Lenovo Thinkpad T480 BIOS and EEPROM request

[Birdsbeinair]

...and how about this dump?
It had worked on 2-3 other laptops that i fixed...

Sorry for the late reply, I've been busy with some work. YES! This one worked!! 😁 But... Windows installations are as unstable as they were before the botched Bios update, and some Linux distros do install but it takes a lot of effort to make it happen. I believe this motherboard may be broken after all, but in such a weird way that I can't pinpoint exactly how, and sadly we can't refund it anymore. Still, thanks everyone involved for your time and support, I learned a lot from this!

[Dzony83]

Hello,
I have a Lenovo T480 that is locked with an administrator password.
I tried Auto-Patcher, and while it worked perfectly on some computers, on this one, I only get beeping and a black screen. What am I doing wrong?

Lenovo T480
Board: L1HF89T0373
SN: PF1F28LP

[SMDFlea]

try a different bios - https://www.badcaps.net/forum/troubl...83#post3686683

[hyper x]

HI IN LENOVO T480 HAS BIOS PASSWORD PLS HELP ME OUT
SN - PF-1MMQ2U
MODEL - T480 LENOVO
PN- SL10R03187

[hoaca388]

HI IN LENOVO T480 HAS BIOS PASSWORD PLS HELP ME OUT
SN - PF-1MMQ2U
MODEL - T480 LENOVO
PN- SL10R03187

https://www.badcaps.net/forum/troubl...ssword-removal

[Dzony83]

Hello,
I have a Lenovo T480 that is locked with an administrator password.
I tried Auto-Patcher, and while it worked perfectly on some computers, on this one, I only get beeping and a black screen. What am I doing wrong?

Lenovo T480
Board: L1HF89T0373
SN: PF1F28LP

SMDFlea - Thank you for your help, but when I try that file, the BIOS remains locked.
For example, with the original BIOS, I can skip the login and enter the BIOS (of course, I can't change anything), but with this BIOS, I don't even have that option.

[SMDFlea]

SMDFlea - Thank you for your help, but when I try that file, the BIOS remains locked.
For example, with the original BIOS, I can skip the login and enter the BIOS (of course, I can't change anything), but with this BIOS, I don't even have that option.

That bios still needs patching

[ktmmotocross]

have anybody dump form U15 with dump from U49?

[Dzony83]

That bios still needs patching

Honestly, I'm a little embarrassed that it didn't occur to me at all But we are still learning, it will get better over time with fewer silly questions
Of course I managed to remove the password when I did the patch... And of course, now I have another problem, which is Autopilot. On a couple of computers, I successfully removed Autopilot by following the instructions from volinakis, but on this one I don't see that Autopilot exists at all, and yet when I install Windows 11, it's still tied to the company. I assume something else needs to be changed, but I don't know what exactly?

[SMDFlea]

Honestly, I'm a little embarrassed that it didn't occur to me at all But we are still learning, it will get better over time with fewer silly questions
Of course I managed to remove the password when I did the patch... And of course, now I have another problem, which is Autopilot. On a couple of computers, I successfully removed Autopilot by following the instructions from volinakis, but on this one I don't see that Autopilot exists at all, and yet when I install Windows 11, it's still tied to the company. I assume something else needs to be changed, but I don't know what exactly?

Perhaps volinakis or maxpower3 or someone else can help with that, i`m not sure what to do

[Stefan Steff]

Honestly, I'm a little embarrassed that it didn't occur to me at all But we are still learning, it will get better over time with fewer silly questions
Of course I managed to remove the password when I did the patch... And of course, now I have another problem, which is Autopilot. On a couple of computers, I successfully removed Autopilot by following the instructions from volinakis, but on this one I don't see that Autopilot exists at all, and yet when I install Windows 11, it's still tied to the company. I assume something else needs to be changed, but I don't know what exactly?

Please try this modded (1 byte diff) bios for autopilot disable...if it's not working then probably you need to rewrite the SIO chip.

