GL504GW Corrupted Bios

BIOS/UEFI Modding BIOS Modding Guides and Problems
1

Good evening,

In the last days i had some issues with my laptop. The laptop is a ASUS ROG Strix SCAR II (GL504GW-ES006T).

I like very much to do ram overclock/optimization on pcs.

the thing is

since the bios has no options available to edit, apart from the very basic ones, i was tightening ram timings with hexadecimal values using modgrubshell

i had very good results with primary and secondary timings, very good increase in performance and everything was stable, been testing it with testmem5 and anta777 extreme profile for 2 hours at every timing change.

then, when i got to editing the tertiary timings, something strange happened

i began with changing the TRD2WRSG value, so i set it to a certain value, and i was sure that the laptop would have rebooted and if the value was invalid/too low, it would then have rebooted in safe mode, like it used to do for the previous timings when i set something wrong, so i could reset the bios to default settings and start over.

but it got stuck in a postloop, with black screen, rebooting everytime after 10 seconds or so.

so i proceeded to clear the cmos by unplugging the main battery and unplugging the cmos battery also.

Keeping the power button pressed for 1 minute to be sure that every bit of electricity was drained

but, this time it didn’t work, other times when i was in situations like this, where even the safeboot would fail, clearing the cmos always made the computer post and everything, so i could then reset the settings to default and start over.

i think that i corrupted the bios

so… i have on the way home a CH341A programmer with soic8 clip and 1.8v adapter for the winbond bios chip that is a 1.8v one

also, about a year ago i took a dump of the bios region with csme system tools

so, if i now dump the whole eeprom chip, then i replace the supposedly bricked bios region with a dump from when it was working, i should be able to solve the issue right?

2

Also, i did try testing one ram stick at once, tried other ram sticks, tried leaving the pc with both main battery and cmos battery unplugged, power button pressed, for like 3 hours, but it didn’t do anything

3

Most settings stored in NVRAM in bios region of firmware, won’t be reset by disconnecting battery or CMOS reset, but some vendors implement a reset routine. If not: Dump firmware, empty NVRAM

4

Nothing to do now till the CH341A arrives, when it does you have to perform a full dump with it of the current spi state, doesnt matter if its corrupted, you need the Intel ME FW region and possible motherboard specific data if recoverable. Dont try to write anything before this backup. Thats it for now.

5

ok man i understand.

I will let you know after i get the programmer and have backed up the whole chip.

Thank you very much

6

I just figured out that the bios chip on this laptop’s mobo is not a winbond (that must be some other flash memory, maybe it’s the vbios, only 1mb size) but it’s a wson model, the MX25L12873F ZNI (which is 16mb, same size as bios file). Unluckily i can’t read with the soic8 clip i ordered. There must be some adapter as the pinout of the wson package is the same as on dip package. But i can’t find any. Also, i will need to remove it from the board for working on it (which is not a problem as i own a hot air station). The problem will be connecting the chip to the programmer. i will just solder some tiny wires on each pin then put them in the CH341A programmer after i have done the 3.3V mod on the programmer itself (as the datasheet for the MX25L12873F ZNI indicates that for read, write and erase operation, a voltage between 2.7V and 3.6V is needed and if i’m not wrong, the CH341A is 5V). I will let you know what comes out from this mess.

7

Regarding need for modification:

Adapter, clamp (not tested myself)

https://www.amazon.com/Wondiwe-WSON8-Programmer-Adapter-Socket/dp/B08MPY2MDD

8

Wow.

Thank you very much for the information you provided me.

So actually there is no need for any modification.

9

hey! would you mind sending the bios file? I have previously installed a corrupted bios file, and do not know how to obtain the same for ch341a chip as asus provides exe files for installation.