Thinkpads Forum

Hi guys !

After searching for three days an answer I gave up and I'll request your help. The story is....

I have a Lenovo Twist Thinkpad S230u type 3347-2GU that I bought it on 2012. The laptop at the beginning had a little fan's noise and with the time the noise started increasing more and more. I looked on internet the same fan after checking the part number. Then I changed but after that I got errors on the BIOS:

0187: EAIA data access error
2200: Machine Type and Serial number are invalid
2201: Machine UUID is invalid

The laptop after those messages still working fine on Windows 8.1 but with that errors means I won't be able to update the BIOS or use any Thinkpad Utility anymore.

I tried to set the type and serial number with the HMD versions 1.83 and 1.86 using an external USB floppy disk (yes I bought one for this purpose ) but always I got the same warning "EEPROM is write-protected". I tried pressing ESC when the BIOS start but nothing so far. How can I write the EEPROM and solve my problem?

The BIOS version is GDETA6WW (1.66). I forgot to mention that I put it back the old fan but the problem is still there.

Please guys !!! Help me to bring back my laptop to the light. I will reward the forum with a good donation if I can get the solution without buying a new MB.

PS: English is not my first language, sorry for my grammar mistakes.

Have a good one!

Cheers Michel.

Welcome to the forum.
That machine runs under W8 or W8.1 and has an UEFI BIOS, which is no longer accessible the way older Thinkpads were.
Have a look at this: http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkPad-Ed ... d-p/966377
Esc no longer works to unlock the BIOS, because on a Twist, it changes F1-F12 functionality.
Download this HMM: http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/guides- ... D=UM016481
Check page 21.
It tells you among other things what to do for UEFI BIOS downloads.

Page 27 onwards is about UEFI diagnoses/test
Go here: http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/diagnos ... LENV-DIAGS
and click on Lenovo Bootable Diagnostics and/or Lenovo UEFI Bootable Diagnostics to see if they can help.

Thank you RealBlackStuff for your reply !

Actually I read all pdf files and I run all diagnostic tests (All passed without problems), but I couldn't find a clue to how to access to the EEPROM. In the HMM document also recommend to use the HDM software to change the serial number for the new MB. Not luck so far

Regards,
Michel.

Invalid machine type, serial number and UUID can be restored by using Winphlash application, which is included in Lenovo Twist Bios Update Utility. The exe file should be found at c:/drivers/flash/(bios update folder) but use it at your own risk, I was able to restore it by this method.