Re: [Thinkpad] R31 Bios Update failed

Hi Vance,

I noticed no one addressed this, so thought I would at least put in my five cents worth and be the one to say you probably "fried" the rom chip on the motherboard as much as you might not want to hear that.

Updating bios on any machine even though its as easy as following step 1-2-3 should be considered like brain surgery. The utmost care has to be followed.

I myself have fried a few in my time, and with that experience, it has taught me well to go through everything 10 times before even attempting a bios update. As an example, before I update any bios on any laptop, I run the battery for at least 20 minutes to make sure I don't have a battery that
just because it says 100% really isn't. I also, check and recheck and check until I turn blue that the bios revision software I am using (image) is the correct one. Even then once I've finally convinced myself I've got all the right files (bios updates), have crossed referenced the current
bios on the machine to make sure I'm actually not down grading it, I set a specific time aside and close all the doors, unplug the phone, make myself a cup of coffee, and then like a religious event, proceed with 200% faculty in what I'm doing to complete the upgrade.

I know this may sound like too much drama, but believe me and as you may have already realized, updating bios on machine is not something to take casually. It would normally take an hour or two to replace the motherboard on your machine, but by the same token, only takes less than 3 minutes to
screw it up with a bios upgrade.

I don't know a lot about R31 units, but in general, upgrading the bios on any laptop or pc is pretty basic and can lead to non functionality if even the smallest problem is encountered.

So enough of the drama, now what to do ?

I think you should check and recheck the actual files you were updating. Read the text file that normally accompanies the upgrade and make well sure that it IS for your machine. If it's not, then you reprogrammed the laptop with the wrong bios revision, and now there's nothing left to do but
have the motherboard replaced, or have IBM reprogram the rom chip.

When I made the comment that of having to replace the motherboard, that is basic terminology most average computer guru's do. But from what I know, mfg.'s such as IBM don't do that when they get the machine to service. They plug in a special machine through either your parallel port or docking
port and reprogram the rom chip direct without having to replace the motherboard. At least that's what I've come to understand.

At this stage, I don't think it has to do with your cmos battery, or anything else considering everything was working fine before you did the upgrade, so the bios upgrade is the culprit here. Unless by some miracle you do find something else
that is preventing the machine to turn on, it's quite likely that you're going to have to either send it back to the folks at IBM, or replace the motherboard yourself or have someone do it for you. I bet you after everything is said and done and you have your laptop back in your hands working,
the next time you consider doing an upgrade to any machine, you'll think and think and think real hard the experience you went through with this one ~ well all go through the same thing.

I'm surprised not many jumped on this subject, so I wanted to at least give you something to fall back on. I might be completely wrong about everything I've said above and it just may be that all you have to do is tap your laptop three times with your finger and everything will be back to
normal, but when it comes to bios upgrades, burning roms is something I've learned (cost wise) to take real serious.

I wish there was something else I could say to help you fix your machine, and with the hopes that all the bs I've said above, there's likely someone out there that will challenge it and get involved and give you more options to try before ultimately having to return the laptop back for
motherboard replacement or reprogramming.

Good Luck
Justin

BPCVance@aol.com wrote:

> I was trying to update the BIOS on my R31. AC Adapter was connected and I had a fully charged battery. I downloaded the non-floppy version of the update and ran it from my hard drive. The update failed and after reboot, the laptop no longer boots. No POST, no IBM logo, nothing on the screen.
>
> Is there anyway to recover from this short of sending it back to IBM? I read somewhere perhaps disconnecting the CMOS battery could reset the BIOS? Where is the CMOS battery on a R31?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Vance Young
>
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Received on Sat Sep 20 13:28:30 2003