Question Lenovo G40 Bios update failed. Only black screen displayed

MrrTahoo

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Apr 27, 2020
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510
Hey !
So i messed up my laptop's bios while trying to update it. I was having wierd power issues lately with it. It would just completely shut down during use. Totally ramdomly. So i though maybe updating the bios may fix my problem but it only made it worse.
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LAPTOP DETAILS

Lenovo G40
Core i7 4th Gen
6Gb RAM
500Gb Hdd
Intel HD Graphics
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WHAT DID I DO:

I downloaded the bios update utility from the official Lenovo website which was supposed to be for me. I ran it. It downloaded some files and restarted on a DOS looking screen where it was written that flashing was in progress. It went upto 100% no issues and then suddenly it said something like Bios update failed. Bios does not support IHC (something like this i dont quite remember). And things went dark for me. It was just a blank screen in front of me. The lights are up. The cpu cooling fan works. But no hdd or cdrom sounds of clicking and buzzing. No usb works. But the usb ports do provide power like when i plug my phone in it seems to be charging.
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WHAT DID I DO TO TRY TO FIX:

1. Tried reseting the bios by removing battery...pressing power button for upto 2 minutes and plugging the AC adaptor or battery and powering it on. No luck.

2. tried booting up using the novo button. No luck.

3. On a friends suggestion unsoldered the CMOS battery from the mobo in order to clear the BIOS. No luck.

4. Tried downloading different bios.wph and bios.bin files and tried to start flashing using usb by plugging the usb and pressing power button + fn + R, Esc, B keys. No luck.
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Now im just feeling hopeless for the fact thats its lockdown and it might never get fixed keeping in view the current lockdown situation in my country. I'm a software engineering student and im in dire need for this laptop to work so i could continue my studies. I myslef am really good with computers but this issue is like it doesnt wanna get solved.....
Please can anyone help me ? I've been trying to fix this for 3 weeks now but no luck. I beleive in God helps those who help themselves but now.........😕i want some help.
 
Since you were having random shutdowns on the system, there is more of an issue here that was caused by the BIOS update. The sudden shutdowns are often a sign of a failing motherboard. That system is well out of warranty, from what you tried already the next step would be to either replace it or find a motherboard to swap into it.
 
when u press power button just black screen, do you get fan spin, hdd sound?
You probably got random shuttdown while updating the bios (bad luck) or downloaded wrong version and it somehow flashed it (must been close of the right one since there is checks before flashing starts)

What is your exact model of laptop?
Are you actually even getting right voltage on the power cable? 19v+?
 
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MrrTahoo

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Apr 27, 2020
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Since you were having random shutdowns on the system, there is more of an issue here that was caused by the BIOS update. The sudden shutdowns are often a sign of a failing motherboard. That system is well out of warranty, from what you tried already the next step would be to either replace it or find a motherboard to swap into it.
Well the shutdowns were random. What i figured just now was that one of my memory module had gone bad. So we could blame that for the shutdowns...
Either way thats the only thing I've read so far about the mobo being the culprit.
Thanks anyways.
 

MrrTahoo

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Apr 27, 2020
10
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510
when u press power button just black screen, do you get fan spin, hdd sound?
You probably got random shuttdown while updating the bios (bad luck) or downloaded wrong version and it somehow flashed it (must been close of the right one since there is checks before flashing starts)

What is your exact model of laptop?
Are you actually even getting right voltage on the power cable? 19v+?
Yes just a black screen. The cpu fan starts after while but no hdd just two indicator lights turn on at the front of the laptop.
No the system didnt shutdown while bios flashing coz the it was going like it was supposed to. No i did not download the wrong version. The bios might have corrupted when it got downloaded.
The model is Lenovo G40.
Yeah the power is fine.
Any other hunches ?
 
Recovery keys for lenovo usually is FN+R, also try to use the name BIOS.cap for it. One guide here : https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Lenovo...BIOS-update-failure-Solved-Guide/td-p/3953208

Search for the bios file with this EXACT model number from lenovo site

Lenovo G40-70.
Model no. : 20369

It should be this one you need to extract : BIOS Update for Windows 7 (32-bit & 64-bit), Windows 8.1 (32-bit & 64-bit) - Lenovo G40-70, G50-70 ? Version 32

If that command wont help you to get the right file extracted try this one : https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Gaming...date-Package-such-as-ATCN37WW-exe/m-p/5008973
you can also try different earlier versions for the same laptop
 
Last edited:

MrrTahoo

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Apr 27, 2020
10
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Recovery keys for lenovo usually is FN+R, also try to use the name BIOS.cap for it. One guide here : https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Lenovo...BIOS-update-failure-Solved-Guide/td-p/3953208

Search for the bios file with this EXACT model number from lenovo site

Lenovo G40-70.
Model no. : 20369

It should be this one you need to extract : BIOS Update for Windows 7 (32-bit & 64-bit), Windows 8.1 (32-bit & 64-bit) - Lenovo G40-70, G50-70 ? Version 32

If that command wont help you to get the right file extracted try this one : https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Gaming...date-Package-such-as-ATCN37WW-exe/m-p/5008973
you can also try different earlier versions for the same laptop
Dude thanks a bunch. I'll try this today as soon as i get home. I hope it works☺
 

