G74SX in-circuit reprogram of BIOS SPI

Hi again!

Just letting you know i'm typing this from my fixed asus g74sx using sir robin's method.
It took me 1month and a half but i finally did it!
I came across many problems along the way.
At first the bus pirate wasn't recognised by my computer - turned out to be a faulty mini-usb cable.
Then i couldn't get flashrom to detect the bios - tried updating firmware of bus pirate - no luck.
Then figured out to be due to the SOIC-8 clip wires being soldering in the wrong positions! So bought a new one with detachable cables.
Then flashrom still couldn't recognise the bios chip - so I disconnected the AC + battery, and connected Vcc to 3V3, and.....it detected!
Then i used flashrom to read the bios chip...ok so far
Then i used flashrom to write the bios chip but it failed to verify - so i tried it once more and.......now my laptop works!!

I used the file Raul sent me to write to the bios.
Thanks so much, its been tough, but i'm finally there

In summary, the connections you need are:
-The four signals mentioned by sir robin (CS, CLK, MISO, MOSI) - connect to their counterparts
-Ground to Ground
-Vcc to 3V3
-Disconnect AC + battery

Hope this helps someone in the future,
Nabs

 

when you connected the 4 signal pins from the parallel port which sends TTL signals to the flash chip, did you consider the 5v from the signal pins could damage the chipset still connected to the Flash chip? The chipset has a max tolerance of 3.3v for the SPI_CLK, SPI_CS0, SPI_SI, SPI_SO pins.


I'm considering using your method but I'm just worried it might damage the chipset, or am I missing something regarding parallel port signal voltages?

 

From: Bus Pirate I/O Pin Descriptions - DP

"All bus pins output at 3.3volts, but tolerate up to 5volts (5.5volts maximum)."
So...you have nothing to worry about

Good luck with it!

 

I just finished reviving my laptop (IdeaPad Y460P).

I used spipgm and built my programmer connected to the parallel port. I disassembled my laptop, but I never de-soldered the BIOS chip off it. I just removed the connection of the chip's ground pin (#4) from the board's GND. This is to avoid any chance of damaging the motherboard or any of its component, if I didn't de-soldered the chip's GND then the external power source would be powering the 3.3v rail of the laptop. And this could lead to unpredictable results.

I don't have a soic test clip, what I did was I soldered wires from the programmer to the test points/dots connected to 5 of the chip's legs (MISO, MOSI, CLK, CS, VCC) then I just attached the GND wire directly to the chip's GND pin which was de-soldered from the board.

Most of the laptops nowadays have BIOS chips connected directly to the chipset through the SPI bus. This bus is not shared with any other component/device in the board, so there won't be any conflcts or reliability issues.

Just posting this for other users looking to repair their laptops without access to a soic test clip and have good enough soldering skills.

 

I resolved the prior issue I had mods, so no more talk of BIOS recovery for password-related issues from me I RMA'd the laptop to ASUS, not sure why the BIOS had that wonky password issue...

Any who, my RMA return lasted only 2 hours before going into an infinite reboot loop of 5s on, 5s off, 5s on... etc. I RMA'd again, got it back right after new years and to my dismay, it came to me with BIOS v201. I setup a fat32 usb stick, flashed the 203 rom, and ironically... it's completely dead!!

Knowing my laptop was going out for RMA #3, and that it'd be another week or so turn around time, I decided I needed another hobby. I have a BUS Pirate and bus pirate probe kit coming in the mail within the next few days and I am going to take a crack at fixing it myself. It'll be like a laptop disassemble for cleaning + rom OCing in one.

I plan on taking out the motherboard completely and flashing on a counter top and using the BUS Pirate's 3.3v because I'd prefer not to cut a hole in the laptop... This is in case I fail to revive the laptop then at least I can RMA it still. I have 2 weeks left on the warranty, I have already disassembled the laptop for dust removal before so motherboard removal for BIOS reprogramming isn't too much worse...

Wish me luck. Thanks to Sir Robin and everyone else who has contributed to this thread!! I will post up when I (hopefully) succeeded.

 

I am happy to report that my G74Sx is back to life! Thank you Sir Robin for being so detailed in your posts.

