Bios Update Fail - Under Warranty but No Support

[Oldskool]

Hi,

New to the board and looking for some help. I have a w500 still in warranty. We have been having issues with running Vista and the machine not rebooting after hibernation. Today I found some time to run updates using the pre-loaded ThinkVantage software on the machine. There were quite a few on there including a Bios update... upon running the updates and the machine restarting at the end, I get a black screen....  and nothing... the power lights are on but not more. 

I have called Lenovo tech support and they advised me that because I did the Bios update (as part of the many updates that were suggested I required) I have voided my warranty support for this problem.... apparantly I was made aware of this as part of the disclaimer prior to running the updates!!!  

Does anyone have any suggestions on steps forward from this point?

[Vince69]

Hello mate,

No real suggestions but you need to rewrite the bios. You have to send your laptop back to Lenovo.

[Oldskool]

Its alive... oddly after sitting for a while it starts??? 20 mins or more...

I tried to reinstall the bios but it is saying that it has the latest version already. 

Has anyone got info on how I can rewrite the bios and override the message that says it has the latest already? I have tried both from CD and from the utility software provided on the main site. 

[Vince69]

Install an older version and reinstall the latest one.

[Oldskool]

Does anyone know where I can download an old version of the BIOS? I can only access the latest off their site?

[Oldskool]

Also can I get some advice on this situation as I have been dealing with Lenovo warranty support on the issue. They are saying that the BIOS update invalidates the warranty if it is performed by the customer unsupported.

My argument currently is that the BIOS update was provided by Lenovo in the auto update software and that I wasnt made aware that allowing the updater to install the BIOS would invalidate the warranty.

Currently I am getting daily emails spelling out Lenovo policy on BIOS updates which I have been unable to find any formal documentation of online or in my warranty guidelines. 

Any thoughts or direction on documentation would be helpful for me to settle this. 

[Vince69]

In there you have the old bios versions : http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-74858#version

[Oldskool]

Cheers for the pointer

[mjdl]

In there you have the old bios versions : http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-74858#version

NO!!! Don't install that update (assuming the installer allows you to do that.)

That link is to the BIOS update for the ThinkPad W510 No wonder your machine may fail to boot correctly after installing that.

You want to create a bootable CD with the latest BIOS for the ThinkPad W500 which can be found at http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?sitestyle=lenovo&lndocid=MIGR-70354 There are links to earlier versions of the BIOS for the W500 at the bottom of that page as well, if you want to go back to the original version delivered out-of-the-box, but there's no real reason to do that.

Booting from a CD is probably the safest method of updating the BIOS, since it does only that update without interference from any other updates or software (Lenovo's system Update should really only allow BIOS updates to be installed separately from other updates). However, I don't know what happens when the updater finds that the existing BIOS on the machine is for another machine type (W510), assuming you've already tried installing the wrong update referenced in the posting above.

[dazGizmo]

Hello, I have a very similar situation to you.........tried many thinngs like removing the battery and leaving it for a while.........

When you say "after sitting for a while it starts"......do you mean turned off or powered up??

Daz