P150SM-A Corrupted Bios

[Umadbro]

Hi I've got a Clevo P150SM-A, with a Prema Mod Bios installed. Everything was working well but after a bad XTU configuration my laptop is now stuck in a reboot loop of 10 seconds, it doesn't display anything. I plugged a usb onto one of the ports and the light on the stick doesn't switch on, so I believe this is a corrupt bios issue. I disassembled the laptop and removed the motherboard, and I'm now waiting the arrival of a Clip Socket adaptor, which I intend to use to dump my current bios using my Raspberry Pi 3b.

I do not have much experience in this matter so I would like some help to figure out some of my questions:

After checking the motherboard/diagram, i found 2 chips that I believe to be the ones where the firmware is stored, but I'm not entirely sure if this is right. This are "cFeon QH16-104HIP" and "cFeon QH32-104HIP". I think only one of them is the right chip that stores the firmware, and I would say it is the second one, but as they are align next to each other I can't tell for sure that all the data is stored in only one of them. Are these the right chips? And if so, what is the use for each one of them?

My second questions is, after dumping the bios, I've seen that some people are able to fix them, but there's also others that post a working bios to then flash onto the chip, but I couldn't find any respective to my motherboard in these website. Is there anywhere else I would be able to find it in case no one has a back up for me?


Specs and Important Info:

Laptop: P150SM-A

Motherboard: 6-71-P15S0-DA3A

CPU: 4810MQ

GPU: 880M 8GB

Any help will be very appreciated.

[IDislikemakingLogins]

Re: P150SM-A Corrupted Bios

I have seen a few computers with 2 bios chips, The bios file i found seams to be 4mb, I use uefitool to look around dumps. sometimes one chip only seams to have uefi stuff on it an other has the rest. The bios file i found (4mb one) seams to have only uefi stuff and not the bios or the me stuff. Id back up both of the chips and just try the 4mb one, I cant find anything from the 2mb one but it may have the rest of the bios on it.


https://github.com/LongSoft/UEFITool...ses/tag/0.25.1
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thre...r-2014.790474/

[Umadbro]

Re: P150SM-A Corrupted Bios

Hi and thank you for your reply.

After spending some times researching I got to the conclusion that each chip contains different information:

cFeon QH16-104HIP - This one stores the EC Firmware
cFeon QH32-104HIP - This one stores the BIOS Rom

Being that the backlight on the keyboard still works, the fans still spins e.t.c. I would say the EC is still intact, so I'll focus in the one that takes care of the actual bios.

I'm still waiting for the clip. It should arrive soon but until then I can't do much. The link you sent me doesnt seem to point me to a bios dump but a actual bios update, so I'm a bit confused. Am I not suppose to flash a dump from a working bios?

I have found a few websites like "http://************/index.php?threads/k770g-6-71-bios.33928/" which claims to have the bin files I need, but I'm not entirely sure this is a trustworthy source. It asks me to pay for a premium subscription so I can download the files, but I'm not sure if this is a safe website. Have you or anyone used it before?

I spent some time emailing Clevo support to ask for some assistance on finding my issue, and the person I was speaking with seem to disagree the problem comes from the bios itself. He wasn't very nice about it and it didn't get me to any conclusion in the end, but it obviously left me thinking, is it actually possible that my bios becomes corrupt over misconfigurations on XTU?

I'll keep you up to date and post my dump files whenever my clip arrives. Thank you.

[SMDFlea]

Re: P150SM-A Corrupted Bios

When you get your clip, backup both chips,and make a note which one was which.When you get a new bios and EC you can compare the bios and ec structure with a hex editor,such as HxD. Bios and EC should both be flashed.

https://repo.palkeo.com/clevo-mirror/P1xxSM-A/

[Umadbro]

Re: P150SM-A Corrupted Bios

Thank you, I'll wait for the clip to arrive and post the results.

[Umadbro]

Re: P150SM-A Corrupted Bios

Hello, I finally manage to get a backup from both Bios and EC chips.

The clip didn't seem to be so easy to connect so I decided to solder it straight to the components. the chip EN25QH32 (bios) was quite easy to backup, after three backups and checking the checksum I believe I've got a good dump. The chip EN25QH16 (EC) was a bit more complicated, mostly because I'm not very experienced with the code I'm using, and is also hard to find information of how to use it. After 10 dumps I think I've got a good one to go, but I might need someone to check it before just to make sure that is right. ec1.bin, ec2.bing, ec3.bin and ec6.bin seem to have a wrong checksum and after compare it with ExD I'm sure they are bad dumps, all the others seem to be the same. I still included all the backups on the attachment so anyone can see if they are actually good or not. I used 'flashrom' with my Raspberry PI to obtain the backups.

From here I dont know what is the next step I should take. I know the idea would be flash a good dump onto the chips but I think I'll need someone to check mine first, as I'm not totally sure if that is actually the problem with my motherboard.

I'll wait for any help before doing anything else.

Thank you.

[SMDFlea]

Re: P150SM-A Corrupted Bios

If you`re having problems buy a cheap CH341A programmer on ebay.They cost less than £5.

[Umadbro]

Re: P150SM-A Corrupted Bios

Obtaining the dumps is not a problem. My Raspberry Pi could find and identify the chips and dump them without issues. Now I just need someone with a bit more experience to evaluate them so I know if a corrupted bios/ec is actually the problem with my board, and if it is, I'll need the right files to correct them. I can't tell by myself as I don't have the experience to analyse and fix hex files.

