Question Is it possible to recover the BIOS with USB flash drive ?

[Tiny__97]

Hello

Laptop model: ThinkBook 14 G4 2-in-1 with an Intel Core Ultra 7 155U

The laptop that was working normally until a Windows update installed a new BIOS version, upgrading it from P3CN46WW to P3CN48WW.

After this update, the laptop started taking at least 30 seconds on a black, lit-up screen before showing the Lenovo logo. This delay was very frustrating and made the boot process unnecessarily long.

To fix it, I tried downgrading the BIOS. I disabled the "Prevent BIOS Downgrade" option and also turned off BIOS Self-Healing, because each time I downgraded successfully, the system would automatically upgrade the BIOS again after the second reboot.

Now, the BIOS downgrade process runs smoothly from 1% to 100%, but when it reboots, it shows 0% and then keeps restarting in a loop and the light on near the power button blinking 6 times after each time it is turn off. I’ve tried resetting the CMOS battery multiple times and even removed the main battery, but nothing worked.

My last resort was using Crisis Mode. Based on multiple forums, the key combination is Fn + R while plugging in the power cable and using a USB drive formatted to FAT32 containing the BIOS file.

When I do this, the laptop powers on, the keyboard lights up, the Caps Lock light stays on, and the charging LED turns orange (even with a full battery). However, I don't hear any beep sounds, which usually indicate that the BIOS is being flashed. It just stays stuck like that with CPU and fan working normmaly

Attached are some photos and videos that show the issue. Any help would be appreciated.

https://imgur.com/qP666qV

View: https://imgur.com/qP666qV

https://imgur.com/jwf32xQ

View: https://imgur.com/jwf32xQ

https://imgur.com/mdr6j7v

View: https://imgur.com/mdr6j7v

https://imgur.com/06ngfe9

View: https://imgur.com/06ngfe9

 

[Lutfij]

The laptop that was working normally until a Windows update installed a new BIOS version, upgrading it from P3CN46WW to P3CN48WW.
https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/hk/en/products/laptops-and-netbooks/thinkbook-series/thinkbook-14-2-in-1-g4-iml/downloads/driver-list/component?name=BIOS/UEFI&id=5AC6A815-321D-440E-8833-B07A93E0428C
Apparently I don't see the latter BIOS version you've mentioned, perhaps it's because I looked up the BIOS version using the model of the laptop. You might get a granular answer after inputting the serial number for your laptop on Lenovo's support portal. If the laptop you have does indeed have a BIOS update, then I'd have manually updated the BIOS after running the executable in an elevated command, i.e, Right click installer>Run as Administrator.

After this update, the laptop started taking at least 30 seconds on a black, lit-up screen before showing the Lenovo logo. This delay was very frustrating and made the boot process unnecessarily long.
I would've left it as is, IMHO, since downgrading BIOS usually results in a bricked platform/device/motherboard.

Try disconnecting the laptop from the wall, power down the laptop, disassemble the laptop, disconcerting the internal battery and then press and hold the power button for 30seconds to drain any residual power. Reconnect to the power brick(not the battery) and then see if you're able to power up the laptop to get it to POST.

The absolute last resort would be to get a CH341A BIOS programming toolkit and then flash the BIOS with the latest version, as mentioned here;

https://www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/comments/16v26yl/guide_thinkpad_bios_reading_patching_and_flashing/

Then again, if the laptop is under warranty, you should contact Lenovo and your seller to bring them up to speed as to why this is happening.

 

[Tiny__97]

The laptop that was working normally until a Windows update installed a new BIOS version, upgrading it from P3CN46WW to P3CN48WW.
https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/hk/en/products/laptops-and-netbooks/thinkbook-series/thinkbook-14-2-in-1-g4-iml/downloads/driver-list/component?name=BIOS/UEFI&id=5AC6A815-321D-440E-8833-B07A93E0428C
Apparently I don't see the latter BIOS version you've mentioned, perhaps it's because I looked up the BIOS version using the model of the laptop. You might get a granular answer after inputting the serial number for your laptop on Lenovo's support portal. If the laptop you have does indeed have a BIOS update, then I'd have manually updated the BIOS after running the executable in an elevated command, i.e, Right click installer>Run as Administrator.

After this update, the laptop started taking at least 30 seconds on a black, lit-up screen before showing the Lenovo logo. This delay was very frustrating and made the boot process unnecessarily long.
I would've left it as is, IMHO, since downgrading BIOS usually results in a bricked platform/device/motherboard.

Try disconnecting the laptop from the wall, power down the laptop, disassemble the laptop, disconcerting the internal battery and then press and hold the power button for 30seconds to drain any residual power. Reconnect to the power brick(not the battery) and then see if you're able to power up the laptop to get it to POST.

The absolute last resort would be to get a CH341A BIOS programming toolkit and then flash the BIOS with the latest version, as mentioned here;

https://www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/comments/16v26yl/guide_thinkpad_bios_reading_patching_and_flashing/

Then again, if the laptop is under warranty, you should contact Lenovo and your seller to bring them up to speed as to why this is happening.

