How to reprogram an EEPROM.

[KristsJavalds]

Just got a AM3+ board for 3 euros, it doesnt post and gives out the code FF no matter what i do, and i thought about giving a try to reprogram the EEPROM on it ( Winbond 25Q64FV ), but what programmer do i exactly get ? Theres 100s of options on Ebay/Aliexpress

 

[KristsJavalds]

I might get this one if someone can confirm that it will work - http://bit.ly/2IaZryS

I shortened the link, cause the aliexpress link was just too long. If you want the long link, i can post that too.

 

[InvalidError]

I have one of those CH341 or compatible programmers which one of my friends gave me so I could try to save his bricked motherboard. I managed to get his motherboard to POST but it still boot-loops when attempting to get into BIOS or boot an OS. Not sure if that's a BIOS or board-level issue.

 

[KristsJavalds]

I have one of those CH341 or compatible programmers which one of my friends gave me so I could try to save his bricked motherboard. I managed to get his motherboard to POST but it still boot-loops when attempting to get into BIOS or boot an OS. Not sure if that's a BIOS or board-level issue.

Im a member of an electronics server on Discord, a guy on there told me that if it shows code FF, the bios likely is intact, its a board level issue. Also, was it a Winbond chip ? I just want to know if its going to work, cause i dont want to fry the eeprom or something, lol

 

[KristsJavalds]

Well, i just downloaded the CH341A programmer software, and it accepts only .bin or .hex files, but the BIOS is a .cap file, how am i supposed to get it on there ? The board where the Winbond chip was on is an ASUS M5A97 LE R2.0

 

[InvalidError]

.bin is only an extension. If the ".cap" file is exactly 8MB, then it is likely raw binary and you can simply change the extension.

My friend's board is an MSI z68A and the BIOS updates are distributed as a self-extract media creation tool that only runs on compatible motherboards (pretty dumb if you ask me since that means no update for you if you run non-Windows OS or can't boot) where the raw BIOS image is the last 8MB of the update tool which I had to extract using a hex editor.

 

[KristsJavalds]

.bin is only an extension. If the ".cap" file is exactly 8MB, then it is likely raw binary and you can simply change the extension.

My friend's board is an MSI z68A and the BIOS updates are distributed as a self-extract media creation tool that only runs on compatible motherboards (pretty dumb if you ask me since that means no update for you if you run non-Windows OS or can't boot) where the raw BIOS image is the last 8MB of the update tool which I had to extract using a hex editor.

You sure that that isnt going to break my bios EEPROM ? Im pretty new to reprogramming a BIOS chip manually and all i want is the board to run. Also, .rom still wont get accepted by the china software, i need it to be .bin or .hex, tho i read somewhere that those are basically the same and you can just change the extension. And the image non-converted to .rom is 8194KB and when converted ( i used UEFITool ) is 8192KB

 

[InvalidError]

If the board is already bricked, you can't brick it much worse than it already is.

File extensions are only a matter of user convenience. The name and extension don't matter as long as the file's content is correct, you just need to override the software's default file extension filter to something that includes whatever the file name you want to load is. For the motherboard I tried to unbrick, the MSI raw binary BIOS files were named *.Nxx and *.Pxx, so making them show up in the CH341 software simply required me to change the file filter to *.N* or *.P*. There is no file format check in the tool, it simply loads the file as-is as a binary blob, no questions asked.

In your case, your BIOS file had some extra metadata that UEFITool had to strip to produce the correct file size. Hopefully it spit out a usable file. You won't know until you try to flash it or de-assemble it to check it for correctness.

In my friend's board's case, what I found out upon attempting to read the board's original SPI chips was that they were corrupted and one of them was outright fried - reads blank and wouldn't take programming.

 

[KristsJavalds]

If the board is already bricked, you can't brick it much worse than it already is.

File extensions are only a matter of user convenience. The name and extension don't matter as long as the file's content is correct, you just need to override the software's default file extension filter to something that includes whatever the file name you want to load is. For the motherboard I tried to unbrick, the MSI raw binary BIOS files were named *.Nxx and *.Pxx, so making them show up in the CH341 software simply required me to change the file filter to *.N* or *.P*. There is no file format check in the tool, it simply loads the file as-is as a binary blob, no questions asked.

In your case, your BIOS file had some extra metadata that UEFITool had to strip to produce the correct file size. Hopefully it spit out a usable file. You won't know until you try to flash it or de-assemble it to check it for correctness.

In my friend's board's case, what I found out upon attempting to read the board's original SPI chips was that they were corrupted and one of them was outright fried - reads blank and wouldn't take programming.

Hmm, thanks for the info. I just ordered one of those flashers, 17-27 days of shipping time, time wil tell...