short version:
my ideapad 110S is bricked. when I press the power key, the power led turns on for a short time and turns off by itself. Screen remains black, no output from HDMI. I suspect this is an EC problem, but the battery can still be charged, and usb has power when turned on. does anyone know whats wrong? or how to patch flashrom to dump and program EC KB9028 with CH341A ?
long version:
I recently purchased a lenovo ideapad 110S from ebay, and it has a supervisor password. The seller did not respond to provide the password, so I was unable to change the bios settings at that time. It is unclear if the computer is stolen from someone or the seller simply did not know the password. If I return it then I need to pay double shipping, so I kept it and see how far I can go with this.
First I found about the following thread that claiming the SVP is stored on EC KB9028, I paid for one day VIP and got the dump file(maybe password free ?) from them. But I need a way to dump and program KB9028.
https://vinafix.com/threads/110s-11ibr-l…bw2_v1-0.29435/
All I find from google is that KB9012 can be easily dumped with flashrom and CH341A. To dump KB9028, a special programmer like rt809h or rt809f is required. then I found the following thread claiming the flashrom could be patched to dump KB9028 with CH341A. But they seemed only have tested KB9012 and KB9022.
https://eletronicabr.com/forums/topic/11…u-no-windows-d/
However, I found the site [eletronicabr] extremely difficult to use and I did not find a way to download their pathed version of flashrom, which seems from Paul Kocialkowski(http://www.paulk.fr/), the original author to add KB9018 support for flashrom.
So I decided to path flashrom myself( I only changed the chip id[KB9012 HW:0xc3 ED:0x04, KB9028 HW:0xc0 ED:0x07] ), with the following guide and the schematics of ideapad 120S I found from google, I made an adapter cable and successfully probed the onboard EC KB9028.
http://dangerousprototypes.com/docs/Flas…with_Bus_Pirate
https://www.alisaler.com/lenovo-ideapad-…v1-0-schematic/
And then, the tragic happened, my 110S is bricked. I don’t remember exactly what I did(I used diode mode to test EC connections to keyboard connector, maybe something is damaged ?). Before I finally made changes, I wanted to check if the computer is OK, but it cannot be turned on, please see the short version above for symptomes.
I first dumped the original bios successfully, but dumping original EC is problematic, about the first half of the 128KB flash is dumped successfully, the second half seems to be not readable. I made many tries, each time returned different contents(first time all 0x00, second time all 0x17…). Then I made a decision to flash without dumping the original EC. As usual the bios flashed OK, EC flashed OK without verification(-n), otherwise fails. The computer is still not bootable.
Thank you for reading my story. ATM I am out of ideas, any help is appreciated. But this is just an exercise, if it doesn’t work, I will probably sell it.
to be continued.
Flash OK without verification is not OK. EC FW must be flashed with same BIOS version the EC FW came with usually, but sometimes same EC FW works with many BIOS versions, hard to know on that one unless you have release notes and or EC FW is always same for all BIOS versions.
I don’t know the specifics of what you edited in flashrom (nor am I familiar with using flashrom), but I assume 120s is not same as 110s, so you may need to use some other details.
Here is BIOS/EC and schematic all free - https://www.ontikka.com/lenovo-ideapad-100-15iby-bios-bin/
To download from eletronicabr.com you have to join the site, or sign in with google, facebook, twitter etc
https://eletronicabr.com/register/
however the only two files at the bottom of the first post are just links to other boards dumped contents from those chips he tested on. I used a temp email from mohmal.com and got the links from the first post (only linked content on that page)
https://eletronicabr.com/forums/topic/11…tnv-kb9012qf-a3
https://eletronicabr.com/forums/topic/11…f-a3/#msg612288
To get the files you want, and the Paul Kocialkowsk edits etc, I think you only have to run those commands in linux and it will download them - as noted below
Now you open a terminal and type > “Su” <-(without the quotation marks) and enter the password you provided during the installation.
Then type:-> “apt-get Update” <-(this takes a bit, do not remember if it asks for answers but if you ask is “Y” and enter.)
When you finish:-> “apt-Get Upgrade” <-(this takes a long time, but stay tuned because sometimes the process for waiting for your answers, the answer is always “Y” followed by Enter)
Finally the apt-get upgrade is over and now?
Now you will type > "apt-get install LIBUSB-1.0"
When you are finished type > "apt-get install libusb-dev"
Ahh! I missed it in the text area, looking at translated vs signed in and not translated I almost missed it! Here is the Paul Kocialkowsk files
https://eletronicabr.com/files/file/2740…-suporte-a-edi/
Maybe you can find in some of his links here
http://www.paulk.fr/
See also this thread
https://eletronicabr.com/files/file/2787…s-para-windows/
I couldn’t download any of the above, sorry, you’ll have to make a profile and complete all the steps outlined below before you can download the files from there.
https://eletronicabr.com/forums/topic/79…-cr%C3%A9ditos/
Mainly you need to introduce yourself, then make a new thread and reply on some other topics maybe… Or you can pay more $$
thank you for your fast reply and time to check the links I posted, unfortunately ideapad 100(or 110) is not the same as 110s, they have different chipset. Schematics for 110s is not available at this time online. But I found it is very close to 120s or at least the keyboard connector is the same for me to access EC KB9028. Also, datasheet for KB9028 is not available, but its close relative KB9012 can be found easily.
I’ll try to access that pathed flashrom again. Maybe contact paul, if I still have no luck. In the meantime, I’ve ordered a KB9012 adapter to try to read KB9028 offline, maybe it will work.
Another idea I found online is that maybe the later section of the EC contains the SN/UUID etc, and requires an unlock command to dump. After I de-solder the EC, maybe I try modify flashrom further.
@cosailer It’s a shame you do not have posted the code of KB9028 at eletronicabr.com I would have helped you gladly.
If you would have posted for sure I would gave you a joinha, and with this one you could get the package Download 1 that gives you acess to 2 downloads per day during 7 days.
We do have a lot of files in our database, schematics, BIOS, and EC firmwares, and probably we have EC and BIOS pair for any model of laptop (Here in Brasil we still call it Notebook) you need.
I came across your topic here only today 26/02/2020.
Needed to recovery, my password here in Win-Raid to answer you hehehe.
This topic in our comunity tells how our comunity works, and how to get help, and it is in english (maybe not good english as I’m not a native speaker of the language, but pretty understandable I think.)
https://eletronicabr.com/forums/topic/12…d-to-read-this/
To the administrators of win-raid.com, I’m sorry if my post is not following the rules of this comunity, if it’s the case please tell me and I will correct anything needed, my intention is purely help anyone who not speaks portuguese to get access to the information needed.
With the code you posted here I have compilated a new version of flashrom supporting now the 3 chips KB9012 / KB9022 / & KB9028, it’s there for download, you just need to folow the steps in the topic above.
Hi there @Neofln ,
I tried to open the link you gave but it just says 404 not found. can you send the flashrom file which already modified for kb9028 support. Thanks man
Last user post was 2yrs ago, to address to a specific user, use @username.
The user LOST is no longer an active forum menber.
The eletronicabr site is in trouble right now with ssl certificate.
You can try tomorrow again, the admin already told me that is fixing the problem.
You can try neoprogrammer software too that is available in the internet. 2.2.0.7 or 2.2.0.8 versions will work well too with the CH341.
Thank you friend
I downloaded NeoProgrammer V2.2.0.10 and saw that it supported some of the KB chips it says KB902x. I suppose it will work on KB9028. I will try this later. Now the problem will be figuring out my connections. Its a HP Envy 13-aq laptop series, which I am having trouble finding the schematics