HP EliteBook 640 G6

[Slimat]

Hi all

I hope this is posted in the right section... apologies if its not ;-)

I am really new to this and am hoping to get some advice. I have several HP EliteBooks which are BIOS locked, so thought I would have a go at downloading, unlocking and relashing the BIOS chip/s.

I have bought a USB CH341A programmer, SOIC8 clip and tried using. Rather than 'practising' on a working laptop I thought I would play with an old EliteBook 820 G3 motherboard... and all went perfectly. The firmware download, when I loaded it into RCUnlocker it correctly identifies the model and serial number and when I re-upload it to the BIOS chip it verifies... so I am assuming it has worked correctly.

Anyway the chip on the 820 G3 is a Winbond BIOS chip which the SOIC8 Clip can easily make contact with the legs.

However the 840 G6 uses a Winbond 25Q256JVEN chip which is the 8-Pad WSON 8x6-mm (Package Code E) chip. I dont seem to be able to get the SOIC8 clip to make contact with the 'flush' solder joints and was wondering if there is some other sort of connector to use for this type of chip? I have got a Pomona POM5250 SOIC8 clip on order, which may be better... but I suspect I will have the same problem.

If anyone can offer any advice I would be grateful as I am determined to master being able to complete this myself.

Many thanks in advance.

[hoaca388]

Re: HP EliteBook 640 G6

Hi all

I hope this is posted in the right section... apologies if its not ;-)

I am really new to this and am hoping to get some advice. I have several HP EliteBooks which are BIOS locked, so thought I would have a go at downloading, unlocking and relashing the BIOS chip/s.

I have bought a USB CH341A programmer, SOIC8 clip and tried using. Rather than 'practising' on a working laptop I thought I would play with an old EliteBook 820 G3 motherboard... and all went perfectly. The firmware download, when I loaded it into RCUnlocker it correctly identifies the model and serial number and when I re-upload it to the BIOS chip it verifies... so I am assuming it has worked correctly.

Anyway the chip on the 820 G3 is a Winbond BIOS chip which the SOIC8 Clip can easily make contact with the legs.

However the 840 G6 uses a Winbond 25Q256JVEN chip which is the 8-Pad WSON 8x6-mm (Package Code E) chip. I dont seem to be able to get the SOIC8 clip to make contact with the 'flush' solder joints and was wondering if there is some other sort of connector to use for this type of chip? I have got a Pomona POM5250 SOIC8 clip on order, which may be better... but I suspect I will have the same problem.

If anyone can offer any advice I would be grateful as I am determined to master being able to complete this myself.

Many thanks in advance.

Do you mean this ?

https://shopee.vn/D%C3%A2y-k%E1%BA%B...4-ccf2fc06ec04

[Slimat]

Re: HP EliteBook 840 G6

Exactly what I was looking for... will have to try and find one in the UK

Thanks so much - I was thinking I would have to 3D print something

[Slimat]

Re: HP EliteBook 640 G6


Do you mean this ?

https://shopee.vn/D%C3%A2y-k%E1%BA%B...4-ccf2fc06ec04

OK, my probe arrived... so I thought I would test with an EliteBook 830G5 which is password locked and wont boot from SSD anyway, so thought I would try unlocking it in order to flash a clean BIOS update from HP and see if this fixes the issue. I connected and read the firmware using a CH341A Mini Programmer (CH341A V2.2.1.0). It correctly identified the chip as a Winbond 25Q256 and asked me to choose which variant (JV). So, I downloaded the firmware image. Then tried RCUnlocker (RCUnlocker_v_1_0) which errored and said "Wrong chip. Try reading and unlocking 16Mb chip"... so, I tried again using HPUnlocker (HPUnlocker_v1) and this produced an _unlocked.bin file. I compared the two and the difference showed some text changed from U.s.e.r.C.r.e.d.....................A.d.m.i.n.P.W to U.s.e.r.C.r.e.d.....................yyyy - so, I thought this looked promising. I erased the BIOS chip (got success notification) flashed the _unlocked.bin file back on the laptop and rebooted expecting to be able to get into BIOS and reset to default... but I still get the Admin password request.

I know I am very much a noob at this and wondered if anyone could tell me where/what I may have done wrong.

One odd thing I have found is that the serial number in the BIOS file I downloaded relates to the correct type of machine - but its a different serial number - so obviously someone has changed the motherboard - am I right in thinking (if this works) I can just overwrite the incorrect serial number characters with the correct ones and flash it back so that the serial number in the BIOS matches the serial number on the chassis?

I can post the original and "unlocked" BIN if its any help?

Any help greatly appreciated.

[hoaca388]

Post both files here, the original 32MB file, and find the second 16MB or 32MB file from the other side of the mainboard. Next time do not use 'HP unlocker' for this model.

[Slimat]

Thanks hoaca388 attached is the file I downloaded from the Winbond ship closest to the BIOS battery - It exceeded the 28Mb limit, so I have had to zip it!

I suspect you have actually answered the problem without knowing it as I have not located another BIOS chip on the other side of the board... so will have another look to try and find it. Obviously if anyone knows which one it is please do let me know ;-)

[Slimat]

In case it helps, this is the chip the above file came from...

[minhdigital]

Thanks hoaca388 attached is the file I downloaded from the Winbond ship closest to the BIOS battery - It exceeded the 28Mb limit, so I have had to zip it!

I suspect you have actually answered the problem without knowing it as I have not located another BIOS chip on the other side of the board... so will have another look to try and find it. Obviously if anyone knows which one it is please do let me know ;-)

Try

[Slimat]

Try

Thanks - I thought this looked promising as I erased and flashed to the chip - when I rebooted and tried to enter setup I received a message saying "BIOS Identity Data Recovered... The BIOS has recovered its identity data from the Embedded Controller due to a data mismatch". When it rebooted I tried to enter setup a couple of times and it just rebooted. When it tried to boot to the O/S I restarted it and tried to enter setup and it asked for the Administrators password again

Have I done something wrong or am I looking for a new motherboard now?

*** One comment, in case anyone finds this post in future... this laptop is an 830 G5... not G6 as I put in the BIN filename ;-) ***

Thanks again.

[minhdigital]

Thanks - I thought this looked promising as I erased and flashed to the chip - when I rebooted and tried to enter setup I received a message saying "BIOS Identity Data Recovered... The BIOS has recovered its identity data from the Embedded Controller due to a data mismatch". When it rebooted I tried to enter setup a couple of times and it just rebooted. When it tried to boot to the O/S I restarted it and tried to enter setup and it asked for the Administrators password again

Have I done something wrong or am I looking for a new motherboard now?

*** One comment, in case anyone finds this post in future... this laptop is an 830 G5... not G6 as I put in the BIN filename ;-) ***

Thanks again.

Upload bios remain !

[Slimat]

Upload bios remain !

Thanks, I did remove the motherboard this morning as I read that the 16Mb chip is on the underside... however I cant upload BIOS using a probe as it needs to be de-soldered from the board and I dont have the knowledge or tools to remove it

However as this motherboard is useless at the moment, I am thinking it would be a good test board to practice on. At the moment I only have a standard soldering iron and not the hot air type for surface mount components... so unless anyone knows another way of doing this, I am going to research and try to learn how to do this.