MSI 1036 Won't POST

Well, I've got a 1036 I just got last week, been having a couple of small issues with it locking up when it tried to go into standby or after powering it down, so I decided to try and flash the BIOS to the newest firmware.

The flash went well (I think), saying that it erased, wrote and verified the image and boot block without errors, then it put out a couple blank lines, and appeared to hard lock. After a couple minutes, I tried caps lock to see if it was locked and sure enough, it wouldn't respond to the keyboard at all... or even the 4 sec power button being held down. So, I disconnected the battery and AC, waited a minute and hooked it back up. Now, all I get is an orange standby light (steady on), and the screen won't light up at all.

The trick of holding CTRL+Home doesn't seem to work, for one the keyboard doesn't respond at all, and for another there really isn't a dedicated home key... there's one on the numpad 7, and one if you push FN+PgUp.

Any ideas? Anyone know how to force it to re-read a new BIOS image from USB floppy or CD? So far it doesn't seem to even be trying the USB floppy at all. I tried calling MSI, who just told me I'd have to call my reseller, but I can't reach him right now. I'm hoping to be able to somehow reflash the chip instead of having to send the unit anywhere... this sucks :/

@##$%$#!

That's more or less what I was figuring though, it doesn't seem like it's going to respond to much else of anything. Wishing I'd bought it through RawPower or XMeld, but going through my friend I was able to save alot of money, getting it at cost. Just wish I could get ahold of him to see if his distributor can do an RMA on it... I'm hoping they would be willing to overnight me a new one if I overnight them one, because I *need* this replaced ASAP, I can't wait 3 weeks for them to just send me the same broken model back.

Anyone happen to know if the BIOS chips in these notebooks are socket type or soldered in? I'd assume soldered, if not though it might be worth it to try and get them to send me a new chip instead... just don't want to open the rest of the case to find out I'm wrong :/

Still haven't found the CMOS battery or jumpers to try clearing that either.

I've seen several posts from people saying they were able to reflash broken BIOSes.... anyone care to share? One mentioned using Nero to make a flash CD, but didn't say if he just put it in or had to hold anything down. As before, no key combinations are working... but the CD drive does power up and initialize so I think if I can get it to boot that or check the CD for an AIMBIOS.ROM file it might fix it... any ideas? anyone?

Seriously wishing there was an MSI repair center in Utah :/

Yeah, they are. I didn't want to expect them to support it though, that's why I figured I could post on here and see if either of them had any ideas ;-)

I figure someone at MSI somewhere must know how to force it into recovery mode, if it even has one, or what else can be done (i.e. if it's a replaceable chip or not even)... but MSI didn't really give me much info. In fact, the guy seemed to believe that a recovery can't be done on a lappy, that those instructions are for desktops only.

The guy who sold it to me replied back with the same tips as everyone, to disconnect the battery, yada yada... already been there and done that. I suspect the firmware either is bad or didn't completely finish writing although the program said it was done and fine. If I can just figure out how to force it to read from the CD (unlikely it seems) or find out how to get a replacement chip from MSI, I'll be happy. Problem is they won't listen to me, and probably not to my friend either, seeing that he isn't a direct reseller for them either. He ordered it from a distributor that offers them... which meant I got it at a good price, but MSI may not be willing to help. I'd be glad to buy a BIOS chip from them if it's replaceable though...

Here's the "solution", if you can call it that...

MSI support confirmed that the boot blocks were erased based on the way the machine is acting, and that the only action left is to RMA the machine.

Some info I've gathered:

The CTRL+HOME failsafe should work on any of the AMI based MSI laptops. If this fails, for any reason, and there doesn't appear to be any activity going to the USB floppy drive, the BIOS boot blocks are hosed.

In the 1036, and likely most if not all of the other MSI NBs, the BIOS is, in fact, soldered directly to the motherboard. So, the only option in that case is to RMA it. Those who were able to reflash their BIOSes are lucky.

I'd just as soon have them swap me for a new unit so I can get back up and running. Probably won't happen, but I can hope.