Sir Robin, I noticed in your earlier posts you mentioned being unsure where the Serial Number lies in the flash. After recovering with some one else's BIOS, I noticed that ASUS pad's their BIOS updates with ÿ's and I guess that is character used when padding a BIOS File. The ÿ means to not overwrite data perhaps, because the spot where the serial resides in my BIOS rip is ÿ's in the ASUS BIOS flash. The serial can be reprogrammed within the 2.5MB section of the rom that you can flash via normal methods (easyflash, usb bootable winflash, etc.)

I am in the process of figuring out how to put my serial back into the BIOS. I used some1's reconstructed file, before realizing the ramifications. My serial doesn't not get identified properly using the wmic bios get serialnumber command. Oh well, my G74Sx is back to life and that is the most important thing!!

Thank you to all who helped. Ciao

 

Congrats mate

Out of curiosity, did you power the motherboard with the AC power adapter, or only using the bus pirate's 3.3V like i did?

Its nice to hear more success stories

 

I just bought a G74SX off ebay... Within the first hour I have bricked this unit going from 201 to 203. Im sick.


Manually repairing this thing myself seems way out of my skillset. Would anyone be interested in repairing this for me? I'd be willing to pay. I live in the Vancouver BC area.

Please help


Why would Asus allow this. What garbage.

 

Chastity stated that a bad flash was covered under warranty. Depending on it's manufacturing date, your G74 could still be under warranty, call Asus and check if you can RMA it.

 

Yea I phoned and they told me it was no longer covered. I also got a pre-quote for fixing it and they told me they will probably charge 222$ for this service.

Personally I don't feel at fault for this damage. This is an update that is supplied by the manufacturer with no documentation or even warning included in the download. I simply used the built in bios update function from within the bios and just searched the file that I downloaded from the site. Considering how many people have fallen into this trap, you would think they would take more proactive steps on preventing this disaster.

Total cost so far is 75$ for shipping + 222$ (unless they revise the quote) plus return shipping. This could end up being a 400$ tab when all said and done. Pretty awful considering I paid 790 for the whole unit.

My wife is a lawyer and she says there is reasonable grounds to believe I could be compensated in small claims. I plan on following through on that.

 

Contact Asus Customer Care at 510-739-3777 M-F 9-5 PST. They should be able to assist you better since it's a bad flash situation. It sounds like the quote is involving a mobo replacement, plus the obligatory $65 labor fee + shipping. The CSC team has some flexibility involving OOW fees. When was the G74 purchased?

 

Hey there,


That phone number only gives 3 options:

1 - to call another number for notebook support (the number I had already used - 888.678.3688)
2 - to call another number for peripheral and mobo support
3 - to enter an extension for the person you wish to reach.

And that's all the menu offers.

As I said before, I bought this item from an online retailer, just last week. I went straight to the ROG site, pulled up the G74SX downloads and began systematically doing the updates. I have worked as a computer tech for many years and performed numerous bios updates and never have had this happen. Asus should receive my laptop and get back to me tomorrow or Monday. Hopefully they make this right. I'm skeptical, but we'll see.

 

Heh, they changed the menu. I suppose hitting 0 for the receptionist should still work.

 

Can you send me the reconstructed file? please i bricked my asus g74sx my email is [email protected] THANK'S

 

Can you send me the reconstructed file? please i bricked my asus g74sx my email is [email protected] THANK'S

 

It's probably best off sending someone a PM (make a few constructive posts around the forum) rather than bumping a thread with an identical post.

 

Hi to everyone on this forum.

I have read this thread..and i am amazed how you try to fix this bios problem with the g74sx.
I want your opinion about my problem..i konw its going to sound extrange, but its pure reality.

I was using my laptop normally...thenn...y restart the notebok...and get into the BIOS. So i activated the INTEL-VX option and the intel speedstep , becuase i was thinking to make some lab test with vmware..... then...i save the changes...and NEVER wake up again.

No post..nothing. Only 3 lights...and shutdown again...
If i connect to the power supply, the notebook begins to loop in a start/shutdown process...but never really post.

Do you have any suggestion ?.. I have the willem eprom programmer pbc 5.0 . and i am not sure how to use it

Thanxz for your help un advance !

 

Have you tried to disconnect the cmos battery (with all other power sources disconnected) to reset the bios settings?

 

hi Can someone send me the reconstructed file of the asus G74 i get one with bad bios file? please my email is [email protected]


i have bios for g53jw,sw,sx g73jh,jw,sw and much more other laptops than can share with that person than can help me
THANK'S!!

