Samsung Laptops - Roll Back Bios Updates?

Hi

I am not sure if I understood about ID numbers jump. But, i found a webpage where the original BIOS version is named "American Megatrends P06ACM.060.130530.dg", with release date 30-May-13. Now, I could search with a date range between 29-May-13 and 30-May-13 but, what about Id numbers?

 

Finally I was able to find the BIOS version P06ACM, released on 06-17-2013 with ID 1147. The link is:
http://sbuservice.samsungmobile.com/upload/BIOSUpdateItem/ITEM_20130617_1147_WIN_P06ACM.exe

Dannemand, thanks again for your help. I will try with this file and I will continue searching for P07ACM version (just in case). Probably I will also need some help with the flashing process

 

Fantastic, well done on that detective work! And thank you for posting it here, including the link.

That means we can expect P07ACM to be somewhere between 2013-06-17 and 2013-10-02 (the start of my fruitless search). The problem will be guessing a range of IDs: It's higher than 1147 of course (ID of P06ACM) but we don't know if it is in the 10000 range (which started between 2013-07-26 and 2013-08-01) or in the 20000 range (which started between 2013-09-26 and 2013-10-01).

Again, I am merely quoting @codebeard's post here when it comes to these jumps in ID numbers.

Basically you need to perform multiple overlapping searches when spanning those date ranges, using different ID ranges. So, you perform the following searches:

1. From 2013-06-17 to 2013-08-01 with ID 1148-1400
2. From 2013-07-26 to 2013-10-01 with ID 11148-11400
3. From 2013-09-26 to 2013-10-02 with ID 21148-21400

After that you're getting into the date range 2013-10-02 to 2014-03-25 which I already searched in vain.

As for extracting and flashing, that is all described in @isosunrise's excellent opening post of this thread. I can help you with extraction, but when it comes to the actual flashing, I have not done that myself -- and I have no desire to experiment with it on my own Sammy. There is a risk if something goes wrong, as I am sure you know.

 

Hi my friend

I also found P05ACM version, if someone needed:
http://sbuservice.samsungmobile.com/upload/BIOSUpdateItem/ITEM_20130411_1085_WIN_P05ACM.exe

I decide to use P06ACM version, directly. This file come with afuwin, then I run >afuwinx64 P06ACM.cap /p /b /n /e /r /x (like is described in this post)

The program said:
reading flash ...done
Secure flash enabled, recalculate ROM size with signature ...
--FFS checksums .... ok
Loading capsule to secure memory buffer ... done
18 - Error: Unable to start s Secure Flash session.

Where could be my error ????

 

Last update:
Finally I could run >afuwinx64 P05ACM.cap /p /b /n /e /r /GAN without errors (using the /GAN option), and BIOS was downgrade. After that, I executed the file ITEM_20130617_1147_WIN_P06ACM.exe for normal BIOS Update to P06ACM version. Unfortunately, the problem with my laptop (hibernate, suspend or reiniciate properly) was not resolved by this way (also P05ACM version failed to resolve the problem).
Some idea about it?

 

@carlosaguirre: Great job being so persistent. And once again thank you for the update and for posting those BIOS update filenames here.

I am sorry that it didn't fix the hibernate problem. I suggest you make a post about this either in a new thread or in the Owners Thread for your model, which you can find in the Samsung Forum Sticky List on top of the Samsung forum.

 

current unit is NP535U3C-A02PH

Bios is P00RAG

Can anybody help me find the link as to where to download the latest or older one? laptop is currently bricked and i need the bios file to reprogram it again

Hope someone can help.

thanks in advance guys

 

The steps are all in @isosunrise's guide in the opening post of this thread: You use the last link in that post (with your Platform ID=RAG) to get the filename of the latest BIOS update. You then insert that filename into the download link given in the post. Bingo, there is your latest BIOS.

I described an example a few days ago in this post in a different thread. It really is very easy.

 

I'm trying to follow the steps for upgrading the BIOS to support a higher resolution monitor. I have an NP900X3D-A01US that's been upgraded to an A03US (i5 to i7) and has the monitor from a NP900X3E -FHD screen.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...om-hd-1600x900-to-fhd-1920x1080.762741/page-2

Step one is to downgrade the BIOS, and sadly I haven't been able to get through this step in spite of about 8 hours work. I managed to find out that my BIOS series is ABK and that I'm running P11ABK.

