I actually threw in a new board and I had nothing but issues with the laptop. I'm moving on and don't plan on trying to mess with it anytime soon....

To the right in the picture? That was just some excess that spilled over, but it's not actually bridging anything if I'm not mistaken. I can double check under a microscope but it seemed fine to me....

So, unfortunately I ended up just killing the original BIOS chip, I tried reinserting the chip into the reader and it was in the incorrect orientation. So, while I did get what still appeared to be a good read after fixing my mistake, I wanted to use this as an excuse to purchase a new BIOS chip and see if I would get any different behavior. As you said, only an amber light does point towards no or bad BIOS connection, as when I did a second attempt at fitting a new BIOS, I got power. However, my problems are no longer over as while I do have power to the laptop again, I still can't seem to get...

Re: Dell Latitude 7420 BIOS Unlock Gone Wrong

Alrighty, college has gotten in the way of this repair, but I have gotten back to it. I desoldered the BIOS chip much easier than I had anticipated. I loaded the chip into my recently acquired adapter, and I read the chip in NeoProgrammer. I've attached pictures of the setup I have with the flash programmer as well as a screenshot of the file that was read. I've also attached the dump I made if anyone wants to maybe have a look and see if it's a usable BIOS image. I believe that I have the adapter and chip inserted properly, but if anyone...

Re: Dell Latitude 7420 BIOS Unlock Gone Wrong



Yeah, one of my coworkers pointed that out as well when I was reviewing the pictures.

What would be the best strategy to try and un-bridge it? I'd think maybe a hot air station, but I'm sure there are other ways....

Re: Dell Latitude 7420 BIOS Unlock Gone Wrong



Yeah, this reminds me of when I tried doing a retimer chip for an Xbox. The ground is always a pain because of the amount of heat needed.

Nonetheless, I've purchased a WSON8 socket from Amazon just so I can have a crack at reading the chip sooner.

I only have access to the cheaper 858D stations, but I do have a T862++ rework station that I could maybe use, I'm just unsure how much better that would perform.

When I have some time, I'll attempt to remove the chip from the board...

Re: Dell Latitude 7420 BIOS Unlock Gone Wrong



I probably should have elaborated but I used one of those 858D hot air stations set to like 350C to try and remove it. I got frustrated and didn't want to get the board covered in flux at that moment, so I left it alone after....

Hello everyone.

I have come here with a rather specific question. I was given a Dell Latitude 7420 laptop with a busted screen, and wanted to see if I could refurbish it into my daily driver. I wanted to experiment and see if a 2-in-1 display would work as the chassis of the laptop and 2-in-1 7420 looked identical. I threw in the display and my hypothesis was correct, however, I was greeted with a locked BIOS and since I didn't know the password, I figured I'd try to unlock it somehow. I bought one of those POGO pin probe things for my CH341A programmer so I could read and make...

Re: New Members - please post your introductions here

Hello everyone!

My name is Jeffrey. I'm from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, but I'm currently pursuing a degree in electrical engineering at Wichita State University.

Since middle school, I've been building computers and repairing phones, and through the years I've learned a lot and have dabbled in more complex repairs and projects. I share most of what I do on my YouTube channel, "Jeff's Tech" but as of now, I haven't been uploading frequently if at all.

Nowadays, I've been working...