BIOS upgrade not working

[icantux]

HI all!

In a bit of a quandry here: performing a BIOS upgrade on my T42 (2378-REU) fails consistently.

I just recently upgraded my HDD from the stock Hitachi 60GB 7200 to a new Hitachi 100GB 7200rpm and re-installed WinXP Pro SP2 (slipstreamed) using the I386 dir from the original drive as the source for the new installation. Everything worked out very well, got Windows installed and running without any issues at all. My Access IBM blue button didn't work since I didn't use the recovery disks to reinstall Windows and the stock IBM software. However, I did manage to get it working again by booting the system using the Rescue and Recovery CD (I presume RnR simply loaded the info and left it on the machine for future use).

The problem I'm having is with the BIOS upgrade to 3.19. My machine currently has 3.14. After agreeing to conditions and completing the 4 steps to a BIOS upgrade, the machine reboots, but instead of seeing the customary blue screen for the BIOS upgrade, the machine just keeps booting into Windows. At first I thought it was the problem associated with Rescue and Recovery (perhaps the new BIOS info gets stored in the hidden partition?) - fixed that problem, but BIOS still won't upgrade - system reboots into normal Windows. I notice that the extracted files in %Documents and Settings%\me\Local Settings\pft6.tmp folder are gone after the reboot (which is unusual because in past experience the extracted BIOS upgrade files would still be present in a temp folder).

I reset the current BIOS configuration to defaults (F9) thinking that perhaps a tweak or two causes the machine not to accept the new BIOS upgrade instructions. Nothing. Following an attempt in Windows to upgrade the BIOS the machine reboots and starts windows.

Would the new hard drive have something to do with all this? I noticed a particular file in the uncompressed BIOS upgrade archive (1RUJ33US.EXE) that seems rather disconcerting: Hard Disk Firmware Update Utility (HDFWUPTP.EXE). Since I don't have an "IBM approved HDD" is this little utility, and by extension the BIOS upgrade utility preventing the process to run its course?

Just to let you know, I did tweak the system services to trim down the fat (no pun intended) using an online guide I found in another thread in these forums. Is there perhaps a particular service interfering with the BIOS upgrade process?

Current config:
- BIOS 3.14
- Embedded Controller Program 3.04 (latest)
- BIOS settings set to default
- no other hardware changes except for the HDD swap (I still have the 60)

I'd appreciate some thoughts on this one. ....
Has anyone here that has replaced the stock HDD to another non-IBM approved drive been successful in upgrading their system BIOS?

[GomJabbar]

I had no problem with this BIOS upgrade on my T42. One thing to check is in the BIOS setup menu, do you have the BIOS Update Option - Enabled?

If you can't upgrade using the Windows version, you should be able to update using the DOS version. You'll need a USB floppy drive and floppy disk to do this however.

[icantux]

Thanks Jabbar... but no go.

Indeed, the BIOS update option is enabled in the BIOS setup menu. As I mentioned I reset the BIOS options to default values (just double checked to make sure). I don't have a floppy drive to do the DOS installation.

This is really quite bizarre. I may re-install XP on the 60GB using the same installation as I did for the 100GB and see if the BIOS update will work. If it does, then the problem is with IBM's HDD verification utility that's bundled with the BIOS update package - if it finds a drive it doesn't like, then poo on you as a consumer. That wouldn't be a nice thing for a premium laptop maker! Oh WAIT! IBM doensn't manufacture laptops anymore!!! (sarcasm aside, I really hope this isn't the case).

Oddly enough, IBM/Lenovo's newest HDD firmware package lists the 100GB as supported. BUT when I start the utility (self boot CD) it does not list the HTS721010G9AT00!!! weird. Here you'll find IBM's newest HDD firmware utility

I'd really like a confirmation of sorts or thoughts on this one before reformating a bunch of drives all over. There are a few threads that deal with non-IBM approved drives on T43's (error 2010), but I have no such problem - my T42 readily recognized the 100GB and as you can see I installed XP Pro SP2 without any issues. ... but this. LOL!!!

Oh well. Waiting to hear other suggestions.

[icantux]

A quick update to anyone following this thread.

I managed to update my BIOS successfully but only by reverting back to the 60GB drive. Worse yet, the previous installation of Windows somehow became corrupted on that drive and I was forced to restore the drive using IBM's recovery cd's. This was unwelcome because I never got the chance to test the BIOS upgrade using that XP installation.

Although initially the possibility of HDD incompatibility was suspect, further research leads me to believe that this is a software related issue. Since I have both drives in good working order I will now compare the OS and software configurations on both drives to determine how this affects BIOS updating from within Windows. Since I don't have an ultrabay HDD adapter I'm forced to swap the drives from the main HDD bay so the precise determination of why the BIOS fails to upgrade on one configuration as opposed to another may take a while.

[hupsing]

Hi icantux,

I had the same problems with my sisters laptop R51 and mine T42P.
You can search this forum for my posts to see what was going on.

I think you should try defragmenting your hard drive using
PerfectDisc by Raxco http://www.raxco.com/

There's a free evaluation. It is excellent.

Maybe this helps!
Good luck

hupsing

[Nolonemo]

What happens if you try to update the bios from a floppy without an HD in the machine?

[icantux]

Hmm... nothing seems to work so far. I hope that the BIOS upgrade package isn't dependent on some other IBM/Lenovo software. I swaped out the 100 and put the 60 back in (used RnR to get back to factory presets) and the BIOS update works on the 60, but no go if I use the 100GB.

Ok, I did upgrade my BIOS while I had the 60GB stock drive in the machine (as mentioned above the drive had nothing on but the factory recovered data) ... BUT this issue still has me perplexed so I'll keep chipping at the roots using the 100GB HDD as a test bed to figure out what the problem is.

Tried the suggestion about defraging.... sped up the system but didn't do the trick. (Actually that little app is great - among other things it sped up my boot time - under 20 seconds now - from power on to fully usable desktop! thanks hupsing!).

Unfortunately Nolonemo, I don't have a floppy drive for this machine. What I'm researching now is the possibility of updating the BIOS from a bootable USB memory stick though. Been searching here in these forums (great asset!!) and elsewhere on the internet. Not quite at the testing stage but I'll let you all know how this works out. Actually I'm rather nervous about the BIOS update via USB stick method - I don't want to kill my precious if this fails somehow... heh..