Bios update failed with SW updater

Hello,
I have a serious problem with my Samsung, i updated my BIOS with SW updater and it crashed in the procedure. The type is Samsung Serie 3 305E7A S04. I just have a blackscreen and it doesn't boot. I was browing in this forum but didn't find any solutions. I disconnected the mainboard battery for a while without restults. I even did a cmos reset without jumper, but still no results. The Samsung tech support told me that there is no possibilty to do a bios flash, is that right?

thanks for your help

 

Not without desoldering the bios IC. You could use a programmer then, make sure to get one with those adapter boards as it saves having to solder the IC to the programmer itself. Alternative option is to buy a pre-programmed bios IC (~$25) and either solder yourself or have someone do it for you.

 

Actually the blind flash may still work, emergency recovery that is. In fact this is exactly why it was there in the first place, that is to recover from a bios flash mishap. Now this is assuming you have the rom file on a fat32 formatted USB flash drive. You also need to be sure of the power up key combo especially as it seems it has either been changed and./or removed from some Samsung machines.

 

Thanks for your help,
i try to avoid working with the IC's, butI'll keep your solution in mind for the case that nothing else works.
@TANWare , Do you have any idea where to get this rom data? The only source for bios data is the sw tool from samsung or an exe. data but i can not use it.

 

The .exe contains the rom. Contact the member from this post may help.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...s03ca-my-last-hope.762595/page-6#post-9867860

 

thanks, but how can i contact anyone here? I don't even have the option in my inbox / conversation.
Is there nobody here who knows how to extract the whp data out of the exe data? Using 7zip i don't find anything what I could use

thanks

UPDATE: The only file I can find it BIOSUpdate.exe but doesn't include rom datas. Look for me, that the exe downloads the files ? Anyone have any experiences with that?

 

Biosupdate.exe only retrieves the proper bios file or downloads the proper *.exe for your system.

 

If you know the BIOS name there's a way to search Samsung's server for the BIOS update file. See this thread. First see if your BIOS is in the list in the first post. If it is not then look for a post about a year ago which has a simple program which tries a range of BIOS name/ date combinations. However, the first challenge is to find out the name of your BIOS which is in the form Pnnlll where nn is two numbers (eg 01) and lll is 3 letters (eg AAD). The latter is the unique identifier for the notebook.

John

 

first, thanks for help
I did check the list but I didn't find my BIOS and in this program I didn't know how to the "start ID" and "end ID", would you give an example for that please?
Maybe I already know my BIOS name but I don't realize it. By checking the HDD of my bricked Laptop, I did discovered a Samsung folder in the Temp-folder.
There was just one txt file with the name "DebugAppLog", the content is here:

"
Success to Check Admin Account
Success to Create Thread
Command line string :
Command line parameter : 00000000
Success to Extract Files & Get BIOS Option
Enabled option in Packer : 0
Additional BIOS update option in Packer :
OEM String[0] : AAABAAAAAAAA
OEM String[1] : 2015/04/10
OEM String[2] : SECPARTN:627
Part number : 627
BIOS Vendor : American Megatrends Inc.
BIOS Release date : 2012-1-3
BIOS Version : 03QU.MI22.20120103.SKK
Product name : 305E4A/305E5A/305E7A
System enclosure type : SYSTEM_TYPE_LAPTOP
Processor manufacturer : AuthenticAMD
Processor manufacturer : AMD
Success to Get System Information
Start to Init driver
Driver file path : C:\Users\Mark\AppData\Local\Temp\__Samsung_Update\SBIOSIO64.sys
Success to Install I/O Driver
MICOM vendor : MICOM_VENDOR_SMSC
Success to Check MICOM Chip Vendor
Success to Check System Power
Success to Notify to User
Success to Create Status Dialog Thread
Success to Get BIOS File list
Success to Find BIOS file
Fail to Get GetSecEfiBiosInfo
System Information
BIOS Vendor = BIOS_VENDOR_AMI_EFI
PartID = 627, Bios Version: 03QU.MI22.20120103.SKK
New Bios Information
fileName : 05QU.rom
PartID = 627, Bios Version: 05QU
Success to Get New BIOS File Information
Success to Check BIOS Version
Success to Block power button 4s override
Bios command : afuwinx64 05QU.rom /p /b /n /e /r
Success to Update BIOS
Success to UnBlock power button 4s override
RETURN_END_SUCCESS in AMI/Phoenix NP/AIO BIOS
"
Does this give you more information? How is the BIOS Version related to the BIOS name?

 

It appears you were going from 03QU to 05QU. It means the name of the file you want is 05QU.rom. I am not sure though of the program if it actually places into the temp folders that actual file.

