Gigabyte GA-7PESH2 for NAS builds for $179

[Markess]

Any help is appreciated.

Are you adventurous? I too had a situation where "someone" in my one man operation couldn't leave well enough alone and bricked a BIOS. I ordered a replacement unprogrammed chip from Digikey ($1.26) and a cheap EEPROM programmer kit from Amazon ($13.95). I followed one of the many "How To"s on the internet, got the new chip programmed and was back in business. It was an adventure though, as my cheap programmer's socket pins were labeled backwards, and most guides assume a baseline level of knowledge that exceeded my own.

In the end, I got it done though and the hardest part was the soldering. If you have a socketed chip, should be much easier . My only advice if you try it, is to buy at least two of the BIOS chips, mine were less than $2.00 each (with minimum Shipping being $4.99), and I went through one before i realized the programmer labeling was backwards and got it right the second time.

 

[Pbrizzo]

Of course.

 

[Pbrizzo]

Are you adventurous? I too had a situation where "someone" in my one man operation couldn't leave well enough alone and bricked a BIOS. I ordered a replacement unprogrammed chip from Digikey ($1.26) and a cheap EEPROM programmer kit from Amazon ($13.95). I followed one of the many "How To"s on the internet, got the new chip programmed and was back in business. It was an adventure though, as my cheap programmer's socket pins were labeled backwards, and most guides assume a baseline level of knowledge that exceeded my own.

In the end, I got it done though and the hardest part was the soldering. If you have a socketed chip, should be much easier . My only advice if you try it, is to buy at least two of the BIOS chips, mine were less than $2.00 each (with minimum Shipping being $4.99), and I went through one before i realized the programmer labeling was backwards and got it right the second time.

I have seen those EEPROM programmers and was intrigued. I am adventurous and feel like all is not lost on this board. I usually can figure my way through these things but this one has me stumped. There is very little technical data out there about the 7PESH2's. I might circle back to you if I end up going that route which I think I will. Thank you for the reply. I bet you felt redeemed when that thing booted back up!

 

[Pbrizzo]

I am sure you already tried a CMOS reset?

Of course...nothing

 

[Patriot]

They are incredibly easy to use. Restored my bricked X10dax with one. You need to find out what size chip you have.

You are looking for a CH341A programmer and most likely a 208mill SOP8 socket.... but look up your chip to verify which socket you need.

You can spend $3 and 2 weeks https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?catId=0&initiative_id=SB_20200217151156&SearchText=CH341A

Or $12-15 and 2 days on amazon.

As far as writing the chip is concerned... attach that CH341a to your linux box with rom properly installed...

sudo apt-get install flashrom
... Next step is super tricky ...

Spoiler

sudo flashrom -w bios.bin

 

[Markess]

Oh, and make sure you verify if your BIOS chip is 1.8 volt or 3.3 volt. Many of the programmers will include an adapter to use chips of both voltages. You don't want to stick a 1.8v ship into a programmer when its set to 3.3 volts!

 

[Markess]

I bet you felt redeemed when that thing booted back up!

Its always nice to force the hardware to submit to your will. Upon reflection. and reading @Patriot 's post to jog my memory, writing the BIOS wasn't hard. In my case, I had two generic firewall boxes that I thought I'd identified the motherboard manufacturer for....except I hadn't. So, before I could write the BIOS to the new chip for the bricked box, I had to clone the BIOS off the other box, which was the harder part of the process. If you've got a vendor BIOS from Gigabyte, it should be as easy as @Patriot notes.

 

[Pbrizzo]

They are incredibly easy to use. Restored my bricked X10dax with one. You need to find out what size chip you have.

You are looking for a CH341A programmer and most likely a 208mill SOP8 socket.... but look up your chip to verify which socket you need.

You can spend $3 and 2 weeks https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?catId=0&initiative_id=SB_20200217151156&SearchText=CH341A

Or $12-15 and 2 days on amazon.

As far as writing the chip is concerned... attach that CH341a to your linux box with rom properly installed...

sudo apt-get install flashrom
... Next step is super tricky ...

Spoiler

sudo flashrom -w bios.bin

Patriot you are a gentleman and a scholar. Thank you for the direction and links. I'm going to order one and give it a shot. I have nothing to lose! I'll definately report back. I very much appreciate you responding.

 

[Pbrizzo]

They are incredibly easy to use. Restored my bricked X10dax with one. You need to find out what size chip you have.

You are looking for a CH341A programmer and most likely a 208mill SOP8 socket.... but look up your chip to verify which socket you need.

You can spend $3 and 2 weeks https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?catId=0&initiative_id=SB_20200217151156&SearchText=CH341A

Or $12-15 and 2 days on amazon.

As far as writing the chip is concerned... attach that CH341a to your linux box with rom properly installed...

sudo apt-get install flashrom
... Next step is super tricky ...