I managed to get my hands on the following BIOS files:
P11ABK
P10ABK
P04ABK

The first barrier I encountered was was an error "this publisher has been blocked from running software on your machine" I was able to eventually work through this by downloading an "un-signing" utility that stripped away the revoked Samsung digital certificates. I was able to follow the instructions and give the program permission to run, run it, go find the _Samsung_Update while the yes/cancel prompt was up, and I chose to copy the files rather than the "read only file" dance.

The second barrier I encountered was that the contents of the folder were nothing like what was supposed to be there. There aren't any .rom files, nor is there winflash or the other update utility.

I tried again with the P10 and P11 BIOSes - they did something different. They ONLY created the DebugAppLog.txt file.

At this point, I'm just not getting the expected responses from the OP's instructions. I don't know how to proceed. Please help!

-Dan

 

@BigNerd042: The BIOS you have there is in the .CAP file, a different format. I suppose you could go back to earlier BIOS versions and see if they are in .ROM format.

There is a utility in this thread that can help you search for older BIOS update files. Study the last few pages for details.

 

Hello
i have np350e5c laptop with bios xxxABE
the last bios is ITEM_20130801_11185_WIN_P09ABE.exe
when i extract this file i get:
BIOSEC.ROM
setup.exe

and this all i cant see any winflash or afudos
maybe the setup.exe is winflash?

now on laptop i have P09ABE too i flashed by SWUpdate but after that i get some high cpu fan speeds when laptop is in IDLE so i woudl like to reflash manualy with this same bios(or back to prewious but i cant find any link to that).
How can i reflash with this same bios?

 

Has anyone else managed to do this? that "GAN" argument does not exist anymore...

I only have sflash.exe and CAP file on my "Samung Update" folder. I wanted to rollback to previous bios version to reflash this last version.

I also saw a post that said that he could reflash the same bios with sflash, tried the same command, and it doesn't let me do it.

 

Man thanks for you help finding the correct bios to my laptop, but When I try to search for the files that are extracted, there is just one file called debbugLog, you know how to extract correctly? I did perfectly like @isosunrise but it doesn't worked for me, or if you can zip the samsumg_bios folder for me plz..

 

Hi @klobesvaldo, welcome to NBR.

Others have reported that no files were extracted to that temp folder when they ran the BIOS update file. In those cases, I guess you just have to go for an earlier BIOS version that extracts properly.

But before throwing in the towel, I suggest you give it one more shot extracting that BIOS update file you have:

1) Run the BIOS updater As Administrator, but DO NOT click OK when the Updater prompt comes up!

2) While the Updater prompt is on the screen, copy the folder C:\Users\myusername\AppData\Local\Temp\__Samsung_Update to your Desktop (or some place you can find it). Of course insert your own Windows username where it says myusername.

3) Only AFTER you have copied that temp folder, click CANCEL to abort the BIOS updater.

Please let us know how that goes.

I would be happy to send you the files you are looking for, but I don't have them either. We (the NBR moderators ) don't have access to anything more than what you see here. We are merely custodian's of the collective information posted by members.

 

So after 2 days spent on this np700z5c-s02ub, I would like to share my story.

I run a computer repair shop and this laptop was abandoned by a customer.

The symptoms are:

1. booting up stuck with Samsung logo;
2. hard drive activity indicator light is constantly lit. If there's no interruption, it might go forever;
3. it seem like when I try to press enter bios key F2, nothing happen.

However, if I keep pressing F2 continuously right after the power button was pressed, and keep press a few more times, and then I go to have a smoke, take a shower and watch a youtube video, and it will end up in BIOS screen.

I can navigate the options with no problem. However, navigating menu to 'Security' tab in the BIOS will make it still for about 30 seconds to 1 minute, Pretty strange.

Anyways, I turned off the SecureBoot, turn off UEFI, turn off anything that could likely to cause issues. and F10 to save. Guess what, I am boot into Samsung restore manager. I thought I fixed it.....

When I reboot it, same problem.

At first, I thought that it was a hard drive problem.

