@TheCM - Thanks. - No Nvidia vBIOS inside that BIOS. Here please test - Wait, what size is your main BIOS chip?
Ahh, there's the issue with your test, your BIOS chip is not large enough to hold this BIOS, so only half would be programmed in anyway, so nothing we can do now
If you know how to solder to remove and replace BIOS chip, then you can solder in 16MB chip, then we can test some BIOS test files, but it may all be for nothing so kinda risky. It may be best to RMA at this point

Yes, that is why I've been saying this all along, about GP106/GP107 etc.

Yes, hot air station and bottom heating plate, it could be done with heatgun if you've done it 100's of times and know what you are doing, but I'd never suggest that even to someone that knows what they are doing.
For someone without past experience doing this many times, and having the correct tools, even if you got it off with heatgun safely and did not melt/burn anything and didn't rip out traces, you'd never be able to properly solder new chip back into place properly.
Really, this is not an option for general person to do, you need correct setup and lots of experience.

Can't see image, please take a few from different angles and put in zip. I'm not caring about how the chip looks here, I'm interested in the solder work and what's underneath that, how the pads look etc.

@Lost_N_BIOS

I was under the impression it was just over 8MB (8,192KB). That’s the size of the updated BIOS.ALL file I flashed and the original BIOS dump.

Why isn’t it large enough to hold this BIOS? The M18 BIOS I flashed was the same size. Unless I flashed the wrong file? It was labelled N8xxEP6.BIN and, since it was the only file that was the same size, I assumed it was the BIOS. This datasheet on the chip suggests three different sizes based on the mode it’s in. I don’t know, I don’t fully understand it.

Alright, I don’t think I’ll attempt replacing the chip myself then. However, if replacing the chip is the only option, I’m sure I could find and pay someone qualified and with the right equipment to do it for me.

I think we need to find a way to program it. I’m gonna need to some help with that though, as those guides only do so much (plus they don’t specifically say it will work with ITE8587 or ITE chips in general).

You keep saying RMA, which stands for Return Merchandise Authorization, correct? I bought this computer second-hand off eBay and it was listed as For Parts/Not Working. As I mentioned before, I fixed the issue it originally and got it up and running had but created a new one with the BIOS update problem. It also had this GPU issue that I didn’t know about until after. How would RMAing it work?

Here’s a .ZIP with multiple angles: https://ufile.io/wvvfga3a
I tried to get the solder pads in focus.

the black programmer is 5V wont that brick and fry the bios chip?

@TheCM - Yes, that's what I mean, your BIOS chip is 8MB and the BIOS for your board is 8MB, but the BIOS for the other model which you think you flashed it's EC FW into your board has 16MB BIOS
It's "BIOS.ALL" equivalent = N8xxEP6(16M).13 = 16MB, the 8MB part you mentioned (N8xxEP6.BIN) is the BIOS region only (Programming that only into the correct model would brick it too ). This (N8xxEP6.BI) is similar to your models 6MB file (BIOS.ROM)

The only option I see for you now is replacing the BIOS chip with a 16MB chip, so you can at least see if we can maybe get that other boards BIOS to run on your board with the matching EC FW.
And that in itself will be huge issue, maybe not possible etc, due to the different CPU families between the two models.
Also, EC FW is usually part specific too, so that flashed in EC FW may not work at all with the controller or components on your board, so even if we could make a known working BIOS from the other model, the EC may be failing too.
So basically this is really a huge mess, I would personally RMA - Yes, return to place you purchased. Bummer, since you got on ebay as parts, this is not an option, sorry, you can't RMA probably. You can try, but they'll probably want receipt to do warranty coverage.
Time to resell as parts, hopefully you didn't pay too much for it. I would do that, instead of putting more money, time, headache into this. Or find another parts/as-is board or entire system and pull it's board out to put in this one, that way maybe you'd also get another better working GFX card too.

* Edit - Ohh, what a sloppy rework job that is!! They didn't' even clean up their mess, the owner would be so proud he'd probably fire them on the spot, unless owner did the work or trained the person his bad habits!
They even scratched the PCB right across a trace too, lifted the protective coating off there! Also looks like all cold solder joints, or cheap solder used etc. It's too messy for me to even try and see if pads look OK/Undamaged

@jannyer - No, the black/gold programmer only puts out 3.3V to the chip, 5V is only used internally.

