I've just tried to flash the BIOS on my Thinkpad R500 and the application locked up while flashing (left for 20 mins) After Windows closed the application - I tried to run the BIOS tool again - but it stated that it wasn't the right image for the Laptop (although it obviously was) After rebooting (unsuprisingly) it doesn't power up - get "----- - - " (long beep, followed by two shorter beeps) Does anyone know if there is a way to recover the BIOS? But this seems to mention a bios file with an extention .wph - where as the downloaded BIOS seems to have thr BIOS files within a folder with the files, .fl1, fl2, ,hsh & .xml There is a post that implies the R500 has a Phoenix BIOS (sorry had to remove links) In doing a little bit more reseach it seems I need to use the utility WINCRIS.EXE to create a USB bootable drive with the BIOS. I have managed to get the WINCRIS utility working (need to run as 'XP compatible' in Win7/64) but the next challenge seems to be that the R500 BIOS files are supplied as .FL1 & .FL2 files rather than the expected BIOS.BINor BIOS.WPH There is also a lack of consensus what key presses you need to do when the system is powered on. These seem to vary between FN + R, FN + B or WIN + B (any other combinations anyone?) I've tried using the FL1 BIOS file but nothing... long beep followed by two shorter beeps (and no activity on the USB) Anyone?
Thanks for the reply and help. I had previously renamed the .FL1 file to BIOS.WPH and have just tried the .FL1 file within the CTRL FN keys. I've tried a combo of FN+B, FN+R, WIN+B, WIN+R, CTL+B & CTL+R with the above FM1 file, but no joy. In other posts I've read, it's stated that there can sometimes be more than one BIOS within the package, but these appear to be all named .FL1 files. I have a number of files within the BIOS 19/11/2009 11:52 2,405,233 $01BA000.FL1 19/11/2009 09:42 4,240,490 $01BA000.FL2 19/09/2008 18:33 163 06fd.HSH 19/09/2008 18:33 163 10674.HSH 19/09/2008 18:33 163 10676.HSH 19/09/2008 18:33 163 1067a.HSH 27/11/2009 09:40 1,408 SWI.XML Are the FL1 & FL2 files parts of the same BIOS, or are these completely separate BIOS's? In most cases I've seen, the it has been the name of the BIOS file (rather than file extension). Most BIOS files seem to be around 6-8MB, so wondered if this was actually just one BIOS but split into chunks (e.g. for different memory sections of the BIOS) I'll have another go in the morning with the FL2 files and see how I get on. Unfortunately the beeping is rather loud and not idea when it's past midnight Thanks again,
keep looking in the lenovo ibm bios mods.. eventually u run into the right info u have to match the model and type withe proper dload to get the proper one... R500 could have 3 different motherboards.. or more.
Thanks for the info.... I seem to have managed to get a little further.... but not far enough I have downloaded a modded BIOS "Lenovo_ThinkPad_R500_7YET85WW_NWL" flashed it to the USB key using WINCRIS and now when it boots it no longer beeps (and appears to read the USB drive). I've tried with and without the battery. So to confirm the process: * Format drive FAT * Run WINCRIS.EXE and press start * Remove the reinsert USB Drive * Click OK and run Start again (MINIDOS) - there are options foe compress and IBM CRTM - but I leave these both un-ticked * Remove the reinsert USB Drive * Copy MINIDOS.SYS . PHLASH16.EXE and bios.wph to the USB drive I power on the Laptop with the USB inserted, I see the USB flicker three times... but then it doesn't appear to do anything. The modded BIOS bios.wph appears to be roughly 4MB which is roughly the same size as the FL2 file. Do you think the FL1 and FL2 files are for different Laptop revisions? Latop is a R500 Product ID / Type : 2718-V8D (but not sure how this related to what appears to be the rev ^^ 7YET85WW_NWL) Thanks Simon