In my experience, a hard drive with bad sectors at first sectors could cause symptom 1 and 2. So the first thing I did was to take out the drive, of course, that didn't fix the problem. Also, without a hard drive installed, symptom 2 still presents.

So I googled it and ended up here. As I gathered more information about this laptop, also because of the keyword "bios corrupt", "BIOS rollback", "bios downgrade", "clear NVRAM" came up A LOT with my search, so I followed it through.

I dug into the posts and tried:

1. Flashing bios, no luck, because full bios flashing with the same version need a password to complete; Older bios will also be refused because the program tells you "the rollback is disabled in bios". And use sflash64 /patch don't seem to do anything useful neither.

1. clearing NVRAM with sflash64 /cvar, I'm not sure how it is different from physically disconnecting the battery and bios battery because they both reset bios settings.

although I can use /patch and /cvar, the problem was still there. In conclusion, it's probably not the bios.

So I went back to my original theory, it's a hard drive problem.

And I also noticed that when I enter bios and then exit, the system boots fine. That was because it was a soft reset, BIOS doesn't check everything on soft reset.

So.....the problem must be with the 8GB "cache express" iSSD they *solder* to the motherboard....just like the 4GB ddr3 ram they also *solder* on the board......

and.........




It's running smoothly since.

 

Hi there
Can someone give me the download link to ITEM_20120824_ _WIN_P02ABE.exe or ITEM_20120912_671_WIN_P02ABE.EXE;
I have AMI P02ABE , 24/08/2012 currently installed and I want to update it to P09ABE.
I also have the ITEM_20130801_11185_WIN_P09ABE , I want the other two as a backup if something goes wrong.

 

Hi @sungsam3.2, welcome to NBR.

As described in the Opening Post of this thread, just replace the BIOS filename in the following download link (complete ITEM....exe name, watch out for spaces) then use that link to download the files.

http://sbuservice.samsungmobile.com/upload/BIOSUpdateItem/ITEM_filename.exe

Edit:
It appears that the P02ABE file is no longer available from Samsung. ITEM_20120912_671_WIN_P02ABE.EXE is the filename listed in BIOSItemList in the opening post, but it yields a 404 error when trying to download.

ITEM_20121119_836_WIN_P03ABE.EXE is available, though, and can be downloaded with the following link:

http://sbuservice.samsungmobile.com/upload/BIOSUpdateItem/ITEM_20121119_836_WIN_P03ABE.EXE

 

@zhao xiao ming: Welcome to you as well (a few days late I am afraid).

Thank you very much for posting your experience. What you found there perfectly confirms what has been discussed in our ExpressCache thread and many other places here in the Samsung forum: If the iSSD wears out, there will be severe delays during BIOS POST, and you're basically looking at a motherboard replacement. Of course you demonstrated that with good soldering skills, the motherboard and BIOS continue to work just fine without the iSSD.

Good job!

Since not everybody has those skills, we recommend that users watch Drive Life Remaining in HWiNFO64 and stop using ExpressCache if their iSSD drops too low.

 

Thank you so much isosunrise!

For the past 2+ years I've been unable to get back into my Series 9 NP900X3A BIOS after having to reinstall Windows. Ran into your downgrade guide and followed it, but instead I just reflashed the same and current rom, 08HL, and right away I was able to open up the BIOS.

 

Thanks for this thread, I solved my bios problem

 

Please HELP ME! I have Samsung NP300E4E with P02RBD corrupted bios, when i power on it show samsung logo then reboot, after that shows Samsung logo again and then a grey square with "boot menu" without any boot devices, i just can push Tab in keyboard to change to "setup" then in setup i access to bios, i disable fastboot, secureboot, put uefi, csm, all combinations posible, in principal bios screen it shows HDD and DVD reader but in boot device priority dont show any devices... can anyone helpme with the bios P02RBD.BIN or .ROM to desolder the chip and reprogram it, because i just find the samsung .exe and extract the P02RBD.CAP but the programmer only reads .BIN and .ROM.

 

If you are not seeing the boot priority devices then most likely the system wants too boot to the iSSD which is not a device till after the bios post. Try booting with a USB device and reformat the iSSD and even repartition taking care to be sure it is listed as inactive.

