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Si 1520 FS BIOS upgrade crashes ... That will be €500+ sir

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Si 1520 FS BIOS upgrade crashes ... That will be €500+ sir

Postby boopolo » Mon Sep 17, 2007 1:51 pm

Hi Guys
I bought an Amilo Xi 1546 and an Amilo Si 1520 (for GF) one year ago last month.
Yesterday I decided to upgrade bios on both. I got upgrades from FS site.

The Xi upgrade was an uneventful experience. I used windows upgrade method (first time for me) instead of the usual CD iso burning method (the way I did before). It worked fine.

I did the same on the Si 1520. Just before it finished the screen displayed lines of text for a second, then went blank with fan running continious.

I had power from ac as well as battery before flashing. I had no programs running. I had disabled spyware and AV software.

I realized straight away that the bios upgrade had crashed. I will not repeat the words that came from my mouth. GF didnt believe me when i explained the implications.

Today I rang FS support in order to get a new bios chip supplied and/or fitted.

To my horror they told me that the bios chip is soldered to mainboard and I would need a new mainboard to be fitted. :shock: :shock: :evil: :evil: COST: over €500
The FS support (first line) said it did not matter that it was out of warranty, BIOS upgrade is not covered. When I asked what about goodwill gesture, he said blank no. I asked to talk to second line support but he said I could not. I asked to speak with somebody else, he refused.

Murphys law states that if something can go wrong it will more than likey go wrong at some stage.

For those upgrading their BIOS keep murphy's law in mind. especially with Si1520

If anyone knows what kind of bios chip and where to buy a it for this mainboard. May be able to get somebody to solder it in (am not good enough at soldering)

Boo
Xi 1546 duo 2500 2x100gb 2gb
Si 1520 duo 2300 80gb 1gb
M1420 735 80gb 512kb
M1420 735 80gb 1gb
Thinkpad 390 still running
boopolo
 
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Sep 17, 2007 12:56 pm

Human Factors?

Postby boopolo » Thu Sep 20, 2007 8:25 pm

Dont mean to just bump this thread, but there has been 211 views and not one reply. It is ironic that the thread that this will replace at the top is also a 'Fujitsu upgrade Bios Crash'.

Have found one site in Italy that replaces the soldered chip on main boards.

Unvalidated reports suggest that one in every hundred Bios update goes wrong.

How many FS computers crash during bios update?

Surely the computers' make up and the flash firmware supplied, is a major factor in bios flashing failing. Without saying so, FS seem to put it down to human factors, the human being the customer, not FS engineers.

Boo
Xi 1546 duo 2500 2x100gb 2gb
Si 1520 duo 2300 80gb 1gb
M1420 735 80gb 512kb
M1420 735 80gb 1gb
Thinkpad 390 still running
boopolo
 
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Sep 17, 2007 12:56 pm

Postby boopolo » Tue Oct 02, 2007 5:58 pm

Okay it two weeks, 288 views, no replys. :(

Well have decided (nearly decided) to send the laptop complete to recoverybios.com in Italy.

Has anybody here had any dealings with recoverybios?

boo
Xi 1546 duo 2500 2x100gb 2gb
Si 1520 duo 2300 80gb 1gb
M1420 735 80gb 512kb
M1420 735 80gb 1gb
Thinkpad 390 still running
boopolo
 
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Sep 17, 2007 12:56 pm

Postby tigerleap » Mon Oct 08, 2007 6:05 am

I'm sorry I can't help you here Boo, since I'm in about the same situation myself. So, I am also looking for help from all you BIOS guru's out there.

I flashed my (L7310GW) laptop using the Windows flasher (1+1 = DON'T USE IT), but the problems didn't start right away. The original BIOS version was 1.04 and the new one 1.08. The flahser software gave me an error message in te end stating a write error on some memory location, and the software suggested me to try again. Well, I tried, but the result was the same. So I rebooted the machine and tried again. This time the flasher software said the current version was 1.08, but I tried again anyway. Again, the flashing failed in the very end woth similiar error message. This time I didn't try it again; the software stated that I already had the 1.08 version anyway..

The problems started after I installed a new VIA chipset driver (right after the bios update) and rebooted the laptop. Now it doesn't start - when power is switched on the laptop seems to run for 2 seconds and reboots again. This would go on forever.. Nothing comes to the screen.

My problem seems similiar to this: http://www.amilo-forum.com/topic,1092,-After-bios-update-my-xi1526-death.html

Does anyone have any other ways to try and recover the laptop than to send the computer to some Italian company? In my case I'm lucky enough to have a warranty that also covers self-made errors like this, but still.
tigerleap
 
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 5:50 am

Postby boopolo » Mon Oct 08, 2007 11:25 am

Thank you Tigerleap,

Here is the funny bit (well not so funny really)

On 29-08-06 they brought out version 1.10 in both FLASH & DOS FLASH (no exe)

On 26-01-07 they brought out version 1.19 in Flash, DOS Flash, and EXE (I used this exe one)

Three weeks later :oops: they brought out 1.20 in DOS Flash, and flash iso 5 weeks later. That was last March; and still no V1.20 in EXE.

I am sure they will find some excuse, but to me that states that either V1.19 itself or the exe (windows version) had given problems.
:twisted:
Xi 1546 duo 2500 2x100gb 2gb
Si 1520 duo 2300 80gb 1gb
M1420 735 80gb 512kb
M1420 735 80gb 1gb
Thinkpad 390 still running
boopolo
 
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Sep 17, 2007 12:56 pm

RECOVERYBIOS.COM repair

Postby boopolo » Wed Oct 31, 2007 12:55 pm

UPDATE:
I have sent the laptop complete, to RECOVERYBIOS.COM to have the bios chip replaced. It is with them for well over a week now with the status: 'Work In Progress'. They do not seem to be very good at answeing emails in a hurry.

Will report back when the status changes.

Boo
Xi 1546 duo 2500 2x100gb 2gb
Si 1520 duo 2300 80gb 1gb
M1420 735 80gb 512kb
M1420 735 80gb 1gb
Thinkpad 390 still running
boopolo
 
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Sep 17, 2007 12:56 pm

Postby trl » Wed Oct 31, 2007 7:42 pm

Well, is your laptop OK now?
trl
 
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon May 14, 2007 9:23 pm

Postby tigerleap » Mon Nov 12, 2007 10:33 am

Please, boopolo, give us information on how did the replacement go? The replacement service sounds good, even though it's in Italy (which makes sending the laptop from Finland quite expensive..)
tigerleap
 
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 5:50 am

Postby boopolo » Mon Nov 19, 2007 12:13 pm

They couldn't fix it because the 'bios chip of the laptop has a proprietary package and it can't be replaced'.

Will post a full report here as soon as I get it back.


Boopolo
Xi 1546 duo 2500 2x100gb 2gb
Si 1520 duo 2300 80gb 1gb
M1420 735 80gb 512kb
M1420 735 80gb 1gb
Thinkpad 390 still running
boopolo
 
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Sep 17, 2007 12:56 pm

Postby tigerleap » Mon Nov 19, 2007 1:42 pm

Oh, that's a pity.. I think I'll just look for a used laptop of the same model. The thing is that the computer I 'broke' isn't actually mine.. (woops ;))

Thanks for the info, boopolo!
tigerleap
 
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 5:50 am


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