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I'm stuck while trying to recover an corrupted EFI / Insyde BIOS. Right now the laptop is in a state, that when the power button is pushed, the computer turns on and immediately off again.

I downloaded a self-extracting archive from Lenovo support. After that I followed the advices from several internet boards and copied the file 65CN99WW.cap to a FAT32 formatted USB stick with less than 2GB. After that I renamed that file to BIOS.cap. I then inserted the stick in a completely unpowered (no battery, no AC). Then I held down FN-R plugged in power again while holding and finally pushed the power button. After that I saw the USB stick blinking for some seconds, which means it has been read. But after some seconds (but a period significantly longer than without the usb stick and any other key combination) the laptop turns off again.

So my question is, if there is some documentation or instructions out there how to recover an EFI / Insyde BIOS on a Lenovo Ideapad U410.

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  • This information normally is contained in the manual. At least it is for my Lenovo.
    – Ramhound
    Commented Sep 9, 2014 at 19:26
  • May I ask, which manual you are talking about? I had a look at the hardware maintenance manual and the user guide. None of them talk about BIOS recovery.
    – Joachim Rosskopf
    Commented Sep 10, 2014 at 5:51
  • Do you know if the POST tests in the BIOS do terminate? And which version of Windows?
    – harrymc
    Commented Sep 18, 2014 at 13:56
  • As far as I can say, there happens no POST test at all. The power turns off immediatly after I push the on/off button. The screen remains dark. Windows 8.1 was installed before the BIOS update. (But I don't get, why that is of any importance)
    – Joachim Rosskopf
    Commented Sep 18, 2014 at 14:13
  • There is a part of the story missing: "Why do you think your BIOS is corrupt? How did it end up in that state? Why did you do that?" This part is crucial because it identifies how to make your laptop functional again, not just its BIOS; it focuses on how and why it broke, giving more surrounding details.
    – Tamara Wijsman
    Commented Sep 24, 2014 at 11:47

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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+25

Found this procedure :

  1. Download Phoenix Wincrisis on another computer, then Click on WINCRIS.exe and choose CREATE MINIDOS CRISIS DISK and press START to make: USB floppy or USB flash memory.
    When creating, select from Folder Options to view the hidden and system files and delete or rename the file config.sys if present. Read also the included instructions.

  2. Rename your BIOS file (65CN99WW.cap?) to bios.wph and copy it to the USB stick.

  3. Plug the USB stick into the laptop and shutdown.

  4. Hold down the keys Fn+R, and while holding press the power button.

  5. Now you should hear the floppy drive working or USB blinking. Hold the keys for a while.

  6. Leave the computer for few minutes. If it does not restart itself, turn the power off.

  7. if everything went OK the computer should start normally.

Note: Do not take off your battery before flashing. It seems that it will verify AC/DC connection and battery level and stop if one is not OK.

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  • Thank you for the answer. Unfortunately the BIOS you can download for the Ideapad u410 from the Lenovo homepage is not a Phoenix one. So the above procedure does NOT work.
    – Joachim Rosskopf
    Commented Sep 22, 2014 at 6:40
  • I have managed to find other sources, such as this one that confirm that the BIOS is in fact Phoenix. If you have installed another BIOS, then this might be the reason why the computer doesn't boot any more.
    – harrymc
    Commented Sep 23, 2014 at 5:13
  • So I really tried the procedure you referenced and copied here, but unfortunately it does not work. I see that the USB stick is read, but the Laptop turns off immediatly again.
    – Joachim Rosskopf
    Commented Sep 23, 2014 at 17:25
  • A thread discussing this process can be found here. I suggest to read it all - it might help with the fine points.
    – harrymc
    Commented Sep 23, 2014 at 17:40
  • Read it a few times and/or take notes, there are quite a few things that can go wrong with this one.
    – Tamara Wijsman
    Commented Sep 24, 2014 at 12:03

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