 

cant boot to USB, i think the NP300E4E dont have iSSD.

 

is there a way to convert the .CAP bios to a .ROM or .BIN bios? Please help, i got scammed with this laptop and if i cant repair ir i will lose all my money :/ f**king scammer that lies to me.

 

I assumed it had express cache but it seems it does not. That is disturbing it will not boot to USB though.

 

yes, it dont show USB , hdd, dvd into boot menu or boot device priority. please watch this video if you can , its a different model but the exact issue. Then no ways to flash P02RBD.CAP or convert to .ROM .BIN?

 

I am sorry as I only speak English. I can tell you that USB will not list as a device unless a bootable usb device is plugged in at power up. This such as a Win PE or linux disk etc..

 

Yes, im trying hard to speak in english, sorry about it . Ok i will try to explain again the issue. I turn on the laptop, get the Samsung splash like in the video then it reboot like in the video and show samsung again (when in samsung logo F2 (enter bios) and f4 (recovery) dont works with laptop keyboard or usb keyboard. Then it show a black screen with a grey rectangle that says Boot Menu (the menu dont have any item, is empty, then i only can push Tab key in my keyboard like in the video and it change to App menu, in app menu it shows only Setup i press Enter in keyboard and it goes to the BIOS. In bios main screen it shows DVD WRITER, HDD, PROCESSOR , RAM, BIOS AND MICOM VERSION (P02RBD). In Boot tab it show Boot menu, boot device priority and no items (no hdd, no usb, no dvd reader)

 

Sata port 1 is not installed, your hdd is not recognized.

 

In this moment of the picture the laptop dont have the hdd connected... It detects hdd, and dvd reader... nothing to do?

 

does the hdd work properly in another device?

 

yes, it works normally. The boot dont show any device. I tried 3 different HDD. Usb hdd, usb dvd reader, usd pendrive.

 

USB as a boot device it has to be formated specifically for USB boot, does it boot from a CD/DVD for windows etc.?

 

Dont boot from usb formated with windows 8 , 10, 7 with rufus. Dont boot from dvd reader, dont boot from usb external dvd driver. SIMPLY DONT BOOT FROM ANY DEVICE. And dont show any device in boot menu or boot device priority

 

can anyone help me? with the bios dump?

 

I thought you had the bios dump but in a CAP file format?

 

yes the p02rbd.cap extacted from the .exe (ITEM_20130102_927_WIN_P02RBD.exe) , but in another post i can see that the dumps are .bin or .rom. i only need to flash the .cap or is necessary to edit something in the cap?

 

You need to extract the rom/bin from the cap as in the video I linked.

 

Yes i see the video, but i need to know if i need to extract the "capsule" or the "uefi image". this is why is better a really working bios backup because is the exact that i need to flash , maybe flashing the capsule it will dont work.

 

i need a bios dump of p00rbd to p08rbd or better the exact p02rbd to compare what is the exact i need to flash, because i can extract the capsule and the uefi image.

 

The NP300 is a fairly rare model around here, so you may not get any replies with that BIOS dump you are looking for.

The problem with your computer is almost certainly NOT with the BIOS itself, but rather that the NVRAM used by UEFI has been corrupted. It fits the symptoms you describe.

That problem is fairly common on Samsung laptops of this generation, typically ones that were factory delivered with Win8 and the first generation of SecureBoot. (It can also happen on other models, but not as often.)

You will find lots of discussion about it here in the NBR Samsung forum. The main thread is this one (that was a link) with a guide in post #7. But also Google site:notebookreview.com Samsung NVRAM corrupt since there are discussions about this in many different threads.

The solution is to clear that corrupted NVRAM. This is done either (1) by clearing the NVRAM directly using the BIOS flashing utility (WinFlash or sflash64) with the parameters /cvar /patch. Or (2) by re-flashing the BIOS; any version will do since it's not about the BIOS itself, but the NVRAM being cleared on the next boot after flashing.

In order to do this by software, you have to run some form of Windows, including WinPE, Win7, Win8.x. Of course with a soldering iron and an EEPROM burner you can flash the chip directly as well.

I see two solutions for you:

1) Keep trying to boot some form of Windows from either HDD, DVD, or USB. I realize you already tried a lot of combinations, but if you study that thread I linked you may find something you haven't yet tried.

