Samsung Series 7 - NP700Z5C-S03CA: My Last Hope

I followed this video to setup the WinPE environment, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJWGeK7_XDE

Is there another way that I should be doing this?

EDIT: I also booted from this usb on another computer and it worked fine. When I do it on my laptop it just boots to a blank boot menu.

EDIT 2: I created this WinPE usb on a computer running windows 7 if that makes a difference.

 

Hi again, sean,

I believe your model came with Win7 originally, right? And you didn't manually enable UEFI in BIOS?

In that case it uses legacy BIOS mode, as opposed to UEFI mode used on Win8.x models. That means you want to create the USB flash drive as MBR/NTFS. You can use the good old Microsoft ISO/USB tool to create the USB stick (which ONLY works with BIOS/MBR mode, NOT with UEFI mode).

You should be able to select boot source at the time of power on by tapping F10 immediately after power on (Esc on some models). Tap it 2-3 times per second, DON'T hold it down. In any case should Fast BIOS/Fast Boot be disabled in BIOS in order to allow booting an external source. (On Win8/UEFI models, also disable SecureBoot).

But if your NVRAM is corrupted, neither F2 (to enter BIOS) nor F10 (to select boot device) may work. In that case, I would still expect you to be able to boot that USB once the HDD is disconnected, assuming the USB is created with the right format: MBR/NTFS for BIOS mode and GPT/FAT32 for UEFI mode.

I am surprised you cannot boot the Windows DVD that came with the computer (I assume Win7) after disconnecting the HDD. I can only see that happen if you manually enabled UEFI in BIOS.

 

Sorry for not responding, finals week came up so I had to put this issue to the side, but now I have some free time to find a solution.

Yes, this model came with windows 7.

The problem is that I manually enabled UEFI mode in the bios. I did this because I believe it was required for SteamOS. I wanted to give SteamOS a try before I installed Ubuntu.

So you say, "I can only see that happen if you manually enabled UEFI in BIOS." Is there anything else I can do or am I out of options?

I am going to try to make the MBR/NTFS usb drive with windows 7 again and see if I have better luck this time.

EDIT: Created a USB in NTFS/MBR format using the Windows 7 iso given to me with the laptop. Still does not boot from the USB even when the hard drive is disconnected.

 

Thank you for the update.

Since you enabled UEFI in BIOS (and are now unable to get back in there to disable it) you won't be able to boot the Win7 disc you received with the computer. It is not UEFI compatible.

Original Win8.x discs (or ISOs from TechNet/MSDN) are UEFI compatible and should boot. Maybe the ISO downloaded here as well. If this had been a Win8 model with the newer UEFI implementation, you could use the Repair options on that disc to get into BIOS and disable UEFI. But I don't think that works with Win7 models (like yours) which have the traditional BIOS.

You need to create a WinPE stick as GPT/FAT32 and use that to clear the NVRAM (as described in post #7). Use Rufus as described by Fitztorious. I would choose a Win8 PE image since it's more likely to be UEFI compatible. But you can try other WinPE images -- as long as you flash them as GPT/FAT32 on the USB stick.

Of course you need to disconnect the HDD (as you already did) in order to force booting the USB.

Please keep us posted. I am on the forum during the weekend, but less so during the week.

 

Alright, so I have tried just about every WinPE iso that I can get my hands on and formatted them as GPT/FAT32 with Rufus. I have also tried this method of creating a WinPE USB. Nothing will get this laptop to boot.

I am pretty confident that I am sol at this point.

 

Based on the fact that your model has ExpressCache, AND on your previously having enabled UEFI prior to installing Windows/Linux (on this older Win7 model), AND assuming you performed those installations from a USB stick -- you may unfortunately be right about being SOL.

I have a feeling you may be caught in the same trap as member KcKepz, whose lengthy case is discussed in the thread linked below, and who eventually had to send his computer in for service despite admirable persistence in trying to solve it. The experiences reported by members in that thread greatly helped to develop the solutions we now have in this thread, so it is definitely worth a study.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/samsung/755985-how-boot-bios-when-function-buttons-not-showing.html

The essence here is a combination of four factors which collude to effectively brick a Samsung laptop:

A) Fast BIOS/Fast Boot is disabled in BIOS, preventing boot of external sources.

B) NVRAM corruption prevents F2 from getting into BIOS to change Fast BIOS/Fast Boot, or F10 from temporarily selecting an external boot source.

C) A previous installation from USB has mistakenly put the boot partition on the ExpressCache iSSD, which cannot be booted directly. Being in UEFI mode, the boot code is on the EFI System Partition (ESP) -- but is never actually loaded because it is on the iSSD that isn't visible during boot.

D) Normally the system can be forced to look for an external boot device (even with Fast BIOS/Fast Boot enabled) by removing the HDD/SSD that contains the boot partition. But the iSSD cannot be removed from the motherboard.

