[Solved] Lenovo Legion Y740-15IRH BIOS Recovery

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

  1. nitin29

    nitin29 MDL Novice

    Apr 7, 2016
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    #21 nitin29, Feb 13, 2021
    Last edited: Feb 13, 2021
    GOOD NEWS!!! Many many thanks to @Serg008 ... Bro, you saved us!!!

    I got my computer back running.I extracted all BIOS bin file from v1.11 to v1.06. Received CH341a SPI programmer today and did backup of corrupted BIOS (v1.10) and installed first v1.10 and it was running so got little more bold and flashed v1.06 and the laptop running!!! I can see the secure boot is disabled, perhaps I will enable it. Lenevo Vantage also immediately recommended that BIOS update is need ...F*CK that s*cker! I can now update BIOS whichever version I like...v1.06 is the oldest BIOS supported on my machine (Lenovo Y740 15IRHg...i7 9750h with RTX2060). Read the readme file of the BIOS update, see what machine is supported.

    Don't waste your time and money with other methods and Lenevo if your computer is out of warranty and repair times, get this genius SPI programmer for 10 usd or so. You need to flash only main bios chip near battery. You need to pay attention to pin (especially polarity) and correctly place the IC clip. You need CH341a driver and AsProgrammer programmer (free), don't use others as others have trojon or viruses in them.

    If anyone need any help, please feel free to write me a private message.
     
  2. ndthtnt

    ndthtnt MDL Novice

    Oct 31, 2020
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    That's good news. THank you for the confirmation. I'll order one.
    Last thing I want to say: this will be the last time I purchase a product from them. Bad services when I contact, at least in my local
     
  3. Panu Kerpele

    Panu Kerpele MDL Novice

    Feb 16, 2021
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    I have the same problem. V 1.11 BIOS bricked my Y740-15Irhg after flashing it back to V. 1.10.

    Might be stupid question... when "reprogramming" BIOS using CH341a SPI programmer, do I have to strip the motherboard off from all the parts, removing Nvme, memory modules, CPU... et cetera?

    Or can I just pop open the back lid and plug in the CH341a SPI programmer to the "BIOS chip"?
     
  4. nitin29

    nitin29 MDL Novice

    Apr 7, 2016
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  5. ndthtnt

    ndthtnt MDL Novice

    Oct 31, 2020
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    #26 ndthtnt, Feb 19, 2021
    Last edited: Feb 19, 2021
    @nitin29
    Hi bro,
    On your experience, have you got any tips on attaching the clippers to the BIOS chip?
    On mine, they always slipped, very hard to attach, even the clippers was threadbare after around 10 times of testing. I watched some videos on youtube and observed that people attached them very easily
    I hold them by hand and the software did detect the BIOS chip but it's so hard to hold that firmly...
    I suspected my clippers were faulty
     
  6. nitin29

    nitin29 MDL Novice

    Apr 7, 2016
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    #27 nitin29, Feb 19, 2021
    Last edited: Feb 20, 2021
    Those clips use worst piece of plastic ever, i could use them few time only before they got damaged and start slipping. Because I tried flashing different version out curiosity, didn't know that the clips will get damaged and it got damaged when i had problem flashing stock lenovo from windows, it has corrupted the bios which i had written with flasher so i had to use the flasher again and it was not attaching anymore to the ic, slipping immediately. I had to put pressure with my finger and stay still for 7 minutes of write cycle, they slipped several times. It tool me around a hour to be successful once only, and one successful write is all we need. My finger hurt but happy to get it fixed at end, i was desperate to fix my laptop. I suspect your clip to be sent used or damaged from seller, if you have time you can exchange them or try to do what i did....oh well, only I know how difficult it was but if you have patience and sturdy hands you can do it, maybe faster than me.

    Another tip...don't flash stock lenovo bios on top of the bios you will flash from the programmer/flasher...the windows will bootloop, i think because of secure boot key mismatch or something. You can flash again, after reinstalling the windows again because that will also enable secure boot writing product keys again to the secure boot...if reinstalling windows, leave secure boot enable, boot from window media usb...of course take backup of your data, do the clean install only.
     
