Toshiba satellite A350 bios recovery (Phoenix)

Hi
A few days ago, I did a big mistake, I was trying to update my laptop bios, but the stupid winphlash , started without any intervention from me! and the result? a dead laptop. since then, I was badly looking for some solution, and finally I did it! my laptop is alive now! so I wanted to share the method with the forum's members.
First of all, it's indeed possible to recover a dead bios using a usb drive! so, no need to use a usb floppy drive which is useless , since most modern bios files, are bigger than 1.44Mb, so the file can't fit in a single floppy!
Second: a lot of people do not succeed in recovering dead bios because of using the wrong tools! the key is using a specific Phoenix tool. Crisis Bios Recovery , but one version is the right one : 1.0.0.4, it is able to creat a usb recovery drive ! you can download it from here :

Code:

http://www.mediafire.com/?1mnzygmizgm

The method is as follow :
1- Extract the rar file, you will have a folder named crisdisk.
2- Download the bios flash rom file, and rename it to BIOS.WPH, the put it in the crisdiks folder , beside WINCRIS.EXE.
3- Insert your usb drive , it’s better to have one with less than 2Gb, and open WINCRIS.EXE , choose ‘’Removable ‘’ in Disk format, thenk click on
‘start’.

​

4- Now, in your dead Laptop, remove the battery , CD or DVD rom, any card, unplug it from the AC source , and put in the usb drive.
5- You must put your laptop in Crisis Recovery Mode, by Holding down: Fn+B and while holding, plug the computer in to power and press the power button.
6- You should see the usb drive LED blinking for a while, then it stops ! wait for 2 or 3 min until the CPU Fan noise stops.
7- Unplug the power , and boot yor laptop, it’s alive ! eh voilà !

 

hey i got the same problem with my Toshiba Satellite A350D, but i didnt work out yet :S..........i tried several CrisisDisks, the only thing that works is the key-combination for getting in the special boot-mode, but after reading the dsk nothing happens, no peeping, the fan spins fast as before......
which Model of the A350D you got exactly?

 

It worked for my Satellite A500 - N19 perfectly after crash during BIOS flash.
I tried to flash the version 1.90 and the computer got frozen.
I had problems to obtain the BIOS file because you only can download the WIN flash utulity. If you download the 1.90 win version you can start the application on another computer, then "browse" to the bios location within the application ( i.e. C:\WINDOWS\Temp\WINPHLASH\BIOS.ROM (2.1 MBytes large) and rename
it as BIOS.WPH and place it into the crisis folder as described.

Create the bootable USB stick (the bios file is then in there, beware the USB stick gets erased!)

Boot the computer while hilding the F12 key during power button pressing.
The USB disk shows an activity LED for above 10 secs, then the FAN powers up to maximum (good sign), wait and do nothing, the procedure needed about 2-3 minutes to complete. The computer went down itself and
then remove the usb and restart - alife again !!!!!!

 

Thank you very much.
It worked with my french Satellite P200D too.
Great job, thank's again.

For those who try to rescue a broken bios :
- take care to follow the steps described
1. Create a boot disk with Phoenic Crisis Disk Build
2. Look for the right bios from the Toshiba website - I tried several bios version until I found the goob one. With each wrong bios version the update went wrong and kept the screen black
3. Only with the adapted bios version for my notebook the whole procedure workes well and notebook powered off alone. After this everything worked well again with the last bios updated.

It worked for me with an external floppy drive. I didn't try it with an usb stick.

Really thank's again for your help.

 

thank you to share us your knowledge

 

Dear, I have a problem with my notebook Satellite L305D-S6979A. I need to find the file Bios.WPH for my notebook. Do you help me please. Thank you. Best regards, Silvio

 

Dirak1974,

I have a bricked Toshiba A350 22Q.
I tried your method with no luck.
Could you please post the bios that you used to reflash? As mine doesnt work.

Thanks

 

I have extracted the Bios file for my Toshiba A350 22Q laptop with WINRAR.

