I am getting a no post state for my alienware m15 r3 laptop after various attempts to recover it based on all fixes on the internet it doesnt work , and i probably know it is a bios problem since i had a a green screen of death for my windows 11 insider build , and then went inside a dell firmware thing that was testing ram and hard drive or hardware and I did force shut down because it was stuck for some time, I then came across
ch341a which could flash the bios on the bios chip directly , and after this i stumbled accross a past thread here where a retired memeber named Lost_N_Bios was helping many people with extracring there system info from their corrupt image to copy it to the stock image ,which i did not know was even required so i ordered the ch341a , but i was wondering if anyone could guide me through this process.
Then get that SPI programmer, learn how to use it (guides also in the forum) and do a backup/reading of the IC(s) of the system, original system/board data, usually can be recovered from a corrupted dump, that’s it for now, later you can share the content of the system dump, if you desire, to get further help form users.
This data is not always the same size, location etc… as a standard one for all kind of systems.
I got the CH341A programmer , but I got 4 chips that look lile a bios chip and i dont know which one is the actual bios chip.
These are the codes :
Winbond 25Q128JVS0 2041
Winbond 25Q80DVSIG 2032
Winbond 25Q80EWS16 2038
FM250Q08A 1909J1G
Google and IC model pdf sheets, are your friends in this and similar situations… they will give you information on Pin connections, voltage range to use and capacity.
Board schematics also useful in repairs…
ALIENWARE M15 R3 - LA-J522P - Schematic/boardview - REQUIRED - Badcaps
EDIT: You may try now to replace/edit the 2 pads in the expanded SPI image bios region
I believe i extracted the old bios image successfully , if any one wants to help me extracting my info and filling it inside the clean bios image please let me know and i will upload the file then.
First of all , I would like to thank you for following up with me since i started this thread.
When i searched for my service tag (dell’s serial number equivalent) i found it inside the bios image , yet when i searched inside the 2 sections you pointed out and even i searched each section inside the bios region(by extacting as is from the uefitool and then opening it with hex editor) and i could not find it so i dont know if i am doin something wrong on my end or maybe it is not saved in the bios region, but maybe in one of the other 2 in the image , also i could not find my MAC address as i dont know what to search for , also when I searched for windows in order to find the activation code i found many windows 10 ,11 entries but could not figure out where is the activation code.
I know there is still other things to search for as well that represent my laptop unique data but i dont exactly know all the required , other than what I mentioned.
So , I really dont know how should i move forward or which sections should i copy in a fresh image , i only managed to locate the service tag for now, and many windows entries that may or may not hold the windows activation code.
Machine info on 1rst padding and Wkey on 2nd padding, mac can’t remember (look for labels on pcb) or share your dump if you want with relevant info from other chassi labels.
EDIT: The info is present, as i mentioned before.
STAG: HC9Zxxx
Wkey: YRWNM-
SC: 37747675xxx
This is my dump file.
Okay thanks , for checking it , so now the procedure that i should follow is replacing the 2 pads that you mentioned earlier in a clean image , and that should be it , or there is still things that could be missing?
Sir… that’s about it, swap or edit, then try one way or another…i process to many info a whole year(s) from all kinds of shxx/machines/models… you get the picture right!
Good luck and report for other users guidance.
I have been trying for hours to extract the .bin file from the .exe file but failed miserably, I tried lots of methods in these fourms and on the internet but nothing seems to work for me . I dont know if i am doing something wrong , or maybe these methods are old and dont work anymore , can anyone help me out please?
This is the download link for the image on dell’s website.
https://dl.dell.com/FOLDER12419921M/1/Alienware_m15_R3_m17_R3_1.30.0.EXE
Now you’re telling this??? WTF…how about have searched the forum for guidance on that…with plenty of time before the CH341A arrived humm???
Run the EXE trough AMIUCP/PFAT extract from Bios utilities