 

Samsung put a P in front of the BIOS name so the BIOS update file will be called ITEM_YYYYMMDD_NNN_WIN_P05QU.EXE where YYYY is year, MM is month, DD is date and NNN is a sequence number (Samsung have made some changes in the numbering over the past 3 years).

What, if anything, is in the folder "C:\Users\Mark\AppData\Local\Temp\__Samsung_Update\"?

If that folder is empty then the easiest BIOS to find using the SamsungBIOSfinder program will be P03QU which seems to be dated 20120103 but the update could have been issued somewhat later. A good clue about the likely numbering is that a BIOS update for the NP900X3B from the first half of 2012 has a file name of ITEM_20120509_504_WIN_P06AAH.exe, which suggests that the P03QU would have a sequence number of less than 500.

John

 

the folder just contained this .txt file and no more.
The SamsungBiosFinder is still running and i hope for results, I did set: 2012,3,1,2012,3,20,1,500,P03qu (in the order the program asks for it). Is that correct ? thanks a lot !

Update: the SamsungBiosFinder didn't find anything, could you give me an advice for set the parameters?

Update: I found my file which is 05pu.rom. I tried to use wincrisis to create a bootable USB but it doesn't work. Program keeps telling me to specify the project path. I can not choose any project path in the program and i put my Bios in the folder of Wincrisis and renamed it to BIOS.WPH. The USB is FAT and less than 2gb.

Update: Fixed it, now i have my bootable usb with the files minidos.sys, phlash16.exe and Bios.whp. No results when i put it in my notebook and i tried a lot of combinattions(fn+b, fn+f etc.) i try to do it like here but i can not get it working. help please

Update: After taking another look at the Log-File, i noticed that my Samsung has an AMI-Bios, so I renamed the .rom file to AMIBOOT.ROM and followed this procedure. Without any results :/ Anyone has an idea or maybe can extract the .rom file from this link? I get several error reports when I try it.
thanks a lot

 

Now with the USB Flash drive being formatted FAT 16/32 only then put 05QU.rom on the drive. With the power off press CTRL+HOME and power up. This should then start the emergency bios recovery procedure.

Edit; you may need to remove all HDD/SSD drives to do this.

 

first thanks you !
I did this without success :/ i don't have a home button on my keyboard, so i did press ctrl + pos1 or ctrl+fn+backwards (i read it somehwere that it would be the same). There is nothing happening, no beeps and no other sings that it could be working. I burned the 03qu.rom and amiboot.rom (based on 03qu) and 05qu.rom on a cd-rom but this wasn't working neither. I tried an usb-keyboard but it doesn't connect which means that the keyboard Leds are not flashing.
Anyone has other ideas?

 

No [HOME] key is a major issue. The problem is Samsung never intended to support the EBR procedure from the get go so it is doubtful that in any of the systems they adjusted the bios for other key strokes where needed. Since HOME is not an ASCII but a scancode (internal hexadecimal keyboard code) I do not think there is a way to generate it with some other combo etc.

Edit; To use an external you would probably need legacy usb enabled in bios, if it even has that and then if you can access bios so again a catch 22.

 

Hello, I was being busy last weeks but still I have no ideas how to fix my bricked bios..
Seems like the HOME Key is named POS1 in german keyboards - idk if it's a different scancode.
I was reading my log file from the bios updater again and noticed this "BIOS Vendor = BIOS_VENDOR_AMI_EFI" -
does EFI means that my bios has to be handled in a different way?

My last idea is to get an external Floppy disk drive and do the same procedure I was trying with an USB Drive.

thanks for your help

 

Finally found a good pic of the keyboard and yes it appears the POS1 is the home key.

 

EFI indicates UEFI which indicates increased vulnerability to bricking (at least on Samsung notebooks), as you have discovered.

John

 

so there is nothing more I can do ?
Maybe the bios is just broken, a local shop offered me to replace it for 150€, what do you guys think about it?
the bios is soldered.

 

Have you exhausted the unbricking solutions? Some are listed here but there several other discussions in this forum during the past few months.

Reflashing the BIOS is the last resort. Have you tried to get Samsung interested in your problem? In the UK it should be possible to use the "latent defect" argument to get them to fix it outside of the warranty period. Other countries may have similar consumer legislation.

John

 

TBH, I think Samsung should be forced to do a recall. The issue is just too prevalent between way too many various systems.

 

First they need to develop a brick-proof BIOS for all the affected notebooks. Most users would be able to download it and install it themselves with Samsung offering to provide a free update service for anyone who didn't want to try the DIY route plus a free fix for anything that gets bricked irrespective of age.

John

 

Even if they just found a way to use the EBR for all their systems. I am sure most would be happy to put a file on a thumb drive and power up with a confirmed key code.