OS crashed amid BIOS update, laptop wont boot

Hey guys,

I would appreciate your help. The title already describes most of it.

I was having a few issues with my Vaio-Y (late 2010), so after avoiding it for some time, I decided to go for the BIOS update as recommended by vaio update, to see if it helped.
Of course, just when I needed it, windows 7 crashed, and I had to forcefully shut it down while it was updating. After that, it wouldn't boot; no vaio screen, nothing. The fan starts but then shuts down, the power LED stays green, and the HD LED blinks permanently.
I already contacted vaio support, but it may take some days until they reply, and if they ask to send it back for repair it would take ages... and I really need my laptop in the following weeks.
Any advice? any secret key-combination I dont know of? is it worth trying to remove the cmos battery or something?
I appreciate any replies, thanks!

 

EDIT: I checked out and the Y seems to have a recovery option. I need your model no. so I can give you a manual.


Old post:
Sorry, I got bad news:
Unfortunately, Sony removed recovery options from their BIOSes, so the only thing you could do is to reprogram the flash rom. This requires soldering and a suitable SPI program device. Better get that fixed on warranty, Sony probably will replace your motherboard.

 

go look around bios-mods. There is a secret key combo for Insyde dead recovery, however, given my experience with Sony UEFI, we won't get very far that way.

 

You made me curious to have a second look on the Y's BIOSes at Vaio-link and I am pretty sure they coincidentally have a recovery section in the boot vector.

@chickenlover, I need your exact Model Nr. VPC-Y...

 

Hi guys, thanks for the replies!
Indeed, I would rather not solder and I'm still within the warranty, but if there are other tricks would be great.

My model is VPCY22C5E

 

lol. that trick worked ages ago when bioses boot may have been continuously powered by a battery (with some kinda ROM backup to recover). today's bioses are flash memory based. they dont need battery for data retention. the battery is only for maintaining real time clock when power is shutoff.

IMHO, you can't do much other than take it to a repair center and get the bios or motherboard replaced. you're pretty much screwed.

 

^ The proof of the pudding is in the eating.

Chickenlover, here is the manual. Crossing fingers that it will work for you.

1. Download this file: VPCY22-biosrecovery.zip
2. Format a USB Flashdrive with fat32 filesystem
3. Extract the zip file to the root of the USB flashdrive - check the flashdrive, there should be the provided CadizCPX64.fd file only
4. Use window's "safely remove" to unmount the flashdrive and go to your broken notebook
5. Plug in the prepared USB flashdrive
6. Unplug AC adapter from notebook
7. Remove Battery
8. Press and hold Windows Key and B together
9. Plug in AC adapter while holding these two buttons
10. Turn on the notebook with the keys still pressed and release the buttons once LED lights come on
11. The laptop beeps every second while it recovers from the repair flash on the USB flashdrive
12. It should reboot automatically and you should see a POST.

Please report back if you have done that. I don't have a VPC-Y so I only rely on the info I found in the original BIOS file taken from here:
VAIO : Sony Europe

Cheers,
pyr0

 

The two things bolded are, obviously, the mort important things. Mobo ID and the key combo

 

Yes, that's correct. Without your hint, I would have never checked the actual BIOS. Most VAIOS do not have these recovery options so it is kinda adrenaline rush when doing mods. Now, let's hope we are able to resurrect that VAIO.

 

It'll be great if it works. but I am sceptical. Recovery from what level? If the bios is so screwed that it cannot even init and bring up the motherboard and interconnect systems, usb controller, then there's no way this will work.

 

No, Insyde PHY has a hard coded reset option that flashes from whereever it can find a BIOS/UEFI ROM with the mobo's ID/model. It's not well documented, for obvious reasons of security... (not to mention, it requires a bit of dissambly - which while nearly ALL bios/UEFI implementations are indeed NAND flash today, their RTC can be cleared by disconnecting the battery, which normally also triggers an action to clear all BIOS/UEFI settings to default).

 

But are you saying even the basic pre-boot up (say initializaing the usb controller, etc. - required things on the motherboard) are also hard-coded? If yes, ok then it should work in theory. If no, I dont understand why it should be able to bring up these basic components at all.

 

hey pyr0, thanks a lot for the instructions but unfortunately it didn't work. There is no activity at all on the pendrive, and I noticed no change in the startup: basically after pressing the power button, the fan activates for 1 second, and the hd led turns on and then starts blinking.
Well, it's possible that my bios is totally fubar.

On the other hand, if the recovery procedure is mobo dependent, it could be that this particular Bios you pointed me to is not the right one. I know, it's the one the site suggests to update, but I just saw it says:
"This BIOS version should only be installed on a system with an Intel Pentium U5400 Processor."

The dead laptop has a i5 U430 processor, and maybe also a different mobo?
Unfortunately, I cannot seem to find the original bios my laptop came with on the vaio support website, not even in the "preinstalled" section. If you know some bios repository would be great!

 

We are not giving up so easily. You have nothing to lose anyways. As I mentioned, I don't have experience with the VPC-Y at all. I can't disassemble the right keys in the restore routine without knowing the keyboard pinout. Lets try the following. Replace the keys in the manual posted earlier with FN + ESC.

