Undocumented INSYDE BIOS recovery method.-Use andy's tool to obtain possible names.

[levonisyas]

Hi guys,
After bricking my acer 7720g notebook, i found an easy bios recovery method for my notebook,
Theese worked for my acer 7720g notebook
i used flash drive but it can work with cd or dvd
download the bios files from acer site, unpack them (right click extract with winrar)
Rename the bios file xxxxxx.fd to ICL50.fd or ICL50HW.fd (do not touch the extension) PLEASE CONFIRM WHICH FILE IS CORRECT. THIS WILL HELP FOR OTHER USERS. Use andy's tool to obtain the right name for your recovery.
Copy the file to usb fdd,or usb flash stick. DO NOT MAKE anything etc. ONLY COPY
Remove battery, adapter (power cord) , mouse etc.
Attach usb fdd, or usb flash stick
Hold down <Fn> + <Esc>, Edit by Yen: At other Notebooks it's <windows> key + <B>
Plug In the Ac Power adapter, wait about 3-5 secs
Press the power button
Now release the buttons.
It took about 2-3 minutes and notebook powered down itself.......
Then plug in the battery simply power it on.
That’s all. Now normal screen appears and acer is alive
Pls. say it works for u or not


To obtain the right name for your recovery, get andy's tool and open your bios with it. It'll pop up an info window with the right filename for recovery: EFI uses different names for the recovery file.
http://forums.mydigitallife.info/thr...ell-EFI-BIOSes



Yen: I want to add an example that has worked to recover by using the filename which andy's tool has shown up:

Gateway Notebook nv79

(1.) REMOVE CD or DVD if possible (you may have to press the power button the quickly press the CD EJECT button)

(2.) REMOVE ALL USB DEVICES, NETWORK CABLES, (anything hooked to the laptop)

(3.) PRESS AND HOLD the POWER BUTTON DOWN FOR 5 secs to shutdown the laptop

(4.) REMOVE BATTERY

(5.) REMOVE AC CORD

(6.) PUT the USB THUMB DRIVE IN USB SLOT ON RIGHT SIDE OF LAPTOP (the one i used anyway)

(7.) PRESS AND HOLD the POWER BUTTON down for 10 secs... release

(8.) while holding FN + ESC plug in AC POWER CABLE, (KEEP HOLDING FN+ESC the whole time)

(9.) NOW PRESS POWER BUTTON & HOLD IT DOWN... THE FAN SHOULD SPIN UP (keep holding FN+ESC) ONCE FAN SPINS UP, RELEASE POWER BUTTON

(10.) eventually the fan will shut off.... (seemed like 30 seconds,, but could have been 5 minutes... i was freaking out)

when fan shuts off i unplugged my AC CORD... REMOVED THE USB DRIVE,,,, and then plugged the AC power back in,,,

then pressed power and my the miracle of technology and my preserverance... i got a green power light followed by an POST SCREEN!!!

Thanks to acozart for PMing me this. Credits to him.

I hope it will help others as well.


Additional info for HP updates with .sig and .bin files: http://forums.mydigitallife.info/thr...l=1#post532249

[justinkb]

you da man.

this totally saved my life!

i flashed a bad bios to my girlfriend's laptop and i was freaking out :P good thing you just posted this yesterday

[Yen]

How did you know what filename it has to be for recovery?

We are trying to understand EFI. There is a Intel® Platform Innovation Framework for EFI Recovery Specification.. once understood we should be able to get the right filename out of every firmware volume...

[levonisyas]

How did you know what filename it has to be for recovery?

We are trying to understand EFI. There is a Intel® Platform Innovation Framework for EFI Recovery Specification.. once understood we should be able to get the right filename out of every firmware volume...

i looked deep at insyde bioses, no knownledge about OTHER brand bioses;
These works for all insyde bioses with hp, acer BRAND etc.
Solution is simple, all boards trying to find their factory default flash file, u can check this from insyde web site, also they added recovery table at their bios.
ASPIRE 5315, 5720, and 7720 models based on the ICL50 motherboard

;The file is Insydeflash utility configuration file (READ PLATFORM.INI FILE WITH WORD NOT NOTEPAD)
[ApplicatonFlash]
Flag=1
Model=ICL50
;Some specific platforms need to flash by application. Only support 32bit Windows.
;Flag 1-> Flash by application
;Flag 0-> Flash by BIOS
;Model is the name of the platform.