The result is a computer effectively bricked, because it cannot boot anything -- and the settings needed to change this behavior cannot be accessed. This particular combo only happens on models with ExpressCache, and is a major reason to only install from DVD on those models (which prevents the iSSD confusion).

There are still some things I think you should try -- all towards the goal of being able to run those commands to clear your NVRAM described in this thread. Note that these are individual things to try, not a sequence of steps. You don't have to try them in the order I list them.

1) Try the CMOS reset procedure described in member KcKepz's thread (also in John's post here). It has been known to work, though it is rare.

2) Try creating a WinPE DVD and see if it can boot. I never tried that, but I am sure there must be guides out there. Make sure it is one that is UEFI compatible (since you are currently stuck in UEFI mode). If you ARE able to boot such a WinPE, use it to clear NVRAM.

3) Try booting an official Win8.1 DVD. I say "official", because it has to be either an OEM/Microsoft disc or one created from a TechNet/MSDN ISO in order to be UEFI bootable. The ISOs downloaded as part of Microsoft's upgrade programs have been known NOT to boot from DVD in UEFI mode. (They can boot from USB, but that's not working on your computer.) You can also try downloading an ISO from Microsoft using the link provided by member Semuel here. I don't know if they can boot from DVD in UEFI mode -- please let us know if you try.

3a) If you ARE able to boot a Win8.1 DVD then try the Repair options which allow backdoor access to UEFI firmware settings. I think it only works on newer models with full UEFI implementation, but it is worth a shot. If it DOES work on your model, then promptly disable UEFI and Fast BIOS/Fast Boot. That won't solve everything, but it will open the door for booting a Win7 PE USB stick (traditional MBR/NTFS) which you can use to clear NVRAM.

3b) If you are able to boot a Win8.1 DVD, but UNABLE to get into BIOS (UEFI firmware settings) through the Repair options, I suggest you proceed to create a temporary Windows installation on the HDD. Since you are in UEFI mode, make sure you convert the HDD to GPT first using the steps in this post. Use the temporary Product Key in this guide and don't Activate Windows yet. Just use this running Windows to clear the NVRAM.

4) Prepare the HDD properly for UEFI boot on another computer and plug it back in. With some luck, the system will realize it cannot find an ESP on the iSSD (because it cannot see the iSSD during boot) and look on the HDD instead. Use these steps:

4a) Plug the HDD into another computer that runs UEFI mode but has SecureBoot disabled (important!)

4b) Convert the disk to GPT (using Minitool Partition Wizard or the DISKPART commands in this post).

4c) Make the disk the first boot device on that computer, or (better yet) remove all other HDDs/SSDs from it.

4d) Begin installing Win8.1 onto the blank disk, as described in this guide. On most computers (except Samsung's ) it doesn't matter if you install from DVD or USB. That should put a standard EFI System Partition (ESP) on it and begin Windows installation.

4e) Once Windows Setup is finished copying files and is ready to boot for the first time, turn it off and plug the HDD into the Samsung instead. With some luck, it will boot that ESP and continue installing on the Sammy, picking up all the right devices. Again, don't Activate, just enter those temporary Product Keys. Once it is running, use this temporary Windows installation to clear NVRAM.

If any of these succeeds, you should have cleared NVRAM and be ready to proceed from step (5) in the guide in post #7 in this thread.

Otherwise I am afraid there is only the Samsung Service route

 

Thanks a ton for this advice and help! I am going to give it another try tonight and I will let you know how it goes!

 

My fingers are crossed for you. I wrote up all I could think of so you can try different things, knowing that I may only be here sporadically until next weekend.

One other comment: I have suggested Win8.1 for these procedures since newer installation sources (discs and ISOs) are more likely to be compatible with UEFI -- particularly when booting from DVD. OTOH, many Samsung models are known to have problems with Win8.1 unless they are already updated to the latest BIOS. That is what brainiak's guide is all about.

So if you are NOT already on the latest BIOS, you may want to use Win8 discs or ISOs instead of 8.1 (if you can find them). If that is the case, you simply have to update to the latest BIOS (using this guide) which will automatically clear your NVRAM.

 

Dannemand told me to post here a solution (that worked for me) to restore my bricked UEFI.

Details:

• My laptop: Samsung Ativ Book 4 (NP470R5E)
• BIOS/UEFI/MICOM version: P15RAN

I extracted my BIOS .ROM to modify it, because my laptop has a blocked BIOS (Lots of options as VT-x and SATA options don't appear) and I try to flash my modified .ROM file. Trying some options resulted in a bricked BIOS.
I modified the ROM with the AMI official utility. I changed some option (SATA v3 instead of v2, etc) but the most important is "BIOS Interface Lock". That locks the BIOS options.

