Minor issues after legion Y540 was revived from a failed BIOS rollback

[miesals]

Hello,

The computer is a Lenovo y540 81SX00MSLT
The computer had to have a BIOS chip reflash, which was done by a repair shop.
The computer works, but it has created a couple of minor issues.

1) The computer takes 12 seconds to POST while previously it wasn't more than 3-5.
2) I noticed that the TPM chip is not recognized, while I hadn't have planned on using TPM features or using software that requires one, I probably will want to at some point and I suspect this problem might be related to the previous one.
3) All the serial numbers and ID stuff got wiped in the reflash and the BIOS and EC versions are different now (BIOS - BHCN31WW; EC - BHCN45WW) - in itself not an really issue (they are just numbers after all), but included it in the off chance that they are key to solving 1&2

The question is how do I solve issues 1&2.

Should I just do a regular BIOS update from the OS in the hopes that it solves the issue?
Should I buy a SPI programmer and make a backup of the bios just in case (and it could be a fun weekend project learning to use one)?
Or do I need to not let the perfect be the enemy of the good and not do anything.

Thanks in advance!

[gs84]

Re: Minor issues after legion Y540 was revived from a failed BIOS rollback

need to reflash by programmer the bios chip by properly FW

[reformatt]

Re: Minor issues after legion Y540 was revived from a failed BIOS rollback

The slow boot is likely due to an initialised ME region from another machine. The missing serial number etc are missing DMI info that would have been in the older BIOS. Should have been transferred by the people who 'fixed' it.

You could try to manually update the ME firmware as this usually installs a non-initialised version. Current version for this machine is 12.0.81.1753. BIOS update won't fix the missing DMI info though but it may resolve the BIOS/EC mismatch. In cases where I've had that on HP machines by similar boofheads in this industry, most of the extra info needed (other than S/N) is printed on labels on the motherboard. I fix either via a hex editor or with a DMI tool from the manufacturer.

If you are not confident, you'll need to take a dump of your BIOS with a programmer, and upload to the BIOS group with your S/N etc, and someone will fix it.

[miesals]

Re: Minor issues after legion Y540 was revived from a failed BIOS rollback

Thanks for the answers!

A proper plan then probably would be to first correct the DMI info, which doesn't seem to be that daunting with the Lenovo tool.

Then updating the ME firmware.

And Lastly, if any problems persist, do a BIOS update in hopes that it flashes both the BIOS and EC and this correction fixes any lingering issues.
Though, given that last time a BIOS rollback failed, and knocked out my primary PC for two weeks, I am a bit wary about the whole process and probably will investigate about which BIOS would be the "safest bet".

[miesals]

Re: Minor issues after legion Y540 was revived from a failed BIOS rollback

You could try to manually update the ME firmware as this usually installs a non-initialised version. Current version for this machine is 12.0.81.1753.

Yeah, unfortunately it wasn't able to update (Error log contains Error 20: Cannot locate ME device. Error 620: Unknown hardware platform.) I just noticed that Intel MEI is not working in Device Manager also.

So I would assume that probably means that clearing the ME region will be have to be done according to the guide on Win-Raid and will involve a SPI flaser at some point.

[reformatt]

Re: Minor issues after legion Y540 was revived from a failed BIOS rollback

To update the ME firmware via Windows, the driver needs to be working and communicating. If you cannot get that to work, yes, BIOS needs to be dumped and the ME region cleared with an non-initialised version. It's a bit of a learning curve if you aren't familiar with it. If you upload it to the BIOS group, someone will be happy to fix it for you.

In theory, whoever did this should fix it for you. At the very least, you could ask them if they have the original dump of the BIOS so it can be fixed by someone who knows what they are doing. We have a saying here in Oz, never send a boy to do a mans job.

[miesals]

Re: Minor issues after legion Y540 was revived from a failed BIOS rollback

After taking some time to find suitable time to fix it (wanted to make sure I had the time and money in case I needed professional help) I managed to fix it!

Everything together with all the learning and dumping took me like 3.5 hours, but I managed to do it with only some very minor hiccups.

Big thanks to reformatt for the assistance in the thread and the ME analyzer exe tutorial and SMDFlea for the materials on cleaning the ME region!

[jjflash]

Re: Minor issues after legion Y540 was revived from a failed BIOS rollback

hey can you please explain what you did coz im also having the same problem with the same laptop

[miesals]

Re: Minor issues after legion Y540 was revived from a failed BIOS rollback

hey can you please explain what you did coz im also having the same problem with the same laptop

I dumped the bios,
did this to the dump https://winraid.level1techs.com/t/gu...lization/31277
and then flashed the bios back.

[jjflash]

Re: Minor issues after legion Y540 was revived from a failed BIOS rollback

if you are free can you please explain in detail coz when i asked to solve this is offline store they told me to replace the whole board and i cant afford it

[miesals]

Re: Minor issues after legion Y540 was revived from a failed BIOS rollback

if you are free can you please explain in detail coz when i asked to solve this is offline store they told me to replace the whole board and i cant afford it

1) do you really have the same laptop and issue that I had (slow boot and no TPM)? If no then ask someone else for help.

2) try to manually update the ME firmware as this usually installs a non-initialized version. You can find the update from the driver update page for your machine.

3) If it does not work, then you will need to reprogram the chip using a hardware programmer. I WILL NOT explain it in detail because there are too many steps (you will need to learn to use the programmer and do the BIOS manipulations) and there are guides out there on how to use various chip programmers and there is an extensive guide on how to clean the ME region already.

[jjflash]

Re: Minor issues after legion Y540 was revived from a failed BIOS rollback

yes im having the same laptop legion y540-151rh having no tpm and and slow booting problems thats why i asked u