asus F556-UA54, possibly bricked

[andrewjs18]

hi all,

I think I may of accidentally bricked my asus laptop the other day when asus pushed out a bios update the night before.  when I powered on my laptop at work the following day, I wasn't paying any attention to the boot process.  when I looked up, there was a blue screen with a progress bar and all I recall it saying was 30% erasing flash.  I thought to myself, WTF, did I just get hit with some ransomware?  and proceeded to force the laptop to power down...

after that it wouldn't power back up.  I'm also getting 0 activity from the indicator lights on the front of the laptop.

I've tried putting the latest firmware onto a usb stick and tried several different key combinations I found online (not specifically for my laptop model) to see if it'd look for the bios file from the usb stick and try reflashing it.  no dice!

I've tried the following key combos thus far:
- pressing F12 and then the power button
- pressing F4, ctrl + home and then the power button
- pressing ctrl + home and then the power button

does anyone know if newer asus laptops have a special key combo to force an emergency bios reflash?  asus live chat was about useless in this regard..

my laptop also has a battery that is "non-removable"..


thanks!

[Lost_N_BIOS]

Asus doesn't push BIOS Updates out, Windows does and Microsoft is to blame! We were just discussing this, and how it's going to kill systems right and left until they stop - https://www.bios-mods.com/forum/Thread-R...ock?page=3

IF your system will recover BIOS using one of those methods, BIOS file must be named a certain name and USB must be FAT32 with BIOS on root of USB (not in folder). Please link me to your system page at Asus, I cannot find it, once there I can download your BIOS and check it for what the name should be.

I do find this, is that correct one ASUS F556UA-AS54
https://www.asus.com/supportonly/F556UA/HelpDesk_BIOS/

If yes, please confirm which of those three where it says pick your model, are your exact model, so I can select correct BIOS

[MirukiKun]

hi, i've saw the post and thought i can share some useful info.

first of all if your motherboard had ezflash embedded, it's most likely supporting some sort of recovery.

procedure can vary but for the most part it's similar to all other asus products.

try starting with a usb formatted in FAT32 even without the recovery files on it or bios or whatnot and see if the led on the usb flash drive lights up or has some activity...

if the motherboard tries to access it ... there is some hope... also from what i remember some models might have a full blown fan spin.

hope you sort it out the easy way, all the best.

https://www.asus.com/support/FAQ/1012219/
https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.ph...ck-process!

[andrewjs18]

Asus doesn't push BIOS Updates out, Windows does and Microsoft is to blame!  We were just discussing this, and how it's going to kill systems right and left until they stop - https://www.bios-mods.com/forum/Thread-R...ock?page=3

IF your system will recover BIOS using one of those methods, BIOS file must be named a certain name and USB must be FAT32 with BIOS on root of USB (not in folder).  Please link me to your system page at Asus, I cannot find it, once there I can download your BIOS and check it for what the name should be.

I do find this, is that correct one ASUS F556UA-AS54
https://www.asus.com/supportonly/F556UA/HelpDesk_BIOS/

If yes, please confirm which of those three where it says pick your model, are your exact model, so I can select correct BIOS

hi, good point regarding the update. I'm embarrassed about this because I've been messing with computers for close to 20 years now, working in IT professionally for about 10 and I've never bricked a computer or laptop before!

the model name/link you listed is correct. regarding the cpu/bios model name, I can't find this information to be exact since I can't boot the pc and it doesn't list it anywhere on the server tag. I think X556UA might be correct though based on the model name.

I greatly appreciate the help!

[andrewjs18]

hi, i've saw the post and thought i can share some useful info.

first of all if your motherboard had ezflash embedded, it's most likely supporting some sort of recovery.

procedure can vary but for the most part it's similar to all other asus products.

try starting with a usb formatted in FAT32 even without the recovery files on it or bios or whatnot and see if the led on the usb flash drive lights up or has some activity...

if the motherboard tries to access it ... there is some hope... also from what i remember some models might have a full blown fan spin.

hope you sort it out the easy way, all the best.

https://www.asus.com/support/FAQ/1012219/
https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.ph...ck-process!

I stuck a usb stick in the laptop that has a visible LED on its board that was formatted with FAT32 and tried a few different boot sequences mentioned previously (not sure if any of them work specifically with my laptop model or not) and got nothing whatsoever...

[Lost_N_BIOS]

Do you have any previous BIOS backups from the system, can be AFU backup, or FPT, anything like that? If we guess, then file name may not be correct one, however if there is any chance that it's going to work then I suppose we should put all three on there since we don't know.

Did you try all USB Slots? Sometimes only a certain one works, and sometimes you need to use hotkey pressed or combo of hotkeys while powering on, to invoke any type of recovery.

Rename a copy of X556UAAS.411 >> X556UA.bin (Put both on root of USB)
Rename a copy of X556UAK-AS.316 >> X556UAK.bin (Put both on root of USB)
Rename a copy of X556UAMAS.318 >> X556UAM.BIN (Put both on root of USB)

Then try recover, from all USB Slots.