Then, I tried flashing the modified ROM using AFUDOS from a USB DOS stick. My AMI version is Aptivo IV (4) so, I downloaded the correct AFUDOS.exe and tried to flash my .ROM edited file. The result was the same: (0x18 Error: Secure Flash Rom verify fail.)

I tried some commands and, finally, I tried /RECOVERY command; result: Bricked BIOS. If someone has a bricked BIOS using this procedure, please do the next:

1. Use AMI's official tool to open PXXXXX.CAP file (Samsung's official file) and inmediately save it as a .ROM file (Without modifing anything)
2. Then place that "original" file in an empty USB stick with the oficial name (VERY IMPORTANT: If the .CAP file was P15RAN.CAP, name the "original" file as P15RAN.ROM)
3. In your bricked Laptop, connect the USB stick with the file into a USB 2.0 port
4. With the laptop powered off, press CTRL + HOME in the keyboard and power on the laptop keeping the keys pressed.
5. The laptop will power on with the BIOS opened with a "Flashing..." window. Wait until the process is completed.

If someone needs the official tool, please tell me and I will upload it and If someone needs the .ROM, let me the .CAP file and I will upload your .ROM file!

Regards,

Urko

EDIT: I didn't mention before that the USB stick must be in FAT (16 or 32). NTFS/exFAT (Windows) or EXT2/3/4 (Linux) are not supported.

 

Hi

My laptop has been bricked after updating the bios via SW update. I was hoping there might be a way to fix the laptop. Currently when i boot the laptop, nothing happens. Meaning no bios screen or anything appearing on the screen. There is nothing wrong with the screen, I know full well it is the bios update that bricked the laptop. The hdd activity comes on upon booting and the fan spins up as well. The laptop will remain on with a blank screen until the battery runs out. Is the laptop recoverable? I was told that I maybe I will be able to use an EPROM burner to reflash the chip. Does anyone know how or if I will be able to do this?

Thanks in advance

 

I saw your post here. It is infuriating that Samsung will not make you whole after a failed BIOS update like this.

It is true, if you have access to an EEPROM burner (or know someone who does) that is a way to re-flash the BIOS chip. You can Google site:notebookreview.com/samsung EEPROM BIOS to locate the few reports about it here.

Beyond that, the procedures described in this thread, and the ones linked below, are your best bet at salvaging the laptop.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/samsung/696197-samsung-laptops-roll-back-bios-updates.html
http://forum.notebookreview.com/samsung/706510-samsung-laptops-bricked-using-uefi.html

In all cases does this involve downloading a BIOS file for your computer, as described in the BIOS rollback thread.

The post just above yours specifically addresses a situation where the laptop is basically dead, but is still able to re-flash its BIOS from a correctly created USB stick, by pressing CTRL + HOME when powering it on.

 

I have already told Samsung this is the last product of theirs I will be buying. After sales experience has been extremely poor.

I have sent a PM to yknyong1 on this site, who did a disassemble of the series 7 n700z5c laptop, on whether he/she is aware of the location of the bios chip.

In terms of methods described here, I have bios files for my laptop. Specifically I only have the exe bios files eg P00AAG.exe

I do not know how to create a USB dos stick but I'll follow online guides to do that (eg https://www.wimsbios.com/amiflasher.jsp). My only question is, will the USB Dos stick boot in my case? I ask this because I was unable to boot windows 8 from both a usb stick and cd drive. Is the USB Dos stick going to bypass this?

 

Hi,

May I get a copy of the official tool please?

Also can i get the rom files for P05AAG (unfortunately I don't have this latest version) and P00AAG (which I have linked here https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B26cYvEF62ugRERTcGlJRkduYVE/view?usp=sharing)

Thanks in advance

 

Is it then safe to assume that the process outlined in this post will work? With my Chronos 7 Win8 machine down and out for the count, I need to find somewhat simplified processes to get it back up and running. I already have a Gandalf WinPE stick tested and ready. I feel so much closer to resolving these issues.

You guys rule!

 

If the computer is dead then attempts at resurrection can't easily make things worse.

John

 

Hi Brian,

I read about your troubles in your thread here. I don't think I remember anyone having reported encountering that NVRAM corruption issue as many times as you describe there. I can understand how frustrating that must be.

As for the procedures described in this thread: Yes, for all we know, using SFlash or WinFlash with the /cvar /patch parameters IS indeed the best way to unbrick Samsung laptops with corrupted CMOS/NVRAM -- with the usual symptoms being F2, F10 etc not working at boot, preventing access to BIOS, and Boot Priority not working properly to allow booting external devices (or anything else).

I made a rough summary in post #7, but I recommend reading this entire thread to make sure you understand what is involved. Some members who read this may be better off consulting a geeky friend and having them read this before proceeding.