-First I downloaded the official Bios update fom Toshiba website.
-Then I unpacked the zip file (bios-20100421103433.zip) to a folder of my choice.
-BE CAREFULL AT THIS POINT: DO NOT double click the unpacked exe file!
in my case the file is called : BIOS_V240_Win.exe
-Extract the *.exe file with WINRAR (Right click the exe and choose "Extract Here")
-DO NOT TOUCH the SETUP.EXE files as they will start the update procedure potentially crashing your PC (any PC!)
-You now should see a couple of files, but we only need the ROM file. (in my case: tkaa240a.rom)

I'm guessing this rom file can be used for the Toshiba A350/A350D notebook series. Better to get the rom for your model at Toshibe support site.

I have uploaded the BIOS Rom file here for people who want it:
Use at own risk!

MEGAUPLOAD - The leading online storage and file delivery service


I'm very thankfull to dirak1974 & other members on this and other forums for posting their solutions.
However, I still havent been able to recover my Laptop. I tried various methods with 4 different USB sticks and also a USB 2.0 Card reader with 256 MB SD card.

My laptop goes into Recovery mode using FN+B, reads the USB stick/SD card for about 10 seconds.
After that nothing happens. Waited as long as 20-30 minutes at various tries.

I'm very upset at Toshiba for putting such a dangerous bios update method on their website. I'm a advanced computer user and rarely have issues I cannot fix by myself.


The same thing as Dirak1974 and lots of other Toshiba laptop users (worldwide) happened to me.
After download & unpacking, Winphlash just started the Bios upgrade without PROMPT! This is NOT acceptable!

Calling Toshiba customer service (The Netherlands) is really not helpfull at all. Telling me a bios update is not a smart thing to do.
My answer-> Then why do you put it on your website? And a Bios update is sometimes neccesary for upgrading the machine.

After that the guy wanted me to send the laptop to a notoriously bad service center (regarding notebooks) DYNAFIX.
Of course i will not do this if I don't want my notebook to be even more damaged.

In my case the Bios chip probably needs to be replaced (instead of the whole mainboard.)
I dont have experience at this, so need to find someone who can.
First i'll try some other sofware based solutions and hope for good luck.

I'll keep you guys posted...

 

I'm having a massive heart attack. My problem isn't new, same as the problems on this thread. No matter how good I follow these instructions something goes wrong.

I would like to know if you need to change the original bios rom's file extention too cos you'll be told if you change the .rom, your file will be corrupted. Should I change the file extention to (BIOS.WPH) or leave it as (BIOS.WPH.rom). Help me cos I'm confused. Thanks

 

I just realized that my pen drive or diskette is empty even though I run the crisdisk. Help!

 

pls could sumbody help me with the right bios file for toshiba satellite l500-017.
looks lyk it's been taken off the list of available computers on toshiba's support site...
also how long should u hold down fn-b before releasing..my fan turns @ full speed but i don't see any light from the usb's led..PLS HELP!!!!!!!!

 

i've done all this but it's not work..
i just hear the buzzer sound..
please help me!
my laptop model : toshiba satellite L310 PSME6L-00U001

 

Hi everyone,

this method worked out for me on my A500-02E (Toshiba Satellite).

Here is the method I used to create my usb key.


1.)Use a usb stick and do a format as FAT from windows.
(I use 1gb stick)

2.)Run WINCRIS.EXE select your formated usb stick Click the "Start" button whait and a message come and say to "Remove your stick
and reconect" So remove the stick click "OK" to the window (do not close the WINCRIS.EXE and dont click anything else) and reconect.
Afer choose "YES" in the windows say "Do you whant to format onother crisis disk?" and click again the "Start" button.
(This is to make sure we update the CRISBOOT.BIN in usb boot sector. For me works like that.)
(If WINCRIS.EXE doesnt run and give an error try to run it in compatibility mod)

3.)Remove your stick and reconect, copy in the stick the "MINIDOS.SYS"-"PHLASH16.EXE" and finaly your bios with name: bios.wph.

The only time it worked for me is when the bios filename was in lowercase.

Using Fn + B on boot up, the fan kick in high rev, the system read out from usb key for about 10 - 15 sec, then system powered off after 5 min.

re-installed dvd, hard disk and battery... back in business...

Thanks a lot for this thread...

 

Thanks to all and to Pelrac (helped with compatibility mode)
After two days of searching and trying different methods I was able to restore my customer laptop.
To others who did not managed to wake up your toys - keep trying - there is method somewhere for you as well.
I'm not sure if all steps from this forum were right or the problem was dvdrom still not removed, but finaly it's done.
Thanks again!!!

