Lenovo P15s Gen 2 - Absolute Removal

[ShockStruck]

Hello!

I was hoping one of you kind folks could assist with removing Absolute on the attached bios dump? There is no password on the bios, so I am hoping this can be done without replacing the MEC1503 with one from a donor board.

Model: Lenovo P15s Gen 2 (20W7-S1KR00)
Serial: PF3CV07L
Board: NM-D352 rev 1.0

Fixed attachment

[volinakis]

Great news! I was able to grab a few matching dumps of U2201 successfully!

Please see attached.

try

[volinakis]

Hello!

I was hoping one of you kind folks could assist with removing Absolute on the attached bios dump? There is no password on the bios, so I am hoping this can be done without replacing the MEC1503 with one from a donor board.

Model: Lenovo P15s Gen 2 (20W7-S1KR00)
Serial: PF3CV07L
Board: NM-D352 rev 1.0

upload again your bios backup, it can't be downloaded

[ShockStruck]

upload again your bios backup, it can't be downloaded

Ahhh sorry about that, I have attached it here.

[volinakis]

read again mx25l25673g, it has errors. If you use CH341 read 3-4 times and compare results, when you have 2 identical it means you have a good backup.

[ShockStruck]

read again mx25l25673g, it has errors. If you use CH341 read 3-4 times and compare results, when you have 2 identical it means you have a good backup.

Okay, I am reading the chip right now. Will reply back after 4 dumps that much.

[ShockStruck]

read again mx25l25673g, it has errors. If you use CH341 read 3-4 times and compare results, when you have 2 identical it means you have a good backup.

Alright, so I have just completed another 4 reads of the chip in question with the program "AsProgrammer". These all have a matching MD5 hash so this SHOULD be a solid dump.

[volinakis]

Alright, so I have just completed another 4 reads of the chip in question with the program "AsProgrammer". These all have a matching MD5 hash so this SHOULD be a solid dump.

there are 2 chipsets, U2201 and U2202, U2201 is main bios, I think you read U2202.

[ShockStruck]

there are 2 chipsets, U2201 and U2202, U2201 is main bios, I think you read U2202.

You thought correct, I have been reading U2202. U2201 appears to be a Winbond 25R256JVEN which may be difficult to get my clip around. I'll give it a try but if I end up needing to bust out the soldering tools this may need to wait until tomorrow.

Either way, I very much appreciate your assistance and patience.

[SMDFlea]

You thought correct, I have been reading U2202. U2201 appears to be a Winbond 25R256JVEN which may be difficult to get my clip around. I'll give it a try but if I end up needing to bust out the soldering tools this may need to wait until tomorrow.

Either way, I very much appreciate your assistance and patience.

Is U2201 a WSON chip and your clip is SOP8 ? , if so don`t even try to use that clip you`ll damage the chip.

[ShockStruck]

Is U2201 a WSON chip and your clip is SOP8 ? , if so don`t even try to use that clip you`ll damage the chip.

It appears to be so, any suggestions on how I should go about reading this chip? I was thinking about trying some female to male dupont wire to use as probes, but ultimately I'll likely need to either solder wires to the legs, or obtain a WSON8 clip probe for an accurate read.

[Stefan Steff]

It appears to be so, any suggestions on how I should go about reading this chip? I was thinking about trying some female to male dupont wire to use as probes, but ultimately I'll likely need to either solder wires to the legs, or obtain a WSON8 clip probe for an accurate read.

If you can't desolder the chip and read it with a WSON to DIL8 adapter I think the best solution for your case will be to solder wires to the 8 pins of the chip...
Good Luck!

[ShockStruck]

If you can't desolder the chip and read it with a WSON to DIL8 adapter I think the best solution for your case will be to solder wires to the 8 pins of the chip...
Good Luck!

Thank you kindly for the advice! I went ahead and bought a WSON8 probe with long flexible legs I will try first (really trying to avoid applying any heat to the board if not totally necessary). If that doesn't work, I will try soldering small wires to the 8 pins of the chip.

[ShockStruck]

there are 2 chipsets, U2201 and U2202, U2201 is main bios, I think you read U2202.

Great news! I was able to grab a few matching dumps of U2201 successfully!

Please see attached.

[volinakis]

Great news! I was able to grab a few matching dumps of U2201 successfully!

Please see attached.

try

[ShockStruck]

try

Thank you kindly! I was able to flash this and disable Absolute permanently in the BIOS. It did give me a "restoring bios from backup" and "bad crc of security settings in EFI variable" a few times but that appears to have went away.

After restoring BIOS to default and making some changes, it did power off and give me the power button triple light blink. I'm thinking this may just be a dead battery though? I'll let it charge and see what happens.

[volinakis]

Thank you kindly! I was able to flash this and disable Absolute permanently in the BIOS. It did give me a "restoring bios from backup" and "bad crc of security settings in EFI variable" a few times but that appears to have went away.

After restoring BIOS to default and making some changes, it did power off and give me the power button triple light blink. I'm thinking this may just be a dead battery though? I'll let it charge and see what happens.

usually "power button triple light blink" happens when you plug in the charger

[ShockStruck]

usually "power button triple light blink" happens when you plug in the charger

I should also say the laptop is now refusing to turn on alongside that. I'm hoping it's not some weird interaction of the modifications + some of the settings I enabled in the BIOS.

I'll let it charge and then if it still doesn't power on, pull main battery/CMOS battery. A BIOS update is probably good measure too I'd imagine.

[ShockStruck]

usually "power button triple light blink" happens when you plug in the charger

Just wanted to follow up and say I've worked out all the kinks and am eternally grateful for all the help you and this community has offered me.

Happy Holidays!