Samsung Series 7 - NP700Z5C-S03CA: My Last Hope

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.