[Solved] Lenovo Legion Y740-15IRH BIOS Recovery

Discussion in 'BIOS Mods' started by Tyroq, Feb 4, 2021.

  1. Tyroq

    Tyroq MDL Novice

    Feb 3, 2021
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    Hello everybody,

    A few days ago, Lenovo Vantage stopped working after i updated the BIOS to the latest version. Thinking it may had to be related to the update, i did a a back flash and the laptop restarted with a "missing boot device" screen, with the issue eventually progressing to a black screen after some restarts and retries trying to recover it.

    What i already did: CMOS reset, download and extract the last functioning BIOS with innoextract, tried to use UEFItool, Phoenixtool, and, by guessing, because i can´t figure out how to see it, around 40 variations of possible BIOS recovery names, including no file extension. Tried the procedure with and without the SSD or the battery plugged in.

    When i turn on the laptop doing a long press (20secs) on the power button and let go, press Fn+R, plug in power cable and turn on the laptop while keeping Fn+R down, the power LED on the back turns orange. Other key combos like Windows button+B and the LED stays white. No beeps and the fans turn on for a few seconds and stop while the keyboard stays lit. I´m using a 32GB USB 3.1, FAT32 with the ports on the back. The model i have is the one with an i7-9750H / 1660 ti / Machine Type: 81UF

    The working BIOS i was using before the update is: h_t_t_p_s://download.lenovo.com/consumer/mobiles/bvcn14ww.exe (remove underscore)

    If possible, can someone teach and help me revive my laptop?

    Thank you for your attention.
     
  2. coleoptere2007

    coleoptere2007 MDL Guru

    Apr 8, 2008
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    why don't you contact Lenovo support ??
     
  3. Tyroq

    Tyroq MDL Novice

    Feb 3, 2021
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    Hi,

    Because it will be a month of waiting when with this way it´s probably a 30 minute process at tops. If possible, i want to try and exhaust all possibilities before going through with Lenovo services. Also, i read some stories about laptops coming back with working but badly flashed motherboards with missing serials or wrong product type.
     
  4. coleoptere2007

    coleoptere2007 MDL Guru

    Apr 8, 2008
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    @Tyroq can you access the bios menu and try to reset to default ??
     
  5. Tyroq

    Tyroq MDL Novice

    Feb 3, 2021
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    BIOS is not accessible. Fans stay on for around 5 seconds and then stop. Keyboard LED´s stay on but the display backlight is also completely off. I tried to check the HDMI output but it´s not working either. The only response from the hardware is when i do the Fn+R combo and the charging LED changes from white to orange.
     
  6. Tyroq

    Tyroq MDL Novice

    Feb 3, 2021
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    It seems that the latest BIOS (bvcn15ww - V.1.11) is problematic and is bricking more machines out there. There are already users with bricked laptops at the Lenovo forums.
     
  7. nitin29

    nitin29 MDL Novice

    Apr 7, 2016
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  8. nitin29

    nitin29 MDL Novice

    Apr 7, 2016
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  9. nitin29

    nitin29 MDL Novice

    Apr 7, 2016
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    Thanks for the file! Yes, crisis file name and key combinations is not known so I asked on lenovo forum about it, let's see if someone respond. I searched there, and someone said that key combination can be fn+r or fn+b or winkey+r or winkey+b. Not tested it yet. And people are suggesting bios.bin or crisis.bin file name etc. Perhaps I will a try and let you know.

    Also, do you think we can use this bin file with spi programmer? because I have ordered it knowing that this file or key combination name might not possible.

    And can you also extract v.1.11 bin file too? In my case, I updated to 1.11 and then downgrade to 1.10 and then problem started. So I want to try both whichever work and let you know.

    I know, v1.08 or 1.09 were supporting undervolting and was working fine, so once we have workable solution to restore again to v1.10 or 1.11 I want to give v1.09 a try.

    Thanks again!
     
  10. nitin29

    nitin29 MDL Novice

    Apr 7, 2016
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    I downloaded the file and noticed that its size is 17 Mb, I think the file size has to be 8Mb or little less as bios chip is 8Mb only. Can you find any file which is around 8Mb. Then you can open HXD and check in anscii string side if it says something.
     
  11. Tyroq

    Tyroq MDL Novice

    Feb 3, 2021
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    Mine was on 1.10, with undervolt. Done back flash before without issues. Maybe 1.11 has major changes in this regard and that's way it bricks on back flash. Probably we have to completely disable undervolting before doing anything BIOS related....
     
  12. nitin29

    nitin29 MDL Novice

    Apr 7, 2016
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    #18 nitin29, Feb 10, 2021
    Last edited: Feb 10, 2021
    I heard that many people insist using FAT partition so I created FAT partition of 500 MB from 8GB usb Stick using DISKPART in cmd. I got Platform name by opening bin file in Hxd hex editor by searching for PlatformName1 and 2. Though fn+r is the only key combinations in which usb drives led flashed for several times but still nothing, other key combination I wrote in previous reply doesn't work...

    Maybe I have to break it in main bios and EC files.
    1. But what should we name them? Same name for main bios and EC file?
    2. Can they be used for usb stick flashing or spi programmer with clip?
    3. Which file need flashing Main bios or ex or both with spi programmer?
    4. On motherboard I found two winbond chips, One is 8 MB and other is 128 MB that's located on same side when we open the back cover, but for 16 MB bios there must be either 128 MB Chip or some Chip located somewhere else.

    I'll be getting spi programmer I ordered next week, then I will take a dump of both winbond chips and see if I can find the content looking similar to main bios or EC.

    Also from some other forum, the insyde h20 bios on acer have key combination of fn + Esc I will also try this. First we just need to know the file name for these two files.

    UPDATE: I got confirmation from ebay that winbond 25q125jvsq is the main bios chip, it is located near battery pack.
    It is 3.3V chip. My spi programmer will be arriving next week around 15th Feb so I will take a dump from that chip and see how it looks and compare what we have from main bios and EC from extracted file.
    If look similar I will attempt to flash it. Moreover, these bios chips are also available preflashed from ebay but cost 25-40 usd with shipping.
     
  13. ndthtnt

    ndthtnt MDL Novice

    Oct 31, 2020
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    I have the 15IRHg with rtx 2060 and facing the same issue. The 1.11 seems suck. For more details, I was on the backlash from 1.11 to 1.08 and the machine is behaving in the same way as the OP :(
     
  14. nitin29

    nitin29 MDL Novice

    Apr 7, 2016
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    One bad news guy, if you have updated v1.11 without first updating Intel ME exe released on same date on lenovo laptop page, then you will break your computer with v1.11 update OR if you have updated ME and then updated BIOS with v1.11 and then tried to do downgrade to previous version, then your computer will break. in BIOS v1.11 readme file, it is clearly written about support for new ME, but nothing else. ME is also a part of main IO chip which communicate with main BIOS. So use the right file as per information BIOS version for recovery as per my understanding. I will confirm again once I have spi programmer so i can try what is possible. To change ME region of BIOS which is located either on main BIOS or main I/O controller, we may require SVOD programmer which is costly.. so visit to any service center is needed.