Wrong BIOS installation but it's working? Aspire TC-885

Hi there,

So I have an Aspire TC-885 and I have updated my bios from the stock bios to R01-C3. I basically did every installation type that apparently wasn't correct. (FYI acer's documentation and explanations on this matter are seriously terrible). Anyhow I was unable to have my PC recognize my external harddrive as a EFI Shell boot device and I wasn't able to do the EFI (or whatever it's called) BIOS flash...(I will be purchasing a little thumb drive for any future flashes). The other methods UCP (and one other one) gave me issues where, once I attempted the restart after attempting the flash, it beeped twice and wouldn't start up. PC was powered but just a black screen.

After multiple F10's, CMOS Battery removals, switching the BIOS/ CMOS jumper, etc. The computer starts perfectly fine and CPU-ID and CMD prompt both tell me I have R01-C3 as my BIOS version. Everything seems fine. However, I feel like I didn't do this right lol. SO

1. Can you tell me anything I should look out for in regards to a faulty BIOS (GPU, processor, HD, RAM, and peripherals all seem to be functioning well) ?

2. Can you tell me which method I should use for future BIOS updates and how best to facilitate a proper flash ?

3. Should I attempt to reflash my BIOS that is running now?

Thanks in advance for your help / advice. Please pardon any improper phrasings. I'm a tech geek but some of these terms are newish to me. Thanks!

Accepted answers

StevenGen

ThisIsAnnoying said:

Hi there,

So I have an Aspire TC-885 and I have updated my bios from the stock bios to R01-C3. I basically did every installation type that apparently wasn't correct. (FYI acer's documentation and explanations on this matter are seriously terrible). Anyhow I was unable to have my PC recognize my external harddrive as a EFI Shell boot device and I wasn't able to do the EFI (or whatever it's called) BIOS flash...(I will be purchasing a little thumb drive for any future flashes). The other methods UCP (and one other one) gave me issues where, once I attempted the restart after attempting the flash, it beeped twice and wouldn't start up. PC was powered but just a black screen.

After multiple F10's, CMOS Battery removals, switching the BIOS/ CMOS jumper, etc. The computer starts perfectly fine and CPU-ID and CMD prompt both tell me I have R01-C3 as my BIOS version. Everything seems fine. However, I feel like I didn't do this right lol. SO

1. Can you tell me anything I should look out for in regards to a faulty BIOS (GPU, processor, HD, RAM, and peripherals all seem to be functioning well) ?

2. Can you tell me which method I should use for future BIOS updates and how best to facilitate a proper flash ?

3. Should I attempt to reflash my BIOS that is running now?

Thanks in advance for your help / advice. Please pardon any improper phrasings. I'm a tech geek but some of these terms are newish to me. Thanks!

The bios method for Win-10 is as instructed clearly on appendix “ME FW & System BIOS Update SOP for Windows v3.10” which is > Copy “WIN” and “ROM” folders including files to a storage device > Run Command Prompt as Administrator in Windows. <Windows 10>...then follow the steps, its very simple.

If you have bios vR01-C3 dated 2020/07/17 listed in system info (see system info) which is the last bios update for the Aspire TC-885 and your system boots and OS works then leave your bios alone, dont touch it. You are very lucky that somehow you must have done the correct flash and you didn’t brick your Aspire TC-885 and you could recover your system.

All comments

billsey

We typically don't recommend flashing the BIOS unless there's a specific issue that's addressed by the update. When I do update a BIOS I just use the standard method for Windows, it's really simple and had worked every time for me. If you're working with a laptop or tablet make sure you are plugged in before starting...

ThisIsAnnoying

billsey said:

We typically don't recommend flashing the BIOS unless there's a specific issue that's addressed by the update. When I do update a BIOS I just use the standard method for Windows, it's really simple and had worked every time for me. If you're working with a laptop or tablet make sure you are plugged in before starting...

Thank you! Though I have a question. What is the "standard method?" The downloads I have include three different methods of BIOS flashing. And I'm doing it because I want to upgrade my processor. Thanks again

ttttt

@ThisIsAnnoying,
From the appendix folder, it includes three methods to flash the BIOS. I prefer the Windows 10 method to the other two, as the Windows 10 method is only a few clicks away. To me, this will be my "standard method" to update BIOS. Just make sure you follow the instructions step-by-step.

Don't see why you will need an USB flash drive to update BIOS if you use this Window 10 method.

