Acer Swift 1 SF114-32 P6M2 Insyde BIOS update via USB stick

Billery
Billery Member Posts: 4 New User
After a classic BIOS upgrade that failed, the screen of my laptop stays black.
There is just one beep when I plug or unplug the AC power.

I'd like to know how to recover that Insyde BIOS.

For the time being, I have downloaded the latest v1.14 BIOS archive file. It's an EXE file (BIOS_114.exe) that can be extracted via 7zr.

So I have extracted all the files from it. The bios seems the file isflash.bin.

When via an hexadecimal editor you look for "2E0066006400" or in text ".fd", you will find the name of this BIOS. Here for this model SF114-32 P6M2, the BIOS is named SapporoGL.fd

I've put the renamed BIOS file, SapporoGL.fd, to an empty USB fat32 flashdrive.

I've removed the torx T6 screws and opened the laptop carefully then unpluged the battery connector.

I've disconnected the AC power adapter too.

I've inserted the USB flashdrive into one of the USB ports on the computer (I've tried every port).

Then I've holded down the Windows key and the B key (I've also tried with FN + ESC).

Then I connected the AC power adapter to the computer.

Then pressed the power button.

Then I released the two keys from step above.

But unfortunally nothing happened. I noticed that the led of the USB flash drive did not blink as expected for a file access.

Is the procedure for an Insyde BIOS on Swift 1 different? 
Should the USB flash drive be labelled?
Another key combination?

Any idea would be welcome.

Answers

  • Hurley994
    Hurley994 Member Posts: 1 New User
    Hello, Did you ever get your swift up and running again? I have the exact same problem after a Bios update.
  • Natal
    Natal Member Posts: 6

    Tinkerer

    Any update on this? I regret updating my bios to 1.15, never seen a bios update brick a computer before.

  • Natal
    Natal Member Posts: 6

    Tinkerer

    OMG! I got it to boot - I'm so happy.


    I used a 4GB Verbatim USB stick and format it to Fat32, then extract the "isflash.bin" file from the 1.15 bios update to the flash drive. I renamed it "SapporoGL.fd" idk if the name matters. I plug it to the usb 3.0 port near the hdmi on the left side. At first I plug it in press alt+esc and waited nothing happen. I gave up and start browsing the web for other methods but i saw the blinking "power light" but I didn't see anything on the usb but after a few minutes the USB started blinking a few times and all of sudden computer turn off. I thought it was just going to sleep mode but i turn it on and I saw the acer boot screen!

    I'm never updating the bios again on this computer 

    😣

    

  • Billery
    Billery Member Posts: 4 New User

    I'm stuck again with one of my three SF-114-32 via a BIOS update (v1.15).

    @Natal: you say you have pressed ALT+ESC instead of FN+ESC ?

    Are there guys who have success in such an operation.

  • Puraw
    Puraw ACE, Member Posts: 13,225 Trailblazer

    For ACER BIOS it is Fn+ESC.

    JackE wrote last year: "The FN+ESC method often fails because the BIOS boot section has failed and can no longer read from the USB port". In that case you have to bring/send your laptop to Acer Services install a new EEPROM with BIOS pre-loaded.

    Also there are sometimes two ….bin files after unzipping, if you had 2 bin files did you try both of them?

  • Billery
    Billery Member Posts: 4 New User

    Maybe this evokes something to someone, the Swift1 SF-114-32 P6M2 notebook can't be turned off: the power button seems to work but the computer powers itself after a few seconds: lighting up of the led of a USB key on the effective USB port, same for the keyboard led.

    The FN+ESC manipulation seems to give nothing for the moment.
    Should I disconnect the battery?

    I have read that the boot process could be damaged. If so, what a lack of reliability for these models! I have flashed bios and firmwares in my life without ever having this total lack of reliability.

    The Bios file BIOS_115.exe is dated 03/11/2020 15:31, MD5 is 0c94de58ca171d9b7a9184098f0a7a57

    I've extracted it with 7zr:
    7zr e BIOS_115.exe

    7-Zip (a) [64] 17.04 : Copyright (c) 1999-2021 Igor Pavlov : 2017-08-28
    p7zip Version 17.04 (locale=fr_FR.UTF-8,Utf16=on,HugeFiles=on,64 bits,4 CPUs x64)

    Scanning the drive for archives:
    1 file, 6262112 bytes (6116 KiB)

    Extracting archive: BIOS_115.exe

    Path = BIOS_115.exe
    Type = 7z
    Offset = 590965
    Physical Size = 5671147
    Headers Size = 507
    Method = LZMA:24 BCJ
    Solid = +
    Blocks = 2

    Everything is Ok

    Files: 15
    Size: 14635078
    Compressed: 6262112

    It gives an isflash.bin file with MDS ea80622a1e1500397e5e29695160e0ff

    according to the platform ini file, section [MULTI_FD]
    FD#01=IO,C0,5AABFE02,5AABFE02,BIOS.fd,ME.fd
    FD#02=PCI,0,1F,2,80,FFFFFFFF,00007007,BIOS.fd,ME.fd
    FD#03=MPCIIO,2,PCI-0-1F-0-00-FFFFFFFF-3B0B8086,IO-538-0100-0000,BIOS.fd,ME.fd
    FD#04=ID,ModelName,BIOS.fd
    FD#05=OS,32,32bios.bin,,32.ini
    FD#06=OS,64,64bios.bin,me.bin,64.ini
    FD#07=MEMORY,FF679000,FFFFFFFF,A2346578,BIOS.fd,ME.bin,config.ini
    FD#08=CPUID,FFFFFFFF,000406E3,BIOS.fd,ME.bin,config.ini

    I renamed iflash.bin to BIOS.fd, 64bios.bin that I put on the root of a fat32 formatted USB key

    Your advises are welcome

  • Billery
    Billery Member Posts: 4 New User

    I've also written on the USB stick with led a file named SapporoGL.fd