Hi,
I tried upgrading from ver105 to 108 but unchecked the “erase NVRAM” and “erase boot order” boxes. The computer starts with fans and backlit keyboard an after 20-30secs restarts. Never gets to post. I got a cha341a programmer, identified the bios (C84018 (GigaDevice GD25x128) according to uefitool) chip and made a backup then flashed bios from Prestige 15 A10SC. Now just the power led comes on for 3 seconds (no backlit light or fans) and then turns off. Any help would be appreciated
The linked file is a complete firmware image and should work if flashed properly.
(You normally don’t need to overwrite NVRAM and boot order when updating the bios so unchecking those options shouldn’t harm)
Thanks for the reply.
Hmm don’t know why it borked :/. I tried to flash the linked file and even the backup I took but both lead to just the power light coming on for 3 seconds and then back off. Before at least the keyboard backlight and fan would come on.
Is there some other way then just sudo flashrom --programmer ch341a_spi -c GD25Q127C/GD25Q128E -w <linked bios>? what do you mean by “flashed correctly”?
I don’t use flashrom, so I can’t comment on the command. You did erase, blank check, program, verify?
Read the content of the chip in a separate process, save it and compare it to the original file, they should be a 100% identical. Sometimes verify- messages aren’t reliable.
Post or attach the bricked dump.
Will post the brick dump soon as I can. Yes I erased read back to verify it was indeed blank. Wrote. Read back in separate process and diff against what I wrote to ensure there was no diff.
To new of a user to upload files, so uploaded it here https://filebin.net/g0pkdzodojti2oos/backup_bad.zip
Well, at least two of your EFI volumes were still on 105, both Pre Efi Environment. I don’t think this has anything to do with the two switches.
But this firmware has BootGuard enabled- profile 5- and they changed the key in the bios update, that might be a reason why the 108 stock firmware doesn’t work on your machine. But even for 105 there’s a warning regarding AMI v2 protected ranges?
You may try this image, it’s your dump back to 105
backup_1052.zip (6.0 MB)
Please report back!
I appreciate your time and effort greatly. I wrote your image and got the same result; just power led light coming on and turning off after a few seconds 
Hmm wonder if it got caught in some in between state where it has bootguard keys from both 105 and 108. I have the 105 bios from the manufacturer. Just copy link from OP and replace 108 with 105. Still does not explain why reflashing the backup does not get me back to the backlit keyboard and fan right?
Don’t think this matters but I have the CMOS and main battery disconnected when I try to start up (just so don’t have to plug and unplug each time I have to flash)
There is a 1mb win board chip, don’t know if that matters as well. The bios update shouldn’t have touched anything but the main bios ROM right? I don’t think ec is included or changed in the update or if that is even something I should be thinking about
Reread the weirdness you were seeing. I actually downgraded to 105 awhile ago. But then decided to re-upgrade to 108 recently when this all happened.
EC Firmware is located in first padding in bios region, is normally taken/ copied therefrom to the EC controller.
Bootguard key is fused into the PCH at the end of manufacturing from ME.
hmm you have any other ideas why I am just getting the steady white led on power for few seconds and then power off? With the corrupted (dump I linked) it at least would come up with backlit keyboard and fans. However, that does not even happen anymore when i reflash back to it.
The different behaviour regarding fans and kb-backlight points to the EC firmware, that’s correct. But this fw most often resides directly in the EC controller (which is difficult to program). Only very few machines do have EC firmware in a separate chip.
Since the last update stopped somewhere (2 EFI volumes not updates), we don’t know how updating the EC firmware from the padding in bios region went?
Next step would be to check if the machine at least powers on correctly, measuring voltage on the power rails. But that is unfortunaltely nothing I can help you with.
There is an EC reset button on the mobo (I think most MSI laptops have it), also used as battery disconnect. As far as power yes I don’t have that kind of skill either but I do see power led turn on for a few seconds. It is white if that matters at all. Before was Orange.
The same behavior I’m observing now is the same behavior even if I erase the bios chip and try to start with the chip erased.
Just checked manufacturer support site Prestige 15 A10SC and there is only one version of the EC firmware. So, don’t think it would have upgraded with the bios?
There are also Intel ME updates which I never applied. Could they be bundled in the bios and flashed and would that help?
The EC firmware mentioned on the support site is identical to the EC firmware in bios 108 and different to the EC firmware in 105. If the EC update really get’s written to the spi chip when bios is updated is up to the manufacturer but in your case it was updated in the firmware padding (bricked bios was on newer version) and then possibly tried to transfer to the EC chip - according to different behaviour thereafter possibly not complete.
Regarding EC firmwatr versions: There’s a 16S3EMS1_1xx.txt in the zip that clearly states two revisions:
No.
Yes you are correct. Hmm having those different versions in 105 and 108 is indeed can be an issue. Thanks for the explanation. You mentioned most of the time there is not a spi chip with the ec firmware. How would I check if somehow this laptop is the exception? Then we could write directly to it right?
I see a winboard 25q80dvsig chip but the contents don’t look like they are related to the EC firmware I grabbed from the link above.
Check the type of theSuperIO, maybe you can find a datasheet and find out if this type has internal memory- if not there should be a SPI chip around.
Programming is in this case done by keyboard port, for example in this clip (just the first clips I found):
In this clip indeed a CH341 is used, but this seems very creative to me:
The 25q80dv might be thunderbolt firmware or graphics card? Don’t overwrite it!
There is another SPI near the gfx card so assume the one I was asking about is the thunderbolt. Don’t have the fancy keyboard programmer and the other one looks scary haha.
I guess there is not too much I can do at this point?
Thank you so much for your time and energy. It has really helped me understand things much better and I really appreciate the knowledge.