 

yea meaker...it was the first thing i do.
It a really extrange behavior.

 

Well if you want to manually program the chip you have to remove it from the PCB or find a JTAG interface on the board itself.

 

Necrobump from hell, I know.

If anyone still lurks and has the full 4MB image, would you mind sending me a copy?

Had my chip completely erased before I knew that BIOS updates 201, 202, and 203 were just that, UPDATES. Not at all replacements as with Eee PCs.

[email protected]

 

HTML:

Do you still have that 4MB file? I'm trying to do the same thing on my G74Sx, but out of 5 dumps, I've gotten 5 different results. Not sure where to turn next...

 

Yes of course, send me your email, and I will send you the 4mb file, I have both, the Original one and the updated one, I'll send you both.

 

Thanks for the offer, but I managed to get a good dump. I was neglecting to connect the wp, hold and cs pins to power.

That said, at one point I was trying to get a dump - I had the chip soldered in and had the bus pirate attached. Suddenly there was no more 3.3v from the motherboard. I ended up pulling the chip and got my dumps, but after putting the chip back in - there's no power at all.

The RT8206a power supply IC is getting really hot, and I can't see any solder bridges or shorts anywhere. I ordered a replacement, but I'm afraid that it might not be the problem. Anyone have any other ideas of what to check?

Also, does anyone happen to know the bios chip orientation on the motherboard? I'm pretty sure I had it right, but I just wanted to make sure. Pin 1 (cs) was on the side nearest the edge of the board, correct?

 

You know what - I'll still take a copy of that file, I should make sure mine came out alright. I'll PM my email addy, thanks!

EDIT: Nevermind, can't seem to PM. My email is my forum username @gmail.com.

 

Yeah you need 5 posts to pm I believe.

 

Can somebody email me an updated file for BIOS. I bricked my G74sx and now trying to reload the BIOS with Sir Robin method and if anybody still have the file please email it to me to [email protected]
really appreciate it

 

The Asus servers are not down as far as I can tell:

ROG - G74SX - ASUS

 

Wonderful thread.

Thank for sharing, I managed to revived an ASUS UL20FT.

Sir Robin info and user 0n1s4c screenshots makes it a lot easier

Got it right on first attempt using HxD and MiniPro TL866 EEPROM programmer

 

Nice This is why keeping track if you have an issue or find something is always good.

 

Sir robin

Hi nice getting to know you. maybe you can help me , I got an asus G75VW from a friend which didn't post at all. Corrupted bios issue. I got an eeprom programmer but the big issue was I couldn't find anywhere the whole 8mb full bios dump to flash properly the bios.
I could only get a bios from a guy who had a G75VX and I went ahead and tried flashing it. To my surprise the lap turned on and posted fine. Now. I'm doubting this full dump is fine for the G75VW . I tried installing win7 from usb, and it only gets to windows logo and stucks there.
I know you've been dealing and fiddling around with the ME bios section and hex editing. If I could only understand how to hex edit and build a full 8mb dump( knowing which offset to paste the asus bios file inside the full dump, and erase segments which are corrupted.. I need to understand where is the EC + ME region offset.. ) If you can help me out guiding me maybe I can leave this machine working fine.
Firstly if you have the full 8mb bios dump for G75VW and you can attach it here or send me a link that would be great.
Secondly if you do have knowledge how to link the Bios which from Asus site it's only 6mb with the 2mb missing portion , which I suspect contains ME region + Vbios and EC firmware and you can guide me a bit or explain me how to build it I would be more than thankful.
I tried comparing the Bios dump I had from the corrupted G75VW and trying to check different offsets in hex to set where the 6mb would start and what would be the rest 2mb mising but It's hard to find a pattern.
Anyways thanks and sorry If I bothered! Keep up with the good work

These are 2 links

According to my calculations the Asus BIOS ROM should be pasted at offset 1FF800 but I checked the Asus Rom image and there's some more data which differs.. strange



1) Corrupted full dump image 8mb

http://www.mediafire.com/download/vyfz9khv61xvls0/G75vw_full_dump_8mb_corrupted.bin

2) Asus Bios segment 2mb

http://www.mediafire.com/download/oax7iskifk2e7rr/G75VWAS222.zip


View attachment 123045

 

Just a tip from my side, try to directly contact asus support and tell them you have a broken bios chip. Tell them the model and serial number and that you have enough knowledge to replace the chip yourself. If you are lucky they will send you a new chip for free (or a small fee).