[Dzony83]

Please try this modded (1 byte diff) bios for autopilot disable...if it's not working then probably you need to rewrite the SIO chip.

It actually works perfectly! Autopilot has been successfully removed.
Thanks for the help! I would be grateful if you could write down exactly what you changed, so I can try to do it myself in the future

I also want to thank SMDFlea for the selfless help! Well done, guys!

[badiycbo]

Hello, I bricked my bios when the spi flasher disconncted mid libreboot install. I've tried multiple bios files from this thread and changing the mac address etc but nothing works, the power button just blinks 3 times when connecting charger, any help with getting a working bios would be much appreciated.

Thinkpad T480 i7-8550u
Board: 20L5-CTO1WW
S/N: PF-1596D1

I lost the original dumps but these are the current ones on the board, let me know if more info is needed.

Thanks in advance

[Gurmeet yadav]

lenovo t450
serial no is not available on sticker
nm-b501
no display BLACK SCREEN...TURN OFF AFTER 30 SECOND
help

[badiycbo]

Hello, I bricked my bios when the spi flasher disconncted mid libreboot install. I've tried multiple bios files from this thread and changing the mac address etc but nothing works, the power button just blinks 3 times when connecting charger, any help with getting a working bios would be much appreciated.
Thinkpad T480 i7-8550u
Board: 20L5-CTO1WW
S/N: PF-1596D1

I lost the original dumps but these are the current ones on the board, let me know if more info is needed.

Thanks in advance

This thread does not seem to be very active anymore but if any knowledgeable person ends up reading this even a simple attempt to point me in the right direction would make me eternally grateful.

At this point I've tried a couple BIOSes posted in this thread and also extracting their bios region, replacing the mac address with the one i backed up before i bricked the computer (using hexedit) and stitching it to the BIOS region of my bios dump but nothing has worked. All i get is a black screen and the powerbutton blinks 3 times when i plug it in, but does not react to presses.

I'm completely out of ideas at this point so if anyone knows a potential fix or if there is further modification needed to the bios before flashing or something like that, Ill try anything at this point.

Wizards of badcaps.net I call upon thee

[Stefan Steff]

This thread does not seem to be very active anymore but if any knowledgeable person ends up reading this even a simple attempt to point me in the right direction would make me eternally grateful.

At this point I've tried a couple BIOSes posted in this thread and also extracting their bios region, replacing the mac address with the one i backed up before i bricked the computer (using hexedit) and stitching it to the BIOS region of my bios dump but nothing has worked. All i get is a black screen and the powerbutton blinks 3 times when i plug it in, but does not react to presses.

I'm completely out of ideas at this point so if anyone knows a potential fix or if there is further modification needed to the bios before flashing or something like that, Ill try anything at this point.

Wizards of badcaps.net I call upon thee

Did you try this dump ?

[badiycbo]

Did you try this dump ?

Wow that was quick, thanks for taking the time trying to help! I think I did but I could try again to make sure. Do you mean to just flash it as is, or should i extract the bios region and replace the mac address etc?

[Stefan Steff]

Wow that was quick, thanks for taking the time trying to help! I think I did but I could try again to make sure. Do you mean to just flash it as is, or should i extract the bios region and replace the mac address etc?

First read and backup your existing bios content as is the whole W25Q128JV chip content I mean...
Then write the file I have sent as is.
Your DMI info it's in EC so it should work as is.

[badiycbo]

First read and backup your existing bios content as is the whole W25Q128JV chip content I mean...
Then write the file I have sent as is.
Your DMI info it's in EC so it should work as is.

Unfortunately no result, i'll tell you exactly what I did.