StevenGen

ThisIsAnnoying said:

Hi there,

So I have an Aspire TC-885 and I have updated my bios from the stock bios to R01-C3. I basically did every installation type that apparently wasn't correct. (FYI acer's documentation and explanations on this matter are seriously terrible). Anyhow I was unable to have my PC recognize my external harddrive as a EFI Shell boot device and I wasn't able to do the EFI (or whatever it's called) BIOS flash...(I will be purchasing a little thumb drive for any future flashes). The other methods UCP (and one other one) gave me issues where, once I attempted the restart after attempting the flash, it beeped twice and wouldn't start up. PC was powered but just a black screen.

After multiple F10's, CMOS Battery removals, switching the BIOS/ CMOS jumper, etc. The computer starts perfectly fine and CPU-ID and CMD prompt both tell me I have R01-C3 as my BIOS version. Everything seems fine. However, I feel like I didn't do this right lol. SO

1. Can you tell me anything I should look out for in regards to a faulty BIOS (GPU, processor, HD, RAM, and peripherals all seem to be functioning well) ?

2. Can you tell me which method I should use for future BIOS updates and how best to facilitate a proper flash ?

3. Should I attempt to reflash my BIOS that is running now?

Thanks in advance for your help / advice. Please pardon any improper phrasings. I'm a tech geek but some of these terms are newish to me. Thanks!

The bios method for Win-10 is as instructed clearly on appendix “ME FW & System BIOS Update SOP for Windows v3.10” which is > Copy “WIN” and “ROM” folders including files to a storage device > Run Command Prompt as Administrator in Windows. <Windows 10>...then follow the steps, its very simple.

If you have bios vR01-C3 dated 2020/07/17 listed in system info (see system info) which is the last bios update for the Aspire TC-885 and your system boots and OS works then leave your bios alone, dont touch it. You are very lucky that somehow you must have done the correct flash and you didn’t brick your Aspire TC-885 and you could recover your system.

ThisIsAnnoying

ttttt said:

@ThisIsAnnoying,
From the appendix folder, it includes three methods to flash the BIOS. I prefer the Windows 10 method to the other two, as the Windows 10 method is only a few clicks away. To me, this will be my "standard method" to update BIOS. Just make sure you follow the instructions step-by-step.

Don't see why you will need an USB flash drive to update BIOS if you use this Window 10 method.

Thank you! I guess I erroneously read on a forum that the EFI shell method was right for this system. However, there was two PDFs in the appendix that listed Windows 10. Guess I did the wrong one first haha.

ThisIsAnnoying

StevenGen said:

ThisIsAnnoying said:

Hi there,

So I have an Aspire TC-885 and I have updated my bios from the stock bios to R01-C3. I basically did every installation type that apparently wasn't correct. (FYI acer's documentation and explanations on this matter are seriously terrible). Anyhow I was unable to have my PC recognize my external harddrive as a EFI Shell boot device and I wasn't able to do the EFI (or whatever it's called) BIOS flash...(I will be purchasing a little thumb drive for any future flashes). The other methods UCP (and one other one) gave me issues where, once I attempted the restart after attempting the flash, it beeped twice and wouldn't start up. PC was powered but just a black screen.

After multiple F10's, CMOS Battery removals, switching the BIOS/ CMOS jumper, etc. The computer starts perfectly fine and CPU-ID and CMD prompt both tell me I have R01-C3 as my BIOS version. Everything seems fine. However, I feel like I didn't do this right lol. SO

1. Can you tell me anything I should look out for in regards to a faulty BIOS (GPU, processor, HD, RAM, and peripherals all seem to be functioning well) ?

2. Can you tell me which method I should use for future BIOS updates and how best to facilitate a proper flash ?

3. Should I attempt to reflash my BIOS that is running now?

Thanks in advance for your help / advice. Please pardon any improper phrasings. I'm a tech geek but some of these terms are newish to me. Thanks!

The bios method for Win-10 is as instructed clearly on appendix “ME FW & System BIOS Update SOP for Windows v3.10” which is > Copy “WIN” and “ROM” folders including files to a storage device > Run Command Prompt as Administrator in Windows. <Windows 10>...then follow the steps, its very simple.

If you have bios vR01-C3 dated 2020/07/17 listed in system info (see system info) which is the last bios update for the Aspire TC-885 and your system boots and OS works then leave your bios alone, dont touch it. You are very lucky that somehow you must have done the correct flash and you didn’t brick your Aspire TC-885 and you could recover your system.

Hey Steven,

Yes, I used the bios posted on 2020/07/17 though the system info says RO1-C3 is showing up as being from 04/08/2020. And I ran the ME FW version second. My (obviously incorrect) choice was to do the UCP bios that was also listed in the appendix. It was the most recent file in the appendix and I couldn't find what "ME FW" and "UCP" meant, so I took a guess (obviously not a smart move with BIOS lol)

However, when running either windows option for my desktop, the command prompt worked, but then stayed black once it began it's reset (with two quick beeps while the screen was black). I waited 5-7 minutes with nothing happening each time. But thanks, I won't be touching it anymore. I wanted to update it so I could update the processor. But yes, system boots, and OS works, and every test tells me I have R01-C3. I'll count my blessings haha. Cheers!

