EC is for keyboard and so. Embeded Controler. to get your serial back there is 2 ways.. compare differences from backup.bin to fixall.bin (made with mod bios not original) and there it should be. or use the DMI update tool for that motherboard model. or the long way.. do small bits of the backup.bin replacement from bottom up from WPH. eventualy it will boot and u can reflash and keep the serial info. by the way what programmer u using ?
I ordered a USB SPI Flasher + SOIC Test Clip from eBay... but it is still in transit from China. I think it was delayed due to the holidays. I got tired of waiting and decided to continue with the DIY spipgm hardware. I modified it with dip switches and variable resistors. I also have a DC Buck/Boost device which I hooked up to a Li-Ion battery (18650). I adjusted the voltage to exactly 3v. After that, instead of de-soldering the chip from the board I just soldered the programmer through short wires to the motherboard's test points/dot connected to the chip's 5 pins(MOSI,MISO,CLK,CS,VCC). I then de-soldered the GND pin of the chip and put masking tape underneath it, ensuring it is not connected to the board's GND. After that, I soldered the programmer's GND directly to the chip's GND. I thought this would be safer for the board since it is not going to receive an external power source (3v) because I only connected the VCC (3v) and not the GND. So, out of the chip's 8 pins I only connected 6, the WP & HOLD pins will receive the 3v through the motherboard's connection, since they are all linked to the same 3v rail. I downloaded the schematics of my board and chip before doing any of this. At my first try, I've got a successful connection with the chip and was able to identify its ID. After that, I dumped & verified the ROM for 20x and compared each of them in a hex editor. All files are identical which gave me the confidence to send it to you. After downloading your fixall.bin, I flashed it right away and boom. I've got a working laptop again, just without the serial number and some stuff. I then decided to turn the laptop off, and dump the bios chip again to fixed.bin. After that, I turned it on and did the same changes I made that messed it up so much before and sure enough after restarting it showed again the same blank screen. I turned it off again, then dumped the bios chip to fixederror.bin. After that, I opened hex editor neo trial and compared fixed.bin with fixederror.bin using the "Difference Algorithm". This showed the addresses that were modified that is causing the blank screen during bootup. I opened my original backup.bin and for each line of difference between fixed.bin and fixederror.bin, I checked if backup.bin has the same value as fixederror.bin on that specific address. If they have the same value, I modify that specific address on backup.bin by copying the value from fixed.bin which is the working BIOS for that same address. If they don't have the same value, then that means that change is not related to the bad/wrong settings I made that caused the blank boot-up screen so I just skip to the next difference between fixed.bin and fixederror.bin. In the end, I just modified around 50 addresses, and most of them are from the start of the file. So, basically I used fixed.bin and fixederror.bin to know which parts caused the problem, and then revert those changes on backup.bin (my original dumped rom). This gave me a bios rom without the changes I made that caused the boot-up problem but with all the important (serial number, UUID, SLIC) details I need intact. I took a risk but I'm glad everything worked out. This wouldn't have been successful without your help. So, thanks again!
wow u get my respect.. very well documented fix and most self made spi programmers have a read write issue .. u mastered it im ordering a EN25T80 soon. i had EZP2011 with a partner but he returned to seller like the noob he is... he rather order $25 chip instead of learning this fix.
Just some notes for those that will try the spipgm way: 1. Don't use AC to DC Power source for SPIPGM Programmer like a USB Adapter/Charger. I don't know why but the reads/writes will not be successful. 2. Use a variable resistor with range from 100-200 for the signal pins. 3. Use "Parallel Port Tester" program to reset the signal cables in your parallel port's data pins. It shouldn't be sending 4+ volts on these pins when you connect the BIOS chip. 4. Make sure the laptop is not connected to any power source (Main battery, CMOS batttery & AC) when doing an in-circuit programming. 5. External Power Source shouldn't exceed 3.3v as this is the absolute maximum voltage any chipset can take. A bios chip can work with 2.7-3.3v. Set it to 3v. 6. After building your programmer, try it first with a working PC that has a removable BIOS chip that has been backed up using "Universal BIOS Backup". Right after finishing the BIOS backup, pull the chip from the motherboard while PC is still on. This ensures that your BIOS backup is a 100% copy of the chip, there is a risk that shutting down the computer might change some BIOS data. Adjust your programmer's resistor, until you get 100% verification with the bios backup and your bios dumps. 7. Run spipgmw.exe as administrtor 8. If you're not sure about something, find help here. Don't try something out without weighing out the risks first. People here could really help. 9. Haste makes waste. Take time to research about what you are going to do. Double-check and get 2nd opinion.