[rioreno]

Re: P150SM-A Corrupted Bios

Obtaining the dumps is not a problem. My Raspberry Pi could find and identify the chips and dump them without issues. Now I just need someone with a bit more experience to evaluate them so I know if a corrupted bios/ec is actually the problem with my board, and if it is, I'll need the right files to correct them. I can't tell by myself as I don't have the experience to analyse and fix hex files.

i was check your bios backup (2MB and 4MB) :
and i got this...
- 2MB (ec4) containing Descriptor region and ME Region
ec1, ec2 ec3 empty rom,
- 4MB contain BIOS Region and EC (first of 65kb)

PRJ:P17ASM
DATE: 2014/03/24
VER: 1.03.04
IT8587
P170SMA030.rom
FID.x.P170SMA

You said your bios type P150SMA, but its diffferent with your backup, have you ever flashing or updated bios before?

[Umadbro]

Re: P150SM-A Corrupted Bios

Hi, and thank you for checking my backups.

I've flashed this bios myself long ago and my laptop worked for a long time with it installed. This is one of the modded bios from Prema Mod, I don't know why would it say is for the 170SM-A but as far as I know both models are very similar and possibly use the same bios, so maybe Prema made a bios which can be flashed in both laptops, but this is just an assumption. What I know is that this bios worked perfectly for the time the laptop was operational.

As mentioned before ec1,2,3 and 6.bin are not good dumps for sure but I thought it might be useful to post them.

I'm a bit confused with what you said, I thought the 2mb chip was the EC and the 4mb the Bios but you said that's not the case.

In your opinion do you think the files are corrupt? Now that I think about it, I don't think I'll ever be able to compare it being that this is not a official bios.

[rioreno]

Re: P150SM-A Corrupted Bios

Hi, and thank you for checking my backups.

I've flashed this bios myself long ago and my laptop worked for a long time with it installed. This is one of the modded bios from Prema Mod, I don't know why would it say is for the 170SM-A but as far as I know both models are very similar and possibly use the same bios, so maybe Prema made a bios which can be flashed in both laptops, but this is just an assumption. What I know is that this bios worked perfectly for the time the laptop was operational.

As mentioned before ec1,2,3 and 6.bin are not good dumps for sure but I thought it might be useful to post them.

I'm a bit confused with what you said, I thought the 2mb chip was the EC and the 4mb the Bios but you said that's not the case.

In your opinion do you think the files are corrupt? Now that I think about it, I don't think I'll ever be able to compare it being that this is not a official bios.

my opinion the bios region has some error,, you can check using UEFItool and compare with bios from P17xSMA_B0311.zip...

try this from downloaded from SMDFlea link (post#4)
2mb and 4mb
extracted and split from P17xSMA_B0311.zip
your logo will change to CLEVO..
goodluck

[Umadbro]

Re: P150SM-A Corrupted Bios

Do you think it will be okay to flash a different laptop version onto my flahs? Mine is the P15xSM-A, not the P17xSM-A

[SMDFlea]

Re: P150SM-A Corrupted Bios

Heres the P15xSM-A bios and ec . If you flash the P17 or P15 flash both the bios and ec

[rioreno]

Re: P150SM-A Corrupted Bios

Do you think it will be okay to flash a different laptop version onto my flahs? Mine is the P15xSM-A, not the P17xSM-A

You say that your backup file has been long use, until bad XTU config..
I check id/ver your backup file with uefitool and hxd, i cannot find p15 but i only find p17.. so i think your bios its ok flash with p17...
however we will know after you try that..

[SMDFlea]

Re: P150SM-A Corrupted Bios

Theres only one small difference between the P15 and P17 bios from the palkeo repo, standard and overclocking .

[Umadbro]

Re: P150SM-A Corrupted Bios

I'm just about to start flashing the bios/ec, I'll post the results straight after finishing it.
I can't remember if that was the case bus as both laptops are very very similar I would say Prema must have created a bios update that suits and can be installed in both models, but as unfortunately he is not sharing is amazing work anymore I can't guarantee this is what happen. Shame, this laptop is nothing without that bios, the bottle neck is horrible with the stock rom, but I guess better a laptop that works than a brick that does nothing.

[Umadbro]

Re: P150SM-A Corrupted Bios

I've just finished to flash the bios/ec and test the laptop and everything is working like charm!!! I was very surprised to see it working. The bios logo is not from Clevo but 'Style Note'??? Not sure why but it doesn't really matter being that now the laptop is back in track. The Power throttle is also back duo to the stock rom, but after some XTU tweaks it might have made it a bit better, but I'll need to test it to make sure. Thank you all for your help, I'm really pleased with the results I've got in the end.

Now I'm wondering, would there be a way to fix my original modded bios? It's probably not worth the trouble as it must take a lot of effort, but as there is no way to get it from Prema anymore, this bios is quite of a rarity.

By the way, the files I flashed were form the P15xSM-A.

Once again, thank you all for your help.

[rioreno]

Re: P150SM-A Corrupted Bios

I've just finished to flash the bios/ec and test the laptop and everything is working like charm!!! I was very surprised to see it working. The bios logo is not from Clevo but 'Style Note'???

By the way, the files I flashed were form the P15xSM-A.

Once again, thank you all for your help.

Nice... so now we know after you flash your nb can be flash with p15 or p17..
Style note is clevo logo, BUT you can change easily that logo with any logo if you need.

[Umadbro]

Re: P150SM-A Corrupted Bios

Well, sort off. I still used the right bios for my model. If you look into the repository of bios both models have their own bios, but as far as I'm concerned there's little to no difference between thouse motherboards

[ProfessorPolygon]

Re: P150SM-A Corrupted Bios

Hey,

Would those bios files work with any P150SM? I've got a similar issue and can't find bios files anywhere. Found these but not sure how to flash them currently as they don't include the dos files. I have created a dos usb stick but any guidance would be great.

Thanks