Erazer X7611 (=MSI GS70) Bios issue

[YvesdeR]

Hello,

During an SSD disk upgrade from 64Gb to 256Gb (Win10 Creators updates are eating the disk space so fast), I've got a blue screen upon restarting the machine.(error 0xc000000e)

I was invited (Escape) to return to the UEFI / BIOS to change boot parameters which I did.

So far so good, the machine started again in Windows 10.

However since that event, I can no longer get into the BIOS with F2.

I get only a black screen with a fixed dash on the upper left corner.

So I can no longer change any bios parameter and F12 (boot device selection) does no longer work.

This is an extremely dangerous situation for a machien professionnally used.

On an MSI forum related to the same machine (X7611=GS70 barebone) an MSI tech advised to re-flash the BIOS which solved the problem.

I've scoured the web to find the Medion X7611 bios file (E1771IM7.5xx) to no avail. (board MS-1771 rev 1.1)

I've made a backup of my BIOS (E1771IM7.500 23-02-2013)  after the problem, and the file size is only 3072Kb i.o the 8192Kb of the GS70 BIOS.

The other clone Schenker XMG C703 Bios file is also of the smae size, 8192Kb.

So something is missing.

Does anyone have already flashed a GS70 2P STEALTH Bios in the Medion X7611?

Could  anynone make a backup of the X7611 bios in his healthy machine ? (with AFUWINx64.EXE you can make a backup)

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Yves

[Bodgekin]

Hi @YvesdeR, 

Normally, if there is a BIOS update available for a notebook, you should be able to find it on the Medion support site with your msn number, I would not feel comfortable flashing a BIOS from a different notebook, even if it is based on the same system. I don't have X7611, so I'm afraid I can't help you there. 

But as I understand it, you can still get into Window 10? So the BIOS does still do what it is supposed to do. Have you tried turning off fastboot in Windows 10 and then try to enter the BIOS? It seems weird to me that a bluescreen could cause these kinds of issues in the BIOS. 

[YvesdeR]

Hello Bart,

Thank you for your reply and the suggestion.

Medion does not provide any BIOS update on the website and there is no Bios image in the original DVD's.

Good point with the Fastboot.

I remember having turned it off in the past, but with so many recent Windows updates, you never know if Microsoft has not decided to reset certain settings.

And of course fastboot was reset to ON after the Creators update.

I've set it to OFF and I can still boot the machine.

But the BIOS access is not resolved : still the blank screen with the white dash.

I agree, that problem should not happen after a Windows blue screen asking to change the UEFI boot parameters.

But I could not get access to the Bios just after having adjusted that UEFI boot setting in order to start windows 10 normally.

What bothers me, is that the Bios.rom backup file I've made is only 3072Kb i.o of the 8192kb size .

I've reflashed that backup file, but of course it did not change anything.

When I open the backup BIOS file with AMIBCP, it show the correct Bios ID and tag.

But if I compare it with an XMG C703 or GS70 Bios rom, my backup rom is missing a lot of stuff.

However all these rom's have the same Filesystem GUID signature.

Yves

[Bodgekin]

Hi Yves, 

No more bright idea's here, I'm afraid this is beyond my knowledge :(.

At this point I think your best bet would be to contact Medion directly and see if maybe they are able to provide the BIOS files.

[YvesdeR]

Thank you Bart,

I've indeed contacted Medion.

They are responsive.

They have first proposed another method to reach the BIOS via Windows recovery.

I've of course tested that option with the same result: a blank screen with white dash.

Normally they should provide me with the Bios file is that option did not work.

This is the cas, so I'm waiting for the file 🙂 !

I'm still questioning myself: why don't they provide the customers with at least the orginal BIOS rom file.

That PC is made from an MSI barebone.

Other companies like Schenker using exactly the same platform are giving the BIOS rom file together with the driver.

Even if my (rather expensive) machine is still working under Windows 10, I cannot afford to have no fallback solution in case of problems.

No way to boot from any external USB device is just a very unsafe situation.

We will see what happens with the ROM file to re-flash the BIOS.

Yves

[Bodgekin]

Hi Yves, 

Good, nice that you are getting the BIOS file, I hope this fixes the problem! 🙂

As to why they don't provide them with the machine, I'm not sure, though I suppose it is because normally it should not be necesarry? This is the first time that I've ever heard of a BIOS getting messed up in this way. I have heard of failed BIOS updates causing issues ofcourse, but that can't happen with this system because there is no update. 

[YvesdeR]

Helas, I'm not alone to have such a problem.

You should have a look on the MSi laptops forum, i.e GS70. There are several people with the same type of issue with their BIOS.

It looks like it affects the UEFI BIOS under Win8, WIN10. (Also same issues with new HP with UEFI BIOS laptops.

I've found at least another guy with a GS70 having exactly the same issue while he was also trying to setup another SSD disk.

Hopefuly I will be able to fix my problem the same way he did 🙂 !.

I will post the conclusion of my story when I will receive news from Medion.

[YvesdeR · Accepted solution]

Medion has a very good service !

The Medion support has found my original BIOS E1771IM7.500 rom file and they have send it to me packed/zipped with the bios update utilities.

I've flashed that BIOS into my latop X7611 and it has solved the problem.

I can now get access to the BIOS with F2 with no problem, and my machine has booted WIN10 like before with no issue.

So the BIOS was really corrupted.

Before flashing, I've done the following:

* Disable Ethernet and Wifi card in order to avoid any attempt to update (or reboot) the machine while flashing the BIOS.

* Disable all non core services (Adobe update, Java update,  Cybermedia ...) via the taskmanager.

* Close all Windows applications.

I've then opened a CMD session with administrator rights.

I've used the flaswin64.bat batch file to launch the flash process.

No problem at all.

Now I feel comfortable to migrate my boot 64Gb SSD to a 256Gb SSD.

Yves

Note:

I forgot to mention that I've RESET the EC via the little button on the righ side of the machine after flashing.

* Shutdown the machine.

* Remove the power cord.

* Push on the button during about 30sec.

* Reconnect the power cord.

* Reboot.

It was advised by the Medion support tech to RESET the EC (Embedded Controller).

[Bodgekin]

Hi Yves, 

That's awesome! Glad to hear the problem is solved!

[mrdutchie]

hello 

i have the same problem with my laptop Erazer X7611,  MD98543 would it be possible to send me the BIOS E1771IM7.500 rom with the update utilities that you got from medion ?

regards

willem