1. removed external battery
2. open chassi
3. disconnected internal battery
4. connected ch341a spi flasher to W25Q128JV chip
5. read the chip using flashrom:

sudo flashrom -p ch341a_spi -c "W25Q128.V" -r backup.bin
flashrom v1.5.1 on Linux 6.12.47 (x86_64)
flashrom is free software, get the source code at https://flashrom.org

Found Winbond flash chip "W25Q128.V" (16384 kB, SPI) on ch341a_spi.
Reading flash... done.​

6. flashed the file you suggested using flashrom:

sudo flashrom -p ch341a_spi -c "W25Q128.V" -w Lenovo_T480_ME_Clean.bin
flashrom v1.5.1 on Linux 6.12.47 (x86_64)
flashrom is free software, get the source code at https://flashrom.org

Found Winbond flash chip "W25Q128.V" (16384 kB, SPI) on ch341a_spi.
Reading old flash chip contents... done.
Updating flash chip contents... Erase/write done from 0 to ffffff
Verifying flash... VERIFIED.​

Then i removed the spi flasher, reconnected internal battery, closed chassi, reconnected external battery and plugged in to power. Still black screen and power button flashes 3 times. No luck it seems. Unfortunately i lost the original BIOS dumps from before bricking the system so the ones i uploaded in my first post never worked and might contain wrong data. May I ask, what is the DMI info? I'm not familiar with the term. A shot in the dark but could the issue have something to do with the other SOIC8 chip containing the thunderbolt firmware maby?

(The file i upload is the dump from reading the chip at step 5)

[Stefan Steff]

Unfortunately no result, i'll tell you exactly what I did.

1. removed external battery
2. open chassi
3. disconnected internal battery
4. connected ch341a spi flasher to W25Q128JV chip
5. read the chip using flashrom:

sudo flashrom -p ch341a_spi -c "W25Q128.V" -r backup.bin
flashrom v1.5.1 on Linux 6.12.47 (x86_64)
flashrom is free software, get the source code at https://flashrom.org

Found Winbond flash chip "W25Q128.V" (16384 kB, SPI) on ch341a_spi.
Reading flash... done.

6. flashed the file you suggested using flashrom:

sudo flashrom -p ch341a_spi -c "W25Q128.V" -w Lenovo_T480_ME_Clean.bin
flashrom v1.5.1 on Linux 6.12.47 (x86_64)
flashrom is free software, get the source code at https://flashrom.org

Found Winbond flash chip "W25Q128.V" (16384 kB, SPI) on ch341a_spi.
Reading old flash chip contents... done.
Updating flash chip contents... Erase/write done from 0 to ffffff
Verifying flash... VERIFIED.​

Then i removed the spi flasher, reconnected internal battery, closed chassi, reconnected external battery and plugged in to power. Still black screen and power button flashes 3 times. No luck it seems. Unfortunately i lost the original BIOS dumps from before bricking the system so the ones i uploaded in my first post never worked and might contain wrong data. May I ask, what is the DMI info? I'm not familiar with the term. A shot in the dark but could the issue have something to do with the other SOIC8 chip containing the thunderbolt firmware maby?

(The file i upload is the dump from reading the chip at step 5)

The Desktop Management Interface (DMI) is a standard industry framework for managing and tracking components in a laptop/PC and it contains all sort of data about the hardware like laptop serial number, main-board serial number, model number, etc and the computer boots, but with a lot of errors if this data is missing or is incomplete...
You did everything ok...I think...I'm not a Linux fan...but I see there are no errors on read/write.
What I can suggest is to try more dumps (attached) .
This dumps worked on other T480 hardware....we don't know exactly what's yours because of the bricked backup.
Good luck!

[badiycbo]

The Desktop Management Interface (DMI) is a standard industry framework for managing and tracking components in a laptop/PC and it contains all sort of data about the hardware like laptop serial number, main-board serial number, model number, etc and the computer boots, but with a lot of errors if this data is missing or is incomplete...
You did everything ok...I think...I'm not a Linux fan...but I see there are no errors on read/write.
What I can suggest is to try more dumps (attached) .
This dumps worked on other T480 hardware....we don't know exactly what's yours because of the bricked backup.
Good luck!

Yes the write seems to working at least (if i can trust flashrom hehe), so I'll keep trying dumps like you said. Ugh I feel so stupid that I overwrote the original backups but thank you very much for trying to help, I feel more hopeful now knowing it is most likely just about finding the right bios dump for my hardware. Cheers!