GL502VSK Bricked BIOS Update

[Marc_Liptrot]

Hi All

Looking for some help with a failed BIOS update on a GL502VSK.

It looks like a BIOS update was pushed out through Windows Update and the update started to run when I rebooted the machine, which is strange in itself as it caught me unaware during such a critical process. Anyway, unfortunately the update hung 3/4 way through 😞

I now have a machine that won't POST. When I power on, get the usual LED's but complete black screen. I have tried putting a copy of the 309 BIOS (tried 308 as well) onto a USB stick and using the Ctrl & Home method but nothing. However, I think a positive is that the USB activity light flashes briefly, stops for a couple of seconds, then flashes again for a few more seconds. But ultimately still nothing.

So I think it is trying to read something from the USB but isn't finding what it is looking for. Can anyone assist with what the file name should be? I've tried AMIBOOT.ROM AMIBOOT.309 GL502VSK-AS.ROM GL502VSK-AS.309 GL502-VSKAS.CAP etc

If anyone has any other suggestions as well that would be great

[FULLMETALJACKET]

From user "binaryLV" on another thread.

Black screen, some LEDs turn on. No logo.

Edit: Laptop unbricked. Formatted flash drive (FAT32), wrote BIOS file to it (same file, different names - GL702VM.ROM, GL702VMK.ROM, GL702VM.bin, GL702VMK.bin; I'm not sure if filename matters, because I later had to choose the file from the list), pressed Ctrl+Home, turned on the laptop. After some 10-15sec there was a barely noticable flash of the "activity LED" on the USB flash drive. After some more 10-15 secs, ASUS logo appeared and then BIOS flash utility started.
I tried this method before, but probably wasn't patient enough. This time I was holding Ctrl+Home all the time until that logo appeared.

It's a different model but worth a try.

[Marc_Liptrot]

Thanks, will play around with the naming tonight and report back.

[Marc_Liptrot]

Also, I haven't tried removing the CMOS battery yet. Had a quick look to try find it but couldn't see it, Is it located on the back of the board on the GL502?

[AFRIKA]

you have an SSD on you laptop? try to remove the SSD and see if it turn on the screen, most of the last BIOS updates get crazy when a SSD is on the boot device.

[Marc_Liptrot]

I do have a SSD yes, its the main boot drive. Will give that a go later if I am still having difficulty.

Can anybody with a VSK confirm what the .BIN or .ROM filename is that sits on the root of their C: drive? Will need to change folder options to view hidden files and protected operating system files.

[Marc_Liptrot]

I'm back in business and have resolved this issue. Here is what I did for reference if anyone else has the issue -

On another machine I mounted a recent macrium image of my laptop to try and see if the bios.bin file was in the root C: drive but it wasn't. I couldn't see it in the recovery partition either so didn't really get anywhere with this method.

So I downloaded both BIOS 308 (current BIOS before the failed upgrade) and BIOS 309 (BIOS it was trying to upgrade to) from the ASUS website. I then formatted a USB stick using the diskpart method I picked up from another thread on this forum. Can also be found here -
https://tabernusupport.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/3000002552-using-diskpart-to-re-part...

I then renamed my downloaded 309 bios to GL502VSK.BIN and transferred it to my USB stick. Put it in the left hand side USB slot (near the HDMI out port). Whilst plugged in to the AC charger, hold down left ctrl & home and press the power button. Keep holding ctrl and home and after around 10 seconds the ROG screen appeared and EZ Flash kicked in! Now when I selected my 309 BIOS, EZ Flash informed me this was not a valid UEFI BIOS. So I assume it was looking to go back to 308 so removed the USB (you can leave EZ Flash running and hot swap it), deleted the 309 BIN and put the 308 BIN on there, again named GL502VSK.BIN. This time it accepted the image and began to flash. It rebooted twice to the ROG screen and then booted into Windows no problem, whole process was around 5 minutes.

The initial BIOS update which caused all this was definitely triggered by a Windows Update - once I was back up and running in Windows, I rebooted the machine and again the BIOS update kicked off, trying to upgrade to 309. Fortunately it went without issue this time and I am now on the BIOS 309 now.

I find it strange that BIOS updates are being rolled out in Windows Updates like this and that it triggers without warning on machine reboot. For such a delicate process, it should surely give some warning/option if you are ready to flash the bios. Anyway, all sorted now. Thanks for your help!

[FULLMETALJACKET]

That's good info right there! Always good to know something like this. You never know when you gonna need it.

I blocked this bios update using a tool from microsoft. I hope they stop pushing those bios updates through windows update because many people had problems with it, and if you don't check the updates manually often, it will download and apply the update without you even noticing it.

[gl703ishot]

FULLMETALJACKET7 wrote:
That's good info right there! Always good to know something like this. You never know when you gonna need it.

I blocked this bios update using a tool from microsoft. I hope they stop pushing those bios updates through windows update because many people had problems with it, and if you don't check the updates manually often, it will download and apply the update without you even noticing it.

Can you share this tool with us? Thanks

[FULLMETALJACKET]

gl703ishot wrote:
Can you share this tool with us? Thanks

"Show or hide updates troubleshooter"
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/3183922/how-to-temporarily-prevent-a-windows-update-from-re...

You can (and should) also disable driver updates through windows update.
https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/disable-automatic-driver-downloads-on-windows-10