StevenGen

ThisIsAnnoying said:

StevenGen said:

ThisIsAnnoying said:

Hi there,

So I have an Aspire TC-885 and I have updated my bios from the stock bios to R01-C3. I basically did every installation type that apparently wasn't correct. (FYI acer's documentation and explanations on this matter are seriously terrible). Anyhow I was unable to have my PC recognize my external harddrive as a EFI Shell boot device and I wasn't able to do the EFI (or whatever it's called) BIOS flash...(I will be purchasing a little thumb drive for any future flashes). The other methods UCP (and one other one) gave me issues where, once I attempted the restart after attempting the flash, it beeped twice and wouldn't start up. PC was powered but just a black screen.

After multiple F10's, CMOS Battery removals, switching the BIOS/ CMOS jumper, etc. The computer starts perfectly fine and CPU-ID and CMD prompt both tell me I have R01-C3 as my BIOS version. Everything seems fine. However, I feel like I didn't do this right lol. SO

1. Can you tell me anything I should look out for in regards to a faulty BIOS (GPU, processor, HD, RAM, and peripherals all seem to be functioning well) ?

2. Can you tell me which method I should use for future BIOS updates and how best to facilitate a proper flash ?

3. Should I attempt to reflash my BIOS that is running now?

Thanks in advance for your help / advice. Please pardon any improper phrasings. I'm a tech geek but some of these terms are newish to me. Thanks!

The bios method for Win-10 is as instructed clearly on appendix “ME FW & System BIOS Update SOP for Windows v3.10” which is > Copy “WIN” and “ROM” folders including files to a storage device > Run Command Prompt as Administrator in Windows. <Windows 10>...then follow the steps, its very simple.

If you have bios vR01-C3 dated 2020/07/17 listed in system info (see system info) which is the last bios update for the Aspire TC-885 and your system boots and OS works then leave your bios alone, dont touch it. You are very lucky that somehow you must have done the correct flash and you didn’t brick your Aspire TC-885 and you could recover your system.

Hey Steven,

Yes, I used the bios posted on 2020/07/17 though the system info says RO1-C3 is showing up as being from 04/08/2020. And I ran the ME FW version second. My (obviously incorrect) choice was to do the UCP bios that was also listed in the appendix. It was the most recent file in the appendix and I couldn't find what "ME FW" and "UCP" meant, so I took a guess (obviously not a smart move with BIOS lol)

However, when running either windows option for my desktop, the command prompt worked, but then stayed black once it began it's reset (with two quick beeps while the screen was black). I waited 5-7 minutes with nothing happening each time. But thanks, I won't be touching it anymore. I wanted to update it so I could update the processor. But yes, system boots, and OS works, and every test tells me I have R01-C3. I'll count my blessings haha. Cheers!

As is advised on Acer Community continuously, a bios update is only done for specific reason that the bios title fixes, in the Aspire TC-885 case, the bios version R01-C3 “Fixed Intel SA00307 ME security vulnerability” which fixes the CSME which is a subsystem chipset that is part of Intel’s Active Management Technology (AMT), and allows remote out-of-band management, that is useful for business and enterprise systems only, but largely unnecessary for the consumer market, so you really didn’t need the R01-C3 bios update.

The reason that I’m saying all this is that you have to research any bios update and not just do a bios update for the sake of doing one (as is continually advised on Acer Community) so that the bios number is up to date, some bios updates are unnecessary as is the case here.

Also, doing two different flashes on top of each other is very dangerous and could have bricked your computer, the blank screen is very unusual as the system should have booted after the bios flash as is described in both windows flash methods:

“ME FW & System BIOS Update SOP for Windows v3.10”

2.4 Press<Y>, system will be going to shutdown.

2.5 System will auto reboot and flash BIOS.

“UCP BIOS Update SOP for Windows v1.0”

2.3 Press<Y>, system will be going to shut down.

2.4 System will auto reboot and flash BIOS.

You were lucky as you did something wrong and also (which not many people are aware of) that some bios chips get old and don’t take a flash as they can get corrupted due to age and conditions that the computer was in, humidity, heat, cold etc and they deteriorate so flashing a bios is a very risky thing and doesn’t always work, just be aware of that as and if that happens then you have to have expertise in changing the bios chip with a new one that has the latest flash bios, which are readily available.

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