 

You could ask them for the full dump too.

 

Hi daaudio,

I'm having a problem like yours. I need to reprogram a bios chip for an asus laptop. The chip size is 8MB, but the bios image file from the official site is just 6MB. Did you finally find a solution? Have you get in touch with asus?

I hope you had luck.


Regards

 

Hi, all!

I've got a bricked G74SX that I'm trying to revive via Sir Robin's method. The bios was originally 2.0.1 but I can't find a BIOS update file for that version on the Asus website, and I don't have access to a driver CD (I bought the unit used, it did not include a CD).

For some reason, the instructions (post #8 of this thread) require merging the lower BIOS memory block with the update file to the machine's original version to build the reconstructed BIOS image. (I was trying to update to v2.0.3 when the disaster occurred )

Anyone have a copy of the v2.0.1 update file they can zip to me, please?

Thanks!
David

 

Long time ago I bought a bricked G73jh. Finally today I had some time and would have fixed it.
Already had a EZP2010 with some cheap SOIC8 clip. Found the bios chip SST25VF032B. The programmer found the chip only if power brick was connected.
Read and dump it into a 4MB file. Merged the 204-Update file at offset 0x20000. Finally write this into the chip.
Notebook alive. ;-)

Late thx to Sir Robin

 

On this (nearly) 5 year anniversary, I wanted to drop by, and offer my
congratulations to all who have restored their systems!
Great job everyone!

I would also like to thank all of the terrific people, who have expanded on the
technique, wrote guides and have helped others repair their laptops!
You know who you are, and you all deserve a big round of applause!

To any I left hanging, I apologize. My profession has a tendency of
doing that, despite my best intentions. I am very happy to see that
others were able to take up the torch. I can not promise I will be able
to help in the future, but when I can, I will.

P.S. My G74SX is still going strong. I use it regularly. It is a beast!

Sir Robin

 

Hello everyone
I´m looking for help with my N552VX. My backlit keyboard does not flash up in boot and of course does not works in Windows either. I tested with an external battery and works. And as you supect the Gary fix doesn´t works in my notebook. So could I flash the BIOS with an external programmer using the last BIOS from ASUS, because the format is N552VX.300 and I don´t know if the programmer could read it and flash it on the chip that is a W25Q64FV. How could I fix the dammed keyboard.
I have anCh341A programmer and a soic8 sop8 clip.
Thank you and apologies for my english.

 

Hi Optimus1358,

Your problem sounds similar to the one that plagues G73, G74 owners, but
it has been years since Asus released those models. I would expect
Asus to have fixed that bug by now? Then again

Here is the thread, where that problem was discussed:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/g74sx-keyboard-backlight-disabled.659017/

If it truly is the same problem, the fix is actually quite simple. The key is finding someone,
who has the same model, who's keyboard back-light is still working. Ask them to give
you a backup of their BIOS (using one of the tools mentioned in that thread, or via
Asus's update tool, if the option exists). They do not need to give you a complete
BIOS image (as is needed for the BIOS reconstruction trick). They only need to
give you the equivalent of what Asus provides, for performing updates. In the case
of the G74SX, that update file consisted of the last 2.5MB of a 4MB BIOS image. The first
1.5MB was setup by ASUS, at the factory, and was not changed during updates.

It appears that Asus sets a variable in the "update-able" region of the BIOS, which tells
the OS how to support the back-light. If that variable gets corrupted, the back-light will
stop working. At least with the G74SX, Asus's update file(s) did not repair this variable.
So updating did not fix the problem. Only a snapshot of a working BIOS, with the variable
in it's correct state, cured the problem.

Good luck,

Sir Robin

 

Here is some additional info, that may be helpful:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/g73jh-bios-chip-replacement.668404/

 

Hey guys. I think I just double-bricked my G74SX. I used a JLink to reprogram and I think I was doing something wrong... not sure what yet. ( http://forum.segger.com/index.php?page=Thread&postID=14723#post14723).

If anyone has a reconstructed image, could you please forward it my way.


Thanks!

 

Nevermind, had the wires crossed, after that it was easy.