But of course we cannot guarantee anything: Members end up here because their laptops are effectively bricked. This procedure should be the last resort, with the only other alternatives being an expensive motherboard replacement OR re-flashing the BIOS chip using an (E)EPROM burner.

Member urkopineda's procedure ( here) is even more promising, since it doesn't even require booting WinPE or any other OS, but lets you re-flash the BIOS directly from a USB stick by pressing Ctrl-Home at startup. But unfortunately we don't have all the necessary tools so that everybody can do that on their own.

In your case I would go ahead and try it: Make sure you have downloaded and extracted the correct BIOS for your model (though it dodesn't have to be the latest version) and are able to run the flash command (Sflash or WinFlash, 64 or 32) from your WinPE. Then go for it!

Please keep us posted

 

Dannemand, I will post when my friend updates me on his status with the machine. As far as being dead, it isn't. it just will not boot. For me, if the machine turns on, then it CAN be enticed to work again. As I have mentioned the MoBo was replaced less than a year ago. So I do not suspect that is the issue, unless Samsung is building faulty MoBo.

I have downloaded all the BIOS version for this machine (three of them) so I am good to go on that front. I am by no means an expert on this subject but it is no different than trouble shooting anything electrical. There are procedures to follow and I just have to get the right ones.

Thanks for letting me know that at least if I try the procedures here there might be (all be it slim) a chance of getting the machine to a state where it can be restarted and working.

I understand that the situation might be different here. I know that members have tried to update Windows and ended up with some kind of corruption. In my case, that same corruption is possible but the cause might be different, but regardless, the probable cause is corruption as the symptoms are the same. That being none of the keystrokes are working.

My fingers are crossed and my hopes are high. Again, thanks.

 

Sounds good. Fingers crossed here as well.

I would add that this NVRAM corruption has been reported from all kinds of situations. Often it is not even clear what caused it or when, since users only discover it later when they try to enter BIOS and/or re-install Windows.

 

Hi, this appears to be the laptops emergency bios recovery utility built into the system. I should note here that this is not an OS boot but system boot. A second thing is it can be a bit tricky.

1.) it needs the *.ROM as the file but can be fussy about the name. Best bet is like the post to name the file properly, as the old file, with the new extension.
2.) if available use the USB 2.0 port. Natively on boot some older mixed systems may not see the USB 3.0 port.
3.) if a port fails do not give up, try the others. Some just need another port or others may be geared for the recovery only to one port.

My assumption here is the utility is there and the same procedure for launching it is the same for each system. CTRL+HOME seem to be a common key set but it could be different. Here is a link to another system below using the key combo. The other thing is the file name, Samsung should be able to note this better, but it could be they are looking for a very specific one, not just the roms version as the name.

If this is true it is a good probability every system has this capability. With all these issues Samsung should come clean with an official procedure to eliminate the guess work!

http://www.supermicro.com/manuals/other/UEFI_BIOS_Recovery.pdf

An edit; this is a last resort thing to do: you could literally blow out the bios with the emergency bios recovery utility.

 

Well, no new updates, but I did find a location that will burn a BIOS chip for my machine and send it to me. All that requires (if the BIOS is really blown) is to hot air de-solder the chip and replace with a new one. I know, sounds too simple, but who knows. The worst of worst is to take the machine to the recycle center. Never again another Samsung computer, never.

 

A few members have gone the route of having the BIOS chip re-flashed with an (E)EPROM burner. I believe some are socketed, which makes this easier. You still need a BIOS file, of course, which you can locate using isosunrise's thread.

 

Dannemand, I have already downloaded the BIOS files per that thread. I am ready to go in the event that the guy working on my machine cannot fix it. It now becomes an experiment. LOL

 

Hi. I was directed to this thread as a possible solution to my problem but having read through all of the thread, I'm not sure if it applies to me and if it does, where to start. The reason I'm doubtful is it seems that all people that have had issues on this thread cannot get into their bios. F2 does nothing for them, whereas I can get into the bios settings.

Here is my original post from Dec. 31 on a different thread. I have not been able to work on this since, until now. I don't have an original windows 8 dvd and have created / tried to create a number of them with no luck getting my computer to boot from them. I've been a huge Samsung fan up until now owning many Samsung electronics and even have their vacuum, which is great but this laptop has been problematic from the get go.