P.S. Laptop Toshiba Satellite L450D-11W - if someone got similar problems I can post my steps, but I'm sure that info here is enough

 

Anyone got a working copy of the link for crisis disk as the one posted aint working for me thank in advance

 

nice one bravo

 

Dear, I also have problem with my satellite a350 PSAL6A-04W016. The laptop cannot boot (whether using battery or when power cord is plugged). Fan is on for seconds then off. No display, the screen is totally black.
This problem may be because a day before, I put my laptop to sleep immediately when a mouse is attached on it. I unplugged the mouse while the lid is still closed. Then, the laptop is off by itself. When I try to to turn it on, the problem above appears. Could you please help me. Many Thanks

 

WoW! There are now two options:
1. You laptop killed its BIOS and you will have try to recover it or re-prgramm the ePROM/ROM with a prommer.
2. Your MoBo died. If it has warranty just sent it back to TOSHIBA.

 

Thanks alxlbf2,
I have also tried to what dirak1974 and pelrac suggested. Also this http://www.justanswer.com/computer/...ebook-part-number-psal6a-04w016-recently.html The laptop responds to floppy but after couple minutes waiting nothing happened. I restarted the laptop the screen still black and off by itself

 

I have problem with Toshiba satelite L310

Help me!

 

I have a Satellite A500 and got through the same experience. I am able to follow your recovery instructions except that I cannot get the Laptop to boot in crisis recovery mode. Fn+B or Fn+F or F12 none of them work. I cannot get the Laptop to see the flash drive at all.

 

I have a Satellite A500 and got through the same experience. I am able to follow your recovery instructions except that I cannot get the Laptop to boot in crisis recovery mode. Fn+B or Fn+F or F12 none of them work. I cannot get the Laptop to see the flash drive at all.

 

hello...
will this method work on satellit L755-16L ? how to get to recovery mod with this laptob? and another quistion: i have downloded the bios file it is called ''bios230.exe'' is this the bios flash rom file i have to rename it to bios.wph. if it is not then where is it? and btw i could not run wincris.exe on windose7 only on xp.

 

I am trying to do this BIOS crisis recovery on a toshiba satellite A300-129.
When I boot the laptop while holding the fn+esc keys, the laptop appears to be trying to read the USB Drive, but fails.
The USB LED blinks once, then stops.

I assume I'm doing something wrong with the drive formatting/files I put on there, or perhaps the key combination I'm using which is wrong.

I've been using the above procedures, tried different key combinations, other versions of crisdisk,...

I found the service manual for the satellite A300 online, but I'm confused about which button it says to push.
'Turn on the power while holding down the [`~] key (on the left of the space key). (Keep holding down the key until a message appears on the screen.) The BIOS rewriting starts.'
On some keyboard languages the key they mention is below the escape key. So they mean all the way to the left of the BACK space key. It doesn't change a thing however on how the booting goes.
http://tim.id.au/laptops/toshiba/equium%20a300%20satego%20a300%20satellite%20a300%20pro%20a300.pdf

Any advice on what I might be doing wrong is very welcome!

 

My Satellite Pro L300 cannot reboot after it restart during Toshiba recovery wizard activation. I'm getting a message at start-up Bootmgr is missing. Please can someone help me on this one.

 

i just created an account here to say THANK YOU for this page. was updating a friends laptop and got the bios update direct from tosh's site - damn thing froze half way through and completely bricked the system. the instructions below saved me from telling a friend i killed his laptop. LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!

 

has one notice the first instructions say to remove the battery and ac adpter then turn it on, i'm seriously interest in what technology is powering the laptop with out a battery or ac adapter.

 

Hello guys i have toshiba satallite x200 with bios problem. When i plug the power cord while im pressing fn+b fan starts workng but usb drive doesnt blink if i press power button while im pressing fn+b fan gains speed but no blinking at all. what im doing wrong ?