SO FILE NAMES MACHES WITH BOARD MODEL
NOTE THAT THIS CAN BE FLASH BY BIOS (THIS NEED FOR FLASHING AS I TOLD) it can be done with only hardware support.
i think this will be an answer or start point for your project.
http://marcansoft.com/blog/2009/06/e...-aspire-8930g/
try to read this article, perhaps it will helpful for u

[levonisyas]

use flash drive but it can work with cd or dvd
download the bios files from hp site, unpack them (right click extract with winrar)
Rename the bios file xxxxxx.fd to
30F7.BIN <<< for CQ45-107TX model>>>
IBL80HW.FD <<< for c700 model>>>
JBL20HW.BIN or JBL20.BIN or 30FB.BIN <<< for CQ-401AX model>>>
3627.BIN or 3627.FD <<<for DV6-1030 model>>>
3602.BIN or 3603.BIN <<<for DV5 model>>>
361B.BIN and/OR 3610.BIN <<<for HDX18T>>>
PLEASE CONFIRM WHICH FILE IS CORRECT. THIS WILL HELP FOR OTHER USERS.
Copy file usb fdd, DO NOT MAKE anything etc. ONLY COPY
Remove battery, adapter (power cord) , mouse etc.
Attach usb fdd,
Hold down <windows key> + <B>,
Plug In the Ac Power adapter, wait about 3-5 secs
Press the power button
Release the buttons.
It took about 2-3 minutes and notebook powered down itself.......
Then plug in the battery simply power it on.
That’s all. Now normal screen appears and hp is alive
Pls. say it works for u or not

[levonisyas]

Download the manufacturer *.exe update flash file. Extract *.exe file with winrar. find the <<platform.ini>> file and open it with word (NOT NOTEPAD)
Find the model number at the bottom Model=ICL50 if Model=<<empty>> read note at the bottom (mine was acer 7720g so it was icl50) NOTE THAT MODEL NUMBER SPECIFIC AND CHANGES WITH YOUR MODEL
file is like this;
;The file is Insydeflash utility configuration file
[Version]
Version=00
;Insydeflash utility will display the value at top
[FDFile]
FileName=
<<*********************blah, blah***************>>
[Option]
Flag=0
;Flag 0-> Auto-flash mode.
;Flag 1-> User option mode, including option, start, exit buttons.
;Flag 2-> User flash mode, including start, exit buttons.

[ApplicatonFlash]
Flag=1
Model=ICL50

;Some specific platforms need to flash by application. Only support 32bit Windows.
;Flag 1-> Flash by application
;Flag 0-> Flash by BIOS
;Model is the name of the platform.


AFTER DETERMINED MODEL NUMBER, TRY TO CHANGE/RENAME xxxxxxx.FD FLASH FILE TO;
****HW.FD
****.FD
****HW.BIN
****.BIN
****HW.ROM
****.ROM
****=MODEL NUMBER
EXAMPLE>>>> ICL50HW.FD FOR ACER 7720G NOTEBOOK
TRY EACH FILE OR COPY ALL OF THEM TO USB FDD, MAINBOARD WILL DETERMINE THE CORRECT FILE.
GENERAL ***HW.FD FOR ACER, ***.BIN FOR HP

>>>>NOTE: AS Yen and Busykid508 TOLD

If model=<<empty>>
Try to find

[Platform_Check]
flag=2
PlatformName=361B
PlatformName2=3610
PlatformName3=
PlatformName4=

AFTER DETERMINED PLATFORMNAME, TRY TO CHANGE/RENAME xxxxxxx.FD FLASH FILE TO
****.BIN
****.BIN

USE BOTH NAMES AT THE SAME TIME (EXP>>361B.BIN+3610.BIN). USUALLY IT WORKS, IF NOT TRY TO;
****HW.FD
****HW.FD
****.FD
****.FD
****HW.BIN
****HW.BIN
****HW.ROM
****HW.ROM
****.ROM
****.ROM
COPY ALL OF THEM TO USB FDD, MAINBOARD WILL DETERMINE THE CORRECT FILE...
PLEASE CONFIRM WHICH FILE IS CORRECT. THIS WILL HELP FOR OTHER USERS

[justinkb]

i wanted to add that it does not matter if your usb flash stick is in fact bootable, it will work if it is bootable, but this is not necessary.

(your wording seemed to somewhat imply it must not be bootable)

[levonisyas]

i wanted to add that it does not matter if your usb flash stick is in fact bootable, it will work if it is bootable, but this is not necessary.

(your wording seemed to somewhat imply it must not be bootable)

Thx. i changed the sentences

[fireshark]

I have seen advices that say the file should be named the first 4 chars of board name (ex 30B9) but here I see it should be whatever stated in Model=

Anyone experience with recovery?

[AZImmortal]

Does anyone know how to figure out what filename to use if the Model is blank? Because mine is. Here's a link in case anyone has the time to check it out: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=0POXV79L. The laptop model is Toshiba Satellite L305-S5875.