Flash BIOS failure NEC Versa M540 will not boot

[Alan Armstrong]

Can someone please help? I don't have much experience of laptops or flashing
BIOS.

After a WinXP reinstall about 6 devices wouldn't install including two PCI
FLASH card reader modules which after trying everything else seemed to be a
BIOS issue. From NEC's website 202.188.160.140 I ran all the available
downloads except two BIOS flash utilities for this model without resolving
the problem. As it was a recent model I chose the later of the two versions
(RheaBTBIOS dated about 18/06/2004 that puts about 5.68MB hidden files on
the boot CD) and ran it. It must have been wrong as the laptop now refuses
to start although the CDROM light comes on and the drive runs up to speed.

The documentation says the original BIOS was INSYDE MobilePro v 4.0.

Can I make a bootable CD (I don't know exactly how but have a general idea)
to fix this problem or do I have to get the chip re-flashed by a service
centre?

There is no floppy drive on this model and the boot sequence begins with the
CDROM.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Can someone please help? I don't have much experience of laptops or flashing
BIOS.

After a WinXP reinstall about 6 devices wouldn't install including two PCI
FLASH card reader modules which after trying everything else seemed to be a
BIOS issue. From NEC's website 202.188.160.140 I ran all the available
downloads except two BIOS flash utilities for this model without resolving
the problem. As it was a recent model I chose the later of the two versions
(RheaBTBIOS dated about 18/06/2004 that puts about 5.68MB hidden files on
the boot CD) and ran it. It must have been wrong as the laptop now refuses
to start although the CDROM light comes on and the drive runs up to speed.

The documentation says the original BIOS was INSYDE MobilePro v 4.0.

Can I make a bootable CD (I don't know exactly how but have a general idea)
to fix this problem or do I have to get the chip re-flashed by a service
centre?

There is no floppy drive on this model and the boot sequence begins with the
CDROM.

You do not need to make a bootable CD - your WinXP CD is
already bootable. If you don't have one, ask a friend.

If the machine refuses to boot from a bootable CD then you will
most likely have to get the BIOS reflashed by a service centre.

By the way, it is not a good idea to include your EMail address
in your posts. It might get harvested by spammers. Yous appears
to be (e-mail address removed) (with all vowels omitted).

 

[DL]

Are you sure you visited the right NEC site and downloaded the correct bios
http://www.nec-online.com.au/Support/Support_Main.asp?CID=1
lists several bios for M540 dated from 2005, none of which is greater than
1.5mb, to create the cd

 

[Alan Armstrong]

Thank you Pegasus and DL.

I forgot the WinXP CD is bootable, but unfortunately it won't boot. (Yes,
also I tried the dodge of holding Ctrl-Home while switching on.) Neither
will the flash BIOS CD I created - I tried it again to make sure, just in
case booting was dependent on having the right batch file.

DL, that is the correct site and the correct model, and all 5 BIOS update
options are specified as for a Versa M540. I chose the most recent for WinXP
OS, but I thought they would all have been 'safe' in the sense that picking
the wrong one would be easily fixable. Of course there were warnings and I
did double-check everything carefully. What a trap!

The file size I quoted was for the hidden files on the boot CD - as you say
all the download .exe files are less than 1.5MB.

Pegasus, thank you for letting me know I forgot to update my newsgroup email
account when I left the Cook Islands 6 months ago. That address is obsolete
so no harm done. I had to use it as my ISP there checked senders' addresses
and blocked spoofs. (Presumably my current one doesn't as the message got
posted.) I used to get enormously more spam there than I do in NZ, up to 30
a day.

I guess that thanks to NEC I now have to pay for a repair unless anyone has
more suggestions.

 

[Admiral Q]

Explain to us why it is NEC's fault for a botched BIOS flash, thus rendering
your laptop to an expensive doorstop? All
PC/Laptop/Workstation/Server/mainframe/etc manufacturer's instructions
clearly state, CAUTION and WARN to the point of being excessive, to make
sure you either a) know what you are doing or b) have the BIOS flashed by a
certified technician and/or repair center. Presumably, the next step for
manufacturer's will be to make BIOS flash updates available only to
certified technicians and NOT to the general public walking the streets,
forcing everyone to go to the repair center(s), increasing their revenue,
but our spending funds.

 

[Alan Armstrong]

Not sure what country you are in Star Fleet Admiral, as your laws might be
different. NZ statutes require that any product must be fit for its intended
purpose and correctly described, or its supplier must put matters right.

I did exactly what NEC's website told me to do and I am still puzzled as to
why it failed. I read all the warnings, was extremely careful and didn't
'botch' anything.

All I can think of is that some previous servicing (it isn't my PC) might
have replaced hardware or modified the BIOS.

Your posting wasn't helpful. Wondering if you work for NEC?

 

[DL]

I find it odd that NEC requires you to create such a 'large' cd in order for
you to update the bios.
I have updated various bios and I have only ever had to create a floppy in
order to do so.
It sounds to me that the NEC update is doing far more than update the bios.
This of course doesnt help you, I'm afraid, but trying to speak to a large
Corporation is inherently difficult. By the time you made any progress you
would probably have been without a working sys for a loooong time.

 

[Alan Armstrong]

I thought so too DL (I have flashed BIOS from a floppy a few times), but I
didn't take that as a warning because all the drivers I had already
downloaded from the NEC site and installed successfully are much larger than
normal - for instance the modem driver .exe file is a whopping 3.6MB yet it
worked perfectly, and the video controller at 25MB also installed OK. I
assumed it all had to do with the "breakthrough in cinematographic
performance" the guff sheet for this laptop proclaims.

My service technician spent an hour on it today and says he needs time to
think about what to do next as it doesn't appear to have a recognisable CMOS
battery. He is the best in town, but then I live in a city with a population
of only 100,000.

All very strange. Technology moves faster than it used to, but I am
wondering if this is another instance of bloatware. 25 years ago when I
wrote bits and pieces in assembly language our programs always had to be
less than 64K but they could do what today seems to require megabytes.
Running time was a lot longer but for what we were doing that didn't
matter - put it on the IBM mainframe overnight and pick up half a box of
lineflow in the morning that would take all day to deal with.

How times have changed. Thank you for your help.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

My service technician spent an hour on it today and says he needs time to
think about what to do next as it doesn't appear to have a recognisable CMOS
battery. He is the best in town, but then I live in a city with a population
of only 100,000.

<snip>

If your technician cannot locate the CMOS battery then
the machine most likely has an integrated clock + battery
device. They cannot be removed but they usually have
an external jumper facility that will reset the BIOS when
short-circuited for 10 minutes or so. However, I do not
think that this will resolve your problem. I recommend you
talk to the helpdesk at the nearest NEC service centre,
e.g. in New Zealand or Australia.

 

[Alan Armstrong]

Thank you Pegasus. I have passed the information on.