 

Hi
SSvastika could you please let me know the procedure you followed, as i also have Toshiba L450d model and no bios file or update is available on the Toshiba website, so just wondering which bios image you used.
Thanks

 

Dear alxlbf2,
could you please help me on how to recover my satellite a350 bios or how to re-program the e-prom/rom?

thank you.

regards, Andi

 

Hi everyone.
sorry for refresh this topic, by i have probably this same problem. I have prepare to update bios in my customer laptop that is Toshiba Satellite a200-1hv and this upgrade operation start without my confirmation and unfortunately he restart and now i have dead notebook. I try to use this crisis method but this doesn't work. I don't know if this is good or not, by when i complete making crisis usb stick, i have only 32KB space used. In the next step when i put this usb stick to my usb port and i start laptop with holding Fn+B keys, laptop start running and the fan is on high speed, but the usb LED is not blinking, but she is all time turned on. I was waiting for 30min, but this laptop do not want to turn off.

Maybe anyone has some idea, what can i still do?

 

HI.

I have exacly the same problem.
My laptop it's a A350D-20m and i can't recover the bios...

My last oficial bios it's a 1.80.
I use Windows 7 with admin prev. to create the crisdisk.
The crisdisk copy the files, but the USB stick only has 34 Kb in use!!!

So I can't restore my laptop.

Can some one indicate the best way to create the usb stick?

 

I hope this is helpful for others with a bios file that doesn't fit on a diskette (&/or with an USB stick that is "too big")
I also noticed that quite some Toshiba Satellite L550 users couldn't restore the bios.

I managed to unbrick a Toshiba Satellite L550-13K:
Downloaded Phoenix Crisis Bios Recovery using the mediafire link & extracted it
Downloaded the 1.90-WIN BIOS update from Toshiba | Leading Innovation, extracted using 7-zip and renamed twAA190A.ROM to BIOS.WPH

Having read all the posts on this site I used the latest GParted CD to delete the FAT32 partition on my 16Gb USB stick and create a 1GB FAT partition. (Any Windows partition prog would probably work too, but GParted is free and not that difficult to use)

Restarted Windows XP, plugged in the USB stick, ran the WINCRIS.EXE.
This only gave me the USB stick as "Removable Disk".
I left "Create MINIDOS Crisis Disk" selected and clicked "Start"

WINCRIS reported success.
I checked the partition & only found 3 files there: BIOS.WPH, MINIDOS.SYS & PHLASH16.EXE
Unfortunately the BIOS.WPH was a 1kb dummy file, leftover from previous tries - I just copied the correct (2.1 Mb) one over it.
Somehow reason WINCRIS reformatted the drive to a capacity of 31.9 Mb! But it did work anyway (see below).

After that I just followed the instructions from this thread: unplug power (battery wasn't present), insert USB stick, hold Fn + b keys, replug power, press power button:
fan noise + 2 secs USB activity, after about 5 secs another 15 secs USB activity, after couple of minutes fan noise stopped.

Can't remember if the PC rebooted automatically after that but boot into Windows it did!


For those who would try this too: I tried to make a bootable (?) CD using a virtual floppy (created with vfd) which I formatted with WINCRIS.
Unfortunately WINCRIS didn't want to use my (virtual) High Density diskette, so I used a standard capacity one.
I used the "bootable CD" option of Nero v6.5 with that "boot" diskette, & just added the BIOS.WPH to the CD. But NO GO.
Anyway, easier to buy (or lend) a small USB stick than to try to make a CD work.

 

Regarding my previous post:
I checked with GParted and found a 16GB FAT16 partition on the pendrive.
So the WINCRIS format ignored my partitioning of the pendrive.
But MSDOS can't access FAT volumes larger than 2 Gb ( and 4Gb is the max size for FAT16, see Maximum partition size using the FAT16 file system in Windows XP )

My best guess to why Crisis Bios Recovery worked anyway:
the File Allocation just "wraps around" (adresses after 2Gb get "translated" to the 2Gb adress space), but the "wrap around" didn't kick in because I only used a very small part of a freshly formatted pendrive.
Would be nice to hear from someone who knows for certain if this is what really happens!

I tried unsucessfully to find a program that would let me inspect the bootsector.
So I deleted all three files from the pendrive and used it to boot another PC.
Message: "Flash crisis recovery disk. Remove and press any key"
So it seems certain that WINCRIS.exe puts a (custom) bootsector there - you have to use it.

btw, if you can't reproduce the recovery procedure: you MUST keep holding Fn + b (or whatever key combo works on your type of machine) while plugging in the power and pressing the power button.