I have a Samsung NP350V5C-A01CA that I bought in late 2012 and came with Windows 8 pre-installed and I upgraded to 8.1 over a year ago. I came home 2 days ago to find the dreaded BSOD not having done anything unusual so I suspect it is virus related or a hadrware failure. I downloaded windows 8.1 generic and windows 8.1 single language and burned it to a dvd and changed my bios to different combinations of ueffi vs csm; fast mode disabled vs enabled; ahci mode control manual vs automatic; ahci mode disabled vs enabled; secure boot enabled vs disabled; with no luck. I tried all of these combinations as my research has suggested each of these at different places and wasn't sure which was the correct combination for me. Each time I try these, I get the samsung screen followed by bsod or samsung screen followed by windows symbol followed by bsod. Early in my efforts, I would get the samsung screen followed by preparing automatic repair followed by bsod. One combination (sorry, I forget which) I got the samsung screen followed by windows symbol followed by" to boot from dvd hit any key" but that also lead to the bsod. Since I have a windows 8 oem key and I've been loading 8.1 retail I'm wondering if this is my problem but can't find a windows 8 version, retail or oem. Any suggestions?

Thanks so much in advance as I am very frustrated at this point.

 

Hi leniko, welcome back.

I posted a response to you here.

If you are still not able to boot Windows Setup with the BIOS settings and after creating your Windows installation source as described there, you may indeed be suffering from NVRAM corruption after all.

While inability to access BIOS with F2 is a common, and very visible, symptom of this corruption, there are other symptoms as well -- such as the inability to properly select Boot Priority.

This issue of corrupted NVRAM is entirely on Samsung. For a long time, they replaced motherboards when users ran into it -- sometimes even out of warranty.

But your issue may simply be that of your UEFI settings not being compatible with your Windows installation source. And this is not a Samsung issue alone. Microsoft is to blame for having done almost nothing to warn users that everything about how to install Windows changed starting with Win8. Lots of users get caught in that trap every day.

 

Urkopineda, you indicate that you converted a .CAP file to a .ROM file by using AFUDOS. Did you do this on a DOS machine or a Windows base machine. If Windows, was it a 32-bit machine? I have tied using AFUDOS but it failed to start because I have a 64-bit machine. So I tried AFUWINx64 and I get Error: Problem getting flash information.

My syntax was: afuwin-3.05.04\AfuWin64>afuwinx64 P03ABP.CAP P03ABP.ROM /O

Can you layout the steps you did to convert the .CAP to .ROM conversion? I would really appreciate the information. Thanks

 

Guys,

Does anyone still have the above-mentioned "AMI's official tool" ? I will highly appreciate if somebody could share it. Seems that I bricked my NP700Z5C-S78 in a "classical way"

Thank you in advance

 

Hi @Villtord, welcome to NBR.

If your laptop is not completely dead, you may still be able to boot WinPE from a (properly formatted) USB stick by unplugging the HDD. If so, you can follow the guide to clearing NVRAM in post #7 of this thread. You won't need that AMI tool for it.

 

Hi, @Dannemand! You guys made a really great work here figuring out how to overcome this bug - thank you for sharing!

My laptop seems to be reacting on F keys (well, at least if I press F10 it goes immediately to Boot\Application menu without one reboot cycle), however the only boot menu that I can see is empty Boot/Application menu whatever I do. I tried almost all suggested in this discussion solutions - nothing worked so far. USB is not working, DVD is checked but doesn't start the recovery/installation (tried Win7 and Win8 together with WinPEs).
No my last hope is Backup image that I found on hard drive, maybe it will work. Another way is to recover bios - for this I need that AMI tool.

Update - the backup plan didn't work. Now only BIOS upgrade may work..

 

Got it. It is good that your F-keys work. Still, the inability to boot an external source is often solved by clearing NVRAM.

I take it you also tried with the HDD unplugged, right? I ask because that has been known as one of the most effective ways to make USB booting work. And then after using WinPE to clear NVRAM (or upgrade BIOS, which also clears it) the HDD can be re-connected, and booting works normally again.

Make sure your WinPE USB is formatted properly depending on your UEFI settings: With UEFI enabled ( OS Mode Selection=UEFI OS on models with SecureBoot) the USB must be GPT/FAT32. With UEFI disabled ( OS Mode Selection=CSM OS on models with SecureBoot) the USB should be MBR/NTFS.

 

Thanks, @Dannemand, for the suggestions. Sure I unplugged my HDD and even somehow booted from it on another PC, so I don't think it's a HDD problem. I tried also all possible WinPE USB options - that didn't work.

Now the problem is twofold. First of all, I'm not sure that I use the correct BIOS for my laptop - I googled that it is either P00AAS or P0xAAG for my N T700Z5C-S 78 (korean version). Maybe somebody knows what is the right BIOS to flash for this model?

And second problem - after extracting P00AAS I got P00AAS.rom file which I'm not able to use in WinCris.exe as it requires platform.bin that I don't have. Ami tool that I have also doesn't allow me to follow @urkopineda's a trick so far.

 

@Villtord: You previously listed your model as N P700Z5C (a very popular Series 7 classic) but in your last post you list it as N T700Z5C. I have not heard of that model, but I see it listed in SW Update.

