BIOS seems to be broken and won't boot into anything

I have a Samsung NP300E4C laptop (AFAIK it has a Phoenix BIOS), it had Windows 7 installed, and I attempted to install Fedora on it.

I knew that Fedora would probably mess Window's boot. However, after the installation, the computer simply won't go past POST, it will shutdown and restart after 2 seconds, on a loop. It won't let me access the configuration screen F2 nor the recovery screen F4, even though it shows that it did recognize the keys being pressed (the POST screen shows "please wait..." when you press them). I can access the boot menu with F10, but both the Boot Menu and the App Menu are empty.

I have tried resetting the BIOS through the pins next to the RAM (AFAIK, it did do something, as the only item in the Boot Menu (Fedora) prior to that is now gone, leaving the list fully empty as it is now), sticking an USB drive, a DVD drive, and disconnecting the HDD. None have really made any difference besides the BIOS reset.

I have read that these models seem to have these kind of problems, though I haven't found a solution specifically to my case. I feel like there's got to be something wrong with the BIOS itself if it won't let me configure it even without an HDD.

UPDATE: Booting to an USB was possible by pressing F9. Thanks to harrymc's answer for the links to make custom USB images. After reinstalling Windows from an USB, the BIOS still doesn't work.

FIXED: Check this answer for links to the official BIOS update. In order run it in a Windows enviroment I had to use a live Windows USB, also the application needs to be connected to the Internet to download the drivers and then run them, so I also had to bring the wireless drivers; make sure you have them or have an wired connection. It didn't exactly update the BIOS, since I think it was the latest version, but I guess it reinstalled them, and after that I was able to boot normally. Thanks everyone!

3 Answers

Your BIOS seems to be very damaged, so needs to be re-flashed.

As the boot menu still works, the idea is to create a boot media in order to flash the BIOS.

I have not managed to find such media on the Phoenix website. If someone knows about such boot media, please put up an answer. In the meantime, here is my idea about creating it.

1. Create a DOS boot media. See the How-To Greek articleHow to Create a Bootable DOS USB Drive
2. Copy a Phoenix BIOS Flasher to this media. You may find one on the website ofWims BIOS.
3. Boot from the media and flash the BIOS.
4. If this fails, going to a repair-shop might be the next step (although perhaps too costly for an old computer).

The Wims BIOS website has also Windows graphical versions of the flasher. You will need a Windows-to-go boot media, which you may create as described in the post
Is it possible to put a full installation of Windows 10 on a USB flash drive?

@Harrymc per your request:

Series 3 Notebook NP300E4C

Firmware MAR 06,2012 | ver 1.0.0.3 | 2.12 MB

Trouble shooting guide
English

Source page:

There is also a software panel above this link which includes:
Recovery Solution, Version 5.0.2.7, SEP 20,2012, 104.94 MB
Recovery Solution, Version 5.0.2.4, MAR 09,2012, 104.95 MB

Remove the power cord and battery, disconnect the hard drive, open the laptop and disconnect the cmos battery for 15 minutes, connect cmos battery back and plug in power cord only, see if you can get into the bios, if you can set the date and time before continuing.

Some models require complete disassembly before the cmos battery can be accessed, but may be your only chance to resurrect it.