 

Hi! I accidentally updated my bios and it went wrong! Now I'm trying to fix it using the phoenix crisis tool. I think I do everything ok, but my pc doesn't read my usb. The Led doesn't blink....I don't know what to do... I've tried with several usb drives and even a memory card. Get no succes. Does anyone know what could be happening? Thank you very much

 

Hello franbugallo,

btw - which Toshiba are you trying to "unbrick"?
Do you get the loud fan noise? Because that is the indication that the Phoenix crisis code is looking for the recovery disk (or usb drive).
If the fan stays silent you are probably using an incorrect key combination.
Did you format the USB drive with WINCRIS.exe and did you remove the battery from the laptop?
Did you use an USB drive <= 2 Gb?

If you did all that correctly but ran WINCRIS.exe on Windows 7, you might try formatting the USB disk on a Windows XP machine instead.
At least one person reported that it didn't work with Windows 7 and it did work for me with XP.


patroos

 

I have a Toshiba Satellite A350D-005, and when I went to upgrade the bios from V1.5 to V1.8 via the download file specifically for my laptop model from the Toshiba site, the WinPlash program unexpectedly crashed part way through. I have tried to reflash the bios using various versions of Crisis using a USB drive as well as a USB floppy, with no luck. By holding fn+b, there is a noticeable difference where the fan kicks into high speed, and the usb device begins to read for a period of time. The laptop never shuts off however, so after about half an hour I try to unplug it and restart. The result is the same before, black screen, nothing else. I have tried taking the hard drive and dvd burner out as well, still no change. I have plugged the hard drive into a desktop system via sata cables and was able to navigate to the Temp folder located in the windows directory that contained the WinPhlash folder, and from this I have been able to recover the Bios backup that it supposedly made. I have tried to reflash with the backup, no difference as well. I did manage to open the log that winphlash created, and from what I can gather, it starts flashing the bios around block 18 and works its way down, and appears to have frozen around block 4. Any suggestions for what else I can possibly try to save my laptop?
Thanks!

 

Hello jharvie
Looks like you already thoroughly tried EVERYTHING unfortunately.

Just to make sure:
Did you rename your Toshiba .ROM file to BIOS.WPH?
Did you use version 1.0.0.4 of Crisis posted here by dirak1974? (mediafire link)

I hope I didn't offend you with those suggestions, but sometimes one gets so
wrapped up in problem solving as to forget the obvious...

 

I just rescued a Toshiba Satellite A215 from a bad Bios update which almost was taken for a brick. Thank you dirak1974, just followed your post and it worked !!

If it is of any help i did it with a 2GB flash memory (Kingston-Data Traveler) formatted FAT using WindowsXP, then used Phoenix Crisis with the requested files as said on the post. Laptop is back to life.

 

Model Name: EQUIUM P200-178
Model No. PSPB2E-001002AV

Hello,

I wanted to upgrade my BIOS laptop under Windows to the latest version provided on the Toshiba support website for my laptop (1.70).

I've downloaded the bios and the windows update program. But when I've stated it, it runs automotically to the backup and then the update.
While updating the utility was freezed and didn't respond.
I've waited for a long time but the update never finished.

After switching off the laptop, I couldn't start it again. The power led just blinked.
Reading this forums provided some information, but no one could help.
I can start the laptop in BIOS recovery mode holding Fn + B keys, but don't have access to the bootable USB (usn stick led don't blink) with the bios file.
The DVD-ROM led was blinking but didn't start the update from the bootable CD-ROM.

Can you please Provide support?

Is there any Jumper to set to get the recobery working for USB?
Is it possible to change/reprogram the BIOS again?
or should I send the hole laptop for repaire?

Thank you in advance for your help and support.

Regards,

 

You are quite a help full person, actually i am now in a bad condition with my Toshiba dynabook satellite laptop. it can't run with out d.c. power flow. That means i need a new battery or cell to replace. If any body have one please let me know.