Just for completeness, the BIOS families for the N P700Z5C that I am aware of, are AAG (for Win7 models, with a limited UEFI implementation) and ABJ (for Win8 models, with full UEFI/SecureBoot implementation).

For either of these families (any any family) you can use the link towards the end of @isosunrise's BIOS rollback guide to identify the filename of the latest BIOS. Below I have included the links for AAG and ABJ, respectively:

AAG (showing latest is P05AAG): http://sbuservice.samsungmobile.com/BUWebServiceProc.asmx/GetContents?platformID=AAG&PartNumber=AAAA

ABJ (showing latest is P07ABJ): http://sbuservice.samsungmobile.com/BUWebServiceProc.asmx/GetContents?platformID=ABJ&PartNumber=AAAA

In order to download a specific BIOS update file, insert its complete filename in the following link (copied from @isosunrise's guide):

P05AAG: http://sbuservice.samsungmobile.com/upload/BIOSUpdateItem/ITEM_20130412_1087_WIN_P05AAG.exe

P07ABJ: http://sbuservice.samsungmobile.com/upload/BIOSUpdateItem/ITEM_20131114_21267_WIN_P07ABJ.exe

Again, this may not be relevant for you (having the N T700Z5C), but since the N P700Z5C is widespread (and prone to bricking) I figured it might be useful for others.

If you manage to crack the AMI tool procedure to allow the "cold" emergency flashing described by @urkopineda, I beg you to post the information here. It will help a lot users!

 

#Update#

I gave up on trying to fix it with various software and gave it to the Samsung Official service centre. Their verdict was replacement of the motherboard for the price that is close to the brand new laptop, so I refused. Guys from the unofficial service center managed to rewrite P02AAG version of bios after unsoldering the chip and now everything works in a perfect way. The problem is solved.
Thank you, @Dannemand, for your participation and support!

 

Villtord, what "unofficial service center" did you use? If I may ask. I have a machine in an unofficial service center (L2 Computers) in NYC that is working on my NP700Z7C. They still haven't fixed it yet.

 

I'm afraid the one that is quite far from NYC. It is in Moscow, Russia. If you want I can give you the exact address via PM.

 

LOL... no, that will be fine. But at least you got your machine working. Good for you. Thanks

 

That's awesome. Well done being so persistent, congrats on getting your Sammy back in working order -- and thank you for sharing it here!

 

So to reset the CMOS battery, I simply have to unplugged the wire coming off the battery looking thing on top of a soft black plastic shroud? Do I need to unplugged the main battery too?

Anybody know where/how do I download the bios version P00AAS for my NP700Z5C-S01UB?

OK, found the bios. Because this laptop was bought from Best Buy, the one and only bios is POOAAS. There is NO previous bios.

When creating WinPE disc of Win8, it cannot be formatted as Fat32. Win8 has to be formatted NTFS. Otherwise, it Rufus will refused to format...

 

Yes, to reset the CMOS you need to discoonect the PSU, remove the main battery, then disconnect the CMOS battery and then hold down the power button for a little while to make sure that all power has been drained.

P00AAS would be the original BIOS. If you get the computer running then you can use Samsung's BIOS Update program to check for anything newer. However, that program will only offer the latest version (which may have fixed many bugs but introduced some new ones). This thread includes advice on finding intermediate BIOS versions.

John

 

John,

Yes I did all that, removing main battery, removing cmos battery cable. I was able to locate the only bios for my laptop bought from Best Buy. There is no previous or updated bios at all for this particular laptop bought from Best Buy. I even made a USB thumbdrive with Windows 8.1 Pro vie Rufus. It did not boot at all from the thumbdrive. The Samsung logo flashes for two seconds and then went black. The blue power light and battery charge lights are on and the cpu fan spins at a high rate. Nothing more.

This all happened after I have already successfully installed Yosemite on the main SSD HD. I also had a second SSD inside a caddy attached to where the DVD writer drive was before. I had Windows 10 preview on the second drive. I decided to upgrade Windows 10 preview to a newer build. After installation, the laptop rebooted. After the reboot, that's when the problem started. No F2, F4 or F10 worked to get into bios. Does not read anything attached vie USB either. Nothing. So my only options are emergency flash or physically un-soldering the chip where bios is and have someone re-flash bios back onto it? Anyone know any computer specialist in the Midwest (Wisconsin) area?

 

How do I extract only the bios file from this executeble file?

 

@joot: Since your model has ExpressCache, very likely the problem occurred when you installed Win10 (or any Windows version) from a USB stick. Windows Setup gets confused by the iSSD (the one used by ExpressCache) and places its boot files there, thinking it is the boot device. But since the iSSD is not visible during boot, this causes a boot problem.

We have a thread dedicated to that (see here). The simplest workaround is to install from DVD instead of USB stick, but there are other workarounds as long as you install in legacy BIOS/CSM mode.

