BIOS Update Failure (ASUS Laptop)

[dodoff]

Hello Forum,

 

Months ago the motherboard of one my laptops (ASUS F555L) got broken (I was almost 100% sure about that after t-shooting but I took the laptop to an authorized repair shop and it was confirmed). The repair shop offered to replace the board for ~900 BGN (around 500$) which was ridiculous given the fact that I bought the laptop (brand new) for 700 BGN (around 390$). After some searching I found a replacement board with even better processor for just 140$.

After months of waiting I finally got the board, replaced it and the laptop was back to life (almost). The only thing that wasn't working was the display, however I was able to use an external display without a problem. I figured that maybe this was some sort of driver issue so I started downloading new drivers for the new board (ASUS X555LD). Everything was fine until I've decided that upgrading the BIOS will be also a good idea....

At the moment the laptop will power UP and that's it - no Windows, no BIOS, no image - just a black screen (the same way like it used to be before replacing the board). I'm not even 100% sure if nothing happens or just the display is not working...

 

I was reading that there's a way to flash a new BIOS from a USB drive but I'm not sure if I'd be able to do this with this board. Furthermore I'm not even able to take out the CMOS battery from the motherboard because it doesn't have one. For the update I was using firmware and tools from the ASUS' website and before the restart of the machine everything was fine - I also received a message that the update was successful.

 

P.S. I'm aware that this ASUS series are quite crappy but my mom was using the machine in order to run very lite software products and it was doing the job just fine.

[bmx6454]

8 hours ago, dodoff said:

Hello Forum,

 

Months ago the motherboard of one my laptops (ASUS F555L) got broken (I was almost 100% sure about that after t-shooting but I took the laptop to an authorized repair shop and it was confirmed). The repair shop offered to replace the board for ~900 BGN (around 500$) which was ridiculous given the fact that I bought the laptop (brand new) for 700 BGN (around 390$). After some searching I found a replacement board with even better processor for just 140$.

After months of waiting I finally got the board, replaced it and the laptop was back to life (almost). The only thing that wasn't working was the display, however I was able to use an external display without a problem. I figured that maybe this was some sort of driver issue so I started downloading new drivers for the new board (ASUS X555LD). Everything was fine until I've decided that upgrading the BIOS will be also a good idea....

At the moment the laptop will power UP and that's it - no Windows, no BIOS, no image - just a black screen (the same way like it used to be before replacing the board). I'm not even 100% sure if nothing happens or just the display is not working...

 

I was reading that there's a way to flash a new BIOS from a USB drive but I'm not sure if I'd be able to do this with this board. Furthermore I'm not even able to take out the CMOS battery from the motherboard because it doesn't have one. For the update I was using firmware and tools from the ASUS' website and before the restart of the machine everything was fine - I also received a message that the update was successful.

 

P.S. I'm aware that this ASUS series are quite crappy but my mom was using the machine in order to run very lite software products and it was doing the job just fine.

it does have a cmos, possibly not removable, but it has one. some asus laptops use a little plug in battery pack. i would flash it back to the bios it was before, or the factory original. also, you mentioned it was a different board than the original. did you make 100% sure that the plugs for the display were the same?

[DarkWater]

13 hours ago, dodoff said:

At the moment the laptop will power UP and that's it - no Windows, no BIOS, no image - just a black screen (the same way like it used to be before replacing the board). I'm not even 100% sure if nothing happens or just the display is not working...

Sounds like the BIOS got corrupted. This is an unfortunate risk when upgrading the BIOS, especially if the machine has no backup BIOS' or something like USB BIOS Flashback.

 

If the wrong BIOS version gets flashed or it gets corrupted in any way, this can render the machine useless. Without the firmware, the laptop doesn't know what to do when it turns on because the firmware it needs is no longer present. It will just sit there indefinitely on a black screen until it's switched off.

 

Your laptop doesn't appear to have any backup BIOS' or USB BIOS Flashback. I don't think laptops have USB BIOS Flashback or even backup BIOS' like some desktop boards have. The best option is replacing the motherboard. 

 

 

[dodoff]

On 5/19/2020 at 3:44 AM, bmx6454 said:

it does have a cmos, possibly not removable, but it has one. some asus laptops use a little plug in battery pack. i would flash it back to the bios it was before, or the factory original. also, you mentioned it was a different board than the original. did you make 100% sure that the plugs for the display were the same?

Hmm... Frankly, this particular model is quite bad in terms of upgradeability or general maintenance. The battery pack looks like a regular battery - it's just harder to remove. Are you aware if there's something specific that I should look for?

Yes, the replacement boards have two types of display plugs and the replacement got the correct one. They're quite different - there's no way to plug the cable if you have the other plug version.

[dodoff]

On 5/19/2020 at 8:20 AM, DarkWater said:

Sounds like the BIOS got corrupted. This is an unfortunate risk when upgrading the BIOS, especially if the machine has no backup BIOS' or something like USB BIOS Flashback.

 

If the wrong BIOS version gets flashed or it gets corrupted in any way, this can render the machine useless. Without the firmware, the laptop doesn't know what to do when it turns on because the firmware it needs is no longer present. It will just sit there indefinitely on a black screen until it's switched off.

 

Your laptop doesn't appear to have any backup BIOS' or USB BIOS Flashback. I don't think laptops have USB BIOS Flashback or even backup BIOS' like some desktop boards have. The best option is replacing the motherboard. 

 

 

I guess the only way is to do it like it was done at the factory but this would require special tools and knowledge that I can't get (for example if you have to use a special cable and pins on the board, designed solely for this purpose).

 

BIOS backups are not a privilege for the PCs only. I have a 6 years old Lenovo that has USB BIOS Flashback but I never used it (fortunately).