Lenovo Thinkpad T480 BIOS and EEPROM request

[badiycbo]

Found this image from the bios before bricking which might contain relevant information.

[PULIO1500]

Could anyone help me with a ThinkPad, which is currently password in the BIOS?
thinkpad x1 extreme gen 1
model : 20MF-000DUS
bios : N2EET42W (1.24)
s/n : R9-0V246W
year : 19/05

note : I already tried with Lenovo Patches v2 and it left my laptop with a black screen and beeps as if it was missing memory ram.

[SMDFlea]

Could anyone help me with a ThinkPad, which is currently password in the BIOS?
thinkpad x1 extreme gen 1
model : 20MF-000DUS
bios : N2EET42W (1.24)
s/n : R9-0V246W
year : 19/05

note : I already tried with Lenovo Patches v2 and it left my laptop with a black screen and beeps as if it was missing memory ram.

Off topic, this thread is for the T480.

[OnyxOutlaw]

Hello. I'd like some help with a t480 with a (presumably) corrupt bios.
Type: 20L6-S18E00
S/N: PF-1FD5RP

The device doesn't boot and gives a chime, error code 010288.
Due to this, I don't know about the bios revision information.
Dump of the chip is attached.
Thanks in advance for the help!

[OnyxOutlaw]

Hello. I'd like some help with a t480 with a (presumably) corrupt bios.
Type: 20L6-S18E00
S/N: PF-1FD5RP

The device doesn't boot and gives a chime, error code 010288.
Due to this, I don't know about the bios revision information.
Dump of the chip is attached.
Thanks in advance for the help!

As someone said before, this isn't the most active thread.
I understand that, but I'd also really appreciate a pointer or two.
As things are now, I have no idea how to go about things.
Thanks in advance yall.

[Stefan Steff]

As someone said before, this isn't the most active thread.
I understand that, but I'd also really appreciate a pointer or two.
As things are now, I have no idea how to go about things.
Thanks in advance yall.

Here is your new BIOS file, please provide some feedback about the result:

[OnyxOutlaw]

Here is your new BIOS file, please provide some feedback about the result:

Boots fine, but seems like the bios is locked.
I get the message 'Bad CRC of Security Setting in EFI variable' and then i meet with a locked bios.
Should I try the auto patcher now?
Thank you so much for your help, if you have any more advice I would sincerely appreciate it.

[Stefan Steff]

Boots fine, but seems like the bios is locked.
I get the message 'Bad CRC of Security Setting in EFI variable' and then i meet with a locked bios.
Should I try the auto patcher now?
Thank you so much for your help, if you have any more advice I would sincerely appreciate it.

Yes, of course you can try the autopatcher.
Then you can Load Defaults (F9) and maybe the error will disappear.
If not you probably need to rewrite your DMI info with Lenovo U1 or Golden key this will rewrite your CRC. There is plenty of info about dowload and usage here :
1.- https://www.badcaps.net/forum/troubl...r-bootable-usb
2.- https://github.com/ASparkOfFire/lenovo-u1-tool

[OnyxOutlaw]

Yes, of course you can try the autopatcher.
Then you can Load Defaults (F9) and maybe the error will disappear.
If not you probably need to rewrite your DMI info with Lenovo U1 or Golden key this will rewrite your CRC. There is plenty of info about dowload and usage here :
1.- https://www.badcaps.net/forum/troubl...r-bootable-usb
2.- https://github.com/ASparkOfFire/lenovo-u1-tool

Okay. I will keep this in mind.
Running autopatcher leads to the same jingle as before, so I will probably make a post in that thread.
Thank you so much for your help.

[Bouchi11]

Hello everyone, my T480 suddenly won't boot. When I press the power button, it plays a melodic error code (I believe it's error 0001) for a few seconds and Power button stays on. This happened after I missed a BIOS update from Vantage and left the laptop unused for a couple of days.

I've already tried replacing the CMOS battery and reseating the motherboard connections. On one single occasion, I managed to get into the BIOS menu but didn't know what to do, and after a restart, it never came back (before this, no melody was playing just boot for a second and then shuts off).

• Model: ThinkPad T480 (20L5-0007GE)
• S/N: PF-1MFAX (Manufactured 02/2019)

I believe the BIOS is corrupted and I'm preparing to flash it directly onto the chip with a hardware programmer. I would be incredibly grateful for:

1. A known-good BIOS dump for my specific model.
2. Any tips or pitfalls to avoid during the process since I'm new to all this

[kady_113]

Hello,
I have a Lenovo T480 that is locked with an administrator password.

[peste]

Hello,
I have a Lenovo T480 that is locked with an administrator password.

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

[angrej4953]

bios psw pleas pach

[SMDFlea]

Read the post above.... post serial number etc.

