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NEC/Lenovo Lavie Z: BIOS corrupted, how to do USB Restore?

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4.6K views 3 replies 2 participants last post by  Masterchiefxx17  
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#1 ·
Hi all,

My Lenovo Lavie Z (HZ750, which is actually a NEC LavieZ) has the BIOS problem. I suspect the only way to fix it is to do the USB BIOS Restore, which I need help with.

Background: I updated the BIOS to v2.0 (763A0800.ROM) from Lenovo website. I had TPM initialized and BitLocker enabled (which I don't believe to have caused the problem). After reboot I have the following symptoms:

  • All BIOS settings reset (expected)
  • In BIOS, cannot change and save any settings. After restart, original settings are in place.
  • This includes "boot mode: legacy/UEFI" setting stuck in Legacy, hence it fails to recognize the hard drive and boot.
I tried re-flashing from Windows recovery disk or DOS boot disk, both failing saying "Error erasing memory".

I understand my last resort is to restore BIOS from USB. There're mentions over the internet about this method for AMI BIOS, involving placing a ROM file onto a FAT-formatted USB and pressing the magic buttons when starting up. This is what i tried and it didnt work:

pressing Win+B, Control+Home, Home, Fn+R, Fn+B (both on internal and on external keyboard) when powering up

while having a usb with the ROM as original filename (763A0400.ROM) or AMIBOOT.ROM

Any suggestions I could try?

Appreciate any help!

PS I can't hand the machine over to service as I'm outside of US.
 
#2 ·
Hi and Welcome to TSF!

First, remove the battery and charging cable from the laptop. Press and hold the power button for 25 seconds. Insert the battery and power cable and boot to the BIOS. See if you can then change settings.
 
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#3 ·
Hi Masterchiefxx17,

Thanks!

Yes, did that, didn't change anything. Also tried disconnecting the CMOS battery, also didn't change much.

Here's a bit more detailed explanation:

In a nutshell:
After BIOS update:
a) BIOS doesn't save any changes, apart from time and date
b) BIOS doesn't see the internal hard drive, but sees USB drives.

What I had before:
  • I had TPM initialized and active
  • Secure Boot to Windows 10 with bitlocker
  • Supervisor password on BIOS
Specs:

Issue started after:

I did a bios update, but (not sure if anything of this has contributed to problems)
  • didn't turn off bitlocker and secure boot
  • accidentally only reflashed the main block
Symptoms of the issue:
What I tried to fix:
  • reflashing under win (recovery drive) and dos; all resulted in "43: Error -- problem erasing flash" regardless of the bios ROM i'm using
  • attempted to do the "emergency USB recovery" by pressing Win+B, Control+Home, Home, Fn+R, Fn+B (both on internal and on external keyboard) when powering up and putting the ROM as original filename (763A0400.ROM) or AMIBOOT.ROM. Never worked.
  • Disconnecting the battery and CMOS battery did reset system time, but hasn't fixed anything.
 
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