@Lost_N_BIOS

Soldering a 16MB chip probably won’t even work, I could look into it, but most likely scenario is that all that effort goes to waste and doesn’t fix it. Like you said, different CPU models. It’s doable though - I’m sure the chips are cheap and soldering 8 pads can’t be that hard.

Do you think programming the ITE chip is a lost cause? Isn’t that the best option right now? I think that’s what I should focus on.

Returning it to the seller isn’t an option, plus I’d probably get my money back and more from selling it for parts/not working again, but this time on eBay UK and not Germany (where it came from).

I really want to just fix it. One small mistake and it’s unfixable? I refuse to believe that.

I regret taking it to that repair shop. A massive waste of time and to make it even worse, they made a terrible job replacing a chip that didn’t need to be replaced.

@TheCM - Yes, I doubt it would work either, because I would have to "Downgrade" too much in that BIOS to attempt to make it work with your hardware, and even then we don't know if EC FW currently in there is working with your hardware either
Even if we could make "Should be working BIOS" - then if/when it failed we still would not know if it was due to EC FW not compatible with hardware or if the BIOS still not compatible with hardware etc.

Soldering BIOS chip is not too bad, if you've had experience doing such. If not, removing it from the board may be pain for you, legs may be damaged/trashed, you might lift pads/traces may off the board if solder/tip too hot or cold, but at least they've already removed the stock lead-free solder so that does make it a bit easier.

Yes, programming the EC FW chip should be focus for now if you want to keep on this, but I have no idea how to help you figure out about doing that.
@chinobino @dsanke @ket @SoniX @CodeRush @davidm71 @Mov AX, 0xDEAD @gloobox @MiesMosel @PCGH_Torsten - Do any of you have any experience with Programming EC FW via ribbon cable (ITE 8587), or can tag someone in you think might? - Detailed Schematic here for this system model

If you can't find info on doing this, then yes, sell for parts as-is and mention in bold that it was working right before you flashed in wrong EC FW, then someone that knows how to fix will be willing to pay much more than others only willing to risk a little on maybe being able to fix it.
It's fixable, but not easily. If you flashed in wrong BIOS only, we'd have fixed LONG ago and you'd be back in business, you just happened to flash in the wrong thing into a part that is not easily corrected.

3.3V is not universial some chips operate lower and using 3.3V higher than optional will fry and brick your bios chip

The black version will output 5V on the SPI pins (CS, DO, CLK, DI) which is somewhat tolerated by most 3.3V chips, but will damage any 1.8V chip.
And if you are using a soic clip, you might risk damaging nearby components that are connected through SPI (e.g. embedded controller).

To be on the safe side: get the green pcb and a 1.8V adapter.

@Lost_N_BIOS I just read the last few pages and wow... just wow.

I always leave EC firmware alone because of horror stories like this (Surface Pro anyone?). According to this reddit post (by TheCM) he flashed the correct EC firmware for the XMG-A517 - maybe the download was corrupt? Who knows. The only way to find out what is wrong with that Notebook is to get another working XMG-A517, compare the chip sizes and dump them all (and even if you do eventually get it working the Nvidia GPU would need to be reballed = EXPENSIVE).

I hate to say it but it's more time/money than it's worth for a 3 year old notebook with a GTX 1060.

(I just quickly glanced through the previous posts).
As far as i know the EC firmware is located inside the main BIOS (search for 'ITE Tech') and will be accessed via SPI.
The other SPI chip is probably for the USB firmware.

Edit:
The EC has it's own 128KB e-Flash storage that will probably just copy the firmware from the main BIOS.
Here are some ITE tools.

Thanks to both of you for responding.


@chinobino

At the time, I hadn’t realised I had flashed the EC FW for the XMG 1517-M18 model by mistake. I’m still not 100% sure that’s what happened, but I think I checked the files I had downloaded after and they matched the ones for that model. It was a silly mistake, as I think I visited the download portal for the correct model multiple times too, but didn’t notice. That was the conclusion I came to - I flashed a slightly different model.

I did it through software, but now I don’t have that luxury since it won’t POST.


In terms of the GPU - What is reballing and why would I need to do it?

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@flashrom - Thanks for linking to those tools. How would I go about using them? The IT8587 is the 128KB e-Flash chip. I’d like to know how I can program it.

If it copies the firmware from the main BIOS, is there a way to put the EC FW on there and have it copy over to IT8587 without having to program that one? What’s the reason for it copying over in the first place? Why isn’t it just programmed directly to the appropriate chip?

