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Lafite 2 BIOS update
- Thread starter maxjstone
- Start date
Interested to know this too, as I'm seriously considering a Lafite myself. With the fan issue as reported I don't think I could live with it. Other than that it looks like a superb little device, especially for the price compared with what else is out there. Was checking out Dell XPS '13 and '15 models today - granted they look great, but you're spending pretty much double for similar specs.
I've asked PCS too, but I guess I'll get a similar answer. Will let you know as and when they get back to me though.
I've asked PCS too, but I guess I'll get a similar answer. Will let you know as and when they get back to me though.
Interested to know this too, as I'm seriously considering a Lafite myself. With the fan issue as reported I don't think I could live with it. Other than that it looks like a superb little device, especially for the price compared with what else is out there. Was checking out Dell XPS '13 and '15 models today - granted they look great, but you're spending pretty much double for similar specs.
I've asked PCS too, but I guess I'll get a similar answer. Will let you know as and when they get back to me though.
The laptop is fantastic. It's handled what I've thrown at it with ease (which isn't a lot, granted), looks good, and I haven't had any issues with it. However yes, the fan can be annoying at times, especially when it can't decide whether it wants to turn on or off. Praying the BIOS update addresses this, but I'm not holding my breath.
Yeah, let me know when you find out!
D
Deleted member 41498
Guest
I have tried updating to the latest BIOS. However, I keep getting an error - "Error: Secure Flash Rom Verify fail."
I have tried updating to the latest BIOS. However, I keep getting an error - "Error: Secure Flash Rom Verify fail."
Do you know what improvements the BIOS update is supposed to bring?
I just got this response from PCS:
"Thank you for your email, there was an issue with the Lafité I and its fan noise but this was resolved with a BIOS update. As far as we are aware there are not any issues with this current revision."
Which sort of doesn't really help. The fan issue on the Lafité II has been fairly well reported by owners across the forums, so it's not a problem that's restricted to the first iteration of this device. I'm not sure if it's even worth following this up with another email. Ho hum.
"Thank you for your email, there was an issue with the Lafité I and its fan noise but this was resolved with a BIOS update. As far as we are aware there are not any issues with this current revision."
Which sort of doesn't really help. The fan issue on the Lafité II has been fairly well reported by owners across the forums, so it's not a problem that's restricted to the first iteration of this device. I'm not sure if it's even worth following this up with another email. Ho hum.
I just got this response from PCS:
"Thank you for your email, there was an issue with the Lafité I and its fan noise but this was resolved with a BIOS update. As far as we are aware there are not any issues with this current revision."
Which sort of doesn't really help. The fan issue on the Lafité II has been fairly well reported by owners across the forums, so it's not a problem that's restricted to the first iteration of this device. I'm not sure if it's even worth following this up with another email. Ho hum.
That's a little disappointing. Have you followed it up at all?
That's a little disappointing. Have you followed it up at all?
Do let us know if it helps! As it stands my options are whittled down to the Lafite, HP Spectre x360 or Macbook Pro. Would be good to not have to choose based on negatives, and just choose the one I think suits best. I'm a lifelong Windows user, but at the mo I'm favouring the Mac mainly because of the scaling issues you still get in some applications in Windows - nice visible size but blurry or crisp and so small you can't see it aren't really viable options. Sure the OS looks ok, but I won't just be using the OS!
In case anyone didn't realise, the drivers and bios update can be found by going to your account, and clicking 'Download' in the bottom left side of the screen under the Tech Support heading.
The bios update password is '1'.
About to try updating, fingers crossed.
This sounds like you need to disable Secure Boot (should be fairly self-explanatory) in the BIOS (F2 when you boot).
The bios update password is '1'.
About to try updating, fingers crossed.
I have tried updating to the latest BIOS. However, I keep getting an error - "Error: Secure Flash Rom Verify fail."
This sounds like you need to disable Secure Boot (should be fairly self-explanatory) in the BIOS (F2 when you boot).
Update. As per the instructions available after writing the image to a USB I removed the battery prior to attempting to update the BIOS.
