Jump to content

Flash BIOS Recommended by Lenovo


ebrke

Recommended Posts

If this is the wrong forum for this post, I apologize. I am setting up new Lenovo laptop for family member. When I check their systems update website, Lenovo recommends a BIOS upgrade. I have been very careful about these in the past and have seldom done them on other systems, since I know they can cause problems, and since this is not my own pc, I'm nervous.My question is: what's the general consensus here on flashing BIOS?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If this is the wrong forum for this post, I apologize. I am setting up new Lenovo laptop for family member. When I check their systems update website, Lenovo recommends a BIOS upgrade. I have been very careful about these in the past and have seldom done them on other systems, since I know they can cause problems, and since this is not my own pc, I'm nervous.My question is: what's the general consensus here on flashing BIOS?
Depends on why you're going to try to flash it. Are there release notes available for the BIOS version to be flashed listing the changes and fixes?In my case I had a laptop of another brand running XP. I needed Vista on it, the manufacturer listed a BIOS update needed for Vista. In this case I flashed the BIOS according to the manufacturers instructions, no problems were met. The laptop runs fine since.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Okay, I think I'm NOT going to do this. There is Lenovo toolbox software installed on the laptop that lets you know when system upgrades are available, and that's how I found out about the BIOS upgrade, but there is absolutely no additional info given in the toolbox interface. I tried to search Lenovo's website last night, but the search kept hanging when I was specifying details of my hardware and operating system. It did come up with BIOS upgrades, but they were labeled for VISTA, not XP. Today, when I finally got Lenovo's website to accept that I was searching only for updates for my model with XP, no BIOS updates were shown. Seems that maybe the Lenovo toolbox software didn't check what operating system was preinstalled on my model. B) Thanks for the input, Striker and Eric.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Kill that Lenovo toolbox thing! It's just like the HP or the Logitech software that checks for updates. I have those shut down on my computers.I've flashed the BIOS on two different notebooks and I was sweating bullets both times.The first was an HP notebook and I was told by HP that I'd have to do it as part of upgrading from ME to XP. I read and printed out the directions, then thought about everything for at least a week. Then I read the directions again and again and again. I made sure that the weather was good because you do not want the electric cutting out while you are doing this. Fortunately the notebook had a floppy. I think there was a provision to backup the BIOS and I made sure I had a safety net.The second was on an older micron notebook that was given to me. Every time I tried to install 2K from the 98SE that came installed, the screen went black. I knew it should be able to run 2K because the sticker said 98 and NT. I downloaded the last BIOS update, there were about 6 or 7. I unzipped it and read the release notes which was a text file included. Ah ha! The notes said, "fixed a problem with screen going black when trying to install windows 2000". Since the notebook was given to me, I figured it was worth a try. It worked and I was able to install windows 2000.Bottom line, unless the manufacturer tells you specifically (not via some toolbox app) or you need to solve a particular problem and read that the release notes solve the problem, AVOID flashing the BIOS.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Okay, I think I'm NOT going to do this. There is Lenovo toolbox software installed on the laptop that lets you know when system upgrades are available, and that's how I found out about the BIOS upgrade, but there is absolutely no additional info given in the toolbox interface. I tried to search Lenovo's website last night, but the search kept hanging when I was specifying details of my hardware and operating system. It did come up with BIOS upgrades, but they were labeled for VISTA, not XP. Today, when I finally got Lenovo's website to accept that I was searching only for updates for my model with XP, no BIOS updates were shown. Seems that maybe the Lenovo toolbox software didn't check what operating system was preinstalled on my model. B) Thanks for the input, Striker and Eric.
Leave the BIOS update where it is Elizabeth, don't touch it.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This isn't the right forum for the rest of this story, so forgive me for being off-topic.Well, I dodged the bullet on the BIOS upgrade when I was able to investigate on Lenovo's website, but Lenovo nearly got me anyway. They include a Rescue and Recovery Workspace so that if you're unable to boot, you can go in to start repair, install a backup, etc. Well, today I thought I would go in there and see what the options were and generally get familiar with the software in case of problems down the road. BAD mistake.The first thing it told me when I entered the workspace was that I had 3 corrupt windows files that needed to be repaired. Okay, I'd been installing a lot of software, did some uninstalls and system rollbacks (when they worked), so I think maybe something has gone wrong. I should have thought twice, system seemed to be running fine, but I let the software "repair" the windows files, and when the system rebooted, I had completely lost internet connectivity. I had just been online, so I knew everything had been all right before the windows file "repairs". After letting windows diagnose and fail to fix the problem, disconnecting and reconnecting cables and restarting the router, I restored a complete backup that very luckily I had made 24 hours before. I was afraid to trust Lenovo software with restoring a backup at that point, but I went ahead. Luckily, the restore completed normally and when the system rebooted, lo and behold I had internet connectivity again.ARGGGGGG! I'm seriously considering uninstalling the entire Lenovo Backup and Recovery package and going with a solution from Terabyte Unlimited, whose software has never failed me in either windows or linux.Thanks for the input, everyone.EDIT: You're right, Liz, that toolbox will definitely get shutdown. The scary thing is that you can actually set it to install system upgrades automatically! By the way, Liz, the only time I have flashed a BIOS was when I started trying out linux distros and found that several of the live distros shut my system down so completely that I had to unplug the power cord and reconnect it to get the system to boot again. Someone on a linux forum said that upgrading my BIOS would solve that problem, so I took a deep breath and did it. I was convinced that there was going to be a power failure and I was going to wind up with a doorstop instead of a working computer.

