[My apologies, I figure out to delete this post not tag people when editing. Wow, do I feel like an idiot now.]
@IanP50 , @lfb6 , and @Lost_N_BIOS , thanks to this excellent thread I have hopes for my “discrete graphics bricked” P50. I’ve bought a CH341A programmer and a SOIC-8 clip and is all set, but find myself without a BIOS to flash.
From post #47, I understand that @IanP50 had success with the files 86_stock.zip from #9 and p50_desc_gbe_me_fd.zip from #17 put together, as suggested by @lfb6 in #39.
My question is simply: How do I put those files together?
I’m on Linux (but have access to Windows machines) and have zero experience with HEX files, and have naively tried some Linux HEX editors, but perhaps think that I don’t understand how copy-paste works in this realm.
I hope you can offer a hint.
Post #39 states "UEFItool"
I’d recommend to make a valid backup of your own bios first, otherwise you might loose your own MAC, service tag, serial, and maybe windows license.
@MeatWar , Thank you I had not looked into UEFITool. Are you versed in using it? When I open the file to be extended (86_stock.rgn), all options to “Insert after” are greyed out (and the same goes if I extrect to .rom first, which I don’t know whether I need to do or not). I’ve looked at the forum [Guide] How to extract/insert/replace EFI BIOS modules by using the UEFITool, but I don’t think it applies here.
@lfb6 , Thank you, too. When I access the chip, I definitely intend to! In general, I’m trying to follow the successful steps from this thread, but this is all new to me, so I’m wavering quite some and appreciate the reminder.
EDIT: Sorry, I had downloaded the most recent NE version of UEFITool. Using the non-NE version seems to allows that I insert. I continue!
Use a hex editor and open both files, copy the content of the second file at the end of the first file, seave, check structure and file length in UEFIToolNE. You can use copy command, too- in Windows it’s copy /b file1+file2 newfile
Thank you,@lfb6 . For the life of me, I couldn’t get how to copy-paste using the Linux hex editors I tried (okteta, ghex), but using the Linux terminal command cat p50_desc_gbe_me_fd.bin 86_stock.rgn > new_bios.bin produces a file that in UEFITool matches the screenshot in #17. Thank you for pointing out that it’s that simple!
Hey IanP50,
I see you’ve been dealing with quite a challenge there. Regarding your BIOS recovery efforts, have you considered exploring the SCT Flash utility tool for Lenovo? It might offer an alternative approach to your current methods. Users in similar situations have found it helpful for BIOS-related issues. You could give it a shot and share your experience here. Looking forward to hearing how it goes!