My laptop has the wrong BIOS installed

[smileyhead]

Remember when I started the thread about the dedicated GPU in my laptop not working? I think I may have found the problem.
I have an ASUS X555LB. The sticker on the bottom says so. However, it seems the BIOS I have installed is for the X555LDB. I remember updating the BIOS once in the past and I think it was probably my goofing up that resulted in this, so I tried to fix it. Except that I can't: the BIOS Flash Utility doesn't let me overwrite one BIOS with another and the BIOS' own updater doesn't even list the update file in its file manager.
What should I do?

 

[Hayato213]

https://www.asus.com/supportonly/X555LD/HelpDesk_BIOS/

make sure you pick the X555LDB version.

 

[smileyhead]

https://www.asus.com/supportonly/X555LD/HelpDesk_BIOS/

make sure you pick the X555LDB version.

Isn't this just a BIOS update for the X555LDB? It's the same version even (v307), just with a different date…for some reason.
I need to be able to install the latest BIOS for the X555LB.

 

[Hayato213]

Isn't this just a BIOS update for the X555LDB? It's the same version even (v307), just with a different date…for some reason.
I need to be able to install the latest BIOS for the X555LB.

Well you need to figure out which one is your laptop under as X555LB or X555LDB, check your system information. If it work fine leave the computer alone.

 

[smileyhead]

Well you need to figure out which one is your laptop under as X555LB or X555LDB, check your system information. If it work fine leave the computer alone.

The BIOS updater and BIOS state it's an X555LDB (which it isn't, really). The system works okay, except for the GPU, which does not.

 

[Hayato213]

Did the card came with the laptop or it is a replacement gpu? probably have to learn to mod a Nvidia driver .inf file. Laptop can be picky about what card each manufacture have driver for automatically, I had a sager laptop, when I replaced the gpu, I had to edit the nvidia inf file.

 

[smileyhead]

Did the card came with the laptop or it is a replacement gpu?

Stock. It's soldered to the motherboard.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Does your BIOS have the EZ Flash utility?

You should be able to flash the "real" BIOS file in EZ Flash in the BIOS itself if that's actually the issue you have.

 

[Hayato213]

Stock. It's soldered to the motherboard.

I edited my post, you might have to learn to edit an inf file if your card doesn't show up when you do the driver install/update, or browse for the files.

 

[smileyhead]

Does your BIOS have the EZ Flash utility?

You should be able to flash the "real" BIOS file in EZ Flash in the BIOS itself if that's actually the issue you have.

Yep, but it doesn't show the update file in its file manager.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Did you rename the file properly? IIRC ASUS mobos are sometimes picky with what you name the BIOS.

Remember the "wrong" BIOS file will be looking for it's own name, so instead of like X555LBAS.whatever it should be named to X555LBDAS.whateverblahblah

 

[smileyhead]

Did you rename the file properly? IIRC ASUS mobos are sometimes picky with what you name the BIOS.

Remember the "wrong" BIOS file will be looking for it's own name, so instead of like X555LBAS.whatever it should be named to X555LBDAS.whateverblahblah

Renaming the file sadly didn't fool neither the BIOS Flash Utility, nor EZ Flash (which is called Easy Flash on my PC, for some reason. Must be an older version).

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

In that case, I don't expect you somehow managed to "accidentally" flash the wrong BIOS file to your laptop, if so you would've been able to easily reflash the "correct" file and fix whatever problem you think you have.

I would suggest you open up your laptop and double check your motherboard to confirm what the actual model your laptop is, just because a sticker says one thing doesn't necessarily mean you didn't get sent a sub-model laptop from that same series. As far as I can tell, the general X555xx models have a lot of variations, and I see no reason why X555LDB wouldn't be the correct model.

 

[smileyhead]

Welp, it seems you were right. This is an LD…which also means I'm back to square one with my GPU problem. Great.
Anyway, thanks for the help!

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

I still maintain my original conclusion in your other thread, it sounds like there's just a physical hardware issue somewhere that's not letting the GPU communicate with the rest of the hardware.

Did you ever get around to trying a Linux distro and seeing if the Nvidia drivers could be installed that way? That would confirm it being a hardware problem I would think (although what that hardware issue would be, I couldn't say ).

 

[smileyhead]

I still maintain my original conclusion in your other thread, it sounds like there's just a physical hardware issue somewhere that's not letting the GPU communicate with the rest of the hardware.

Did you ever get around to trying a Linux distro and seeing if the Nvidia drivers could be installed that way? That would confirm it being a hardware problem I would think (although what that hardware issue would be, I couldn't say ).

Yeah. If I remember correctly, it borked around the time I ran a macOS VM in Ubuntu on it. I'm pretty sure the GPU worked before then. I wonder if that could've done something…

 

[draftguy]

Have you tried to install the driver from their (X555LD) support page, its from 2015 but worth a try:
https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/nb/DriversForWin10/VGA/VGA_A_nVidia_Win10_64_VER101813538402.zip

The latest bios is version 404 from 2019:
https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/nb/X555LD/X555LDAS404.zip

Didn´t see any graphics related fixes in the changelog, though.

 

[smileyhead]

Have you tried to install the driver from their (X555LD) support page, its from 2015 but worth a try:
https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/nb/DriversForWin10/VGA/VGA_A_nVidia_Win10_64_VER101813538402.zip

The latest bios is version 404 from 2019:
https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/nb/X555LD/X555LDAS404.zip

Didn´t see any graphics related fixes in the changelog, though.

You've linked me the stuff for LD, but my model is LDB.
Anyway, I've downloaded the latest graphics drivers for my model and got this:

 

[draftguy]

Ok, sorry to hear that its not working.
I just saw the photo of the pcb and thought its a LD modell...

 

[Hayato213]

You've linked me the stuff for LD, but my model is LDB.
Anyway, I've downloaded the latest graphics drivers for my model and got this:

View attachment 273605

Why you updated the bios? I see in the other thread you were able to get the card to work.