Spoiler

sudo flashrom -w bios.bin

Patriot, perhaps you could tell me what chip is what here? There are 2 removable chips. One 8pin and one 16pin. Which one is the "BIOS" of this board and what is the other one. Here are pictures. The markings are:

8pin (without magnifying glass):
MXIC MX
25L6406E
M2I-12G
3K902300
L21083

16pin:
MXICB120646
MX25L12845EMI-10G
3K013903

Thank you so much. I ordered the ch341A with the SOP8 socket. Going to hunt down chips tomorrow.

 

[Pbrizzo]

Its always nice to force the hardware to submit to your will. Upon reflection. and reading @Patriot 's post to jog my memory, writing the BIOS wasn't hard. In my case, I had two generic firewall boxes that I thought I'd identified the motherboard manufacturer for....except I hadn't. So, before I could write the BIOS to the new chip for the bricked box, I had to clone the BIOS off the other box, which was the harder part of the process. If you've got a vendor BIOS from Gigabyte, it should be as easy as @Patriot notes.

Markess, perhaps you know the answer to my questions? There are 2 removable chips. One 8pin and one 16pin. Which one is the "BIOS" of this board and what is the other one? Here are pictures. The markings are:

8pin (without magnifying glass):
MXIC MX
25L6406E
M2I-12G
3K902300
L21083

16pin:
MXICB120646
MX25L12845EMI-10G
3K013903

Thank you so much. I ordered the ch341A with the SOP8 socket. Going to hunt down chips tomorrow.

 

[Markess]

Markess, perhaps you know the answer to my questions? There are 2 removable chips. One 8pin and one 16pin. Which one is the "BIOS" of this board and what is the other one? Here are pictures. The markings are:

Sorry, but I have no idea. Both are flashable roms of some kind.

And as you will find with Flashrom & the other similar CH341A programing software, documentation is sometimes sketchy and spread out all over the internet. But, google seems to indicate that Flashrom works on both of these. So that's no help.

While its not necessarily a sure indicator, I read that proximity to the BIOS reset jumper/pads can be a clue.

 

[Samir]

If these chips are removable, why not give gigabyte a call and see how much they would cost? Just swapping them out seems like the fastest route to getting it up and running again.

What I would try is taking the chips from the one that is physically bad and put them in the one that is physically good. Be sure to remove the cmos battery before you do this as you don't want any voltage running through it at the time of the swap. Then put the batteries back in, plug it all up and see what happens.

 

[Pbrizzo]

If these chips are removable, why not give gigabyte a call and see how much they would cost? Just swapping them out seems like the fastest route to getting it up and running again.

What I would try is taking the chips from the one that is physically bad and put them in the one that is physically good. Be sure to remove the cmos battery before you do this as you don't want any voltage running through it at the time of the swap. Then put the batteries back in, plug it all up and see what happens.

 

[Pbrizzo]

If these chips are removable, why not give gigabyte a call and see how much they would cost? Just swapping them out seems like the fastest route to getting it up and running again.

What I would try is taking the chips from the one that is physically bad and put them in the one that is physically good. Be sure to remove the cmos battery before you do this as you don't want any voltage running through it at the time of the swap. Then put the batteries back in, plug it all up and see what happens.

Hey Samir
Thank you for replying. Sorry for not replying sooner. Been busy.
I actually did try this and it didn't work did not work for whatever reasons.

I hadn't thought of calling Gigabyte. Worth a shot I suppose. I received the CH341A programming kit today and the chips should be here soon too. There are a number of BIOS programming services as well that will do it for about $15-20. I kind of want to see if I can use this programmer to do it myself. I'm determined
Thanks again

 

[Patriot]

I have never seen a 16pin be used for any mobo, my bet is on the 8pin which is also next to the reset jumper.
16pin looks like it is next to some ram chips for aspeed video.

 

[Pbrizzo]

They are incredibly easy to use. Restored my bricked X10dax with one. You need to find out what size chip you have.

You are looking for a CH341A programmer and most likely a 208mill SOP8 socket.... but look up your chip to verify which socket you need.

You can spend $3 and 2 weeks https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?catId=0&initiative_id=SB_20200217151156&SearchText=CH341A

Or $12-15 and 2 days on amazon.

As far as writing the chip is concerned... attach that CH341a to your linux box with rom properly installed...

sudo apt-get install flashrom
... Next step is super tricky ...

Spoiler

sudo flashrom -w bios.bin

Patriot, I recieved the CH341A with an SOP8 socket. I also bought brand new MXIC chips that are identical to the BIOS chip. I can read, I can save, I can see data is on the suspected bad chip, I can even save a copy of that data. What I cant do is write to the blank chips. "Write failed timed out" everytime. Right away. I push program and bing! Error. I'm using the windows software which is probably my problem but thought I'd ask if you have heard of these programmers having this issue and what the solution is to make it write to chips. I noticed malwarebytes didn't like the app at all so I had to "allow" program in malwarebytes. As I'm writing this im thinking "why haven't I tried a linux os to do this?" I would like to figure out why its throwing errors at me.
Thank you

 

[Pbrizzo]

Oh, and make sure you verify if your BIOS chip is 1.8 volt or 3.3 volt. Many of the programmers will include an adapter to use chips of both voltages. You don't want to stick a 1.8v ship into a programmer when its set to 3.3 volts!

