M17x R4, bricked bios (svl7 a10)

when I tried to change the vram on my igpu it restarted my pc and I get a black screen with fans running and it turn off and restarts and turns off I figured I needed to do a blind flash but evertime I do it it turns on fans running a max speed it doesn’t beep but when I first turnt it on the usb led flash for a second and never flashed again. Is my Mobo bricked or do I need to try a different bios version or do I need to just leave my pc on until it turns off by itself ? I have a M17x r4

 

You could try a different bios version. Did you try removing the cmos battery?

 

Yes

 

I’m trying to use a08 and when I removed the CMOS battery and turn it on without the battery it doesn’t beep

 

You are supposed to press the power button with no power or battery connected, to drain the NVRam. Then put it back and try with power.

 

I did I was just testing it and it wasn’t beeping at all even after I drained the nvram it would beep after I put the battery back in and turned it on

 

That sucks, the only hope is to get the blind flash to run, I guess you make sure the only file on the USB is the bios file. Kinda out of ideas now...

 

Which version because I have the a10 unlocked version already on the pc but it bricked my pc

 

You're trying to overwrite it with a stock version and the recommendation is that you use the same version level or higher. Never attempt a downgrade, this appears to have destroyed some motherboards.
If you can't get the blind flash to trigger then the MB is trashed I'm afraid .

 

When I took the cpu out it beeped 7 times next I took the ram out and it beeped twice and when I took the CMOS battery and did a power drain it was supposed to beep but it didn’t the computer turned on with fans and the pc shut off by itself

 

The cause of this issue is when I changed the intel dvmt settings to 512 and 1gb and after I saved the settings the pc just shut off and now we are here with a brick I assume

 

try this to reset your bios completely to default with laptop's battery removed and charger plugged out...this is the best way to reset your bios settings back to default

 

I left it all last night and how do I short the CMOS contacts on the m17x r4 and the pins look different from the picture

 

like u did before ...i showed u this picture before and explained each n every step to you ...your laptop's cmos cell settings is like the bottom picture so you need a tweezer to touch two contacts as shown in picture to short them

 

The first time I’ve flashed the bios and it worked and this time the flash and CMOS reset isn’t working I never shorted the contacts before and I don’t know where they are located

 

just like this and the picture of cmos battery is attached too :

 

Do I short the big pin in the middle where the CMOS battery is after it is removed?

 

https://twitter.com/benc1287/status/942166080000282625

I don’t see any pins on my CMOS battery compartment could you show me where they are located?

 

short these two points together with the tweezer ..thats it

 

I hear no beeps or nothing and it keeps doing this https://twitter.com/benc1287/status/942175508527243264

 

looks like u didnt short the cmos properly..give it another try

 

I did and it didn’t work and it did the same thing as in the video with no beep because I took out the CMOS battery and put it back in

Everytime I take out a component it beeps like the cpu I took it out it beeped 7 times and I put it back in and next I took out the ram it beeped twice and I put it back in and i took out the CMOS battery I didn’t beeped at all and it shut itself off

 

I am not sure if since like 2010th resetting CMOS would reset anything in BIOS aside of NVRAM portion of it.

Everyone should have a BIOS backup of his laptop. This one is done in a minute with small tool like univrrsal bios backup or like one. In that case you would be able to restore it with programmer, clips and hex edit.

Preferably to have bios chip dump which wiuld take disassembling laptop while it's still working.

As for your case, either ask somebody for full bios dump of your model and flash it with 5$ programmer or let it for Repair Center.

P.S. I wouldn't name your topic like that. BIOS was flashed and working. It's changing settings did that and you were warned about possibility of bricking.

 

No it’s not working I’ve changed a Intel dvmt in my pc and it bricked it

 

It's not svl'smod that doesn't work. He just let you change what was hidden by manufacturer and the result was predefied with manufacturers bios which is the base.
I once bricked it the same way you did (Disabled hyperthreading which also shouldn't have bricked it and all blame went to VAIO for programming such BIOS. Since then I was learn't to always have a backup of BIOS. Some people could take your backed up 2-4MB part of bios, full bios dump and create a flashable working dump for programmer.

 

Where do I get s bios dump and what is a books dump? Is it attainable through the dell website?

 

Not directly, but they're embedded within the flash files they do provide.

No need to trouble yourself though; already made flashable binaries A11, A12 and A13 for the R4 some time ago. Several users have successfully used these to recover their systems. You can read up further on in that owner's thread for pointers and a nice guide by @jimmy_grimble .

 

I have the same issue as the guy in that thread I changed the vram memory to 512mb to 1gb then my computer just got bricked and I may just buy a new motherboard and never use a unlocked bios because I don’t need it to run my 970m in Optimus mode anyway. But before I buy. New Mobo what is the bios chip model number and do I Also need a ec chip as well if I want to go the cheaper but more advanced route?