Would be great if you could get hold of the BIOS you flashed, I am pretty sure this is the same I provided. Perhaps you can take out the HDD? Even better if you have a friend with a similar, working Y or get someone here in the forum to dump his BIOS. That would have been a real mess if Sony provides an incompatible upgrade that bricks a laptop through Vaio Care.

 

IT'S ALIVE. Yeeehaaw!!! that did the trick it was the key combo indeed. The startup was already different, no HD led this time-- but still totally dead for some seconds, until the pendrive started showing some activity. Could not believe it!

pyr0 THANKS man, (and also jeremyshaw)
I owe you one big beer.

 

Awesome, glad it worked for you. I am happy. PM me where you live, perhaps its just around the corner

 

Congrat,
You guys should go to Oktoberfest.

 

So, the hotkey to trigger Boot Block BIOS recovery on Sony VAIO is Fn+Esc keys. Acer notebook also use the same hotkey. I'm glad to found this post. For several month now I'm trying to find a correct recovery procedure for Sony VAIO.

 

Not all VAIOs do work with the recovery method as Sony did not implement recovery procedures in all their BIOSes. We need to check each case where it works. If there is interest, I can make a list.

The hotkey combinations I know for Insyde BIOS are:

Windows + B
Windows + F
FN + ESC

 

I have, sort of, a list of hotkeys in my thread (link in my signature) including several BIOS recovery procedure. I only don't have hotkey use in Sony though. Manufacturer tend to change the hotkey to their preference. For example, Acer use Fn+Esc keys regardless the BIOS is Phoenix or Insyde on all of their notebooks. Asus use Ctrl+Home keys but they use AMI BIOS. Asus BIOS recovery procedure exactly the same procedure use on Sony except it have graphical BIOS recovery.

It would be great if we somehow can extract this information (especially the hotkey) from the BIOS image.

 

I'm having the same problem with a Sony Vaio VGN-SR (It's the VGN-SR510MF/S). I got a new battery that needed a bios update. Ran the programs off the local HD as instructed and it shut down the machine but it won't come back on now at all.. Can anyone point me in the right direction for the new bios file so I can try the flash bios as listed in the first page?!

Many thanks in advance!

 

I had a quick look and was unable to find any BIOS for your model. Please provide me with an official BIOS upgrade for your model (Link is enough) and if possible, with the upgrade you flashed. I'll have a look into these then.

Thanks.

 

I can't find a link to the official bios either - that's my main problem but here's a link to the files I got with the battery if that helps (I've just zipped and uploaded them to some webspace):

http://www.afterhours.ie/manual.zip
http://www.afterhours.ie/SonyBiosPatch_20110116a.zip

Thanks!

 

If it helps I've got a second model number on the base of the machine: PCG-5T1M

 

The second link is dead.

 

Apologies - I've fixed it there now

 

This BIOS patch is really weird. It's over 50 MB in size and does not contain any proper BIOS inside. I think it could take ages to decompile this chinese BIOS upgrade tool to gather some information what it did to your BIOS. I think we are better off just getting an official sony BIOS or another user with your laptop that is willing to dump his BIOS so you can use that for recovery. Since I don't know where you are located so where to look for BIOS upgrades for your particular model (did not find your model number at europe and NA sony support page), I'm stuck at this point. Try to get hold of an official BIOS or BIOS dump. You can open a request thread too, to get your issue in a seperate thread.

If you got some news, I will help you for sure.

 

This is the offical download page for the laptop but there is no bios info there..

Download Page

I'm in Ireland but the laptop is originally from somewhere else in Europe..

Where should I open a request thread?

 

Just press the "new thread" button in the sony forum or post your request in your laptop's owner's lounge.

 

The link you posted is for VGN-SR51MF/S. You said your model was VGN-SR510MF/S. What gives?

 

Edit: Sorry I must be going mad - I was sure the front of the laptop said 510MF but it doesn't, I was just seeing things. It is a VGN-SR51MF! Apologies!

Original post: Oh, that's strange - that's the page that comes up when I put in my serial number but the laptop says SR510MF on the front of it..

 

Guys please HELP(((((

You can see my laptop in my sig.

BIOS: AMI APTIO

I made BIOS mod to unhide some setting using AMIbcp 4.5
I made bat file with amiwin R112....ROM /p /n where p means program main BIOS and n means nvRAM.

I started an update and... all was fine. Then I tried to reboot and it shut down, then it took 5-10 seconds of black screen and the it booted. All was fine except only settings were unhide which were in already opened menus. But there are other 2 menus (Advanced#2 and Chipset).

So after setting BIOS to default I made another mod of BIOS and flashed it.

But this time after reboot it took over a minute with black screen and that's it. I waited little a=more and had to push power button for 5 seconds.

Then I try to turn it on and I see green light always on power button, every 3-5 seconds fan starts and stops. And led of HD and USB drive flashes every 3-5 seconds.

I tried Ctrl + home and powering up while holding it and AMIBOOT.ROM and with batfile and afudos and amif895. But nothing

Help me please.

Boot block should be fine.

 

Hi, Gambl0r
I've the same problem. Do you solve it?
If so, please tell me how.
Thanks