[bob34782525423]

Lenovo T480 bricked after sop8 test clip slipped and misaligned pins while attempting to dump bios. Removed chip off board and connected to programmer. Chip identifies but reads all FF. Looking for correct donor bios to inject correct ME and rebuild from scratch. Thank you.

brand: Lenovo T480
board no: ET480 NM-B501 (2018)
s/n: PF11LDP4
type/model: 20JM-0009US
sku: LENOVO_MT_20JM_BU_Think_FM_ThinkPad T480
bios: N24ET80W (1.55) 2025-07-01
ME: 11.8.70.3626
processor type: i5
issue: bricked during bios dump attempt
requesting: donor bios

[nwsnmo]

Hi,

I’m working on a Lenovo ThinkPad T480 that appears to have a corrupted BIOS / ME region and I’d like help repairing the dumps.

Machine details

• Model: ThinkPad T480
• Type: 20L5-0057RT
• System unit serial: PF1MJ6** (masked for privacy; I can provide full S/N if needed)
• Board marking (under keyboard): ET480 NM-B501 Rev: 1.0 2018-03-05
• CPU: Intel Core i7-8550U
• RAM: 16 GB
• Internal storage: 1TB NVMe SSD MZ-VLB1T00 (not detected with some firmware)

SPI flash chips / dumps
I have two SPI flashes on the board and corresponding dumps:

• 16 Mbit/16 MB main BIOS/ME flash: Winbond W25Q128
  • T480_original_16MB_main-w25q128.bin – my original dump from this chip
  • T480_working_but_no_nvme_16MB-w25q128.bin – dump found on the web which boots but has no NVMe
• 8 Mbit/1 MB flash: Winbond W25Q08 (Thunderbolt / auxiliary)
  • T480_original_1MB_tb-w25q08.bin – original dump from this chip

The files are attached together as T480_dumps.zip

All dumps were read with an SPI programmer; I did multiple reads of the 16 MB chip and the files compare identical.

Behaviour with my original dump (16 MB)

• If I flash T480_original_16MB_main-w25q128.bin back to the 16 MB chip, the laptop powers on, the display stays dark, and it plays a beep sequence.
• Lenovo’s beep-code diagnostic tool decodes this as Error 0285: “TCG-compliant functionality-related error”.
• It never reaches normal POST/BIOS setup.

Behaviour with the web-found dump (16 MB)

• If I flash T480_working_but_no_nvme_16MB-w25q128.bin to the 16 MB chip, the machine starts normally and I can enter BIOS setup.
• BIOS shows:
  • UEFI BIOS Version: N24ET41W (1.16)
  • UEFI BIOS Date: 2018-07-18
  • EC Version: N24HT37W (1.22)
  • ME Firmware Version: 11.8.96.4657
  • Machine Type Model: 20L50057RT
  • System-unit serial: PF1MJ6SK (likely from the web dump)
  • System board serial: L1HF92K08TT (likely from the web dump)
  • MAC (Internal LAN): E8 6A 64 BB 96 38 (also likely from the web dump)
• In this state there is an entry “Windows Boot Manager” in BIOS, but no NVMe SSD is shown anywhere.
• When I boot from an Ubuntu USB stick, there is no /dev/nvme* and no other disk with the expected size, so the NVMe controller/device is effectively missing.

What I’ve tried already

• I tried flashing the web-found BIOS dump as-is – same result: boots, but no NVMe.
• I used UEFITool to copy the GbE/MAC section from my original dump into the web dump, rebuilt the image and flashed it – still boots, but NVMe is not detected.
• Whenever I tried copying more sections (beyond GbE/MAC) from my original dump into the web dump, the laptop stopped booting again (no POST / beeps similar to the original bad state).
• I also tried flashing the working web BIOS and then running the official Lenovo BIOS Update tool for this platform. After the update and reset, the laptop did not power on at all. Reflashing the web-found 16 MB dump from Google Drive brings it back to the “boots, but no NVMe” state.

Request
Could someone please:

1. Check whether my T480_original_16MB_main-w25q128.bin is a usable base (even though it currently gives 0285 TCG error), and
2. Build/repair a cleaned and fixed 16 MB image for this T480 (Type 20L5-0057RT, NM-B501) that:
   • boots without the 0285 error,
   • properly detects the internal NVMe SSD again, and
   • preferably keeps or correctly regenerates the machine-specific data (Type/Model, serials, MAC), if possible.
3. Or could you, please, explain, how can I build such image by myself. I mainly has an experience with AMD systems and this one is the Intel-based laptop.

If the 1 MB T480_original_1MB_tb-w25q08.bin (Thunderbolt) dump also needs to be repaired or reflashed, please let me know how you recommend handling that.

I can re-read or reflash the chips as many times as needed and provide extra information (photos, logs, etc.) if it helps.

Thank you in advance for any help with fixing this BIOS/ME.