Markess,
I recieved the CH341A with an SOP8 socket. I also bought brand new MXIC chips that are identical to the BIOS chip. Came with a 1.8v adapter but every tutorial hasn't used it for this application. I just dont know how to check such a thing. If my chip is 1.8, how can I tell? I can read, I can save, I can see data is on the suspected bad chip, I can even save a copy of that data. What I cant do is write to the blank chips. "Write failed timed out" everytime. Right away. I push program and bing! Error. I'm using the windows software which is probably my problem but thought I'd ask if you have heard of these programmers having this issue and what the solution is to make it write to chips. I noticed malwarebytes didn't like the app at all so I had to "allow" program in malwarebytes. As I'm writing this im thinking "why haven't I tried a linux os to do this?" I would like to figure out why its throwing errors at me.
Thank you

 

[Markess]

Markess,
I recieved the CH341A with an SOP8 socket. I also bought brand new MXIC chips that are identical to the BIOS chip. Came with a 1.8v adapter but every tutorial hasn't used it for this application. I just dont know how to check such a thing. If my chip is 1.8, how can I tell? I can read, I can save, I can see data is on the suspected bad chip, I can even save a copy of that data. What I cant do is write to the blank chips. "Write failed timed out" everytime. Right away. I push program and bing! Error. I'm using the windows software which is probably my problem but thought I'd ask if you have heard of these programmers having this issue and what the solution is to make it write to chips. I noticed malwarebytes didn't like the app at all so I had to "allow" program in malwarebytes. As I'm writing this im thinking "why haven't I tried a linux os to do this?" I would like to figure out why its throwing errors at me.
Thank you

I'm no expert, but a couple things....

1. From the datasheet, looks like its 3.3 Volts. https://www.macronix.com/Lists/Datasheet/Attachments/7370/MX25L6406E, 3V, 64Mb, v1.9.pdf

2. Have you had a look at either of these threads on the Win-Raid forum? Lots of troubleshooting and tips on the programming software in these. Again, I'm no expert, but the various programs for doing this each have a number of parameters you can add to the program command. There may be one you need (or don't need) for your case. The WinRaid board is a wealth of knowledge on a lot of things (IMHO).
[Guide] Using CH341A-based programmer to flash SPI EEPROM
[GUIDE] The Beginners Guide to Using a CH341A SPI Programmer/Flasher (With Pictures!)

3. The cheaper programmers are notorious for being picky with connections. If the socketed one is giving you problems, and you have a clip on one in your kit, you may want to try that. I've actually had good luck with the clips. I get it on the chip and squeeze it a bit to get a good connection.

4. Programming takes more current than reading. How is your programmer connected? Do you have a long USB cable? Or are you connected to a standard low power (500ma) USB 2 socket? If you have a powered hub, or a high current USB socket (the yellow ones, or ones designated as for charging phones and the like), you may want to try that.

5. Can't help you with specifics on the Windows software. Haven't used windows for a long time now.

 

[Pbrizzo]

I'm no expert, but a couple things....

1. From the datasheet, looks like its 3.3 Volts. https://www.macronix.com/Lists/Datasheet/Attachments/7370/MX25L6406E, 3V, 64Mb, v1.9.pdf

2. Have you had a look at either of these threads on the Win-Raid forum? Lots of troubleshooting and tips on the programming software in these. Again, I'm no expert, but the various programs for doing this each have a number of parameters you can add to the program command. There may be one you need (or don't need) for your case. The WinRaid board is a wealth of knowledge on a lot of things (IMHO).
[Guide] Using CH341A-based programmer to flash SPI EEPROM
[GUIDE] The Beginners Guide to Using a CH341A SPI Programmer/Flasher (With Pictures!)

3. The cheaper programmers are notorious for being picky with connections. If the socketed one is giving you problems, and you have a clip on one in your kit, you may want to try that. I've actually had good luck with the clips. I get it on the chip and squeeze it a bit to get a good connection.

4. Programming takes more current than reading. How is your programmer connected? Do you have a long USB cable? Or are you connected to a standard low power (500ma) USB 2 socket? If you have a powered hub, or a high current USB socket (the yellow ones, or ones designated as for charging phones and the like), you may want to try that.

5. Can't help you with specifics on the Windows software. Haven't used windows for a long time now.

Markess, thank you!
I have not visited those forums but definitely will. I have very limited linux experience myself. I've heard linux is much better to do this with as the windows software is notoriously finicky.
I've been using USB ports that are probably gen 2. Definately not 3s. I'm plugging directly into the front panel ports of an older machine. Didnt even think about that. I have a nice hub that I can introduce power into from a beefy adapter. Should be plenty.
Thank you Markess. You all have been super helpful.

 

[Patriot]

All the windows programmers seem to be on shady sites so yeah... I did it in my native linux env...

So install ubuntu or whatever flavor you want...


sudo apt-get install flashrom
sudo flashrom -w bios.bin

it really is super easy... and I trust repo software a bit more than some Russian website that has cert issues...