novice user attempting first BIOS write on ASUS laptop
Hello first post!
Ok so after an (ASUSTek) optional Windows update, my old ASUS E403NA laptop rebooted and froze in the BIOS menu screen and was unresponsive so after about 30 mins I powered off and back on again. Now i just get a power LED and a black screen, I have tried all the basic suggestions and all the suggestions on the ASUS site, spoke to ASUS support who said I will need to pay for an RMA.
The laptop is worth €50 so I won't be doing the RMA at god knows what price.
So I have seen some videos where people have reprogrammed the BIOS using a chip clip and a raspberry pi. I have a spare pi zero, and fairly comfortable in a bash terminal so plan on connecting via ssh to the Pi zero and Im going to attempt to rewrite the BIOS chip which i think I have found and identified as a (winbond 25q64fwsig).
My question is I guess is this feasible or am i barking up the wrong tree. Because I noticed the E403NA also has a IT8995 chip that is also reprogrammable. I guess I am confused between the relationship between the 2 chips and whether it's possible that I need to reprogram both chips to get my laptop running again. The winbond chip is surrounded by a copper heatsink and i assume the clip will attach onto it and have good access when this heatsink is removed.
I have a hot air solder station and some flux, although ive never soldered on a PCB before so this would be my first time if i need to remove the chip if the clip wont work while on the board.
Also regarding the BIOS bin file to write, should i just write the latest bin file from ASUS, or will i need to read the chip and manually edit the files or should i just write the new BIOS using flashrom in the terminal?
One final thing is, I'm currently without work, and if able to fix this laptop and learn more, I would like to maybe do this sort of thing as a sideline possibly in the future make some money from repairs. Does anyone have any solid advice, golden rules, what to expect or resources?
Thanks for looking.
Ok so after an (ASUSTek) optional Windows update, my old ASUS E403NA laptop rebooted and froze in the BIOS menu screen and was unresponsive so after about 30 mins I powered off and back on again. Now i just get a power LED and a black screen, I have tried all the basic suggestions and all the suggestions on the ASUS site, spoke to ASUS support who said I will need to pay for an RMA.
The laptop is worth €50 so I won't be doing the RMA at god knows what price.
So I have seen some videos where people have reprogrammed the BIOS using a chip clip and a raspberry pi. I have a spare pi zero, and fairly comfortable in a bash terminal so plan on connecting via ssh to the Pi zero and Im going to attempt to rewrite the BIOS chip which i think I have found and identified as a (winbond 25q64fwsig).
My question is I guess is this feasible or am i barking up the wrong tree. Because I noticed the E403NA also has a IT8995 chip that is also reprogrammable. I guess I am confused between the relationship between the 2 chips and whether it's possible that I need to reprogram both chips to get my laptop running again. The winbond chip is surrounded by a copper heatsink and i assume the clip will attach onto it and have good access when this heatsink is removed.
I have a hot air solder station and some flux, although ive never soldered on a PCB before so this would be my first time if i need to remove the chip if the clip wont work while on the board.
Also regarding the BIOS bin file to write, should i just write the latest bin file from ASUS, or will i need to read the chip and manually edit the files or should i just write the new BIOS using flashrom in the terminal?
One final thing is, I'm currently without work, and if able to fix this laptop and learn more, I would like to maybe do this sort of thing as a sideline possibly in the future make some money from repairs. Does anyone have any solid advice, golden rules, what to expect or resources?
Thanks for looking.
Attached Files