I have a ASUS GU603ZM-M16. I updated the BIOS without any error on windows. But after restart, it stopped turning on. The keyboard lights would turn on and off and the screen was dead. I have retrieved the full SPI dump using a clipper and CHA341a and tried to compare it with the original BIOS. It seems that the BIOS section is intact. So, I tried to clean the ME section and update the SPI chip. However, after doing so, the laptop does not turn on at all (no sign of life) and even reverting back to the old SPI backup does not make a difference. I am worried that I might have damaged the board somehow when I was trying to use CHA341a and the clip (I initially bought a CHA341a and it seemed to be defected and did not work properly. So, I bought another one and it was fine. Since I initially couldnt read the chip, I also tried to connect the battery one time to see if I can read the chip while the battery was connected, which I could not). I also did not do the 3.3V hack, as I heard from multiple people that it was not necessary.
The laptop seems to have two SPI chips:
Winbond 25R128JVSN
Winbond 25Q16JWNIQ
I do not know what 25Q16 one contains since I have not tried to retrieve any data from it (since it required removing the heat sink).
Here’s the original SPI dump from 25R128 one:
And here’s my modified version, which did not work:
Here’s the stock BIOS for Asus website:
hxxps://rog.asus.com/ca-en/laptops/rog-zephyrus/rog-zephyrus-m16-2022-series/helpdesk_bios/
Any help would be greatly appreciated as at this point, I am completely helpless.
Had a short look- bios region is in static parts identical to 311, ME is configured and reads OK, but didn’t clean it myself.
Since the laptop is completely dead now I suspect EC firmware (first padding in bios region). SInce this area is identical to stock, too, only thing which are again are NVRAM (not likely), a bad flash or hardware.
Please read the actual content of the 128 MBit spi chip and attach it / post a link to it.
Thank you so much for the response and looking into this, ifb6. I really appreciate it.
I just re-read the content of the 128Mb SPI chip and I can confirm it has the exact md5 hash as the original SPI dump in that I have posted previously (this is because I actually reverted back to the original dump, hoping I would see at least some signs of life). (just as a side note, I used flashrom to read/write to the SPI chip, and flashrom recognizes that chip as “W25Q128.V”)
Regarding the EC firmware (and if it is indeed the EC firmware), I read somewhere that it is stored in a different chip, which requires a specific reader to re-program. However, I have also read that for Asus laptops, the EC firmware updates are automatically loaded from the BIOS to the chip. Is this correct? Is there anyway to make the laptop re-read the EC firmware from the SPI chip?
Also, I am still not sure what the Winbond 25Q16JWNIQ chip could hold. I imagine it is not related to EC fimware, right?
Thank you so much again. Any help would be greatly appreciated
Try this file, this is empty NVRAM and re-initialized CSME region. Differences when comparing CSME to your file, but newer FIT version used.
EC firmware is in first padding in bios region, gets normally transferred automatically to EC chip / keyboard controller but this mechanism might be disturbed once overwritten with wrong code.
But completely dead at boot / no lights / nothing at all is normally not a good sign.
Maybe this wasn’t firmware from the beginning, you might’ve knocked off a small SMD part when reading, whatever…
Thank you for all your effort in troubleshooting this. I truly appreciate it. I did try your file, but sadly, it did not work. I did not observe any changes.
I think I can confirm that I have indeed appears to knocked out a small smd on the board. I have no idea what to do now as it seems I just keep making things worse at this point
Well, if you don’t have a very steady hand and a good soldering station I’d say it’s time for the repair shop.
I can see just this transistor partially knocked off, might be that the machine works when just refitting this part. But might as well be that the part itself got damaged, might be there happened other errors when asembling and disassembling…
I think I’d try to find someone who can resolder (or maybe exchange - type readable?) this part. If it then still is dead…
Thank you so much for your response and all your help ifb6. You have been an amazing help
I will take your advice and give the laptop to someone with adequate soldering skills to resolder/reposition the transistor. I have already re-programmed the SIP chip back to its original content. So, I’m hoping after the transistor is fixed, the laptop would go back to its original state (keyboard lights turning on but the laptop not booting up). Then, I maybe able to finally fix it with a proper firmware.
I will update this post with any new development.
