Flashing lenovo BIOS

[pcjunkyard]

Awesome post, wanna add to it of what to do if u have a new chip and no backup? Attempting a repair on a lenovo legion T5-26amr5, new to all this but very capable, the bios files lenovo releases are exe files when extracted u get 2 roms 16mb and a bin file thats like 17kb if i recall, what steps must I take to get this thing up n running? Thanks in advanced

Guide: Flashing with a hardware programmer

Lets get physical So; you tried flashing your GPU and you didn't backup. Now you have some dude on the forum linking you a BIOS but you have no way to apply it because you don't have a spare GPU either. Well no worries friend. In this guide we are going to cover the simple procedures of...

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[Solaris17]

Thats tough. It really depends on how the rom is delivered. In some cases they are compressed, encrypted or otherwise encoded.

Some however are flat. There are too many variations of packing bins to really cover all the ways you can tell if its flat or not.

In this case, you would just flash the chip likely with the 16mb rom and simply boot it to see if it works. Otherwise the fastest way to get the machine running again would be to dump it from another chip, then flash that executable to make sure its upto date after you get into an OS.

The smaller file is likely a configuration or partition rom. Intel ME comes to mind but those are usually also large and there are other partitions like FDT that it could also flash.

Short answer: your just going to have to try it. Its not like you will break it since you have the tool.

EDIT:: Additionally as for getting a dump from another chip. Dont exclude ebay or whatever your local marketplace is. Buying a board "for parts" is usually super cheap. If I want to look at a rom I have no issues buying a board for $10 because it has water damage or a blown mosfet etc. In all likelyhood the BIOS on it is totally fine. Just food for thought.

 

[pcjunkyard]

I've tried flashing 1 of the roms and no go although the pc gives 2 beeps after a few seconds and never did that before, this all started from power outage during a windows update and well lenovo does there bios updates through windows ‍ couldn't boot any windows made after windows 10 v1803 would give a 1BinitializeLibrary 0xc0000001 error as well as bios was really old by like 14 versions. Clock in bios was stuck at 050505, so tried manually flashing with there supplied exe as well would shut down then sit there flashing for n not do anything, tried another version found online and well it erased the image shutdown and that was that

 

[Solaris17]

I've tried flashing 1 of the roms and no go although the pc gives 2 beeps after a few seconds and never did that before, this all started from power outage during a windows update and well lenovo does there bios updates through windows ‍ couldn't boot any windows made after windows 10 v1803 would give a 1BinitializeLibrary 0xc0000001 error as well as bios was really old by like 14 versions. Clock in bios was stuck at 050505, so tried manually flashing with there supplied exe as well would shut down then sit there flashing for n not do anything, tried another version found online and well it erased the image shutdown and that was that

I added an edit that might be of interest, but if it atleast beeped then it might be a good sign, some BIOS require "steps" to get to certain versions. If you were so far behind, it might be worth trying to raw flash a later version. Since things like the EC, touchpad, CPLD etc might need updates before it can speak with the newer BIOS's so trying an older version (maybe even the one you were on if you knew it) might be the way to go.

 

[pcjunkyard]

I added an edit that might be of interest, but if it atleast beeped then it might be a good sign, some BIOS require "steps" to get to certain versions. If you were so far behind, it might be worth trying to raw flash a later version. Since things like the EC, touchpad, CPLD etc might need updates before it can speak with the newer BIOS's so trying an older version (maybe even the one you were on if you knew it) might be the way to go.

That's what I thought but wasn't sure, my problem is lenovo does not have the previous files, raw flash?

 

[Solaris17]

raw flash?

what your doing basically. grab the rom and burn it to the chip

 

[pcjunkyard]

what your doing basically. grab the rom and burn it to the chip

Here's another question for ya, how does 1 come about determining if u can use a custom rom I've seen some intresting posts regarding them but know nothing about it

 

[Solaris17]

Here's another question for ya, how does 1 come about determining if u can use a custom rom I've seen some intresting posts regarding them but know nothing about it

The easiest way is seeing if someone has modified your specific BIOS. Some manufacturers hide or omit certain settings. What these settings are or even if they exist to be hidden depends on a lot, it will vary by manufacturer, by model and generation or even version of the bios.