  7. nitin29

    nitin29 MDL Novice

    Apr 7, 2016
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    I think, you clicked on "Programm IC" and not a "Unprotect->erase->programm->verify" clicking on drop down menu option near "Programm IC". Because it will verify, the moment it detects any difference it abort the programming and show the error, so please click that option and not "Programm IC".

    Another tip I can give is to download the datasheet of both ic, yours and winbond and check if there is any difference especially to page size, spi speed etc and select similar chip in AsProgrammer for the flashing.

    I did also connected ic in wrong direction giving opposite voltage supply atleast few times by mistake, my luck it didn't damage but there is always a chance that it may get damaged. If you can still read then it is fine I think.
     
  8. ndthtnt

    ndthtnt MDL Novice

    Oct 31, 2020
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    Thank for the information,

    May I know if you did a backup BIOS file with programmer after you success to flash it? I saw a user on Reddit said that he's successful with a dump file from programmer (he's also with XMC XM25QH128AHIG BIOS chip).
    If you did the backup, could you kindly pass it to me?

    Thank in advance.

     
  9. nitin29

    nitin29 MDL Novice

    Apr 7, 2016
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    Because my laptop was bricked my bios backup was different than what it should be.
    On first few try i did take backup of bios after flashing it but found them to be similar, and once you boot up with bios reflash it do change it a bit but it may be related to the attached hardware or model you may have. Because bios communicate with a microcontroller located on otherside of the motherboard, it may write other stuff mentioned above after boot up.

    Check the datasheets of both ic, winbond and XMC and see the registers count, if they are different then we know why the programmer is not working with winbond ic selection. Try to find a similar ic, first guess is eeprom ic with similar size in the ic selection list from other companies. Also Google the alternative parts for XMC ic.
     
  10. nitin29

    nitin29 MDL Novice

    Apr 7, 2016
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    Also try other spi programmers as they may have the same ic in the selection.
     
  11. ndthtnt

    ndthtnt MDL Novice

    Oct 31, 2020
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    #33 ndthtnt, Feb 22, 2021
    Last edited: Feb 22, 2021
    @nitin29
    Thank you for writing back,

    Finally I got it revive by using Neo Programmer 2.1.0.19.
    At first I thought It wont work, but the XM25QH128B did the job of XM25QH128AHIG
    Interesting that CH341 Programmer 1.38 also showed the same chip name (XM25QH128B) but always game mismatch error.

    Thankfully it's just program version issue (not the voltage additional supply cable required, or damaged component). I also faced the broken windows (like yours), but it's the later/easy problem rather than the broken BIOS with no POST. Now it's time to get my information and G-sync back (the machine I purchased lack of these information/feature, seem due to motherboard replacement. I have made Mr. Lost_N_BIOS have a look on it, but I had suffered in Covid treatment. when I was back he had been offline since Jan.21 :( )

    Thanks you again for your help and patience. Please also help mention the Neo Programmer 2.1.0.19 with others in case they have problems with XM25QH128AHIG programmer (or some other XMC chip, I saw a list of XM25QH32B, XM25QH64B,XM25QU64B,XM25QU128B). I'll also mention this in Lenovo forum at the thread I made.
    Have a nice day.
     
  12. nitin29

    nitin29 MDL Novice

    Apr 7, 2016
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    #34 nitin29, Feb 22, 2021
    Last edited: Feb 22, 2021
    So happy that your problem is finally solved and your laptop is running again. Very happy for you!

    I'll add an update to above guide about your findings. Thanks for your feedback! Very useful for someone with similar ic.

    Maybe you need to reinstall the windows so please take following suggestion into consideration also, first use a free Belarc advisor software on your laptop that is running, it will generate profile of your computer and also show the product key of windows in a html page. Print the page as pdf and save it in pdf and save it usb, also write down the windows product keys on a piece of paper. Then make a windows install media for windows 10. Take backup of your data. Boot laptop from windows install media usb, give the product keys you wrote on paper and delete the existing disk and then reinstall windows, all required partitions will then be auto generated. Don't forget to enable secure boot before installing the windows, then the secure boot region will be rewritten when windows will be reinstalled.
     