If you are able to enter BIOS settings (I see a photo of your BIOS screen in one of your posts) then reset settings there to default. If your BIOS has SecureBoot, disable it and select OS Mode Selection=UEFI and CSM OS; this will allow more partition layout/format combinations. Also disable Fast BIOS Boot and enable Legacy USB (if you have any of those).

If you disconnect the HDD, the laptop is more likely to find a boot source on DVD or USB. Try some old USB2 thumb drives, not just USB3 ones. Try both USB2 and USB3 ports. Try various combinations of GPT/FAT32 and MBR/FAT32 and MBR/NTFS. Try Rufus as well as Microsoft's old USB creation tool. Try WinPE (any images you can find), Win7, Win8, Win8.1. Win10 can work too, but it's a bit trickier.

If you manage to boot some form of Windows, you are in luck. DON'T shut down or reboot, you may not be so lucky a second time! Just follow the guide here (post #7 in that thread I linked) to clear the NVRAM using sflash or WinFlash (whatever you extracted from your BIOS update file) with the /cvar /patch parameters.

2) Alternatively, convert the .CAP file from one of the available RBD BIOS updates and proceed to flash the chip as you had planned. I would go with the latest P08RBD.

These are the BIOS update files I was able to easily locate using isosunrise's guide in the opening post of this thread, and which can be downloaded using the link provided there:

ITEM_20121203_884_WIN_P00RBD.exe
ITEM_20121217_906_WIN_P01RBD.exe
ITEM_20130102_927_WIN_P02RBD.exe
ITEM_20140926_21430_WIN_P08RBD.exe

They all contain .CAP files, as you know. I am afraid I cannot help you converting that .CAP, but @TANWare posted that video which I understand has the steps.

Good luck now. Please keep us posted on your progress.

 

Hi dude. I solved my issue. Someone in another web send me a p02rbd.bin bios dump, i just flash the dump to the bios chip with a CH341A USB Programmer and the boot was repaired. This is the bios dump in case that someone needed to fix him/her laptop. https://www.mediafire.com/file/cmyi2bg9155itlo/P02RBD (CLEAR ME).zip

 

Glad you got it fixed. Well done!

Thank you for the update, and thank you for sharing the dump file here.

 

oh , one thing. I updated via P08RBD.EXE installer. how can i make a full bios dump in this laptop? (same bios dump like the p02rbd.bin that i post, that can be just flashed via usb programmer and bios works again in case of any troubles)

 

no problem dude. Now i updated to p08rbd using the samsung ITEMxxx---p08rbd.exe . How can i backup or do a bios dump?

 

I imagine you use RWeverything or similar to make the dump, though I have not tried that myself (at least not since the DEBUG days, which was a much simpler environment).

If you are able to dump your P08RBD BIOS and share it here, that would be excellent. But you already shared the link to p02rbd.bin, which goes a long way.

Most users will be un-bricking their laptops by clearing the NVRAM using the BIOS flashing utility (as described here) or forcing a rollback as described in this thread. De-soldering and re-flashing the chip directly is only for those hard cases that simply cannot be made to boot anything. And it requires skills and access to an EEPROM burner which only few have. In those cases it's a minor issue that you're flashing an older BIOS version, since it's easy to update to a later BIOS version once the computer has been revived.

But we certainly appreciate if you find a way to dump and share your P08RBD here

 

Here is the P08RBD Bios DUMP in .ROM , can be renamed to .BIN. http://www.mediafire.com/file/ahumz56161dvw5p/PhoenixTechnologiesLtd.-P08RBD.rom

. Software Used: Universal Bios Backup Toolkit 2.0

Thanks a lot guys . Have nice Week!

 

Hi guys, I have some trouble with my samsung RF511-S02IT. Sometimes, when I turn it on, the pc keeps blocked on the samsung screen and don't go through. If I turn it off and reset the bios removing the battery everithing come back to work for a while. This problem started when I updated the bios to the last version 17HX. I want to follow the procedure to downgrade my bios from the 17HX to 16HX or lower, but when i try to run 15HX it display me this message:
Fail: Driver Load
Loading driver Failed
Restart the system.

