BIOS Backup / extract 16MB .bin - Lenovo ThinkBook 13s G3 ACN - 20YA0005GE

[DiddiAb]

Recently I used the official Lenovo bios updater software on my ThinkBook 13s G3 ACN (20YA0005GE). The updating process failed and I got a black screen after powering the device. Of course I did not make an own backup before using the Lenovo bios updater.

I bought a CH341A programmer and was able to make a connection to the chip while it is still soldered on board. But I did not realise that the chip was a 16MB size and selected the wrong size (8Mbit / 1 MByte) before reading the content of my chip. So the dump I did before erasing the chip is only 1MByte big. I fear that I lost my chance to extract DMI / serial and Windows key from my faulty backup.

So my first question is, did the Lenovo updater software tool make a backup that is accessible somewhere on my SSD?
I can upload my faulty backup later. But as I am using a friend's laptop I don't have access right now.

My second issue is how to extract the flashable BIOS bin from the exe file. I think the bios is a phoenix bios as the search for "phoenix" in my faulty backup returned some results. I did see the tutorial made by smdflea and tried it but until now I wasn't able to extract a file that is exactly 16MB. I must have missed something. Maybe someone can give me a hint what to try? Anyone with experience with Lenovo Phoenix bios, sized 16MB, for AMD devices?

Thanks in advance

[DiddiAb]

Re: BIOS Backup / extract 16MB .bin - Lenovo ThinkBook 13s G3 ACN - 20YA0005GE

Solved, will post details tomorrow! System up and running again

[lapfix]

Re: BIOS Backup / extract 16MB .bin - Lenovo ThinkBook 13s G3 ACN - 20YA0005GE

Solved, will post details tomorrow! System up and running again

Waiting your update solution

[DiddiAb]

Re: BIOS Backup / extract 16MB .bin - Lenovo ThinkBook 13s G3 ACN - 20YA0005GE

I used SMDFleas guide about how to extract Phoenix TDK bios.

The BIOS on my Thinkbook is a 16MB large file, so i had to adopt the process in the Hex editor in order to make it work. I read the old bricked bios bin with a CH341a programmer.

1.) extract cap file from Lenovo BIOS exe installer like described above

2.) open cap file in HxD hex editor, select area to cut (strg+e). Set start offset to 0 and end offset to 31F (Length 320). Delete selection.



3.) compare the first three lines of your backup bios.bin file with the first three lines of the file you are editing. This step is to be sure that the cut point 31F is the right one in your case.



4.) select 16MB of Hex data: strg+e, offset 0 to FFFFFF , copy selection to new file

5.) in my new hex file i did a comparison with my backuped bin and checked line 200 to 250 to see if both looked the same



6.) after i was sure that the beginning of my new bios file had the same structure like my backuped bios bin i saved the new file as bios.bin.

I flashed this bin using the CH341a programmer tool. I used the software version CH341A v1.31(1.4) (CH341AFree). After setting the chip size to 128Mbit/16MByte the chip was detected without fuss. The Bios Chip on my device is a Winbond W74M12JW with an additional authentication layer. But for flashing it is the same as any Winbond W25xx SPI flash. Source: Reveltronics Forum - W74M Authentication Flash (W74M12JV, W74M12JW)

Flashing the bios worked like a charm. My laptop started and showed the lenovo logo. I was able to enter the bios.

Few flaws after flashing the clean bios file to my device:

- I had to set model and serial number with Lenovo U1 tool and create a new UUID
- My windows oem license number is not shown in Bios
- Fingerprint sensor seems to work, but my old windows install won't log in through Fingerprint anymore. I was not able to set up biometric identification yet
- Keyboard backlight toggle through FN + space doesn´t work anymore
- some online services (like google drive) that use the UUID for authentification had to be set up again
- I am still in Bios setup mode and don't know how and why to switch to user mode

I am wondering about how to get the data of my old bios into my clean bios.bin to solve all this problems..

