Lenovo Thinkpad X13 Gen 3 AMD locked bios

[fulaphex]

hello friends - I have purchased a used Thinkpad X13 Gen 3 AMD variant and only after making the purchase I realised that the BIOS is locked. I have spent a bit of time browsing the forum and from what I understand it's possible the modify the BIOS that is currently on the machine and remove the password from that BIOS. For dumping the BIOS from the laptop I have ordered this ch341a programmer. Below is a photo of the password prompt:


I have taken the cover off the laptop and I found that "serial number" is "GM-0358MB" and "type number" is "21CN-S19U00".


While I'm waiting for the programmer to arrive I disassembled the computer and tried finding the BIOS chip on the motherboard - but I'm not entirely sure how to do that. My best guess would be that it is the 8 legged chip near the CPU - on the picture below it close to the left mount of the CPU cooler, a little to the right of it.

[fulaphex]

I managed to take a better picture of the chip I suspect to be the BIOS chip:


I tried looking for that chip online and found this: https://www.digikey.co.uk/en/product...hJBch8Leh_0in8
According to that spec sheet - it looks like it should be safe to read this with the 3.3V ch341a programmer? I am still waiting for the programmer to arrive - as soon as it does I'll try dumping the contents of that BIOS chip.

Please do let me know if it looks like I'm about to burn this thing out somehow - it's going to be the first time I'm trying the whole chip programming business.

[m1ch43lzm]

W25Q128JW is 1.8V chip, you need an additional 1.8V adapter if using the CH341A, or you can damage the BIOS chip or the motherboard/CPU, as all Ryzen PC/laptops use 1.8V BIOS chips

The one you linked is W25Q128JV, a different 3.3V chip

But I think the password is stored on the EC (not on the BIOS chip) like on other ThinkPads

[fulaphex]

I see - thank you for your answer! I guess the BIOS and EC chips could be on the other side of the motherboard? Or do you see something that resembles a BIOS/EC chip on the pictures I linked?

In the meantime I disassembled the laptop further, took out the motherboard entirely, and found one more chip that could be BIOS/EC on the other side of the motherboard. It is W25Q128JW as well - but I will have the 1.8V converter for the ch341a programmer so I should be able to read both of them. I guess the next step is to read both those chips with the 1.8V reader and post the results?

[m1ch43lzm]

Check here for the schematics and boardview, NM-E422, it's the same as T14s Gen3 AMD
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/troubl...gen-3a-nm-e422

The EC (NPCX997) and the system BIOS are on the other side of the board

You need a special programmer SVOD4 for this, that programmer is expensive, check this thread:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/troubl...-svod4-npcx997

No way to erase password with just the CH341A, best to find a repair shop that will do that service