Acer 5738 SIO replacement

[caspian]

Dear members,

I am going to replace the WPCE773 chip by a new one on the mainboard of Acer 5738.
Does the new WPCE773 require programming before soldering it onto the mainboard?

Thanks

[caspian]

Re: Acer 5738 SIO replacement

This laptop originally has a bios chip model MX25L1605(SO8). Does it work if I replace it by another model W25Q16BVSIG(SO8)?

[mcplslg123]

Re: Acer 5738 SIO replacement

WPCE773 is not programmable.
Bios chip support-you need to check in bios descriptor region and then look for "Flash chips in VSCC table". Search the codes on google and you will get the flash chips supported.

[caspian]

Re: Acer 5738 SIO replacement

Thanks,
The laptop is old and its bios is not UEFI. So it has no VSCC table. How can I check whether W25Q16BVSIG is supported?

[caspian]

Re: Acer 5738 SIO replacement

In the web, some people wrote WPCE773 and WPCE775 are compatible whereas some other people wrote they are not compatible.
They are pin-compatible, but I am not sure they be functionally compatible.
Have anyone successfully replaced WPCE773 by WPCE775 so far?

[mcplslg123]

Re: Acer 5738 SIO replacement

Thanks,
The laptop is old and its bios is not UEFI. So it has no VSCC table. How can I check whether W25Q16BVSIG is supported?

All bios has VSCC table. Open it in hex editor to found out. Yes UEFI tool wont work as bios is 2mb in size.

[caspian]

Re: Acer 5738 SIO replacement

I opened the Bios dump in Hex Editor. But I cannot find the table. Maybe in has a different name in this Bios dump.
The Bios dump is in this link:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showpo...28&postcount=2

[piernov]

Re: Acer 5738 SIO replacement

VSCC table is used for Intel ME and stored in the Flash descriptor. If there is no ME region and no Flash descriptor there won't be a VSCC table. Flash descriptor is mandatory since 5-series chipset for proper operation of the platform, not before as far as I know.

[caspian]

Re: Acer 5738 SIO replacement

the chipset is GM45.
SIO is WPCE773.
I replaced MX25L1605D by MX25L1606. But it did not work. Laptop turns on but no display.
Is it possible that the Bios is programmed somehow to work only with MX25L1605D in Acer 5738?

[mcplslg123]

Re: Acer 5738 SIO replacement

Yes, possible. These old acer boards are very particular in bios chip support and usually support only 1 particular chip. However, you can try with other 2 mb chips available with you.

[caspian]

Re: Acer 5738 SIO replacement

I tried two different ICs, W25Q16BVSIG and MX25L1606 with a known good dump, but they all resulted in turning on but no display.
The original Bios IC was MX25L1605D.