The problem gets worse in UEFI mode, since Windows Setup places the EFI boot partition on the iSSD and records this location in NVRAM. So BIOS will look for the bootloader on the iSSD -- which, again, isn't visible during boot. This causes the stuck situation you are seeing.

Still, this can usually be solved by disabling UEFI (disable UEFI Boot on older Win7 models, or OS Mode Selection=CSM Mode on Win8.x models and newer Win7 models with SecureBoot) thus allowing a regular boot from a MBR disk or USB stick.

But if this scenario is combined with corruption of the NVRAM, that makes BIOS setup inaccessible through the F-keys, there is no way to disable UEFI -- and you effectively have a bricked laptop.

As you say, the only solutions (that we know of) are blind emergency flash (as decribed by @urkopineda in post #59) or physically re-flashing the BIOS with an (E)EPROM burner (as described by member @Villtord in post #78).

Edit:

Follow step (2) in the guide in post #7. This will take you to @isosunrise's BIOS rollback guide which has exact steps.

The gist of it is that you run the BIOS update file you have downloaded, but do NOT click OK when prompted. While that prompt is still open, copy the temp folder with the extracted files (exact path is in isosunrise's guide). Then CANCEL that prompt.

Important:

I moved your post here from another thread -- I think now the 5th thread where you are posting about this problem. I have been asking you to focus on this thread and ask any questions here. Your situation is unfortunate, and rightfully shouldn't happen to any computer owner. We're trying to help you the best we can. Now please help us by not scattering posts about your problem all across the forum. I have read every single post made in the Samsung forum over the last three years. Trust me, this is the right thread for you.

Please heed that advice or I will have to give you an infraction for cross posting, which is a breach of NBR forum rules.

 

^^Sorry about cross posting. My frustration is showing...

I am curious as to how other people solved their dilemma. As this laptop was not cheap when purchased. I am computer literate but not to the extent of physically re-flashing it. Anybody know of a bios re-flashing service in the Midwest area (Wisconsin)?

Can you link me to the emergency flashing post please?

 

And I genuinely do understand that

We can hope that others in your area see this, but I would suggest looking up computer repair centers in your area, and calling them to ask if they do EEPROM re-flashing of BIOS chips from laptops. They may have to desolder the chip (though some models are socketed). You can tell them that you can provide the BIOS file to flash (after you extract it, you will see which format it is).

Some repair shops think they understand the software side of the problem better than they actually do, but few are familiar with these intricate details of Samsung laptops. What you want from them is their ability to desolder the chip (if needed) re-flash it, and re-solder it.

@Villtord described his success with this in post #82. If you use NBR Search (while in Samsung) and check Search this forum only, then search for EPROM, that will give you a few more posts.

Check @urkopineda's description in post #59 of this thread. I am afraid we don't have any more on it. urkopineda hasn't posted here in a while, but you can try sending him a message (Start Conversation).

It's an awesome approach if you can find the tools and get it working. But of course you can also cause real damage if you flash the wrong thing. So this is last resort -- as @TANWare often points out.

There is still physical EEPROM re-flashing if the emergency procedure fails.

 

^^ Thank you sir. I guess it's good to have someone's ears to talk to...

I was able to google this very interesting EEPROM flashing tutorial:

http://diy.viktak.com/2014/07/how-to-recover-laptop-after-failed-bios.html


BTW, anybody know what kind/type bios chip is on this laptop (NPZ00Z5C-S01UB) ?

 

Nice find but forewarning is that this is much more complex than it looks. This is not something an average user should take up for the learning experience. On that note I had not seen anywhere with the Samsung systems the bios chip(s) type being advertised, probability is you would have to pull it apart.

 

I hardly ever post in forums but I also want to share my experiences here and would like to express my gratefulness to everyone in this thread who came up with very good tips about unbricking Samsung laptops.

My laptop model is NP770Z7E which came with Windows 8 preinstalled, UEFI and Secure Boot enabled. When the Windows 8.1 update came out it worked without troubles as well (apart from being tricked by Samsung into installing it too soon while their AMD Catalyst drivers were not yet ready). Then two months ago I replaced the internal 1TB HDD with an equally sized SSD by cloning the HDD, which interestingly enough didn't make any boot problems at all (only later I found out how many people had trouble getting their system to boot after cloning). By hindsight I think it was at that point that "something" in my NVRAM got corrupted, because suddenly the Samsung boot logo was displayed in VGA resolution instead of 1920x1080. But since I didn't have troubles booting, I also didn't notice that all the options to boot from anything else other than the Windows Boot Manager were simply gone.