Rough instructions to remove the battery:
In order to do this you have to unscrew all the screws on the back panel. The battery is the large black rectangular section (just under the width of the laptop, it's wider than I expected) with the battery sticker on. Make sure you move the twisted red and blue wires which connect other components to the mobo (unrelated to the battery) out of the way of the battery when lifting it off as mine were tucked into the edges. There is one power connector attached from the battery to the motherboard which takes quite a lot of measured force and effort to prise off. After doing so, also be wary of the intermediary screw holes which slightly rest itself on the motherboard's screw holes. There are two black screws to unscrew on the top left and right side of the battery, after doing all this you can lift the battery from the top centre where it dips markedly.
However, it was all in vain since despite trying a number of key combinations in order to bring up the screen the instructions talked about (supposedly reached by repeatedly pressing F7 on the keyboard) I could not do so. I also tried booting from where you equally might expect (the boot menu) to no avail. The UEFI option simply skipped straight to windows, and the non-prefixed boot option brought up a blinking underscore which I recognise as familiar from other attempts to boot from USB drives (such as OSes etc). This did not appear to respond to input either and simply kept on blinking.
Anyone got any solutions?
Here are the instructions when you write the file: http://pastebin.com/X92QAkTP
Rough instructions to remove the battery:
In order to do this you have to unscrew all the screws on the back panel. The battery is the large black rectangular section (just under the width of the laptop, it's wider than I expected) with the battery sticker on. Make sure you move the twisted red and blue wires which connect other components to the mobo (unrelated to the battery) out of the way of the battery when lifting it off as mine were tucked into the edges. There is one power connector attached from the battery to the motherboard which takes quite a lot of measured force and effort to prise off. After doing so, also be wary of the intermediary screw holes which slightly rest itself on the motherboard's screw holes. There are two black screws to unscrew on the top left and right side of the battery, after doing all this you can lift the battery from the top centre where it dips markedly.
However, it was all in vain since despite trying a number of key combinations in order to bring up the screen the instructions talked about (supposedly reached by repeatedly pressing F7 on the keyboard) I could not do so. I also tried booting from where you equally might expect (the boot menu) to no avail. The UEFI option simply skipped straight to windows, and the non-prefixed boot option brought up a blinking underscore which I recognise as familiar from other attempts to boot from USB drives (such as OSes etc). This did not appear to respond to input either and simply kept on blinking.
Anyone got any solutions?
Here are the instructions when you write the file: http://pastebin.com/X92QAkTP
Last edited:
Just updated the BIOS and can confirm that the fan noise is gone, no stop-startyness, nada.
The instructions given by Topstar are next to useless and I had to be baby-walked through it by pcspecialist. Followed the topstar instructions down to the letter and nothing happened. Eventually with a little bit of messing about (turning off secure boot) I managed to get into dos prompt and whack in the commands, but then got 18 - Error Secure Flash Rom Verify Fail. Following this had to force a restart because the exit command didn't work. Called up pcspecialist, and actually ended up updating the BIOS through windows using an application and batch file in the unzipped U931 folder.
You're best bet (unless your dead cert what you're doing) is to call pcspecialist. Once I was on the phone with them the update took less than 5 mins to do.
The instructions given by Topstar are next to useless and I had to be baby-walked through it by pcspecialist. Followed the topstar instructions down to the letter and nothing happened. Eventually with a little bit of messing about (turning off secure boot) I managed to get into dos prompt and whack in the commands, but then got 18 - Error Secure Flash Rom Verify Fail. Following this had to force a restart because the exit command didn't work. Called up pcspecialist, and actually ended up updating the BIOS through windows using an application and batch file in the unzipped U931 folder.
You're best bet (unless your dead cert what you're doing) is to call pcspecialist. Once I was on the phone with them the update took less than 5 mins to do.
Update. As per the instructions available after writing the image to a USB I removed the battery prior to attempting to update the BIOS.
