HP 490 G3 Desktop SPI/Bios recover info/tips

[balmy]

Hello All, I dont know if i am at the right place to post my query. I have a bricked, no post HP 490 G3 Desktop computer and am convinced i have a bricked bios chip. Can anyone tell me where the bios chip is located on my motherboard(ms-7957 ver 1.0). I do see an 8 pin chip on the motherboard Winbond 25q128fvsq. I see BIOS printed on the motherboard around this chip. Just want to confirm it is indeed the bios chip, before i attempt to reprogram it. Any help would be appreciated. cheers

[MeatWar]

@balmy

HP 490 G3 Desktop

Seems you already figure it out, anyway correctly reading an IC wont break its content data.
The system has an FDO jumper, you may try to read it in EFI shell with FPT tool if he still boots.
Good luck

EDIT: This is a general forum answer, not the same as an owner of such system and have done it before to get a straight confirmation.
I don’t own such system motherboard or board schematic, by the IC location, label and IC model, it should be main bios IC.
If HP bios recovery methods cant recover it, you’ll have to program it again, readings/backup of the IC is a must before any flash attempts, for system original data (DMI, OS Lic etc…)

[balmy]

Hi, thx for your response. So you confirm that is the bios chip? No it does not boot up, it does not post at all, only the cpu fan and motherboard start up, no display. cheers

[lfb6]

@balmy

am convinced i have a bricked bios chip

What makes you think it’s a bricked bios chip?

@lfb6

…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 flashed same machine type.

You need the content of the chip anyway and you need to confirm that you can read that chip properly.

[balmy]

Hi, thx.

[balmy]

Hi All, i managed to flash my bios and i have my pc up and running. When the pc boots up i get the following error system is booting in manufacturing program mode 1. I did get a few other error code numbers such as mode 18 20 etc, i physically entered all the details and the errors are gone, just this error remains. I do not know where to get this info. I need the number for this error system board (00a) system board ct number. Any ideas where i can find it? I have a copy of my old bios, but i dont know whether it is in there and even if it is in there i would not have a clue as to how to retrieve it. Also how do i upload my old bios bin file here? just in case someone can retrieve it from the old bin file.
cheers

[balmy]

Hi, I figured it out. The CT number is the identification number of the PSU and theres a sticker on the PSU with this CT-number on it.
cheers