[Problem/ Request] Bricked TongFang GK7MRFR BIOS

[cr4zychriss]

Do you really know where ifux64.efi wrote the data?


But I don't have the machine at hand and I don't feel any need to discuss this any further. This is what it looks like to me, hopefully for you / maybe I'm wrong and you find another easier solution. Good luck!

I have managed to get a diagram from PCSpecialist and a BIOS file. According to the diagram the EC chip is indeed IT5571e. The reason i could not find it last time i looked was because it was on the other side of the board under the plastic insulator.
My initial findings were correct as the Winbond 25Q128JVSQ being the BIOS/UEFI and GigaDevice GD25LQ80 EC firmware (flash). The ITE IT5571E-128 EC is the EC Controler.

Now, if anyone i kind enough to help out on what can i actually do to revive the "beast" ?

More files files attached

Many thanks !

[t1s50]

I have not programmed such chip nor do I see one visible on the mo (unless it's under the radiators) . I only have the 2 spi chips on the sides of the pch. (Pictures attached in first post).

Do you really know where ifux64.efi wrote the data?

The Brick: Attempted to extract and flash a 64KB EC part from an old 1.04 file using dd and from the EFI shell flashed it with ifux64.efi .

But I don't have the machine at hand and I don't feel any need to discuss this any further. This is what it looks like to me, hopefully for you / maybe I'm wrong and you find another easier solution. Good luck!

[cr4zychriss]

That's an example for an MultiIO- or EC chip- the 128 is the size of the flash memory inside this chip:


That'd be a preprogrammed EC chip.

I have not programmed such chip nor do I see one visible on the mo (unless it's under the radiators) . I only have the 2 spi chips on the sides of the pch. (Pictures attached in first post).

[t1s50]

......... So if you programmed something into the MultiIO chip which wasn't an EC firmware, you need someone who is capable to re- program an Multi-IO chip or to replace it with a preprogrammed chip.

That's an example for an MultiIO- or EC chip- the 128 is the size of the flash memory inside this chip:


That'd be a preprogrammed EC chip.

[cr4zychriss]

Do you still have this 64 kB "EC part" you programmed?

EC firmware is often located in the Multi IO chip / keyboard controller, very rarely has a normal SPI chip. The MultiIO chip is the first thing needed when pressing the power button. If you did corrupt its firmware you're quite dead in the water. So if you programmed something into the MultiIO chip which wasn't an EC firmware, you need someone who is capable to re- program an Multi-IO chip or to replace it with a preprogrammed chip.

Please explain, by multi-io chip you mean the win bound spi chip (bios)? That currently has flashed the 1.06 backup.
The other chip GigaDevice GD25LQ80 has flashed on it

• EC_1MB_Extract.bin – what I tried to extract from the XMG 1.05 ROM and is currently on my EC chip.

Long story what are my options here please?
Thanks.

[t1s50]

[*]The Brick: Attempted to extract and flash a 64KB EC part from an old 1.04 file using dd and from the EFI shell flashed it with ifux64.efi .

Do you still have this 64 kB "EC part" you programmed?

EC firmware is often located in the Multi IO chip / keyboard controller, very rarely has a normal SPI chip. The MultiIO chip is the first thing needed when pressing the power button. If you did corrupt its firmware you're quite dead in the water. So if you programmed something into the MultiIO chip which wasn't an EC firmware, you need someone who is capable to re- program an Multi-IO chip or to replace it with a preprogrammed chip.

[cr4zychriss]

Interesting idea. Ever considered that this really isn't EC firmware but bios of your Nvidia graphics? Here's a board schematic for a GK5MP5X v1.1, U8 = GD25LQ80 (btw an 1.8V SPI chip) on the pages for the graphics? Here someone has a NVidia video rom (wrongly named EC) from a comparable machine which is a 100 % bitwise identical to your 1MB backup. That's very rare, corruption does normally not happen this way.

Good luck!

If I did understand correctly, you're saying I flashed a broken EC to the vbios chip? That is actually 1.8V instead of 3.3?
So basically now is there any chance of recovery?

[t1s50]

Interesting idea. Ever considered that this really isn't EC firmware but bios of your Nvidia graphics? Here's a board schematic for a GK5MP5X v1.1, U8 = GD25LQ80 (btw an 1.8V SPI chip) on the pages for the graphics? Here someone has a NVidia video rom (wrongly named EC) from a comparable machine which is a 100 % bitwise identical to your 1MB backup. That's very rare, corruption does normally not happen this way.

Good luck!

[cr4zychriss]

Regarding
"EC_25LQ80CI_corrupt_backup.bin – the clip readout of the EC Chip after the BRICK (from first post)"

Check the file content:



If this really is the backup of the mentioned 1 MB SPI chip it's not even close to being an "EC firmware".

Hi, and thanks for the reply. That I figured it myself when I bricked it 😁. I tried to extract the last mb from the bios backup with DD and flashed it.
So as it stands I need a clean EC and full bios to flash both chips via clip.

[t1s50]

Regarding
"EC_25LQ80CI_corrupt_backup.bin – the clip readout of the EC Chip after the BRICK (from first post)"

Check the file content:



If this really is the backup of the mentioned 1 MB SPI chip it's not even close to being an "EC firmware".

[peste]

Thank you !
That's only the ME region, what about EC ?
As far as i'm aware on this model of laptop ME cant be flashed alone and needs to be part of the full package. Please correct me if i'm wrong. Also if it is possible how do i flash only that part ?

the EC bios is not cleared..it stays like this...it only writes the main chip..

[cr4zychriss]

try..

Thank you !
That's only the ME region, what about EC ?
As far as i'm aware on this model of laptop ME cant be flashed alone and needs to be part of the full package. Please correct me if i'm wrong. Also if it is possible how do i flash only that part ?