Rough instructions to remove the battery:
In order to do this you have to unscrew all the screws on the back panel. The battery is the large black rectangular section (just under the width of the laptop, it's wider than I expected) with the battery sticker on. Make sure you move the twisted red and blue wires which connect other components to the mobo (unrelated to the battery) out of the way of the battery when lifting it off as mine were tucked into the edges. There is one power connector attached from the battery to the motherboard which takes quite a lot of measured force and effort to prise off. After doing so, also be wary of the intermediary screw holes which slightly rest itself on the motherboard's screw holes. There are two black screws to unscrew on the top left and right side of the battery, after doing all this you can lift the battery from the top centre where it dips markedly.
However, it was all in vain since despite trying a number of key combinations in order to bring up the screen the instructions talked about (supposedly reached by repeatedly pressing F7 on the keyboard) I could not do so. I also tried booting from where you equally might expect (the boot menu) to no avail. The UEFI option simply skipped straight to windows, and the non-prefixed boot option brought up a blinking underscore which I recognise as familiar from other attempts to boot from USB drives (such as OSes etc). This did not appear to respond to input either and simply kept on blinking.
Anyone got any solutions?
Here are the instructions when you write the file: http://pastebin.com/X92QAkTP
Sorry, didn't see yours before I posted! Had exactly the same issue - minus the battery, I didn't bother trying to take mine out. I found once I disabled secure booting, and pressed F12 to get to the boot menu, I had two of the same options available. e.g. two Samsung SSD drives and two USB drives available to boot from. When I clicked on the second version of the USB it got going. But like I said, I didn't get much further until I got an error.
Just updated the BIOS and can confirm that the fan noise is gone, no stop-startyness, nada.
The instructions given by Topstar are next to useless and I had to be baby-walked through it by pcspecialist. Followed the topstar instructions down to the letter and nothing happened. Eventually with a little bit of messing about (turning off secure boot) I managed to get into dos prompt and whack in the commands, but then got 18 - Error Secure Flash Rom Verify Fail. Following this had to force a restart because the exit command didn't work. Called up pcspecialist, and actually ended up updating the BIOS through windows using an application and batch file in the unzipped U931 folder.
You're best bet (unless your dead cert what you're doing) is to call pcspecialist. Once I was on the phone with them the update took less than 5 mins to do.
Hey Max. Really good to hear about the fan noise. Can you give us an update in maybe a week or so to confirm that it's still the case? Thanks!
Are people being told to update by PCS?
"[DO NOT UPDATE THE BIOS UNLESS YOU HAVE BEEN REQUESTED TO DO SO BY THE SUPPORT TEAM]
[WARRANTY VOID FOR INCORRECT USE]"
That puts me off updating. Maybe give them a call.
It put me off as well. When I rang them I was told it would lead to some RAM improvements, but no mention about the fan. Then I emailed and was told it does address the fan issue. The update is quite simple (literally a case of unzipping the file and running an executable and a batch in the win folder), but annoyingly I cant remember the exact process (although I'm pretty sure it includes the afuwinx64.exe and WIN-EC.bat). If you intend on doing it, definitely ring them and ask them to guide you through it as the Topstar instructions will get you nowhere. Sorry I can't be of anymore help, looking back I should have made a simple note of the process.
Hey Max. Really good to hear about the fan noise. Can you give us an update in maybe a week or so to confirm that it's still the case? Thanks!
Yep, will do.
D
Deleted member 41498
Guest
I just rang PCSpecialist in the hope that they would be able to guide me through the process. I explained the error that I received, the same one as maxjstone. They recommended that I send it back to them for RMA........ I explained that someone else got the same error on their forums and that they rang up and were guided through updating the BIOS through Windows.
Overall the guy I talked to was extremely unhelpful and spent 20 minutes talking on the phone to him for no reason.
If anyone else gets through to them and gets their BIOS updated, please post the instructions here as I do not want to have to waste my time ringing them again.
Overall the guy I talked to was extremely unhelpful and spent 20 minutes talking on the phone to him for no reason.
If anyone else gets through to them and gets their BIOS updated, please post the instructions here as I do not want to have to waste my time ringing them again.
That's not great Ben. I haven't got around to contacting them yet to update mine. Will give them a call later in the week as I'm working on a uni assignment for Thursday and don't want something to go wrong as I have no access to another computer that I can install the software I need onto.