Yoga 2 Pro Went DEAD After BIOS Update

Question

Had a horrible experience .. with good ending ... when upgrading Bios for my Yoga 2 Pro. So I'd like to share with others. I bought my Yoga 2 Pro last June (Man 3/22/14) and love it! But, it had problem restarting automatically after Windows Update. At least 3 times (That I can recall. Did not use it briefly from June 30 - July 22), the screen reminding user not to shutdown after Windows the update would stay on until I manually powered it down and restarted it. Last July 23, it did again after Windows Update. Searched Lenovo web-site and found a Bios Update for Yoga 2 Pro (Win 8.1 64-bit). Downloaded the new Bios (dated July 11, 2014) and went through the instruction striclty. First of, the screen responses were not at all as detailed in the instruction. So, the instruction is not very good.  Received 2 warnings: Make sure the laptop is connected to the charger during the procedure, and the bios is for Yoga 2 Pro ONLY do not install it on any other models. As part fo the procedure, the laptop switched to a Bios Utility program. Again received the aforementioned warnings. Update progress was shown on the screen. All of a sudden, then screen went blank and the keyboard stayed lit. Waited for about 30 minutes. Still the same. Press and held the power button down (not sure for how long)  ... nothing!   Just no response from the latop.  Called Tech support. She (the tech support lady) said that ... it is not recommended for user to go through the BIOS upgrade! What?  Then why post it on Lenovo.com? She also said that I should not have downloaded software from the internet and upgrade, especially for BIOS. Well, I told her that I did not download the program from ANY web-site, I downloaded it from LENOVO.com. She said further that looks like the BIOS update had damaged my mother-board, there is a problem with Win 8 & 8.1, and because it was my own doing ... the damage would not be covered by the warranty!  Considering the circumstance, Lenovo would waiver the initial $99 fee to assess the damage, but I would have to pay for any repair costs. In any case, I was so fumed at Lenove Tech Support responses that I hung up. close my laptop and put it aside. Almost 24 hours later, when the battery drained completely, I connected the laptop to the charger, press the power button to turn it on ... and ... to my surprise, the laptop booted and everything came back normal! The last (7/25) auto restart seemed to go well. Not sure if the auto restart problem is fixed with the new BIOS, but it seems to be. Time will tell.

Answer 1

Thank you for your posting.  I searched the net when I ran into the problem, but could not find any help.  Obviously, my search was not exhaustive. I was trying to make the following:    a.  Lenov should be more specific in their BIOS update instruction.  Their instruction was ... far ... far from reality.      b.  Lenovo tech assistance was ... not much help.  After listening to the description of my prolem, the tech lady immediately said that the operation must have damaged the mother-board, and that the operation is not ... recommended.  No guidance on draining the battery a or how to restart the machine, etc...  What I received was confusing that caused more panic!   As a note, I had done BIOS upgrade on DELL PC/laptop before w/o any problem.  I fully understand the implication of a BIOS upgrade, but trusted that manufacturer fully tested whatever that they post in their web-site.  Oh well, live ... and learn!  All in all, the Yoga 2 Pro is a great machine and I love it!  Hope that anyone who runs into the same problem will be able to get the needed help in time! Cheers,