[peste]

Apologies, All files now uploaded in 2 archives.

try..

[cr4zychriss]

Apologies, All files now uploaded in 2 archives.

[SMDFlea]

Hi,
Already included in the post.

• Barebone / Chassis: TongFang GK7MRFR
• MB: MB: GK5MP5X V1.0 Prod :GK5MRFV10T04201310281

• readback.bin – readback of the N 1.06 read with the clip (whats currently on the bios chip)

Files should have been attached to your post in a zip/Rar .If you stop sharing the files the links are dead then nobody else has access to them anymore.

I`ve attached all your files.

[cr4zychriss]

post S/N, full name and model, motherboard model, etc.

post the contents of the bios chip even if it is corrupted..

Hi,
Already included in the post.

• Barebone / Chassis: TongFang GK7MRFR
• MB: MB: GK5MP5X V1.0 Prod :GK5MRFV10T04201310281

• readback.bin – readback of the N 1.06 read with the clip (whats currently on the bios chip)

[peste]

post S/N, full name and model, motherboard model, etc.

post the contents of the bios chip even if it is corrupted..

[cr4zychriss]

Hello everyone,
I am requesting urgent assistance to unbrick my laptop, a rebranded TongFang GK7MRFR chassis. The laptop is completely dead following a faulty in-OS EC flash attempt.
I have successfully used a CH341A programmer and can read/write/verify both flash chips, but using my backups/extractions has failed to restore power. The root cause is likely a corrupted Intel Management Engine (ME) region or an incompatible EC/BIOS pairing. System & Hardware Details

• Barebone / Chassis: TongFang GK7MRFR
• MB: MB: GK5MP5X V1.0 Prod :GK5MRFV10T04201310281
• Rebrand: PC Specialist Optimus Series / XMG Core 17 (E20)
• CPU: Intel Core i7-10750H (10th Gen)
• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti
• RAM: 32GB DDR4

Identified Flash Chips (Both 3.3V Confirmed)

1. Main BIOS Chip (16MB): Winbond 25Q128JVSQ (BIOS)
2. EC Flash Chip (1MB): GigaDevice GD25LQ80 (EC firmware)

Timeline of Failure & Prior Issues

The core issue before the brick was an erratic keyboard backlight that often remained off and did not respond to FN+F5/F6/F7 or Control Centre commands, nor later under linux (Confirmed as a fiddly EC issue).

1. Originally ran BIOS N.1.03 stock, then couple years back updated to 1.04 from XMG/Schenker and everything was fine here (cant remember what files I used as lost the drive they where stored) .
2. Asked PCS for a bios update in march last year and they sent over 2 files (1.06 Bios + 1.19 EC), after flashing under efi, noticed the keyboard backlight acting weird and mostly stayed off.
3. Flashed XMG BIOS N.1.05. BIOS version changed to N.1.05, but EC remained 1.19.
4. The Brick: Attempted to extract and flash a 64KB EC part from an old 1.04 file using dd and from the EFI shell flashed it with ifux64.efi .
5. The flash completed, but after an EC reset, the laptop went COMPLETELY DEAD (no power LED, no charge indicator, no fans, no POST). Later realised the initial 64KB extraction/flash was faulty and corrupted the EC boot sequence.

Current Recovery Status (CH341A Attempts)

I have successfully performed the following steps using flashrom, but the system remains dead:

1. Main BIOS Chip: Flashed my full working backup: bios_backup_GK7MRFR_N106.bin – Last working dump before updating to N1.05 verified working, 100% OK.
2. EC Flash Chip: Flashed a newly extracted EC image from the XMG 1.05 ROM (EC_1MB_Extract.bin) to the EC chip. Unknown condition, file uploaded for verification.
3. Conclusion: I strongly suspect the the EC provided by PCS wasn’t 100% fit and or Intel ME Region within my original 1.06 backup was compromised, or the 1.06 ME is incompatible with the 1.05 EC firmware, leading to a failure in the power-on handshake.

Request for Files & Guidance

I kindly ask the community for assistance with the following:

1. Full SPI Dump: A complete dump from a working GK7MRFR system (any BIOS version, with a clean, configured Intel Management Engine (ME) region.
   If possible, and if i’m not asking for much a full unlocked SPI dump or assistance with modding/unlocking the BIOS after the restore would be greatly appreciated, as the locked nature may be hindering full recovery.
2. Clean EC Firmware: The full EC firmware file (lastly installed was EC 1.19 but could be any vers as long as its paired with the BIOS) for the GD25LQ80 chip.

Guidance Needed: Please advise on the flashing order (EC or Main BIOS first if this actually matters?!?) and confirm which file should go to which chip.

Files I Am Uploading for Analysis

• afuwin_1.04.rom – N 1.04 Bios DUMP
• bios_backup_GK7MRFR_N106.bin – N 1.06 Bios dump before update to XMG 1.05
• readback.bin – readback of the N 1.06 read with the clip (whats currently on the bios chip)
• EC_25LQ80CI_corrupt_backup.bin – the clip readout of the EC Chip after the BRICK
• EC_1MB_Extract.bin – what I tried to extract from the XMG 1.05 ROM and is currently on my EC chip
• PCS_EC_GK5MP_11.900 – 1.19 EC provided by PCS
• PCS_BIOS_GkxMP5FxN106.ROM – 1.06 Bios provided by PCS
• GkxMP5FxN105_xmg.rom – XMG 1.05 Bios (supposedly with EC region)
• Pictures- Motherboard layout and chips
• LINK TO A SHARED WORK FOLDER (GOOGLE DRIVE)