G73JH bios chip replacement

[maxslo]

I recently ended up with bad bios flash, from which i could not recover.

So i ordered replacement BIOS from here BIOS CHIP ASUS G71G,G71Gx,G71V, N50Vc,N50Vn,G73JH,G73JW | eBay

Friend changed the bios for me, but the laptop still wont start.
When i press the power button, 1 of 2 things happen:

1. the PC constantly goes ON/OFF in 5/1 sec interval
(5sec on then 1 sec off, and loop)

or

2. when i press the power button the laptop stays on, but there is nothing on the screen and after some time the fans kick in.

did i get "faulty" replacement bios or what?

any help greatly appreciated.

[maxslo]

i figured that the first scenario happens
when the laptop is off and i plug in the AC,
the laptop instantly comes on and starts doing that reboot loop

if i disconnect the AC and turn it on under battery power, the second scenario happens.

Also if it means anything
the battery charges
and all the light are on except keyboard.

I've also tried every possible method to reset BIOS (even removed the battery) so i doubt that's the problem :S

Any thoughts?

[Sir Robin]

Sorry to hear about your troubles maxslo.

There have been a few similar posts, on various forums.
It appears that the SPI device/image, being sold by the vendor,
does not work for all models in the G73 series. You can try
contacting the vendor, and ask for a different image/device.
It may help to include the part markings, from your original
device.

I have a theory that Asus changed the embedded controller
model and/or SPI flash rom device size, on some of the
G73 series. The bios image includes EC firmware. If the
model/version, on your board is different, from the version
in the replacement device, the motherboard will likely act
erratically. The same is true, if the vendor wrote the image
to a different size device, from which it was originally taken.

I do not own a G73, so I can not give you any absolute answers,
but I can tell you that I was able to recover my G74SX, from a
similar situation, by reconstructing the SPI bios image. You should
be able to do the same, if you still have the original SPI device, and
if it has not been erased or changed, since the corruption/bad update
occurred. If your friend has an SPI programmer, it should be fairly easy.
If not, you can buy/create one for very low cost, using a Bus Pirate or
a PC parallel port. There are many options of Ebay.

Here are some links, which outline the process. If you can read the contents
of your original SPI device, I can help you figure out the exact reconstruction
details, if you send me a copy of the file (use private messaging). Also I will
need the device markings/picture, of the original chip.

G74SX in-circuit reprogram of BIOS SPI

G73jh - BIOS reprogramming trouble

Good luck,

Sir Robin

[evgasr2]

Hey!
have you bricked your laptop again, once my trick worked in it to recover your laptop from bad flash, but do the same method with cmos battery removed , so you will be able to flash , but if your bios chip contain another type of firmware , it wont help , may be you should tell your friend to reprogram the full bios file that I have.

[maxslo]

@evgasr2
yes, but i think this time the trick wont work
because as Robin said there is some data at the beginning of the bios
that mush be preserved. And I've already replaced the bios.
On the original bios the recovery didn't work anymore :S

@Sir Robin
So how can i make this "SPI programmer". Do you have any tutorial?
I am willing to try it.

[evgasr2]

that is what I said , there are 2 parts in bios , 1st one is firmware and next is bios , the bios chip that you have contains only the bios part , so you have to remove the bios and place it on a spi programmer and flash it with full bios, then it will work.

[USNGoat]

Man, I was about to buy one of these myself to fix my bad flash on my G73. Asus wants an arm and a leg to reflash these things, so I am exploring the DIY route again.

It's funny you mention the Bus Pirate, as I was just looking at that on Amazon yesterday. I don't know much about firmware/BIOS programming, but it look like I'm going to learn

[maxslo]

What is this "Bus Pirate", i looked for it on ebay, but there are so many different versions of it

[USNGoat]

It's an interface device, which more or less allows you to communicate with embedded devices.

Once it gets here and I figure out how to work it I'll probably be able to give a better explanation.

[maxslo]

@evgasr2
So they kinda did sell me dummy bios right? i mean how is it supposed to work with only bios information in it. should i request a refund?

ok i know someone that has spi programmer but it'll cost me to get the image off the original chip.
what exactly should i tell him to do? any special methods required or does he just read the image from the bios and give it to me?