The strange part is that I don’t even know how the BIOS got updated through a Windows update. When the laptop rebooted, it showed a message saying it should be plugged in to complete the BIOS update properly.
However, when I checked the Windows Update history, I couldn’t find anything related to a BIOS update.
Here’s an images showing the BIOS version before and after the update.

https://imgur.com/rMwjYxc

View: https://imgur.com/rMwjYxc

https://imgur.com/m9f9lyO

View: https://imgur.com/m9f9lyO

 

[Tiny__97]

The laptop that was working normally until a Windows update installed a new BIOS version, upgrading it from P3CN46WW to P3CN48WW.
https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/hk/en/products/laptops-and-netbooks/thinkbook-series/thinkbook-14-2-in-1-g4-iml/downloads/driver-list/component?name=BIOS/UEFI&id=5AC6A815-321D-440E-8833-B07A93E0428C
Apparently I don't see the latter BIOS version you've mentioned, perhaps it's because I looked up the BIOS version using the model of the laptop. You might get a granular answer after inputting the serial number for your laptop on Lenovo's support portal. If the laptop you have does indeed have a BIOS update, then I'd have manually updated the BIOS after running the executable in an elevated command, i.e, Right click installer>Run as Administrator.

After this update, the laptop started taking at least 30 seconds on a black, lit-up screen before showing the Lenovo logo. This delay was very frustrating and made the boot process unnecessarily long.
I would've left it as is, IMHO, since downgrading BIOS usually results in a bricked platform/device/motherboard.

Try disconnecting the laptop from the wall, power down the laptop, disassemble the laptop, disconcerting the internal battery and then press and hold the power button for 30seconds to drain any residual power. Reconnect to the power brick(not the battery) and then see if you're able to power up the laptop to get it to POST.

The absolute last resort would be to get a CH341A BIOS programming toolkit and then flash the BIOS with the latest version, as mentioned here;

https://www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/comments/16v26yl/guide_thinkpad_bios_reading_patching_and_flashing/

Then again, if the laptop is under warranty, you should contact Lenovo and your seller to bring them up to speed as to why this is happening.

I can exit this state by holding the power button for about 30 seconds. After that, the laptop starts bootlooping again—showing the BIOS update at 0%, then shutting down and restarting repeatedly.

I’ve tried removing both the CMOS battery and the main battery, but it didn’t help. Even when I connect the charger, the laptop continues the same reboot loop.

I wrote this post because I thought the laptop might have a hidden BIOS recovery option, as mentioned in several forums. This feature is known to work on Lenovo Legion and Ideapad models.

https://www.reddit.com/r/LenovoLegi..._possible_to_recover_corrupted_bios_with_usb/

https://www.reddit.com/r/Lenovo/comments/132q441/how_i_restored_the_bios_of_my_dead_lenovo_ideapad/

https://www.bios-mods.com/forum/Thread-MUST-READ-LENOVO-Laptops-bios-recovery-by-USB-VERY-IMPORTANT

 

[mushoomex]

After this update, the laptop started taking at least 30 seconds on a black, lit-up screen before showing the Lenovo logo. This delay was very frustrating and made the boot process unnecessarily long.

Hello, I'm really sorry to hear that you've run into BIOS issues. I managed to fix a similar long boot time problem on my Thinkbook 14 g7 by going to BIOS - Security - Reset System to Factory Defaults. After doing this, my boot time dropped from 50+ seconds down to 18 seconds.

systemd-analyze                                                                                                       
Startup finished in 7.641s (firmware) + 522ms (loader) + 5.134s (kernel) + 5.677s (userspace) = 18.975s

I had a comparable situation where after setting up Windows in dual boot, the system somehow upgraded itself to BIOS version 48, even though Lenovo's website only shows version 46 as the latest. Hopefully this might help others who face the same issue.

 

[Tiny__97]

Yes, according to Lenovo BIOS notes, all these devices — ThinkBook 14 G7 IML, ThinkBook 16 G7 IML, ThinkBook 14 2-in-1 G4 IML, and Lenovo K14 G3 IMU — use the same BIOS file. I tried resetting the BIOS, and the boot time only improved by around 5 seconds at most, which is really disappointing. I contacted Lenovo support about my situation, but they didn’t offer any solutions, i have question for your laptop also take a long time to display the lenovo logo or it take time on loading lenovo screen ?

 

[mushoomex]

It actually takes so long(33s) because of dual boot. But when only Windows was installed, it was also around 20 seconds, same as with Manjaro.

I forgot to mention: I first disabled Windows fast boot, disabled hibernation, then in BIOS pressed F9 - load defaults, none of this helped. Only after "BIOS - Security - Reset System to Factory Defaults" the laptop rebooted and spent about a minute processing something with UEFI, and after that it started booting faster. Before that, I had a black screen for 20-30 seconds and only then the Lenovo logo would appear.

 

[mushoomex]

Manjaro in dual boot
Before "BIOS - Security - Reset System to Factory Defaults"

Startup finished in 34.809s (firmware) + 3.398s (loader) + 3.604s (kernel) + 5.707s (userspace) = 47.519s

After

Startup finished in 7.641s (firmware) + 522ms (loader) + 5.134s (kernel) + 5.677s (userspace) = 18.975s

So the BIOS update specifically affected the firmware boot speed - the time before the Lenovo logo appears.