovery partition on my old HDD with F4.
I also tried to disable fast boot in Windows 10 and to do the restart into firmware via Windows 10 (this did not work as the option was not displayed).
As that didn't work, I tried to reset the CMOS by removing the battery. That caused the laptop to no longer boot into any of the OSes, and to be stuck in a boot loop.

I have tried to:
1) Boot with a Windows 10 DVD: the laptop starts reading the disc, while on the Samsung start screen, but then it stops and restarts.

2) Boot with a live USB in UEFI and GPT mode, created with RUFUS: the laptop completely ignores it. I think the default settings of the BIOS have fast boot, so USB boot is totally ignored.

3) Boot with a Win 10 WinPE disc: Same outcome as 1.

All the above steps were done with no SSD or HDD connected to the laptop. I was confident that 3) would work due to Fitztorious' success at the start of this thread, but nope.

Any ideas of potential solutions? I'm thinking of trying with a Windows 7 DVD or Win 7 WinPE next, as that is the Windows that came with the laptop.

Thanks.

 

I recently posted about my problems with this issue, I was locked into having the laptop only booting from the CD drive so I was able to create a WinPE disc, boot from that and clear the NVRAM with the information that comes from the Fitztorious post.

I had lost all functionality from the laptop except being able to boot from this drive (I couldn't eject the disc so I had to take the drive out and attach it to another computer to eject and load)

I used AOMEI PE Builder (30 day free trial) to build a 32bit disc and loaded the Bios update on it
https://www.aomeitech.com/pe-builder.html

It booted very slowly, you have to wait a very long time looking at a black screen but when it does you have the ability to run the command to clear the NVRAM

This worked for me, hopefully you will get to your solution

As a final thought, check that you are able to boot from some other disk, I was running Acronis TrueImage 2017 from the CD drive when this problem happened which is why I was locked into only being able to use the CD drive.

 

Hi colingchong,

Thanks for your reply. Unfortunately, I can't boot from a disc. When I insert a DVD into the drive, the disc starts turning, which seems to indicate that the laptop is trying to read it, but then it stops and the laptop reboots again.

I tried pressing F3 as described in the solutions thread, but nope.

Did you have that problem as well?

 

As I mentioned I was locked into booting from the CD Drive as that was the last device that the bios recognized. I could not eject the Acronis CD so I had to open the case and remove the drive and attach it to another computer to eject and load other CDs.

If you cannot boot from the CD drive you will have to test the possible other ways that you can boot from (USB or Hard Drive). If you cannot boot from any device I don't know what else you could do, perhaps someone else on the Forum could suggest something...

 

HI, first sorry for my bad english
i have this model of samsung: ATIV Book 5 530U3C-KD2.
This model dont have ODD.
The history:
Formated with windows 10 and stop to boot. Only messages I see is "Press F4..."
I have one hdd from lenovo(IS IN UEFI) who is the only one who boot, but i have a BSOD with the message "ACPI BIOS ERROR" who turn impossible boot to repair like you tutorial.
My bios is in CMS (I have reset the bios but i dont have sure if its works(remove baterry, remove inside coin battery, and try jumper close the RAM), because i have the BSOD, and the first time before chance to CMS the HDD boot normally).
I have download and try windows 8, windows 8.1, gandalf, hbcd, AOMEI PE 32 and 64, but no one boot. I try USB and external adapter ODD like the image: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51Hs3u+seBL._SL1000_.jpg.
Anyone have one idea to try boot one OS and repair the nvram?
THX all

 

My problem is exact the KcKepz, http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...nction-buttons-are-not-showing.755985/page-11

 

@luiz eduardo: Hi Luiz, welcome to NBR!

Are you able to get into BIOS settings with F2? I ask because you say your BIOS is CSM. As far as I can tell by Googling your model number, this laptop came with Win8, which means it defaults to UEFI mode and SecureBoot.

If you performed CMOS reset (removing coin battery, holding down power or closing the jumper pins for a minute, then removing the jumper) we should assume BIOS is back to that default, and you should focus on trying to boot external GPT boot sources. Remove the HDD since that will force BIOS to look on those external sources.

