HP PRO X2 612 G1, why cant i read the BIOS?

[Maanu]

Dear Badcaps, i got a HP PRO X2 612 G1 with a BIOS password. Im pretty new to the whole BIOS flashing game but i was able to flash a HP Probook 2 weeks ago with help of this forum.
Now with the HP PRO X2 612 G1 i have the problem that im not 100% sure if i got the right IC and if i am doing everything right in terms of reading it.
I use the CH341A to read the BIOS. The Chip i try to flash got "771AW G GBA 609B" writen on it. I tried with the 25xxx and the 24xxx slot but i dont get a read from AsProgrammer :/

I solderd it out and put it on the 25xxx frame that came with the CH341A(visible in the picture i attached)

Anybody got some help or some idea?
Should i just try it with linux and flashrom? I only tried it with windows yet...

[RethoricalCheese]

Nah. Try looking under some black tape.

[Maanu]

Maybe those? Winbound were making BIOS Chips right? But then, which of those should i read out?

[Nebukadnerzar_V]

First things first:
The first IC you tried is definitely not the BIOS chip, but most likely a temperature or voltage monitoring ICs

BIOS-(Flash-)Chips can be identified by their marking starting with 25... (or in some cases 24 ...).
Note that 24...-Type ICs will have 16 pins, so you need the bigger area on your programmer, but 99% of the times, you will encounter 25...-Type chips.

So as you can now see, the two chips you found (U365 and U366) are indeed 25-Type flash ICs. So you're on the right track.
The next number in the marking (25Q128 and 25Q16) indicated the size of the flash in MBits. So 128MBits = 16 MB, 16 MBits = 2 MB.

So from that, we can be sure, the first one with 16 MB is the actual BIOS chip.
I can't say for sure, what the 2nd one is, but you definitely want to start with the first one.

[RethoricalCheese]

(or in some cases 24 ...).
Note that 24...-Type ICs will have 16 pins, so you need the bigger area on your programmer, but 99% of the times, you will encounter 25...-Type chips.

Incorrect. 24 series is I2C and usually 8 pin and not used as bios chips but may sometimes be used on laptops for other purposes.

25 series is SPI and they usually are 8 pin (soic8 and wson8) but can also be 16 pin (soic16) like on some older HP laptops.

Otherwise, yes. Larger capacity is main bios and smaller capacity is EC bios. You need to modify main bios.

[Maanu]

Thanks guys, i will try the 25Q16 one and report back if i get time to do it in bewtween the busy days right now.

[reformatt]

25Q128 will be your BIOS. The other is likely USB-C ROM or something like that.

[Nebukadnerzar_V]

Incorrect. 24 series is I2C and usually 8 pin and not used as bios chips but may sometimes be used on laptops for other purposes.

Thanks for the clarification.

Thanks guys, i will try the 25Q16 one and report back if i get time to do it in bewtween the busy days right now.

As I said, the 16 in 25Q16 denotes this is the smaller chip with just 2 MB, so NOT this BIOS chip.
Go for the 25Q128, this is your 16 MB BIOS chip ...

[Maanu]

I love this forum already

thanks for clarification. Ill try it tomorrow, probably got some spare time there

[DynaxSC]

Why don't you use Flash Programming Tool (fptw64.exe) to read the Bios ?
It'a part of CSME System Tools, you can find this under this address:

https://winraid.level1techs.com/t/in...ols-2-15/30719

You need to download the correct version for your chipset generation, and you can easily download the bios from the chip on the disk with a simple command (under windows and cmd window):

FPTW64.exe -d biosbackup.bin

It is also possible to write (not update) the bios with the same tool. For help just type FPTW64.exe -h

[DynaxSC]

BTW, the bios chip make and type is usually to be found in the descritor region of the bios. Once you download the bios image you can view it with UEFITOOL (newest is A68), find the descriptor region and you will see the chip make and model. Usually several makes/models are listed, they are equivalent.

[Maanu]

Why don't you use Flash Programming Tool (fptw64.exe) to read the Bios ?
It'a part of CSME System Tools, you can find this under this address:

https://winraid.level1techs.com/t/in...ols-2-15/30719

You need to download the correct version for your chipset generation, and you can easily download the bios from the chip on the disk with a simple command (under windows and cmd window):

FPTW64.exe -d biosbackup.bin

It is also possible to write (not update) the bios with the same tool. For help just type FPTW64.exe -h

Its because as i wrote in the first poste im pretty new to the whole BIOS flashing game, i had prior success with AsProgrammer so i dont know why i should go away from that? In generell alot of people seem to use it and as i could see and experience on my own its was working.
UEFITOOL is a nice one but except to test if the password is gone or BIOS is in generell working i see also no usecase for that software.

My now problem is more of the fact that i wasnt able to read out the BIOS while i solderd cable to the red marked points...
I solderd the chip out to discover that its WSON8 which i dont have any socket for it. I orderd one now and it should come somewhere around thursday. So i will wait again