  13. Panu Kerpele

    Panu Kerpele MDL Novice

    Feb 16, 2021
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    I have prepared everything else, thanks for your excellent guide, but I'm still waiting for my SPI programmer to arrive from Amazon.

    One question... might be a stupid one. Bear with me. :)

    "Then open extracted bios bin file from step 4 in HxD hex editor. Go to edit menu and choose "select block". Put "de9d0" in start-offset and "10de9cf" in end-offset in hex mode"

    I'm sure there is a really good reason for that, but why not use the whole 100 % content of that "extracted bios bin file", why just exactly just between de9d0 start-offset and 10de9cf end-offset?

    And is that de9d0 start-offset and 10de9cf end-offset same for every bios version? I'm going to use bios V. 1.10 (bvcn14ww.exe)
     
  14. nitin29

    nitin29 MDL Novice

    Apr 7, 2016
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    #36 nitin29, Feb 25, 2021
    Last edited: Feb 25, 2021
    Because only that region is main bios firmware, the rest are the commands for Insyde bios update software and EC firmware. There are several part of firmware, 5 portions if you read the platform.ini file in extracted folder and these firmware are located across 4 ic on the motherboard that include main microcontroller. Because it is main bios that get corrupted easily in the lenovo laptops, and must be first to be tried that's why we extract only the main bios part from the bin file and use it for flash, also the main bios ic is 16 MB and extracted part is also 16MB. It is very difficult to program main microcontroller, expensive and special tools such as SVOD programmer needed, I'm also not sure if EC firmware is enough or its just part of main microcontroller firmware. If main bios ic reflash doesn't work, it means maybe something else is broken or the main microcontroller is corrupted or dead, then you have to sent it for repair only.

    Yes, the offsets for main bios seems to be same for all bios for 15 and 17 inch model of Y740, I've tested v1.06, v1.08 and v1.10 all worked so I am sure it must be same for v1.07 and v1.11 which i didn't needed or tested. One guy tested on 17 inch and got his laptop working too, mine is 15 model.
     
  15. Panu Kerpele

    Panu Kerpele MDL Novice

    Feb 16, 2021
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    Awesome news! Writing this with my Y740. Thank you again Nitin29, you are awesome.

    Flashed to V. 1.07 and Y740 works like a dream.
     
  16. Muyfa666

    Muyfa666 MDL Novice

    Apr 8, 2021
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    #38 Muyfa666, Apr 8, 2021
    Last edited: Apr 8, 2021
    I just got my laptop back from warranty service as I bricked it with backflash. Now I seem to be stuck at v1.12.

    There's no safe way to downgrade at all now, except from reprogramming of the chip?
     
  17. dlhxr

    dlhxr MDL Novice

    Nov 2, 2012
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    #40 dlhxr, Apr 11, 2021
    Last edited: Apr 18, 2021
    Update2: Reflash bios by official program

    After I restore all the DMI info, I reflashed bios by offical exe without having windows bootlop. Not sure it's because of DMI restore (which includes secure boot data) or I have disabled secure boot for quite a long time for my linux and hackintosh. But anyway, my laptop restored everything to normal.

    I think that's a period of my bios downgrading to death. I learnt a lot in different forums and experience desperation when I couldn't find info to fix my motherboard. Thanks a lot for everyone who involved and hope what I wrote could help when more people run into this problem.

    In the end, fxxk lenovo.

    Update: I fixed it.

    Using UEFITool to open backup image file and found an padding area at the start of bios region, which is from 60000 to 6CCFFF. After comparing with official bios image, this padding area should be DMI info area.

    So I replace with the padding area and flashed it into bios chip by ch341a, then I got my dmi info back, including uuid, win10 license, sn, etc...

    Hope it would help if anyone else encountered the same problem.


    Original Problem:

    Hey, how do you deal with the lost variables after SPI flashing? I lost all of the info, but have recovered some of them by LVAR referring to the info on original box while others are still missing.

    My board UUID and pre-installed OS info was still damaged. See you said I can reinstall the windows and activate bios secure boot setup mode. will this help recover the pre-installed OS info in bios? How did you deal with the bios UUID that I can't find anywhere..

    Here's a pic of my bios main page. Variables with red dot is what I wrote by myself using LVAR. but i can't recover UUID and preinstalled OS license...​