From there if you want to expand your knowledge you look into common modifications. NVMe support, rebar, microcode are among the most common for system BIOS' though like the above they will all differ once you have done it you can kind of work out how you might be able too on another.

A good starting point is downloading a rom someone has already modified. Some nice people post them sometimes. Where there are the modified ones you might find the originals. From there you can try and duplicate the work.

A good play ground for practice of this type might be the nvme modification thread. Though the OP is no longer with us, he modified a nice library of BIOS' some of which were submitted by users. This can give you a good starting point of "This is stock" and "this is tested modified" then you try and work the difference.

2022-X58/1366 PIN Motherboards NVME M.2 SSD BIOS MOD Collection

I should immediately point out that the NVMe SSD BIOS_MOD Files are Updated as "pure Bios Files" without the Need for Additional Hardware and Software such as DUET, Clover and REFIND. No Additional Hardware or Software is required. All you need to do is to update the motherboard bios again and...

www.techpowerup.com

EDIT:: Here is a fun tool that is generally used if you want to ever look at it more deeply: https://github.com/LongSoft/UEFITool

 

[pcjunkyard]

The easiest way is seeing if someone has modified your specific BIOS. Some manufacturers hide or omit certain settings. What these settings are or even if they exist to be hidden depends on a lot, it will vary by manufacturer, by model and generation or even version of the bios.

From there if you want to expand your knowledge you look into common modifications. NVMe support, rebar, microcode are among the most common for system BIOS' though like the above they will all differ once you have done it you can kind of work out how you might be able too on another.

A good starting point is downloading a rom someone has already modified. Some nice people post them sometimes. Where there are the modified ones you might find the originals. From there you can try and duplicate the work.

A good play ground for practice of this type might be the nvme modification thread. Though the OP is no longer with us, he modified a nice library of BIOS' some of which were submitted by users. This can give you a good starting point of "This is stock" and "this is tested modified" then you try and work the difference.

2022-X58/1366 PIN Motherboards NVME M.2 SSD BIOS MOD Collection

I should immediately point out that the NVMe SSD BIOS_MOD Files are Updated as "pure Bios Files" without the Need for Additional Hardware and Software such as DUET, Clover and REFIND. No Additional Hardware or Software is required. All you need to do is to update the motherboard bios again and...

www.techpowerup.com

EDIT:: Here is a fun tool that is generally used if you want to ever look at it more deeply: https://github.com/LongSoft/UEFITool

I downloaded that tool earlier but haven't opened it yet, now, with flashing these raw images how do I come about adding serial number n whatever else?

 

[Solaris17]

I downloaded that tool earlier but haven't opened it yet, now, with flashing these raw images how do I come about adding serial number n whatever else?

Thats a whole can of worms. In most cases this may be provided by the BIOS scanning read only partitions of the ROM and filling in the data in user space.

In other cases the information is read and not overwritten during a flash procedure using the programs internal flash markers. Obviously this scenario doesnt work right when flashing manually (since its best practice to wipe the chip). However, unique to this is usually a way to fix the problem. As long as you have the serial before hand (and sometimes mac address) you can search for the new serial from the donor rom after a successful flash (since you wont know what the new serial is until after you flash it)

You could use any hex editor really, but HxD is popular. I have used this to replace missing serials before. In most cases you simply search for a part of the serial or even the word "serial" (since that is likely the verbage used in the BIOS). Once you find it, you replace the bits with the correct one and reflash.

 

[pcjunkyard]

Ok, thanks so regardless I gotta find someone willing to share a clean backup or buy a donor got it, thanks for the info if I ever get it goin I'll be sure to update the post

 

[Solaris17]

Ok, thanks so regardless I gotta find someone willing to share a clean backup or buy a donor got it, thanks for the info if I ever get it goin I'll be sure to update the post

Have fun