@TheCM Hi, If you've ever heard of the Xbox 360's "red ring of death" or people baking their dead GPU in the oven to attempt to reflow the BGA solder balls - well you possibly have the same fault with your GTX 1060.

BGA (Ball Grid Array) reballing is sometimes required when the alloy of the BGA component solder balls needs to be replaced as some are no longer making contact, it is good practice to replace the CPU/GPU chip at the same time as the original cause of failure could be deformity of the tracks in the BGA chip and if you just reflow (only apply heat to repair) or just reball the issue can re-occur.

If you look at this image you can probably visualise the small solder balls better.



Although you can buy cheap BGA rework station for around $100 (US) on ebay/aliexpress etc. it is not recommended, professionals may use thousand dollar rework stations and still have difficulty.

If the repair costs more than the item to replace then it's probably not worth it - many electronic repair businesses will have a minimum price that makes it worth their time but also expensive for the customer.

what kind of green pcb? can you link it for me and also i heard the black usb programmer has an voltage bug that causes to brick bios chips is that solved?

Zitat von TheCM im Beitrag #221

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Thanks for linking to those tools. How would I go about using them? The IT8587 is the 128KB e-Flash chip. I’d like to know how I can program it.

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Zitat von TheCM im Beitrag #221

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If it copies the firmware from the main BIOS, is there a way to put the EC FW on there and have it copy over to IT8587 without having to program that one? What’s the reason for it copying over in the first place? Why isn’t it just programmed directly to the appropriate chip?

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@chinobino - Yeah, from what I’ve seen, reballing isn’t reliable nor a permanent solution for a dead GPU. Especially after watching this video on the topic. It matches what the repair shop said, as they said the GPU may have overheated and melted the contacts. They weren’t particularly detailed beyond that though and I’m not that trusting of them now. They also said they no longer do the repair anymore as it isn’t reliable or a long-lasting fix.

I barely got the chance to see what was wrong with the GPU after finally getting the laptop up and running. I noticed in my benchmarks that it was skipping over it entirely and only benchmarking the iGPU. I was getting this error from UserBenchmark’s tool: WARN: skip Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 - unable to locate attached display. There was clearly something wrong after noticing poor performance in even decade-old games. After updating drivers, I went straight to updating the BIOS and didn’t try anything else.

I need to get a second opinion from a different repair shop. If it’s the case, I’ll likely sell the laptop for parts/not working and buy a new one. Although, I still want to try and fix the issue with the EC firmware before doing that.

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@flashrom - Yes, I’ve been able to flash the latest BIOS (that is for my exact laptop) to the replaced chip. I was able to verify the write using multiple tools, so it definitely worked. I also tried flashing the matching BIOS for the M18, but as @Lost_N_BIOS pointed out, I only flashed the BIOS region this time (and not the full thing) as the chip is twice the size and I assumed it would still be the same. There are no problems with the new chip as far as I can see - it was just a shoddy solder job and it’s not the best looking chip.

The chip was replaced after the issues with the BIOS, not before. It’s not the cause of the problem - at least, not the one I posted about here anyway. I took it to the repair shop during my posts on this forum.

I don’t know it the EC firmware is corrupted, but rather just incompatible. Especially since I haven’t tried flashing a matching BIOS, as the chip isn’t large enough. The only different between models is the i7 CPU is one generation newer.

Zitat

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I think the main BIOS is just a convenient location, it probably includes a efi application for the EC programming as well.
They would then just set some NVRAM variable to initiate the EC flash on the next reboot.

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So is there anyway to use this EFI app through hardware alone? I obviously can’t interact with it through software on the XMG. I can use my other computer, which is what I’ve been using with the CH341A programmer.

If I understand you correctly, if triggered, it flashes the EC FW upon a reboot, pulling the file from the main BIOS. I’m assuming this variable is related to checking the current version/matching what’s needed. Am I correct?

Zitat

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Manual access and programming will be difficult, but i don't think a corrupted EC firmware will prevent the device from booting.

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Difficult, but not impossible I hope. As long as the equipment required doesn’t cost more than the repair is reasonably worth, I’m happy to give it a shot. Especially if I can get away with using things I’ve already got (like the CH341A). How do I use the ITE tools and do you know what I would need to do in order to program it? @Lost_N_BIOS linked to these two different approaches: RT809F (+guide I found) & this one using keyboard connectors and the CH341A.

What do you think?