MrrTahoo

Prominent
Apr 27, 2020
10
0
510
Recovery keys for lenovo usually is FN+R, also try to use the name BIOS.cap for it. One guide here : https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Lenovo...BIOS-update-failure-Solved-Guide/td-p/3953208

Search for the bios file with this EXACT model number from lenovo site

Lenovo G40-70.
Model no. : 20369

It should be this one you need to extract : BIOS Update for Windows 7 (32-bit & 64-bit), Windows 8.1 (32-bit & 64-bit) - Lenovo G40-70, G50-70 ? Version 32

If that command wont help you to get the right file extracted try this one : https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Gaming...date-Package-such-as-ATCN37WW-exe/m-p/5008973
you can also try different earlier versions for the same laptop
Okay so. i did exactly as said in the guides but sadly no luck. the usb just wont start blinking. its been like 3 hours since im trying to revive this dead laptop but nothing seems to be working. on the flip side i dont think the keyboard's even working coz i get no capslock light when i turn it on. how am i gonna be able to use the keys when the keyboard doesnt work.....
any other ideas ? Anyone ?
 

Pras2014

Honorable
Feb 23, 2014
3
1
10,515
Okay so. i did exactly as said in the guides but sadly no luck. the usb just wont start blinking. its been like 3 hours since im trying to revive this dead laptop but nothing seems to be working. on the flip side i dont think the keyboard's even working coz i get no capslock light when i turn it on. how am i gonna be able to use the keys when the keyboard doesnt work.....
any other ideas ? Anyone ?


Wondering if you could fix this issue?
 

Pras2014

Honorable
Feb 23, 2014
3
1
10,515
Dont matter where you buy from but you need this ch341a programmer and soic clip, if your good with soldering then no soic clip is needed and you save few bucks.

https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/3276...earchweb0_0,searchweb201602_,searchweb201603_

While I was reading MrrTahoo's comments, I felt like I've written them. I had a brand new L50-70 bought on sale to use as a backup never needed, seating idle for 15 months. When tried to start, exactly same symptoms as it was out of warrany, I took it to local stores they were mentioning it could be a video card issue and m/b needed to be replaced. Which I'm not sure would still work. Could it happen with brand new laptop in a sealed box?

Whenever I get free time I play with this one trying doing things people suggest online.

Yesterday I red this one, had some hopes. Created bootable USB then, tried to download the driver for this model, but the exe looks like a zip file. When I tried to run the exe on another laptop as per the instructions in the link with 'innoextranct 9acn32ww /ext 'parameter it gave me some 'winflash parameter not correct' error. I didn't see four files as mentioned in the link.

I tried to unzip the file where I see following files, there are exe files as well, those I've copied as per the link.

I didn't find anything mathching in the link given.

I extracted isflash.fd to create out.fd and copied as bios.cap on to bootable USB, which didn't work. Not sure what needed to be done.

Volume in drive C is Windows10_OS
Volume Serial Number is 2C29-E3CD

Directory of C:\Users\abc\Downloads\9acn32ww

10/17/2020 02:11 PM <DIR> .
10/17/2020 02:11 PM <DIR> ..
12/15/2014 03:45 AM 105,886 Ding.wav
01/11/2015 05:18 AM 7,680 extractor.exe
12/15/2014 03:45 AM 232,448 FlsHook.exe
12/15/2014 03:45 AM 195,584 FlsHookDll.dll
12/15/2014 03:45 AM 225,560 FWUpdLcl.exe
08/09/2020 02:50 PM 1,218,560 innoextract.exe
12/15/2014 03:45 AM 693,248 InsydeFlash.exe
12/15/2014 03:45 AM 746,496 iscflash.dll
12/15/2014 03:45 AM 45,448 iscflash.sys
12/15/2014 03:45 AM 60,680 iscflashx64.sys
07/20/2015 03:27 AM 10,105,400 isflash.fd
10/17/2020 06:19 AM 8,388,608 out.fd
07/20/2015 03:17 AM 43,566 platform.ini
12/15/2014 03:45 AM 1,892,352 xerces-c_2_7.dll
14 File(s) 23,961,516 bytes
2 Dir(s) 12,301,537,280 bytes free
 
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Nov 24, 2020
1
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10
Hey Pras2014
Actually I got it fixed. it was indeed a bricked bios. i took it to the shop and he just took about 10 minutes to re-program the bios chip and my laptop was back to life.
I hope you get your issue fixed soon.
Hey i have the exact same issue, can i know how did he fix it? Is it self fixable or did he use a flashdrive. Please help, really need it.
 
Hey i have the exact same issue, can i know how did he fix it? Is it self fixable or did he use a flashdrive. Please help, really need it.

If you have same exact issue most likely it was recovered with spi programmer + soic clip. You need "ch341a with a soic clip" should be less than 10$ / 10euro.

First try the advice i tried before, most likely you need to reprogram bios sadly

Then look for bios for the exacct model (if ur is g40-70 with exact board) : https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=77153

However this can be also motherboard / graphics chip issue (very unlikely gpu issue if ýou dont have amd gpu chip)
 
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