Alienware M15 R5 bios bricked cha341a help on recover

BIOS/UEFI Modding BIOS Modding Guides and Problems
1

Hi all,
Somehow i bricked the bios of this thing (still in warranty!) took it to pieces.
And found in all, 2 flashes (attached)

IMG_20220803_090443
IMG_20220803_0904431132×557 142 KB

IMG_20220719_140222
IMG_20220719_140222667×532 78.3 KB

After many trials with dell recovery usb (failed)
The Winbond m74xx i have never touched cause its tagged online as a “security Chip” however
I was able after colossal battles with cha341a to read the GD25xx while its still on pcb (laptop in pieces atm)
Now after using an insydeh20 extraction tool i get ~ 5 files of which one is called setup and it measures exactly 16,384 KB

Losing my mind and afraid i might have damaged or wrote crap to the GD25xx which is obviously not the bios.
Can anyone help with this?
The W74mxx is potentially the bios somehow and can be flashed as a 25xx winbond?
P. S i do have 1.8v adapted so no problem.
Appreciate any help of having bios header and maybe if possible while in just unlock/ add any OC modules (did brick it using the universalformUefiflasher or so)

Appreciate any help.
Stock bios is here (*.exe and rcv for recovery)
https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=333tk&oscode=wt64a&productcode=alienware-m15-r5-laptop

2

It’s usually fine as long as the size is correct. just make sure backup the bios first before doing so.

the 25xxx is usually the NOR version, the W74xxx is the NAND version from what i’ve seen.

3

Did you try to write something to this chip?

Always make at least 2 valid backups before writing!

And I’d assume there’s (at least) one more chip.

4

What do you mean by NOR /Nand? Sorry.
Which one is to flash and most importantly is the setup.bin with perfectly 16mb size is the stock bios?
I will try to read w74 winbond with 1.8v to see what comes out…

Really appreciate if someone can give a decisive answer with which chip to flash and where is thw stock file to use (customise it later thats fine with IDs and MAC)

5

Hi @QuirkSilver
It has been a while since your post. How did it work out?
I have an Alienware m15 r5 that is substantially degraded following an Alienware BIOS update (1.19.0) that can’t be rolled back. Im about to reflash the BIOS with an in-circuit programmer.
Regards
refsmmat

6

Hi everyone,
I have an Alienware m15 R5 that is ‘degraded’ following the Dell 1.19.0 BIOS update.
Dell have not been able to provide a solution, so I am planning to ‘downgrade’ to BIOS 1.17.0 using an in-circuit serial programmer ( CH341A). From this forum and other sources, the BIOS chip is a GigaDevice 25Q80CSIG.

I am planning to read/write in circuit, but I have access to a hot blow soldering capability if I need to remove/replace the IC.

Before I proceed, I welcome any feedback / advice from this forum.
Thanks
refsmmat

7

No, it’s not. Check the datasheet and as always make a valid backup of every chip you intend to flash!

8

hi ifb6,
thanks for the advice.
So is it the winbond 74M12JWSIQ?
regards
Stephen

9

How would I know? I don’t have such a machine.

Check the size of the chip, compare it to the size of the stock firmware.

If size fits make a valid dump (at least 2 a100% identical dumps with a structure UEFIToolNE recognizes) and compare it to a stock firmware. If it looks similar, contains some µcodes (preferably close to the ones in a stock firmware) it might be what you’re looking for.

Or check other threads where someone fashed same machine type.

10

Hi, thx for your response.