 

Check the 'U**' numbers in the owner's thread linked before. Pen down the scribbles on the chips and report back. There's often a few different motherboard revisions for each laptop model, so you can't be 100% certain they're using the same numbers for the same chips.

And you don't need to buy any new chips. All you need is a programmer and soldering iron, the existing bios and ec eeproms can both be reflashed with those stock binaries. The vram setting is likely part of the bios, so try that first and if that doesn't work then it's the ec you need to reflash. Might also do both, just to be safe and not risk having to re-assemble twice.

 

The bios chip is U48 and the number is
25L6406E and what is ec eeproms?

 

I found the u48 and u36 chips on my motherboard and I’m about to order the usb programmer with test clip and may I ask, do I have to desolder anything? and what usb programmer and test clip do I need to use because I don’t want to desolder anything because I might mess it up when I put it back

WIll this test clip work? https://www.amazon.com/OctagonStar-SOIC8-Socket-Adpter-Programmer/dp/B01M8G1GJ2

And will this usb programmer work?
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B014...programmer&dpPl=1&dpID=51Npl5-bU5L&ref=plSrch

 

I bought test clip from eBay for 2$ or so. Programmer CH341A for 3$ or so.5$ total. But check compatibility of programmer with your bios chip. also sometime clips don't work on every notebook.

 

It said it was compatible with my chip but what software and drivers do I need for it? I have windows 10

 

I have drivers and software for ch341a for win7.

 

So I would have to downgrade back to windows 7?

On the motherboard I see
U36: Windbond 25X20BVNIG
U48: mxic mx25l6406e
U604: Windbond 25Q80BVSIG

Which chips do I hook the test clip to and program the bios and which chips are the bios and ec ?

 

U48 is indeed the bios and U36 contains the ec (embedded controller). U604 might be the vbios for the igpu or lan firmware. You could attach the clip and read it out (to satisfy our curiosity?). It's not the me, at least, this being stored along with the bios on the same chip.

Your ec eeprom is only 2Mbit; read '20' as '02' and '80' as '08'. The ec binary in the 7z file is 1Mbyte, but you can safely use it to write to the chip. The rest is just padding in case a particular motherboard revision uses a more beefy 8Mb chip.

Remember that the first thing is to read them out. Do this twice and run a hex compare between the files; if the programmer does not support this chip or uses incorrect control signals then it'll still happily read or write, but it'd return or write corrupted data. If both dumps are identical then you're good to proceed with wiping them (zero'ing) and then write the binaries. Do another read after this and compare it to the file you've written; if it's still all good then the laptop's back in business.

 

1. Don't you have any computer at home with windows 7? Maybe it does work with 10, I don't know. How soon you need these software to be uploaded?

2. After you backup (read and save) current dum you can open the dump to write and press Auto (it erases and writes nee file)
I would read and save twice and then compare these 2 files checksums (there is a tool to intrgrate checksum cslculation into explorer) because it can fail to read on some parts if bios when incompatibility happens.

 

My desktop has windows 7 and I need the drivers and software tomorrow

 

If you managed to already get this CH341A programmer then here is a software with drivers.
Also I hope you found the proper BIOS chip image to recover the notebook.
https://mega.nz/#!YBogRKwI!szjL-rQ_z8ltFl-TWr8Ww4iFVyTaTmRWx9dBq6TRDN4

 

This is where I get the ec and bios files from and can I use these images?

But if my bios is currupted do I have to still read and save twice? Or can I just erase the chip completely?

 

The golden rule of flashing any chip: Always make a backup first. No exeptions. In your case perhaps it is even possible to compile a working BIOS out of dump.

Saving "twice" is just a preemptive measure for mistake-proof operation. That will take extra 15 seconds, no more, including comparison providing you have HashTab already installed.

Can't help with what image to flash on the chip. Never had this model.

 

When I download hashtab both files that I saved I should compare those 2 to see if any values changed and what will happen if any volume changeds of the 2 after I compared?

 

That's what the link in my first post was for .

 

Well once my test clip and usb programmer comes it I just need to use u48 and u36 correct? And read and save the files twice then compare to see if the values remain the same?

 

Exactly .

 

You can even test yourself with comparison of 2 any files and one duplicated file

Good luck with recovery.

 

When I plug the test clip to the chip it won’t detect my chip

 

Then either you need to desolder first or select the type manually (assuming the id is actually in its lookup list). Proper connection with a clip is also finicky business; keep it squeezed to the chip and run the detect again.

 

It will not detect your chip. You should manually set Manufacturer and chip model. There is a search chip option where you would just paste first few digits and it would show you every supported chip from every manufacturer which fits search(25L64...).

IMPORTANT: Use USB port from the back of your PC because USB hub may provide less voltage than 5V.

 

Hi folks,

trying to revive a M17x r4 which got bricked and won't do anything now.

Question: is it enough to disassemble the device to the point when I can access the two chips or is it vital to strip everything off the board (CPU, RAM, connectors etc.) to get this method here working?

Thanks