But if you know the BIOS is set to CSM, you should focus on MBR boot sources. When you say your HDD is UEFI, I assume you mean GPT. A BIOS in CSM mode will not be able to see that and boot from it, even if everything is otherwise working.

Plug that HDD into another computer, wipe it clean with Minitool Partition Magic, and partition it as MBR. Now set that other computer to CSM, select the HDD as boot drive, and install Windows (Win7 would be good). Once you get to the point where Windows Setup wants to reboot for the first time, turn off the computer. Now plug the HDD back into the Samsung and see if it will boot it. If so, continue with the Windows installation ONLY far enough that you can clear NVRAM (as described in post #7).

If that doesn't work, you're back to the challenge of trying to find a boot source that works. Again, removing the HDD is best, since that forces BIOS to look at USB or ODD (including ODD through USB).

If nothing will boot, you may have to find a repair store that can re-flash the BIOS. That too will reset NVRAM.

Unfortunately I don't have much time to help this week. It would be great if others who went through this could step in with their suggestions.

 

Thx for answer me
I cant acess the bios by F2.
I have installed windows 10 on the original HDD(UEFI MODE), when i reboot i get the F4 and be stucked. I try to bot on my second HDD (GPT) boot normaly, advanced repair boot on UEFI settings, acess the bios and I change the UEFI Mode to CMS, after that my 2 HDD start do ACPI BIOS ERROR. I have tried reset windows and keep files, when he restart i removed from lenovo and put on samsung, but same error.
I try all reset methods of CMOS, but i dont have sure if really works based on the ACPI BIOS ERROR persist. But i think reset because he can try to boot on HDD2, now every time I create 2 USB's for every ISO, MBR and UEFI.
I try a lot of images on ODD, but i'm not shure if this model who dont have odd, can boot on external ODD, becasue none of the disc boot.
now i have formated HDD 1 windows 7 (MBR) on my lenovo and shutdon of first part. Tomorrow morning I go try to boot. I have download 3 new images WIndows 8 PE(in other threads i ready is better the 81 to try), windows 8, and Samsung Recovery Solution 6 i go burn all of them tomorrow morning too to try.
I'm working on bios, i have 'burned' on EEPROM 6 bios but no one give me image, now i have found 2 who in FC compares look really really close to the original DUMp i have made. I go try these 2 tomorrow afternoon, have a lot of motherboards for the 'same' 'model' of notebook because thath is hard do fin a compatible bios. Following you #7 i found other thread about to roolback bios, i follow this steps and found on internet the bios numer of the same board on youtube, and download the bios, but its a CAP and the burn go return error. I found UEFIFind_NE_A54_win32 and save like .bin but i dont have much hope because the file size have a difference of 2mb. I think is because CAP its and Update who dont rewrite all of bios.
Thx for the help. Any news i go post here.

 

Hi again, Luiz.

I can see you know your stuff and have done your homework. That's very helpful!

I am fairly certain your laptop can indeed boot from external ODD -- assuming everything is working, AND that the disc supports UEFI boot. Many older discs don't support UEFI boot. Even Microsoft's first Win8 ISOs (when downloaded from their site) didn't support UEFI boot correctly -- although their official retail discs did support it. But if you have NVRAM corruption, it's unpredictable.

However the fact that you are able to boot Windows into Advanced Repair options and use that to access BIOS settings, indicates that maybe this isn't NVRAM corruption, but something else.

If I were you, I would reset BIOS settings again and leave it in UEFI mode for now, then focus on GPT formatted boot sources: If you can still get to BIOS settings through Advanced Repair, do that and use F9 to reset BIOS settings; then disable SecureBoot (but make sure it's still OS Mode=UEFI OS) and disable Fast BIOS Boot. If you CANNOT get to BIOS settings anymore, perform the CMOS reset again (which should restore UEFI mode in BIOS) then try again booting from the UEFI/GPT HDD and use Advanced Repair to get to BIOS settings.

Once you know BIOS is set to UEFI mode (but SecureBoot and Fast BIOS Boot disabled) I would then try that trick wiping the disk and creating a new UEFI installation on another PC. I think you're already working on that.

Good luck. And yes, please keep us posted!