Failed BIOS Auto-update; T61P Now Inoperable

[ProblematicT61P]

Like many others with unanswered Lenovo BIOS Auto-update issues, my two-month old T61P, which coincidentally was docked in the Advanced Mini-Port at the time, reported a failed Lenovo auto-update of its BIOS.  After an awkward shutdown and re-start, it failed to boot (no screens {boot or otherwise}, no beeps, no F1 or ThinkVantage functionality).  A BIOS Update Bootable CD was, of course, useless.  A previous BIOS auto-update (and other driver and Lenovo software updates) back in July seemed to have worked fine.

Lenovo service was contacted but seems to be stonewalling on offering any meaningful (warranty) support (which possibly is  limited anyway on a holiday weekend...).   Definitely seems to me like BIOS auto-updates are a very bad idea and Lenovo shouldn't implement them that way. Since the Lenovo support site and this forum haven't offered much technical help to others for failed "Lenovo-approved" BIOS auto-updates, does anyone have any suggestions for dealing sucessfully off-line with Lenovo support on this issue?

Thanks.

[onix]

I updated my T61p to the latest 2.20 Bios no problem, but I was careful to undock.  Incidentally, I had to update using a bootable CD since I am running Vista 64.  My Avast 4.8 also reported a virus for the ISO, but I checked around with others, and ended up ignoring the report and updated successfully.  BTW, I have no custom ThinkPad system software and installed Vista 64 Ultimate fresh, and uploaded drives only where needed.

Sorry I can be of help.  Hope Lenovo gets back to you.

[Centex]

"Definitely seems to me like BIOS auto-updates are a very bad idea and Lenovo shouldn't implement them that way."

I agree. I can imagine the sinking feeling when you realize your machine has become a very expensive paperweight!

I don't let auto-update install BIOS updates. I find the BIOS update on the Lenovo web site, and download it along with the instructional .txt file. Then I install it off line when not connected to the Internet, and nothing else is running on the machine. So far, (knock on wood) nothing bad has happened so far.

I hope you have a successful outcome with Lenovo warranty support! You were following instructions and applying the update the way they say to do it, so it seems like the warranty should fix it.

Good luck....

Centex

[Mark_Lenovo Administrator]

ProblematicT6p,

Sorry to hear about your mishap.  If efforts to recover haven't worked out, I would contact support and arrange for depot service.  The depot should be able to reflash the bios and restore the system.

Please let me know if you are stuck.  You can send me a service case number via PM.

Best regards,

Mark

[ProblematicT61P · Accepted solution]

Customer support engineer has installed new planar; system operating again.

[tread]

I have suffered the same fate from a BIOS update...

T60 widescreen, attempted to updated BIOS to latest version per Thinkvantage on 3/1/10

> During auto-shutdown the machine hung on the Windows blue screen

> I waited 45 minutes and machine never shutdown, first indication I was in for trouble

> Powered the laptop off, and on reboot only get flash battery light indicator

Since then..

> I have removed HD, battery, memory, and drained power but the machine is dead.  It does beep at power on with no memory stick, but booting to battery or ac adapter is the same with or without the hard disk in the machine.

> downloaded the bootable CD, but no love

> called lenovo support, and of course the machine is out of warranty and they want +$500 to renew warranty

Highly annoyed Lenovo will encourage these software updates via Thinkvantage tools (they've had their problems with Access Connections and Power Management that we continue to weather) but now the BIOS update has rendered machine totally inoperable and there is no support??

Please help

DOA

[T60_Problem]

I have a T60 and it seems to have suffered the same fate as your T61's.  I didn't realize that the system was trying a BIOS update - it never said anything.  I was installing software for other purposes and then was in blue screen hell.  Of course my system is 6 mos out of warranty (didn't even realize that had happened).  Now I'm at a loss.  What are my options?  I called Lenovo and was told to take it to an authorized service center where my tab would start at $575 with it possibly going up from there, depending on what the problem was.  He wasn't very helpful at all.  I assume there's no renewing my warranty at this point or is there?  I would at least be covered for a year if I could do that. 

Is the data on that drive lost?  What are my options for recovering it? 

ANY information would be greatly appreciated.

MG

[rainbringer]

I've Windows 7 x64 installed on my T60 widescreen, so I tried to update the BIOS manually, from the bootable CD. I get an error: "The system program file was not found on the CD. Insert the correct CD in the drive.".

Does anyone have an idea how to deal with it? Why does it happen?

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

---

T60_Problem wrote:

I have a T60 and it seems to have suffered the same fate as your T61's.  I didn't realize that the system was trying a BIOS update - it never said anything.  I was installing software for other purposes and then was in blue screen hell.  Of course my system is 6 mos out of warranty (didn't even realize that had happened).  Now I'm at a loss.  What are my options?  I called Lenovo and was told to take it to an authorized service center where my tab would start at $575 with it possibly going up from there, depending on what the problem was.  He wasn't very helpful at all.  I assume there's no renewing my warranty at this point or is there?  I would at least be covered for a year if I could do that. 

Is the data on that drive lost?  What are my options for recovering it? 

ANY information would be greatly appreciated.

MG

-------------------

you can still renew your warranty by purchase the post warranty service agreement, it is slightly more expensive than in warrranty extension, but far cheaper than what they charge for motherboard replacement.