HELP ! No boot after BIOS update. (T61)

I tried to install the new BIOS firmware...
and that's it.
I turn it on, the CAPS and NUM lights goes on & off (one time)
and the Z (ina circle) is lit forever.
beside that - nothing is going on. no screen. no ****.


please advice

Thank you very much !

 

how did you flash the bios?

did it complete sucessfully?

is there any beeps when you turn it on?

and last but not least, is there any warranty left on the laptop? haha. its tough to determine a problem without actually messing with it, but worst case is you messed up your BIOS. (this is usually never the case, very rarely happens)

things i might do,

take ram out, hard drive out, battery out, take out power cord, let it sit for 5 min or so, and turn it back on?? cant do much more if you cant even see anything on screen or no beeps or nothing.

 

your computer is fried, you will have to send it back to lenovo to get fixed

 

did you leave it plugged in with the power cord while updating bios?

 

When you flashed the BIOS, did you have the battery connected with the power cord plugged into a power socket?

Did you update the BIOS in Windows or through a bootable CD-ROM?

Tell me you did not restart the computer midway through the flash.

Tell me you shut down the computer after the BIOS said it was successful.

It looks like you had a bad BIOS flash. The motherboard on your notebook is nonfunctional until the BIOS chip is reflashed or replaced. It is almost certain that you have to send it in to Lenovo for repair.

When flashing the BIOS, please be extremely, ultra cautious. Only flash the BIOS if it fixes a problem you have.

 

bios stuff scares me

 

The other day some automatic Thinkvantage service was automatically trying to perform 4 critical updates on my T60.

One of the critical updates was a Bios update. It downloaded the new bios off the internet, but when it was time to complete the install, I chickened out and canceled.

Is it normal for Lenovo to provide Bios updates automatically like this? I can't remember the reasons it gave for the update, one had to do with USB ports.

It gave a warning to have the unit plugged in and battery pack installed and not to interrupt it once started. That's when I cancelled.

 

mine didnt have to do with a USB...but there was definitely a bios update in my update manager...i let it do its job and it didnt properly install..i then installed it manually..glad it didnt mess up though....it was on my mind all day

 

the BIOS update does sound scary...but it won't be scary anymore if you know what to do and follow proper steps. i did 2 BIOS updates on my t61. everything works fine. the only thing i've noticed is was when after the update, system restarted and then the WLAN/access connection failed to load, startup and shutdown time took longer. but after one more restart of the system, everything came back to normal - nice and smooth. Having the most up-to-date BIOS means your system is at least a bit more stable.

==T61. 14.1WS. 2ghz 1gig RAM. 160 HDD. nVidia quadro 128. XPP. 6-cell bar==

 

I don't have good news for you. Perhaps someone will respond with a solution, but I had exactly the same result on a new T61 in July, shortly after I bought it. I tried to do a BIOS update with the same results you are having. So I tried the ThinkVantage rescue (pressing the button on startup). But it reported it couldn't repair -- it couldn't find the boot sector! I called the quickly responding Lenovo tech support and spent a long time with the representative trying various things. The final decision was that they would send me the recovery DVD's.

Unfortunately the recovery DVD's couldn't locate the hard drive to install anything. So a call back to tech support and they sent me a replacement hard drive. I installed the drive, used the recovery DVD's, and all is well again. Of course, I had to reinstall all of my programs.

 

You scare easily... happy halloween Boo! How is that Turbo Memory running by the way?


My own personal rules for BIOS flashing.

1. Don't do it unless you need it!
2. If you need it, use the bootable CD method!
3. All the other obvious rules apply (full battery, plugged in, allow the BIOS flash to complete).

My suggestion to the OP. Make a bootable bios upgrade CD on another computer. Boot to the CD and try to flash it again. You may also want to try the previous BIOS version that worked. No harm done to try it again. If the BIOS is fried you aren't going to hurt it anymore. If it doesn't work after trying to re-flash it, the BIOS is fried.

 

lol...i ready too many threads on computers not starting up after a failed bios install...and if you read my thread on how the bios program tends to jam up and says 'not responding,' would see that my fears are not unfound. after a few minutes it shows up as successfully installed and runs w/o problems

turbo me works great!! almost has been a full week without any bsod's or freezes...i guess disabling hybrid power management is the key!

 

I was just having some Halloween fun

However, just one week ago you were "scared" of Turbo Memory. As it turns out, it's not so bad after all. Maybe it helped to install the drivers manually, right? Same goes with the BIOS. Only I feel much stronger on my stance that BIOS upgrades should be done with a bootable CD. Trying to update the BIOS via System Update is playing with fire. I have read in the threads (a few times with Thinkpads, multiple times with other PC manufacturers) that people fry there BIOS trying to update the BIOS from within Windows. Your chances of frying your BIOS is greater if you do it any other method than bootable CD.

I'm glad you didn't fry your BIOS, eyecon, but next time play it safe and use a bootable CD.

 

I know you were just joking

Thanks for the tip...for the next bios coming out, I will use the bootable disc method instead. May I ask why this is considered a safer method?

Also, I didn't do it via system update. I downloaded it separately of the lenovo site and installed it that way....not sure if that makes a difference

 

For a similar reason that it is best to install drivers manually. Only with BIOS updates the results of improper flashing are even more disastrous.

To answer your question I'll answer a different question as well.

Why plug in your laptop while doing a BIOS update? Answer: To be safe. If the battery drains your laptop will not shutdown in the middle if you are plugged in. Sure you CAN flash the BIOS on battery power only. But why not just play it safe.

Why use bootable CD method? It's best to update the BIOS from within the BIOS. Updating from within Windows adds the possibility that Windows could crash in the middle of the BIOS upgrade if it doesn't like what you are doing. If you are updating with a bootable CD in the BIOS, Windows has not loaded yet, so the chances of a system failure is much lower.

 

I like to learn these things

Ok, I didn’t really need to update my bios, but I had never done that before, so...

Man, I was also so scare haha!

But everything was ok following all necessary steps (it is good to feel scary sometimes, makes you more careful). I felt much better doing that through the bootable cd. It is painless.

 

However, they should put a better sound when the install is completed.
That loud DOS-style buzz in the end almost made me fall from the chair!