Request BIOS files to flash Toshiba C55-A-1TX laptop

[YvD-Electronics]

Hi all,


I need the BIOS (bin files) to re-flash the BIOS chips on a toshiba laptop.

Why I am pretty sure I need this to repair?


1) Power supplies seem OK.

2) Battery has been replaced, is charging well ... also not the CMOS battery CR2032, also not OK without RAM, or 1 or the 2 RAM modules (RAMS are OK).

3) Laptop does really rare (seems random things) with the 3 leds (power, net, ...)

4) In the past, when trying to restart 100 times via power button, it was sometimes succeeding, now no more.

5) There comes nothing on the screen, laptop does nothing, no picture, no text, even not the first start screen. Nothing, no beeps either (only power on and some flashing leds).

6) Because of computer does not do anything, of course, unable to boot on any external support like usb stick, cd rom, or whatever ... So i had to dismount completely the computer, and remove the chips, and dump them with external universal programmer (RT809H).


I didn't find any 100% match on internet, or here (I mean motherboard type/reference), and so I am not sure if the correct files are already present on the forum or somewhere else, it is why I am creating a new request.


Computer data:

TOSHIBA Satellite C55-A-1TX

Part N°: PSCGNE-017006BT

Toshiba Europe GMBH


Motherboard:

On the PCB silkscreen written: PT10SG DSC MB Rev2.1 Labelled H000062960 WKD51


BIOS Integrated Circuits (2x Winbond), both located on the underneath side of the motherboard, nearby the 3 LED => So needed to completely remove the motherboard:

1) Winbond W25Q32FVSIQ => a 32MBits (4MB) memory for the main BIOS. SOIC8 SMD chip.

2) Winbond W25Q16DVSIQ => a 16MBits (2MB) memory for the ME I suppose. SOIC8 SMD chip.


I have saved a copy of both chips in bin files, it was no problem to read and save the content with my RT809H universal programmer. I have attached some screenshot files here to give an idea of what was the original state (even if it may be corrupt state already), but for any reason, I was not allowed to upload the bin files (I got a pop-up saying I cannot upload files with this extension).


Is anyone able to provide to me the needed files for reprogramming these 2 ICs?

I hope all needed data are posted here.

Any question, advices, new inputs are welcome.


Thank you in advance for your support.

[SMDFlea]

post your backups and the laptop serial number

[YvD-Electronics]

Hi SMDFlea ... Hope you are doing well.

Thank you very much for your quick reply.

Please find attached the 2 requested BIN files (dump from the 2 winbond chips), now that the laptop is already no more working (of course, I don't know if they are still OK, or if some data are destroyed, explaining the issue I have).

IMPORTANT NOTE:
As I mentioned in my initial request, I get an error message when I try to attach files with BIN extension, So to work around this issue, I just made an archive with both files in.

I did also attach a picture of the laptop label where you can find the serial number.

S/N ZD230521S

Thank you for your help!

[SMDFlea]

try these https://www.badcaps.net/forum/troubl...13#post1733713

[YvD-Electronics]

Thanks a lot SMDFlea!

Sorry for the late answer, I was busy with some other things and I didn't look here yet.

I am not sure if it is an 100% match, as they speak about C50 while mine is C55. But the MB number seems to match so should be OK (I don't know the exact difference between these different laptop type number, so the same BIOS probably used at multiple places)..
Also not sure what this guy is speaking about by "cleaning the ME region", etc... Strange to me.

Hopefully I don't need to try multiple versions, as it needs solder/unsolder of the ICs, and I don't want to kill the PCB, but should be fine.

As I burn directly the chips offline, I hope this is a match, as I suppose could be damaging some stuffs if not OK (this kind of BIOS update is normally done via booting external support, with original BIOS in and OK, which allows some internal checks to be done; and a NOT GO to happen in case not passing the check tests. In my case it will be "forced" without PASS compatibility check.

Anyway I thank you so much again for the great support ... I will only be able to try this in the coming days, and for sure to properly document this case, I will always come back to comment here again afterwards to give the results (positive or negative).

Regards and in some days for the results.

Cheers,

[YvD-Electronics]

Added comment ....
I have reprogrammed successfully both Chips with the content downloaded following the link indicated in above's comment #4, but I noticed something when analyzing their buffer data.
So, small clarification needed here before soldering them back on the motherboard... re-assembling my computer and test it.

Let me explain:
Inside the Winbond W25Q32FVSIQ => 32MBits (4MBytes) memory, from the location hexadecimal address 0x4A721 to 0x4A7C4, there is a zone where we see in clear text the identification of the laptop, then some less readable data... followed by a bunch of FF indicating original blank zone.

Of course, these data do not match between my original one and the one I downloaded here to re-flash the chips, as they do not come from the same original laptop => See attached a screenshot of both buffers at these addresses.

So the question are:

1) Am I allowed to edit the buffer in the downloaded file to make this address range matching my original information or not?

2) Or even better ... I suppose when you reflash a computer BIOS using the normal USB or CD boot application, that only some zones are actually overwritten to finally update the BIOS without impacting important local computer identification data an so on. Is it then possible to only overwrite partially the chip with the new content, preserving original laptop data, and others important zones if existing?

Thank you...

[SMDFlea]

You can copy the DMI using a hex editor. 4A720 - 4A7CF

[YvD-Electronics]

Hi SMDFlea,

I am back again .... Last thing I hope....
I have managed to copy the original DMI zone to the new downloaded BIN file to make it match with my original data.
By the way, I looked for my LAN MAC address of the onboard NIC controller, and I also found it, and replaced it with my own laptop MAC.

Until here I hope everything fine, for the rest I found a huge number of differences, as I have a V1.1 in my original BIOS and a V1.0 in the new downloaded version, so I suppose somewhere going back with version.

Anyway, if it boots back, it is the first goal....

Let me ask a (hopefully final) question => after having modified all these data manually in the downloaded BIN file to make them match my own computer, is there not somewhere a CRC checksum value that I have to adapt to avoid my copy to be declared as "corrupt/wrong", I don't know what?

Thank you so much for the great support!

[YvD-Electronics]

Hi,
The computer is repaired and working fine.

The only thing I noticed is that all BIOS versions are now announced as being Ver 1.0 in the main BIOS screen (Main BIOS and EC version). I think it was V1.30 and V1.10 (or V1.00) in the past.

Now that the laptop is back to service, and that it can thus boot for example on external support like USB stick or CD rom, is there another file to download like iso, or whatever else to then again flash the BIOS, but this time to the latest version without having to dismount the Motherboard or desolder the chips?

Thank you!

[YvD-Electronics]

Hi all,

My Toshiba Satellite C55-A-1TX laptop is almost repaired, but I still need some advice.

After re-flashing both BIOS and ME chips, the laptop starts again and works almost normally (I have Ubuntu Ubuntu 22.04.5 LTS operating system).

But ... I see now in my BIOS the following :

- System BIOS version: 1.00
- EC Version: 1.00

And since I have done the repair, my SD card reader is not working at all : Not seen in the list of hardware and no external drive mounting when inserting a flash memory.

Do you have any idea if the CD card only not working could be linked to my new BIOS ? This is also why I was requesting higher version to reflash via booting on external media under comment #9 above.

IMO I had V1.30 or V1.40 before...

Thank you for the support.