Edited by ebrke
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This isn't the right forum for the rest of this story, so forgive me for being off-topic.Well, I dodged the bullet on the BIOS upgrade when I was able to investigate on Lenovo's website, but Lenovo nearly got me anyway. They include a Rescue and Recovery Workspace so that if you're unable to boot, you can go in to start repair, install a backup, etc. Well, today I thought I would go in there and see what the options were and generally get familiar with the software in case of problems down the road. BAD mistake.The first thing it told me when I entered the workspace was that I had 3 corrupt windows files that needed to be repaired. Okay, I'd been installing a lot of software, did some uninstalls and system rollbacks (when they worked), so I think maybe something has gone wrong. I should have thought twice, system seemed to be running fine, but I let the software "repair" the windows files, and when the system rebooted, I had completely lost internet connectivity. I had just been online, so I knew everything had been all right before the windows file "repairs". After letting windows diagnose and fail to fix the problem, disconnecting and reconnecting cables and restarting the router, I restored a complete backup that very luckily I had made 24 hours before. I was afraid to trust Lenovo software with restoring a backup at that point, but I went ahead. Luckily, the restore completed normally and when the system rebooted, lo and behold I had internet connectivity again.ARGGGGGG! I'm seriously considering uninstalling the entire Lenovo Backup and Recovery package and going with a solution from Terabyte Unlimited, whose software has never failed me in either windows or linux.Thanks for the input, everyone.EDIT: You're right, Liz, that toolbox will definitely get shutdown. The scary thing is that you can actually set it to install system upgrades automatically! By the way, Liz, the only time I have flashed a BIOS was when I started trying out linux distros and found that several of the live distros shut my system down so completely that I had to unplug the power cord and reconnect it to get the system to boot again. Someone on a linux forum said that upgrading my BIOS would solve that problem, so I took a deep breath and did it. I was convinced that there was going to be a power failure and I was going to wind up with a doorstop instead of a working computer.
Ouch, you were lucky this time!Aha: Terabyte Unlimited, that's what I use nowadays for imaging. Works perfectly and reliable. Good choice!
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

I'm afraid this is a little off-topic for this thread, but Striker, you mentioned above that you are using terabyteunlimited software for imaging. I'm continuing to have some issues with Lenovo Rescue and Recovery and wondered if you could tell me which of terabyteunlimited's packages you are using. I was looking at image for windows, but wondered if you had any experience in restoring from dvd using the boot disk made with their MakeDisk wizard. The imaging with BootIt has been very satisfactory on my system, but I don't want to install that on someone else's system with the partitioning it would entail. Thanks in advance for any info you can provide.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You got me just before I was going to hit the sack...I use Image for DOS: believe it or not, it works like a charm with Vista 64bit. Never had a problem, just works and works and wo... I'm against using any windows based imaging program, because in my mind you need something that images the system while not in use, despite efforts of shadow server and what not: I simply don't trust these, so that's why I prefer making an image without the OS running.I have a license for Image for Windows too, just like for Image for DOS, but I used it (Image for Windows that is) only once.Once the Image is made (and verified by IFD) I have it on the D drive: I then copy it for safekeeping to an external USB hard disk drive. Every week or so I make a new image, I only keep the last two on D. If I need another one which is not on D anymore, I just copy it back from the external USB hard disk drive to the D drive, I then reboot, IFD starts (using diskette ... yeah, antique but it works, external USB floppy drive) and of it goes: within 12-15 minutes I have my OS back on track.The downside with using IFD is that it takes me appr. one hour to make the image, incl. verifying. That's why I mostly make the images late in the afternoon when I have nothing else earth shattering to do anyway, besides sipping coffee and grabbing a bite.The version of IFD I use is 2.26, the latest version out is 2.4.1http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/image-for-dos.htm

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks very much for the info, striker. Terabyteunlimited also says you can create a bootable cd/dvd with ImageForDOS and then I would not need to buy an external floppy drive. I'm thinking of buying Image for Windows, which comes with Image for DOS included.

Edited by ebrke
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...