The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Sony Vaio SB18 bricked on Bios update

    Discussion in 'VAIO / Sony' started by farstir, May 25, 2011.

  1. farstir

    farstir Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    2
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Hi
    I was running the bios update, got distracted by other stuff popped back and hibernate was on. Now it's bricked.

    I don't supposed there is anywhere to poke with a pin etc to reset it?

    If not, does the SB have a replaceable bios chip, or does it have to be unsoldered? Or is new mobo the only fix?

    Thanks for any help
    Far
     
    farstir, May 25, 2011
    #1
  2. lovelaptops

    lovelaptops MY FRIENDS CALL ME JEFF!

    Reputations:
    1,208
    Messages:
    3,600
    Likes Received:
    107
    Trophy Points:
    131
    I'm sorry I don't have answers to your questions, but just wanted to express my sympathy. I think many of us have had this happen once - then we don't update BIOS anymore!

    Seriously, though, I don't know why this wouldn't be fully covered under warranty, wouldn't it?
     
    lovelaptops, May 25, 2011
    #2
  3. electronicsguy

    electronicsguy Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    54
    Messages:
    403
    Likes Received:
    4
    Trophy Points:
    31
    Try looking at this bios recovery thread, maybe it'll help:

    http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-...yde-bios-recovery-using-usb-thumbdrive-7.html

     
    electronicsguy, May 25, 2011
    #3
  4. anytimer

    anytimer Notebook Virtuoso

    Reputations:
    302
    Messages:
    2,160
    Likes Received:
    321
    Trophy Points:
    101
    Did you look for the download page for your model to see if the BIOS file is available there? Not the bios installer that runs on Windows; just the binary.
     
    anytimer, May 25, 2011
    #4
  5. farstir

    farstir Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    2
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Far out I'm lucky. The laptop was 100% unresponsive last night when it tried to resume from hibernate. It flashed the keyboard lights for a second and then that was it - had full charge but no signs of life, no lights, power wouldn't do anything. Packed it up maybe 30mins later in the same state.

    I don't know what it's worked out while it was turned off for a day (with charge) but it turned on OK - and reckons I have a bios update applied successfully - only thing is it keeps on reckoning the same bios update needs to be applied.

    So if the only damage is a reminder to apply an update that won't stick - I'm a happy man!!

    Thanks for all the suggestions. And I'll never be walking away from a bios update in future no matter how loud baby is screeching :)
     
    farstir, May 25, 2011
    #5
  6. ota-con

    ota-con Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    205
    Messages:
    1,240
    Likes Received:
    4
    Trophy Points:
    56
    It happened to me on my Z117GG.
    I went to Sony HK and they replaced the motherboard under warranty.

    I tried everything possible to fix it myself before going to Sony. It seems that the Sony BIOS has no emergency BIOS recovery mode. I tried every key combination I could think of.
     
    ota-con, May 25, 2011
    #6
  7. lovelaptops

    lovelaptops MY FRIENDS CALL ME JEFF!

    Reputations:
    1,208
    Messages:
    3,600
    Likes Received:
    107
    Trophy Points:
    131
    So, you're saying you'd rather brick the baby than the computer? Tee-hee (sorry, you served it up and I just had to slam it! :D
     
    lovelaptops, May 26, 2011
    #7