If you ever get any USB LED action, but then no luck, let me know, I will extract all three of these from their BIOS Capsules and send you the body.bin files renamed to name.bin as well, to try separately. Actually, after above tests, also try all three of these .bin by themselves. Be careful with these, so you don't loose or have to redownload, this is not the files simply renamed, these are the actual BIOS removed from the stock capsules (2kb smaller)
http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?fil...4128965180

You can also later try with any file renamed to >> AMIBOOT.ROM

Here is a page I found with a hotkey combo mentioned for a semi-recent Asus laptop
https://superuser.com/questions/950836/a...rogramming

Control+Home mentioned here
https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.ph...structions

[andrewjs18]

Do you have any previous BIOS backups from the system, can be AFU backup, or FPT, anything like that?  If we guess, then file name may not be correct one, however if there is any chance that it's going to work then I suppose we should put all three on there since we don't know.

Did you try all USB Slots?  Sometimes only a certain one works, and sometimes you need to use hotkey pressed or combo of hotkeys while powering on, to invoke any type of recovery.

Rename a copy of X556UAAS.411 >> X556UA.bin  (Put both on root of USB)
Rename a copy of X556UAK-AS.316  >> X556UAK.bin (Put both on root of USB)
Rename a copy of X556UAMAS.318  >> X556UAM.BIN (Put both on root of USB)

Then try recover, from all USB Slots.  

If you ever get any USB LED action, but then no luck, let me know, I will extract all three of these from their BIOS Capsules and send you the body.bin files renamed to name.bin as well, to try separately.  Actually, after above tests, also try all three of these .bin by themselves.  Be careful with these, so you don't loose or have to redownload, this is not the files simply renamed, these are the actual BIOS removed from the stock capsules (2kb smaller)
http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?fil...4128965180

You can also later try with any file renamed to >> AMIBOOT.ROM

Here is a page I found with a hotkey combo mentioned for a semi-recent Asus laptop
https://superuser.com/questions/950836/a...rogramming

Control+Home mentioned here
https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.ph...structions

no, just 1 USB slot.  I'll put the firmware files on the USB stick, then try both slots, if one isn't working. 

I'll report back here in a few min!

thanks!!!

[andrewjs18]

Do you have any previous BIOS backups from the system, can be AFU backup, or FPT, anything like that?  If we guess, then file name may not be correct one, however if there is any chance that it's going to work then I suppose we should put all three on there since we don't know.

Did you try all USB Slots?  Sometimes only a certain one works, and sometimes you need to use hotkey pressed or combo of hotkeys while powering on, to invoke any type of recovery.

Rename a copy of X556UAAS.411 >> X556UA.bin  (Put both on root of USB)
Rename a copy of X556UAK-AS.316  >> X556UAK.bin (Put both on root of USB)
Rename a copy of X556UAMAS.318  >> X556UAM.BIN (Put both on root of USB)

Then try recover, from all USB Slots.  

If you ever get any USB LED action, but then no luck, let me know, I will extract all three of these from their BIOS Capsules and send you the body.bin files renamed to name.bin as well, to try separately.  Actually, after above tests, also try all three of these .bin by themselves.  Be careful with these, so you don't loose or have to redownload, this is not the files simply renamed, these are the actual BIOS removed from the stock capsules (2kb smaller)
http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?fil...4128965180

You can also later try with any file renamed to >> AMIBOOT.ROM

Here is a page I found with a hotkey combo mentioned for a semi-recent Asus laptop
https://superuser.com/questions/950836/a...rogramming

Control+Home mentioned here
https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.ph...structions

no, just 1 USB slot.  I'll put the firmware files on the USB stick, then try both slots, if one isn't working. 

I'll report back here in a few min!

thanks!!!

hi,

I do not have a copy of the old bios file, unfortunately. 

I tried both usb slots, with the firmware names as downloaded from asus's website and got nothing at all.  I then went in and removed all 3 files from the usb stick and put your 3 files on there and tried the process again as described on the superuser site.  I got nothing - no activity light on the usb stick, nor any LED lights on the front of the laptop to indicate any type of activity.

[Lost_N_BIOS]

Did you try method mentioned at the Asus site I linked? Did you also try the stock three files renamed? This is not same as the three I uploaded for you with those same names.

You may have to order CH341A flash programmer + SOIC8 test clip with cable, here is cheap examples on ebay (3-5 week delivery at these prices)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/201316582787
https://www.ebay.com/itm/382486015977

[andrewjs18]

Did you try method mentioned at the Asus site I linked?  Did you also try the stock three files renamed?  This is not same as the three I uploaded for you with those same names.

You may have to order CH341A flash programmer + SOIC8 test clip with cable, here is cheap examples on ebay (3-5 week delivery at these prices)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/201316582787
https://www.ebay.com/itm/382486015977

I mostly tried the method mentioned on the super user site. I tried the 1 mentioned on the asus site a few days ago, prior to creating this thread.  I can't recall if I tried it with any of the boot files on the usb stick or not.  I'll try that shortly. 

if that does not work, I'm just going to buy a new motherboard on ebay and have it expedited to me here in the USA to install it myself:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/323757544928?ul_noapp=true

it'll probably be cheaper in the long run than sending it to asus to let them fix it..