DELL E6420 (LA-6591P) U52 U53 Bios Flash with a Raspberry pi B+

[sven69300]

// Disclaimer - This tutorial is for information or educational purposes only. I can and will not be held responsible for any damages caused to your laptop, or any violations that could occur //

Shopping list

Hardware

• one raspberry pi rev. B+ with case, micro-usb power supply with at least 1A output (500 mA is too weak for a raspberry pi, and can result in loss of network and other problems...)
• usb keyboard, mouse, RJ45 network cable + Internet access
• HDMI cable to connect for ex. to your TV
• SOIC 8 pins probe and short cables (check on eBay, 15$ max)
• philips (ph0?) screwdriver

Software, bios

• raspbian (debian distribution adapted to raspberry pi).
• flashrom with necessary libraries
• unlocked (password, computrace...) U52 and U53 bios

Summary

1. Install raspbian and flashrom on raspberry PI
2. Wire your RASPBERRY PI GPIO ports / SOIC probe
3. Tear down your E6420 laptop and set testing probe
4. E6420 bios details
5. Transferring the bios to Raspberry PI
6. Backup, erase and flash U52 U53 bios
7. Assemble back you E6420
8. Test, check and enjoy

1) Install raspbian and flashrom on raspberry PI

Link 1 download the last raspbian image
Link 2 procedure to write an image on SD card
Once you get a working raspberry pi with rapsbian, type:

[B]startx[/B]

open a terminal and type:

[B]sudo apt-get update
sudo apt get upgrade[/B]

This will update your raspbian.

To install Flashrom, you can use following command in a terminal

[B]apt-get install flashrom[/B]

or Download Flashrom sources 0.9.7 http://www.flashrom.org, untar it and compile it for best chip support. To compile, in a terminal run:

[B]sudo apt-get install pciutils-dev
[/B]

then in the terminal go to the directory you extracted flashrom to run:

[B]sudo make[/B]
[B]sudo make install[/B]
[B]sudo vi /etc/modprobe.d/raspi-blacklist.conf[/B]

Then press 'i' to be able to insert characters
Add '#' in front of 'blacklist spi-bcm2708' to comment it out
Press 'i' again to exit insert mode
Exit the editor with ':wq'
Then turn off your Raspberry.

2) Wire your RASPBERRY PI GPIO ports / SOIC probe

3) Tear down your E6420 laptop and set testing probe

I advise to power off your raspberry pi before moving the testing clip/probe in order to avoid any shortcut that will not please your GPIO ports. In some forums, people recommend also the use of R150 ohms to protect the GPIO ports, but this will work without. Make sure that your cables are short as possible, and use quality cable.
You can restart you raspberry.

4) E6420 bios details

Before starting, a short explanation on E6420 bios. You understood that you have 2 x bios chips to flash on this laptop. This is not a backup bios strategy, but just one 16Mb Bios (U53) dealing with I/O (keyboard...) and the other 64Mb one being the main bios (U52).

5) Transferring the bios to Raspberry PI

The best thing to do is having a server (SMB, NAS, ftp...) available to download your bios files (U52 & U53), or you can also use a USB dongle, send it by email ...

You can use the great bios files posted by Wallace80 (Link)

6) Backup, erase and flash U52 U53 bios

If everything went well with flashrom install, following command will test the hardware connection and detect the chip you connected:

flashrom --p linux_spi:dev=/dev/spidev0.0

If you get error messages, please check your wires, flashrom install. If it does not detect the chip, you may have a non configured "raspi-blacklist.conf". Try running:

modprobe spi_bcm2708

Save you old bios:
To save an old BIOS backup use the following command:

[B]flashrom --p -V linux_spi:dev=/dev/spidev0.0 -r oldBIOS.bin
[/B]

where oldBIOS.bin is the filename of saved bios. It should be save in /home directory.

Erase your bios:
Use the following command:

[B]flashrom --p -V linux_spi:dev=/dev/spidev0.0 -E
[/B]

Flash your new Bios:
To upload the new BIOS in the chip use the following command:

flashrom --p -V linux_spi:dev=/dev/spidev0.0 -w newBIOS.bin

Where newBIOS.bin is the name of your new Bios file. Successful flashing should end up with VERIFIED message.

7) Assemble back you E6420

8) Test, check and enjoy

This thread could not have been written without following sources:
https://winraid.level1techs.com/t/gu...berry-pi/30264
http://diy.viktak.com/2014/07/how-to...iled-bios.html

[ktmmotocross]

Re: DELL E6420 (LA-6591P) U52 U53 Bios Flash with a Raspberry pi B+

way tougher than with this programmer
http://www.ebay.com/itm/24-25-series...item3f3c7a6af8

and this clip
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-SOIC8-SO...item27dc762148


but it give me some new ideas. Thank u

[sven69300]

Re: DELL E6420 (LA-6591P) U52 U53 Bios Flash with a Raspberry pi B+

@ KTM, thanks for your links, looks like an OOB solution. I agree that if you have no RASPI, that's much more convenient

[sking88]

Re: DELL E6420 (LA-6591P) U52 U53 Bios Flash with a Raspberry pi B+

Does this come with a software that will flash bios. That will work on windows 64bit. The .bin or .ROM file. Also is there a book that is best for me to learn more about bios. And the workings of a motheboard

[sking88]

Re: DELL E6420 (LA-6591P) U52 U53 Bios Flash with a Raspberry pi B+

way tougher than with this programmer
http://www.ebay.com/itm/24-25-series...item3f3c7a6af8

and this clip
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-SOIC8-SO...item27dc762148


but it give me some new ideas. Thank u

Forgot to say my last question was for you

[Chicago]

Re: DELL E6420 (LA-6591P) U52 U53 Bios Flash with a Raspberry pi B+

Shopping list

Hardware

• SOIC 8 pins probe and short cables (check on eBay, 15$ max)

Hi Sven,

Would you kindly recommend a specific Test Connector which worked for you in this application.
The SOIC Narrow Test Clip which I ordered for this project is giving me a hard time and I suspect it is simply not making the proper physical connection.