 

hi,sorry for jumpin in here but have same problem and have been trying this method only when i extract bios i dont seen a rom file only one with fd instead,my question is does it have to be rom file...thanks

hi,could the people thats had success at doin this tell me what O/S they are using as trying to work out if i need to do this method on xp...thanks

 

I have just registered so that my comments may help other people fix their bios.
I scoured the internet for hours trying to find solutions to fix my bios after it crashed halfway though. After reading many forums and downloading every possible application to create a bootable USB drive I slowly began to realise that yes, maybe using a USB stick may work in some very rare exceptional cases but using a USB flash drive/pen drive did not work for me.

If you are using phoenix Crisis Bios Recovery you must use a USB floppy disk drive and boot from the floppy disk.

After hours failing to create a bootable USB drive, a floppy disk worked first time running phoenix Crisis Bios Recovery in a windows xp 32 bit environment.

The laptop I recovered the bios on was a Toshiba Satellite p200-17c (purchased 2008)

Maybe I had to use a floppy disk because it was an older bios, I don’t know but if you’re unsure, save yourself some time and buy a USB floppy disk drive.

Bottom line...........USE A FLOPPY DISK!!!

 

Just registered to express my appreciation as well. A couple of steps that I noted that were a bit different for my experience, but the end result was all goodness.

I was recovering a Toshiba Satellite L350D, which was totally bricked. I used a USB Key, and it worked great for me. Not sure why IAMB4TMAN's experience was so different, but I can confirm that the USB Key worked fine. I did find that creating the disk on Windows 7 64bit was problematic. It went much more smoothly when I was using Windows XP. This is a known issue with the Crisis boot disk.

My main difference was the filename of the bios file. The recommend in this thread is to use bios.wph. My bios file was named PSAP180.fd. When I tried renaming it to bios.wph I had no luck. However, when I renamed the file to bios.fd, it worked perfectly.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread. You got me most of the way there, and I really appreciate it.

 

Hi. New to the forum. I have an older Toshiba a70-S249 that got fowled up in updating the bios. (watch out, the 1.06 that downloads is actually ver 1.01.) I tried to update from ver 1.03 and now it's dead. I've made the pen and followed the instructions for FN-B keys- power plug - power button. The only thing that happens is the system fans come on, remain constant, and I get a constant 1 long and 2 short beeps. Nothing else. Has anyone tried this method on an older laptop? Any suggestions? I can't find that particular beep code in the toshiba book.

 

I have the same problem as the above poster with my Toshiba P300 (PSPC4E).
I've disconnected the HDD and DVD.

I successfully created an USB boot disk. Three files was copied into it, including my laptops bios, named BIOS.WPH (version 4.20)
I've tried multiplie key combinations, following the boot instruction (USB -> Power Cord -> Power Button), as FN + B, WIN + B, FN + ESC and WIN + ESC.

When I boot up with FN/WIN + B, it just boots up "normally", all LEDs light up and the screen stay black. The USB doesnt flash or anything.
Using FN + ESC is a different story though, no LEDs light up, except for the power button.
The USB flashes briefly, for a few seconds, and after a little while the laptop begins to beep.
When I say beep, it really beeps, loudly as hell! 1 long beep + 2 short beeps, which goes on constantly.

I left it for about 15 minutes, but nothing happened. The beeps were really loud, so I shut it down.
Am I doing it wrong? Should I leave it for longer? Is there any way to turn down the volume in that case?

Would be really grateful for any help I can get.

 

i have samsung chronos series 7 laptop .. its also dead now .. plz can u tell me by which keys i can put it to read recovery from usb ? i have followed your procedure but no luck cuz LED of usb flshes but very dim .. can u plz help me ?

 

I, I have a TOSHIBA SATELLITE P200 and it died after a bios update.



When i power on, it works 2s then shutoff



If i power on with FN+B pressed, i get ambar light flashing(HDD AND BATTERY), this is my board flashing:



TOSHIBA SATELLITE P200- PSPB6 After Fail Bios Update - YouTube



Can anyone help me?



regards

Tony

 

Hi dear!
I can't download this program (Phoenix tool. Crisis Bios Recovery). how can i get it?

 

- HPUSBDisk (Storage Format Tool)

- phlash16 (many versions)

- WINCRIS_1.0.0.2
- WINCRIS_1.0.0.3
- WINCRIS_1.0.0.4


mediafire

4shared