Bricked Toshiba C55T-A5123 after BIOS downgrade

[parkerlreed]

Good news. Combo is Fn+F.
Now you need small usb stick.

Found an actual 2GB stick, formatted FAT16, put BIOS.FD on it, still the same short flash with Fn+F or Win+F. I think this board may just be fubar until I take it apart and see if I can flash the chip manually.

[parkerlreed]

If this helps at all, a friend sent me his dmidecode from a C55T http://ix.io/EbG

[DeathBringer]

Name must be "bios.fd" for your BIOS. You can find this name in PcdPeim module.
Try clean & format USB stick by Windows diskpart.
Found the instruction for other Toshiba laptop:

Reflash for INSYDE BIOS.

Using a separate computer if necessary perform the following:

1) Download your notebook model's BIOS "*.exe" file from the Support section. Mine was: slm0v150.exe
2) Extract the files from the "*.exe" file.
3) Locate the file that ends with ".fd", this is your actual BIOS file.
*(for different brand BIOS's the file may have a different extension such as .rom or .bin)
4) Rename your BIOS file to: "BIOS.fd" without the quotations.
5) Format a USB Flash Drive to (FAT or FAT32) file system.
6) Copy your newly named "BIOS.fd" file to the root directory of the Flash Drive. (Not inside any folders)

On the corrupt computer perform the following:

7) Remove the Battery, AC Adapter, and Hard Drive.
8) Plug the Flash Drive with your "BIOS.fd" file on it into any USB port.
9) While holding the Fn and F key on your keyboard:
a) Plug the AC adapter into your computer.
b) Hold the Power button until the computer turns on.
c) Release the Power button and both keys once you hear the fan turn on.
10) Observe your Flash Drive's LED's blinking, wait until your computer turns off and remove the Flash Drive.
11) Replace Battery and Hard Drive.
12) You're computer should be all set!

[parkerlreed]

Name must be "bios.fd" for your BIOS. You can find this name in PcdPeim module.
Try clean & format USB stick by Windows diskpart.
Found the instruction for other Toshiba laptop:

Reflash for INSYDE BIOS.

Using a separate computer if necessary perform the following:

1) Download your notebook model's BIOS "*.exe" file from the Support section. Mine was: slm0v150.exe
2) Extract the files from the "*.exe" file.
3) Locate the file that ends with ".fd", this is your actual BIOS file.
*(for different brand BIOS's the file may have a different extension such as .rom or .bin)
4) Rename your BIOS file to: "BIOS.fd" without the quotations.
5) Format a USB Flash Drive to (FAT or FAT32) file system.
6) Copy your newly named "BIOS.fd" file to the root directory of the Flash Drive. (Not inside any folders)

On the corrupt computer perform the following:

7) Remove the Battery, AC Adapter, and Hard Drive.
8) Plug the Flash Drive with your "BIOS.fd" file on it into any USB port.
9) While holding the Fn and F key on your keyboard:
a) Plug the AC adapter into your computer.
b) Hold the Power button until the computer turns on.
c) Release the Power button and both keys once you hear the fan turn on.
10) Observe your Flash Drive's LED's blinking, wait until your computer turns off and remove the Flash Drive.
11) Replace Battery and Hard Drive.
12) You're computer should be all set!

It's the damnedest thing. Nothing seems to work. I called Toshiba in the off chance they could provide any help. They "confirmed" that that procedure I have been trying is correct but couldn't offer any help. Offered to transfer me to a service rep to have it sent in and repaired. I guess it's time to take this bad boy apart and see if I can flash it manually.

[DeathBringer]

Try create partitionless USB disk with no partition table and a FAT32 filesystem directly on the disk, sometimes called a "superfloppy".

[parkerlreed]

Try create partitionless USB disk with no partition table and a FAT32 filesystem directly on the disk, sometimes called a "superfloppy".

Same behavior. I wonder if that -ALL might have messed up the recovery portion of the BIOS. Thanks for the help. Might shelve this for bit.