Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon 7th gen not booting after failed BIOS update

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  • Zarithya
    New Member
    • Oct 2025
    • 7
    • USA
    #1

    Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon 7th gen not booting after failed BIOS update

    Hi all,
    I have a ThinkPad X1 Carbon 7th gen that stopped booting after a failed BIOS update. There is no life from the machine when the power button is pressed, but when the charger is plugged in, the amber charging indicator turns on and the power button blinks three times. The battery does charge, eventually turning the amber light white. I've dumped the BIOS and tried to fix it (but I don't know what I'm doing or how to use Lenovo's update files in this way) and even attempted to overwrite it with other uploads I've found here to no avail. I've posted the dump in the request forum and tried to poke around a bit with the schematics I've located, but I'm not really sure what I'm doing or how to measure that all power rails are good. I've managed to find 3.3v and 1.8v on one specific chip (power IC I believe?) but that's it.
    Any help would be very much appreciated, thank you!
    Tags: None
    • 90Ninety
      Senior Member
      • Aug 2011
      • 102
      • UK Mains Voltage 240V 50 Hz
      #2
      Hi

      Likely you will need a CH314 Bios programmer, remove the bios chip, then write a good bios file to it

        Comment

        • Zarithya
          New Member
          • Oct 2025
          • 7
          • USA
          #3
          Originally posted by 90Ninety
          Hi

          Likely you will need a CH314 Bios programmer, remove the bios chip, then write a good bios file to it
          Hi, I've read the BIOS chip with my programmer, but am struggling to find a file to flash to it. I've found Lenovo's download, but there's not a single full file to flash; the ones I've found there are not in the same format as the dump I took, seemingly being updates, and I don't know how to repair my BIOS file with them (none of the Lenovo tutorials seem to cover this file format).

            Comment

            • mon2
              Badcaps Legend
              • Dec 2019
              • 14677
              • Canada
              #4
              I have access to the attached dumps. Do not see the exact Gen7 in this list but review if there is a match for you.

              Click image for larger version Name: dumps.png Views: 0 Size: 92.8 KB ID: 3757107

                Comment

                • reformatt
                  Badcaps Legend
                  • Feb 2020
                  • 1511
                  • Australia
                  #5
                  Upload your dump to the BIOS group, with serial number of the machine. Someone will fix it for you (aren't they nice). If that doesn't resolve it, then it's possible that it failed during the EC update rather than BIOS.

                    Comment

                    • Zarithya
                      New Member
                      • Oct 2025
                      • 7
                      • USA
                      #6
                      Originally posted by mon2
                      I have access to the attached dumps. Do not see the exact Gen7 in this list but review if there is a match for you.

                      Click image for larger version Name: dumps.png Views: 0 Size: 92.8 KB ID: 3757107
                      Thanks, but I don't think any of those match the board I have (GX490, NM-C661, Type 20R1).

                      Originally posted by reformatt
                      Upload your dump to the BIOS group, with serial number of the machine. Someone will fix it for you (aren't they nice). If that doesn't resolve it, then it's possible that it failed during the EC update rather than BIOS.
                      Already did so, here. Originally I posted it in the wrong thread, maybe moving it didn't bump the thread properly or something (or people are just busy). Considering that literally nothing changes when I flash different BIOS files, maybe it's the EC after all. Not sure how to interface with it, or where to get the files to flash that. Seems I may need to do more research. Appreciate the responses!

                        Comment

                        • m1ch43lzm
                          Badcaps Veteran
                          • Mar 2019
                          • 948
                          • Peru
                          #7
                          I uploaded my attempt at it here: https://www.badcaps.net/forum/troubl...71#post3757171 , hope it works for you
                          You may bump a thread on BIOS requests subforum after 48h if no one answered, maybe some laptop models are more popular over there and your request gets pushed back

                            Comment

                            • Zarithya
                              New Member
                              • Oct 2025
                              • 7
                              • USA
                              #8
                              Originally posted by m1ch43lzm
                              I uploaded my attempt at it here: https://www.badcaps.net/forum/troubl...71#post3757171 , hope it works for you
                              You may bump a thread on BIOS requests subforum after 48h if no one answered, maybe some laptop models are more popular over there and your request gets pushed back
                              Thanks for the attempt, unfortunately the behavior I'm seeing did not change. Highly suspecting the EC at this stage... Seems I need a dedicated programmer for that? It's an MEC1663. Or is there something else I should check first?

                                Comment

                                • reformatt
                                  Badcaps Legend
                                  • Feb 2020
                                  • 1511
                                  • Australia
                                  #9
                                  What was the reason the update was interrupted? Was there a hardware issue perhaps? The updates occur in the order of BIOS, ME firmware, EC and USB-C if applicable. The corruption in your image was in the ME region so I would say the machine shutoff during that update (i.e. I think your EC hadn't been updated at that point).

                                  I think the above dump should have worked if the BIOS was the root of the issue. Some more info why the update was interrupted may help.

                                    Comment

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