Dead Satellite A500-1GP after unintended Bios update

Hi everybody,
A friend of mine bought a new toshiba Satellite A500-1GP laptop a month ago. Windows 7 pro 64bit preinstalled.
Also preinstalled: toshiba support software which - properly configured - automatically searches for and installs critical patches and updates.
Last sunday this wonderful piece of software recomended a "critical update" to my friend - she is no expert but an experienced user who can tell the difference between a bios update (and avoid that!) and a security patch she agreed to download and install what she believed to be a security update.
Of course she gave permission to a bios update being installed. During the update process the machine froze completely. She waited for three hours and then pulled the plug. Guess what: the machine is now completely defunct. No lights no display no fan, simply nothing.
Toshiba support hotline told her that her two weeks old laptop is not under warranty because that warranty does not cover "software problems" and Bios updates are software updates.
The repair company says a repair will most likely equal to buying a new laptop so here we are...
My questions:
1) the laptop is a Satellite A500-1GP (PSAR9E-01M00QGR) with a phoenix UEFI bios (the toshiba/phoenix bios update tool 1.1.26 is pretty radical - no warnings at all !!! it even tried to update my dell laptop as well, lucky me!).
I have found some posts regarding older machines which can be reflashed by using an usb-floppy, a dos bios rescue disk and a key-combination (Fn+B or Fn+F...). is there a way to do that with an UEFI bios too ?
2) Does anybody out there have the same problem ?
3) Any chance to get toshiba to help us with that issue and prevent others making the same mistake by at least include some sort of warning into their bios updates ?
thanks for your help !
tony

> The repair company says a repair will most likely equal to buying a new laptop so here we are...
I doubt this
I think the BIOS ROM module was not flashed correctly (who knows why) and therefore you cannot boot the notebook.
This can happen due to different reasons maybe the update process has been interrupted due to a process running in the background, etc
In order to solve this issue, the ROM module should be flashed again using an special BIOS crisis disk... that's all.
The BIOS update is always a sensible procedure but if everything has been made correctly, then the BIOS update should finish successfully.
I found this very interesting and useful Toshiba doc and HowTo update the BIOS correctly!
http://forums.computers.toshiba-europe.com/forums/ann.jspa?annID=60
I recommend to get in contact with an local ASP (Toshiba authorized service partner) in your country. The guys will help you!
Here you can find all ASPs worldwide:
http://eu.computers.toshiba-europe.com -> Support & Downloads -> Locate a Authorised Service partner
Good luck

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