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Thread ID: 82856	2007-09-10 10:29:00	Laptop not starting, how to restore bios?	ergonaut (12804)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
589978	2007-09-10 10:29:00	Hi. I was updating bios on my tidy little Compaq Armada m700, when the power supply went off, and bang. No more bios. Now when I item to power on, some of the led's light up and that is it. No beeps, no flashing lights. nothing. Just the 3 right-most led's at the bottom of the screen glowing intently. I've searched the manual and web for anything on restoring the bios, but have not found anything. Would appreciate guidance from anyone with an inkling of how to fix this. Thanks.	ergonaut (12804)
589979	2007-09-10 10:35:00	Welcome to Press F1 ergonaut If the Laptop can boot from a floppy, and looking at the spec's it can have a floppy drive installed in the drive bay, you may be lucky and reload the BIOS flash from the floppy when it boots, but it must detect the floppy drive on startup. Almost the "non System Disk Error" message when you leave a unbootable floopy in the drive, but of course the BIOS flash on the floppy hopefully will do its thing on boot up, and restore it back to a working state. As you may have guessed, flashing the BIOS & having a power cut at the same time is the worst possible time.	wainuitech (129)
589980	2007-09-10 19:56:00	Unless it had a Recovery feature (the BIOS, not the system), then you can't. In which case you'll have to take it in to a repair place.	pctek (84)
589981	2007-09-10 20:31:00	Wait a minute . . try a forced BIOS reset first! Remove any power supplies . . batteries, power cords, and then press and hold in the power ON button for about 15-30 seconds to drain down the CMOS battery . Release the button, wait a few minutes and plug in the power cord and/or the battery pack and wait another moment or two before trying a re-boot in the normal way . See if that helps . Let me know . I have to do this sometimes for the same problem in various computers and it usually works . You will be going back to the default settings and might have to mess with a few things later on . . . but this is usually a step in the right direction with what seems like a BIOS corruption problem .	SurferJoe46 (51)
589982	2007-09-12 13:18:00	Yep, it does not POST at all, let alone try to seek the floppy. Zero activity apart from those little leds glowing. Thanks for the suggestion SurferJoe. I unplugged mains, removed batter, removed cmos battery, and held the power switch on as you suggested. Resupplied all above power sources. but no change. Time for a service man. I gather I should be looking for someone who knows how to reprogram the eeprom? Is that right? It would help if I had a circuit diagram showing where the bios chip is located on the main board. ANy thoughts?	ergonaut (12804)
589983	2007-09-12 15:56:00	There was a trojan/virus years ago which is still in the wild (out there in the ether) that can cause BIOS destruction . The guy who created it has a Chinese name . . something about which he is very proud . . ergo: his initials in the name: W95 . CIH . damaged . All his viruses have the "CIH" in them as a mark and there were a few different ones with differing actions . One . . . (The Chernobyl Virus) . . . would rewrite the BIOS by delivering the command/ payload on a certain date . . . this was in my case when I got it, on April 15th, the date of the Chernobyl nuclear plant meltdown . I know . . I had it and it was a dog race to reflash my BIOS before the deadline . Turning back the system clock would not work either; somehow it knew and wouldn't let that happen . I'm not saying you have or had it . . but these things still exist and I guess with the newer blackhats a lot of new trouble is being created these days . Sorry for your troubles . . it's not easy being orphaned by one of these problems but there are some things that require professional hands-on assistance . Find a good qualified tech . . . not the "kid down the street" to assist .	SurferJoe46 (51)
589984	2007-09-12 16:01:00	Yep, it does not POST at all, let alone try to seek the floppy . Zero activity apart from those little leds glowing . Thanks for the suggestion SurferJoe . I unplugged mains, removed batter, removed cmos battery, and held the power switch on as you suggested . Resupplied all above power sources . but no change . Time for a service man . I gather I should be looking for someone who knows how to reprogram the eeprom? Is that right? It would help if I had a circuit diagram showing where the bios chip is located on the main board . ANy thoughts? I didn't read your answer fully . . but the part in red above is maybe not quite right . When I re-read it, I saw that this was a little different from what I suggested . Leave the CMOS battery IN when you hold the ON button to drain the battery while it's still in the motherboard . That MIGHT make a difference . . I have never removed it when I force the BIOS reset . Again, the part about your troubles above (^) in my previous post is sincere . Sorry .	SurferJoe46 (51)
589985	2007-09-12 20:51:00	generally speaking when ever you might be flashing a bios the instructions always say: DONT POWER OFF THE PC.......unfortunately you have had the bad luck to have that happen to you inadvertently. I believe this can completely stuff the rom programming in the chip and basically unless you physically replace the chip, (which may very well be impossible to find a replacemnt for), your mobo is forever dead.....	drcspy (146)
589986	2007-09-12 21:25:00	I had the option, should I have needed it to send my BIOS chip back to SOYO..and maybe this is do-able for you too...have you inquired of the manufacturer as to whether that's available to you? Maybe..just maybe..they can trade your bad one for a good one. I am very sure the factory can reflash the BIOS once it's there with them.	SurferJoe46 (51)
589987	2007-09-13 06:24:00	I didn't read your answer fully . . but the part in red above is maybe not quite right . When I re-read it, I saw that this was a little different from what I suggested . Leave the CMOS battery IN when you hold the ON button to drain the battery while it's still in the motherboard . That MIGHT make a difference . . I have never removed it when I force the BIOS reset . Again, the part about your troubles above (^) in my previous post is sincere . Sorry . Cool, thanks . Yeah, tried that too, but no change . Off to the fixit shop . . .	ergonaut (12804)
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