Both flashrom v0.9.8 and flashrom v0.9.7 indicate the following after a best effort has been made to apply the Test Connector securely.

Found Generic flash chip "unknown SPI chip (RDID)" (0 kB, SPI) on linux_spi.
===
This flash part has status NOT WORKING for operations: PROBE READ ERASE WRITE
The test status of this chip may have been updated in the latest development
version of flashrom. If you are running the latest development version,
please email a report to flashrom@flashrom.org if any of the above operations
work correctly for you with this flash part. Please include the flashrom
output with the additional -V option for all operations you tested (-V, -Vr,
-VE, -Vw), and mention which mainboard or programmer you tested.
Please mention your board in the subject line. Thanks for your help!
No operations were specified.

The flashrom installation was performed from source and the spi_bcm2708 module is loaded.
Others have complained about the 3M Test Connectors here and here.

Whether the solution is hardware or software, any suggestions or tips are appreciated.

Kind Regards,
-Chicago

[stj]

Re: DELL E6420 (LA-6591P) U52 U53 Bios Flash with a Raspberry pi B+

the flash chips arent narrow usually,
and i hope you didnt buy the clip from there - they cost about 2$ from china on ebay complete wih a cable on them.

[sven69300]

Re: DELL E6420 (LA-6591P) U52 U53 Bios Flash with a Raspberry pi B+

Hi,

I have been ordering quite the same as the one you mention, but a noname version

Please make sure:
- your wires are as short as possible
- your power supply is strong enough, I would recommend at least 2Amps
- soldering legs of your chips chip are not "dry". You can spray a bit of WD-40 to ensure a proper contact

Hope this helps.

[malek_bh]

Re: DELL E6420 (LA-6591P) U52 U53 Bios Flash with a Raspberry pi B+

hi ,i have dell e6320 after flash with raspberry now is dead. my computer automatic power after plug in power corde then fun control about 30s then restar.i mac a backup bios and flash another rom laptop dead . im flash original backap but som problem .
any help pleas!!!!!!
sory for my eng..

[malek_bh]

Re: DELL E6420 (LA-6591P) U52 U53 Bios Flash with a Raspberry pi B+

i get new bios.bin but flashrom give me ( error: extra parameter found ) any solution please?
or bios.bin A19. this is original bios
http://downloads.dell.com/FOLDER0185...1/E6320A19.exe

[sven69300]

Re: DELL E6420 (LA-6591P) U52 U53 Bios Flash with a Raspberry pi B+

Hi,

That tutorial was written for E6420 laptop, not for E6320, sorry.

[hugomac]

Re: DELL E6420 (LA-6591P) U52 U53 Bios Flash with a Raspberry pi B+

hello i trayed it but i desolded the chips and programed with SOFI SP8 and all look ok but when turn up the laptop nothing hapens! i bunrned de chips???? i can red the chips into my eeprom programer

[beck6]

Re: DELL E6420 (LA-6591P) U52 U53 Bios Flash with a Raspberry pi B+

I ordered it here because the price is quite cheap.

[R_J]

Re: DELL E6420 (LA-6591P) U52 U53 Bios Flash with a Raspberry pi B+

I ordered a clip from China that did not work, this is what I got, It was replaced with a better one that did work, so check the pins

[csacsi]

Re: DELL E6420 (LA-6591P) U52 U53 Bios Flash with a Raspberry pi B+

Thank you a lot! My Dell Latitude E6320 was frosen at dell logo. I could not access to boot menu nor bios setup. I tried several times to restart but no luck. I think my problem was that i formatted the uefi partition. It was the A22 bios which was frosen. I was soldering out the chips, it was a bit difficult (the soldering part), but now it's working again. Thank you!

[csacsi]

Re: DELL E6420 (LA-6591P) U52 U53 Bios Flash with a Raspberry pi B+

At Dell Latitude E6320 you just flip over the laptop, remove the battery, unscrew the bottom plate and both of the chips are near ram memories and the dock connector.

[csacsi]

Re: DELL E6420 (LA-6591P) U52 U53 Bios Flash with a Raspberry pi B+

On raspbian my commands was like these:
for help you can type
flashrom -h
or
flashrom --help
flashrom -p linux_spiev=/dev/spidev0.0,spispeed=2000 -V
flashrom -p linux_spiev=/dev/spidev0.0,spispeed=2000 -V -r oldBIOS.bin
flashrom -p linux_spiev=/dev/spidev0.0,spispeed=2000 -V -E
flashrom -p linux_spiev=/dev/spidev0.0,spispeed=2000 -V -w newBIOS.bin