A few days ago I wanted to boot from a USB stick instead and couldn't find any way to do so. The "Use a device" mode in Windows just was not there anymore (usually when you Restart into Advanced Startup from Windows, you get an option to boot from the various devices like USB or DVD). So I went into the BIOS itself and tried to change the boot order, but this menu only displayed the Windows Boot Manager as the only device. I thought maybe the Fast Boot / Secure Boot is the reason for this, so I disabled both and rebooted, but back into the BIOS there were still no more devices to boot from. So I changed from UEFI-only to UEFI and CMS, but still the same. Then as a last resort I changed the option to CMS-only which basically bricked any possibility to boot.

While I understood that with CMS-only I wouldn't be able to boot the installed Windows anymore, I though since I could always press F2 to go back to BIOS and change back to UEFI, it's no harm to try. Unfortunately like many people before me found out, the F2 key didn't work at this point anymore - I was stuck with an empty Samsung boot selector screen, and the App menu was empty as well (F4 to enter Samsung recovery also didn't work, but that wouldn't have saved me anyways because during cloning to SSD the recovery partition somehow broke and since I could never fix it I got rid of it). Pressing the battery disconnect button on the back and the power button for a minute didn't change anything. After trying for an hour I had no choice but to open the laptop (thank you Samsung for this stupid click-on casing), disconnected the laptop battery and the CMOS battery connector for 10 minutes in hope this would reset the BIOS to default values.

Miraculously this really did the trick, the BIOS was reset to Secure Boot, the Samsung boot logo was shown in 1920x1080 again and I could boot up Windows again. But still, no other boot devices in the BIOS available, and no "Use a device" option in Windows. Then I thought maybe clearing the CMOS was only half the trick, and I thought reflashing the BIOS would completely restore everything thats broken. The Samsung BIOSupdate.exe of course didn't allow me to reflash with the same BIOS version, but thanks to this thread I could extract the files and used SFlash64.exe /cvar /patch. And suddenly all the boot devices were back again in the BIOS, and also the "Use a device" option was available in Windows, what a surprise..

 

Good to hear all worked out for you.

 

Thought I'd mention this in case it helps someone else recover ... I did manage to unbrick my Samsung NP700Z5C without replacing
the mainboard.

I was given this laptop, it had been running fine with windows, then the previous owner put linux on it which corrupted the BIOS.

The symptom was that it would not recognize any boot device, the F2 function key to enter BIOS setup was non-functional (I tried lots),
the only "advertised" key which worked was F10 which took you to an empty menu (no options). I tried disconnecting the CMOS battery
etc. but no luck. Reading this and other forums I determined that the problem was likely UEFI storage area having been overwritten
by linux dumps (well documented problem).

This particular machine has a bad DVD drive, so the following was done using an external USB DVD - I would guess that it would also work
on the internal drive.

With some fooling around, I discovered that in addition to the non-functional F2 key and useless F10 keys shown on the startup screen, there
is a third undocumented function key which in my case actually worked! - pressing F3 at the right time during power-up forces the system to
boot from DVD.

Using F3, I was able to boot a Win7 DVD and install windows ... the problem was that the BIOS was still corrupted, and I couldn't boot the
hard drive once it was installed ... which brings me to the "trick" - if you boot the Win7 DVD it loads a little "stub" which prompts you to press
a key to boot the DVD, if you do nothing it times out and boots the hard drive ... this worked and I was able to boot the freshly installed system
indirectly using the Win7 DVD.

Once I was able to boot the running system, I was able to run the BIOS update tools and replace the BIOS - I had to halt the installer and
run the flash tools with command line options to force the update even though it thought the latest BIOS was already loaded as described in
other posts ... Replacing the BIOS obviously cleared the BIOS data area and the system boots and runs normally now.

For what it's worth - one Samsung which came back from the dead without a trip to the factory - perhaps others will be lucky too!

Dave

 

I have to confirm that this method help me to install Win 8.1 and to set up Legacy back in BIOS. Then I just install Win7 in legacy...

I might still have the BIOS and nvram corrupted but at least I could do a fresh new install in legacy.

Hope this its helpful to somebody else.

 

I have the same issues, but I can't acces windows, I tried gandalf's win7Pe and Hiren's BootCD Mini XP to run the commands but during the booting my laptop shutdown. But if I boot the laptop with a freedos OEM CD, the pc can be working for hours.
I want to try the commands

sflash64 /n /s /sa /ips /file 15FD.rom (like MeGuinness did)
or
sflash64 /cvar /patch (like Fitztorious did)

but i need to flash the bios with freedos.

I trust in your wisdom ..... I've tried with Flashit (which is te tool for InsideH2O bios according internet) with negative results and FPT tool (according bios-mods.com) but still remain same issue.

SAMSUNG SERIES 7 NP7005B-S01UB
BIOS VERSION 15FD
MICON VERSION 15FD

I'm stuck with serveral messy ideas.

Have a nice day !!
Sergio E.