Possible to recover NM-E091 T14s/X13 Gen 3 (Intel) without the original BIOS?

[ErParucca]

Lenovo Thinkpad X13 Gen 3 model 21BQ, motherboard is NM-E091 (same as T14s Gen 3), schematics and boardview already shared here in other posts.

Long story short: got this laptop where the previous user tells me he had secure-boot locked but no supervisor password (which can be normal as secure boot enabled is a pre-requisite for other settings that he should have changed).

He messed up with the BIOS chip, broke the chip trying to clip it and removed it while in the process probably destroying/removing a few components (zoom in and see left outside the red box: looks like R2202 and R2203 are missng):



I was reading (can't share the link as the website proposed paid recoveries and these links are prohibited here) that the BIOS is linked to the TPM. My question : let's assume I can repair the HW, will I be able to flash a BIOS on an empty chip (I may consider buying a SVOD 4) and bring this laptop back to life or should I just sell the parts? Everything looks quite new and has (had? ) 22 months of warranty left...

PS: the 64MB BIOS chip (same as original) you see is the one I bought/soldered.

Thanks!

[m1ch43lzm]

R2202, R2203 and R2204 are missing, 10ohms 0201 according to NM-E091 schematics, it looks fixable

You'll need a working dump with clean ME region if it's not possible to read the BIOS from the broken chip even soldering wires to it, find the appropriate BIOS request thread for the X13 gen3 and post there the serial/model/MTM (forum rules)

The TPM is linked to the Bitlocker key, if you clear the TPM Windows will ask for the Bitlocker key if enabled, either wipe the SSD or input the recovery key stored on the MS account linked to it

The serial number, MTM, and bios password is stored on the EC in those, you'll need a programmer that supports W25R512JV for this BIOS

[ErParucca]

thanks m1ch43lzm ! I didn't mention the HW repairs as there's a separate sub-forum for that and having registered recently I want to avoid being flagged as yet another user that doesn't read/ignores rules

Yes, I know these are easy and cheap to find but before getting into HW repairs I wanted to clarify about being able to recover the situation not having a dump of the original BIOS (I already have a few that I found here on other topics).

BitLocker? Who cares, no need to access what the previous owner may have left on the drive If I can use any BIOS (as I did on an old X13 Gen 1 AMD that I revived by flashing the one downloaded from Lenovo), this should be fine. https://www.badcaps.net/forum/troubl...-cfrp-clear-me

[ErParucca]

m1ch43lzm would these be ok as a replacement? https://www.jbg-metafix.com/produit/...-DF100R00.html

link to specs: https://www.jbg-metafix.com/produit/...ml#attachments

thx

[m1ch43lzm]

Looks like it's the whole reel of 10000 resistors at 6.6eur, the specs are correct 10ohm 0201 size

As i checked farnell and they have
https://fr.farnell.com/en-FR/c/passi...+ohm+resistor+
About 2eur for 100 resistors

[ErParucca]

Looks like it's the whole reel of 10000 resistors at 6.6eur, the specs are correct 10ohm 0201 size

As i checked farnell and they have
https://fr.farnell.com/en-FR/c/passi...+ohm+resistor+
About 2eur for 100 resistors

thanks! Yes but when you add them to the cart and go to the cart you magically have 15€ of handling charges (or 18-20€ for shipping on other websites such as RS, digikey, mouser, etc.)

[ErParucca]

quick update: multiple sources that I believe to be the most reliable (here, Sorin's discord, etc.) agree that there's no link between flashed BIOS and TPM except for keys required for things such as BitLocker.
Unfortunately no shops I reached out is willing to do the soldering job (they only do repairs so they can invoice all the diagnostics). Training on soldering surface mounted components on some old boards while waiting for the components to arrive, wish me luck!

fingers crossed and thx for the help, I hope I will have (good) news to share here in about a week.