[DiddiAb]

Re: BIOS Backup / extract 16MB .bin - Lenovo ThinkBook 13s G3 ACN - 20YA0005GE

I did not realise that the chip was a 16MB size and selected the wrong size (8Mbit / 1 MByte) before reading the content of my chip. So the dump I did before erasing the chip is only 1MByte big. I fear that I lost my chance to extract DMI / serial and Windows key from my faulty backup.

Before flashing my new bios bin i thought i might check if something was left on the bios chip. To my surprise only the first 8Mbit of the chip had been erased through my first attempt. So I did a second dump of the chip and this file had 16MByte of data with the first MByte overwritten with FF. So i just had to merge both the first dump (1MByte) with the second dump in HxD hex editor and now i have a complete dump of my bricked bios chip.

[SMDFlea]

Re: BIOS Backup / extract 16MB .bin - Lenovo ThinkBook 13s G3 ACN - 20YA0005GE

Before flashing my new bios bin i thought i might check if something was left on the bios chip. To my surprise only the first 8Mbit of the chip had been erased through my first attempt. So I did a second dump of the chip and this file had 16MByte of data with the first MByte overwritten with FF. So i just had to merge both the first dump (1MByte) with the second dump in HxD hex editor and now i have a complete dump of my bricked bios chip.

Nice job,i`m glad the guide helped you. If you still have the bios backup post it here,we can see if the DMI is still in it to transfer to the new bios

[DiddiAb]

Re: BIOS Backup / extract 16MB .bin - Lenovo ThinkBook 13s G3 ACN - 20YA0005GE

Thank you for your kind offer SMDFlea!

Edit: I removed the encrypted zip I posted because it violates the forum rules to post encrypted archives. Sorry

[lapfix]

Re: BIOS Backup / extract 16MB .bin - Lenovo ThinkBook 13s G3 ACN - 20YA0005GE

Thank you for your kind offer SMDFlea! I attached a zip folder containing the original exe file, the merged dumps of my corrupted bios and the bin file i created using your tutorial. The zip is encrypted, I will happily dm you the password.

What's the point of posting a compressed file with a password!

[DiddiAb]

Re: BIOS Backup / extract 16MB .bin - Lenovo ThinkBook 13s G3 ACN - 20YA0005GE

For everyone else i'd like to attach the clean bios bin that i extracted and edited. Remember, this bios is made for ThinkBook 13s G3 ACN .

[SMDFlea]

Re: BIOS Backup / extract 16MB .bin - Lenovo ThinkBook 13s G3 ACN - 20YA0005GE

The DMI seems to be in the part that was overwritten so you would need a fully working dump. Ive seen one on a well known russian repair forum,its a paid site so i can`t post the link.Hopefully someone will post it for you.

[mazoot]

Re: BIOS Backup / extract 16MB .bin - Lenovo ThinkBook 13s G3 ACN - 20YA0005GE

here you go man

[DiddiAb]

Re: BIOS Backup / extract 16MB .bin - Lenovo ThinkBook 13s G3 ACN - 20YA0005GE

here you go man

Thank you Mazoot, lets see what a comparision between my version and your version brings up.

In the meantime I have set MTM, S/N and so on using Lenovo U1 golden key (available on github). I also backed up all my personal files and did a clean install of Windows 10 (which i wanted to do anyway..). The install process worked fine with the windows key i extracted from my backup.bin .

Fingerprint reader works again after the fresh install of windows.

But Keyboard backlight doesnt work (since the first flash of my bios.bin). I hoped it may work after clean windows install, but thats not the case. But i can live with that. So please don't put too much effort in my case.

Thank you all for your help.

[SoulFreeze]

Hi, Not sure if im supposed to create a new thread for this or if this is the correct thread as per rules,
I have a Lenovo Thinkbook 13s G3 ACN 20YA0012US s/n R914BDZE which is stuck on a blinking display bootloop after updating bios.
I managed to dump the current corrupt bios. Im hoping I can have DMI transferred to latest bios if possible. Thanks