But if I run the 17HX this message doesn't appear.
What should I do?

Thanks in advance everybody

 

Would it be possible to somehow magically copy the P09ABE I'm currently using, revert to an older ABE iteration and come back to the current version?


Also, none of the tactics for downloading old versions work anymore, so I've only been able to procure P03ABE and it seems like an abject failure...I run the .exe and it 'extracts' a setup file (that never does a thing) and a .roc file. Most others' posts talk about winflash and sflash64 and a third one that starts with 'A' and they seem to just flash the bios and it's done.

There's not even the 'Samsung_UPDATE_' Temp folder that's mentioned a zillion times in threads.

 

Hi again dannyk65,

I finally got to take a look at this: I can see now why you were not able to extract the P03ABE BIOS update file. I feared that Samsung had changed how they delivered BIOS update files, which could make it harder for us to fix bricked laptops. But fortunately the problem you saw is simply caused by yours being a UEFI based WinFlash updater, as opposed to the good old BIOS style updater.

Follow the same procedure as described in member isosunrise's rollback guide, including how to locate filenames of available BIOS updates, download those files, and extract them.

But instead of looking for the extracted files in C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Temp\__Samsung_Update, look in C:\Program Files (x86)\UEFI WinFlash.



Many additional posts have been made in the rollback thread and elsewhere in the Samsung forum about this procedure. I think you know it already, but here goes for the benefit of others who see this:

You first determine the complete filenames of available BIOS update files for your laptop, using its Platform ID (in this case ABE).

To locate BIOS update files before Jan 31 2013, search the BIOSItemList.txt file contained in isosunrise's guide. For the ABE platform ID, I found the following BIOS update filenames:

ITEM_20120912_671_WIN_P02ABE.EXE
ITEM_20121119_836_WIN_P03ABE.EXE
ITEM_20130122_958_WIN_P05ABE.EXE
ITEM_20130129_985_WIN_P05ABE.EXE

(Strangely, there are two versions of P05ABE a week apart.)

For BIOS files after Jan 31 2013, you have to use member @osfrolov's SamsungBIOSFinder.exe utility in post #151 of the rollback thread. Post #299 (and following) gives some guidance on its use.

To find the name of the latest available BIOS update file for a given Platform ID, use the following URL, replacing platformID= ABE with the desired Platform ID:

http://sbuservice.samsungmobile.com/BUWebServiceProc.asmx/GetContents?platformID=ABE&PartNumber=AAAA

Once a BIOS update filename is found, use the following link to download that file, replacing the filename with the desired file. For example to download P03ABE (filename found in the above):

http://sbuservice.samsungmobile.com/upload/BIOSUpdateItem/ITEM_20121119_836_WIN_P03ABE.EXE

(Replace the ITEM... part with the desired filename.)

Once you have the file, do NOT run it yet. Use the Compatibility tab under its File Properties and select Windows 7 compatibility mode (see screenshot). This will overcome the desire of recent Windows versions to "protect" you from running it.



Still, do NOT run the file yet! Do NOT run it As Administrator either! Open an Administrator Command Prompt and run the file from there. This is important!

Next, do NOT click OK when the prompt asks to continue flashing the BIOS. Instead, leave that prompt open. Then copy the extracted files from C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Temp\__Samsung_Update. If files aren't found there, look in C:\Program Files (x86)\UEFI WinFlash. After you copied the files, click Cancel to abort the flashing.

Now you can use the flashing utility with the /cvar /patch parameters to clear NVRAM, which often will rescue a bricked laptop: For example WinFlash64 /cvar /patch or Sflash64 /cvar /patch.

Or you can force flash the BIOS file (.CAP or .ROM) using the flashing parameters described in isosunrise's guide.

Or you can flash the BIOS file using an EEPROM burner, if you have access to one and are able to pull the BIOS chip from the motherboard.

@dannyk65: As for dumping your current BIOS and flashing it back, I am afraid I cannot provide much help. I imagine you use RWeverything or similar to make the dump, though I have not tried that myself (at least not since the DEBUG days, which was a much simpler environment).

Please let me know once you have seen this. After that I plan to merge this thread into the BIOS rollback thread in order to make it easier to find for newcomers. I'll probably delete post #2 first