Bricked P350 Tiny after bios update. TaoBao seller said this would happen in listing (in Chinese, which I don't read) Why?

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cisco

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Aug 4, 2022
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Just curious why the seller would say that this is what would happen. Is he selling fake P350 tiny? He said he would fix it for a fee. But I just don't understand why this would be expected behavior? How would I go about identifying if it's fake? I got the system barebones and added my components. Thanks.
 

joeribl

Active Member
Jun 6, 2021
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Just curious but why did you buy a P350 on Taobao? Does the Lenovo website recognise the serial number?
 

cisco

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Aug 4, 2022
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Just curious but why did you buy a P350 on Taobao? Does the Lenovo website recognise the serial number?
Thank you for the reply. Because I am in China, and it was the only bare-bones system I could find. I took a pic of the serial in bios before flashing, and just tried it on the Lenovo website... It is for a totally different product (P340 Tower) Guessing it's fake then, or something odd is going on.
 

joeribl

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Jun 6, 2021
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Well since you are in China it makes a bit more sense ;)

P340 = Comet Lake 10xxxxx CPU
P350 = Rocket Lake 11xxxxx CPU

I assume you have a Rocket Lake installed?

As i understand the P340 has a Q470 chipset, which should theoretically support Rocketlake. So maybe he did a BIOS mod to a P340 mainboard to make it support a Rocket Lake CPU. Similar to this topic: https://forums.servethehome.com/ind...m700-m900-bios-mod-to-coffee-lake-cpus.30734/

Then he could sell it as a P350...
 
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cisco

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Aug 4, 2022
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Well since you are in China it makes a bit more sense ;)

P340 = Comet Lake 10xxxxx CPU
P350 = Rocket Lake 11xxxxx CPU

I assume you have a Rocket Lake installed?

As i understand the P340 has a Q470 chipset, which should theoretically support Rocketlake. So maybe he did a BIOS mod to a P340 mainboard to make it support a Rocket Lake CPU. Similar to this topic: https://forums.servethehome.com/ind...m700-m900-bios-mod-to-coffee-lake-cpus.30734/

Then he could sell it as a P350...
This might be what's going on. I did gen an 11th gen CPU. Another thing that made me think was all the pictures of P350 tiny I saw had two vent cut-outs on the top. Mine had one towards the front. Thought maybe because I didn't have a GPU. What Mobo markings would verify it?

Anyhow, thankfully the guy is accepting the return. Guess I got to buy a preconfig base model now unless Lenovo will sell me a barebones direct.
 

joeribl

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Jun 6, 2021
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Good news for the return. Not sure what you received.

For the new one, i am pretty sure Lenovo doesnt sell barebones.
 

cisco

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Aug 4, 2022
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Good news for the return. Not sure what you received.

For the new one, i am pretty sure Lenovo doesnt sell barebones.
Funny thing is this all started with "well, if I am going to spend $450 on an older model (P330/M920Q) I might as well spend $250 more and get something newer and better." ... Well looks like I am going to have to add another $150 to that at least. Live and learn I guess.
 

joeribl

Active Member
Jun 6, 2021
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Strange, the main board looks sort of legit. So why it is not possible to update it with a newer bios version...
 

mobilenvidia

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Sep 25, 2011
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Oddly the motherboard does say HQ570.
Any chance of a picture of the back of the board ?
Can't see any obvious sign of a BIOS chip front side, but possibly no longer a 8pin EEPROM chip anymore either
But if it is then there is hope, and possibly how the BIOS may have been put on the Mobo in the first place (and how I get modded BIOS to my Tiny PC)
Mobo looks legit, an awful lot of effort went in if it isn't
 

cisco

New Member
Aug 4, 2022
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Also have play with Clear CMOS/Recovery Jumper
I assume there 3 optios with jumper placement but no documentation on it
View attachment 23848
Tried all jumper positions and none worked. Sent it back so no longer have it to check the back.

My guess is these are models that fell off the back of the truck, and not supported by Lenovo. The serial was obviously modified because it's for a totally different product.

I purschased a new P350 Tiny from what looks like an official store on JD. Seller said no problem to update the bios, hopefully all good when it arrives.
 

Parallax

Active Member
Nov 8, 2020
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London, UK
Just curious why the seller would say that this is what would happen. Is he selling fake P350 tiny? He said he would fix it for a fee. But I just don't understand why this would be expected behavior? How would I go about identifying if it's fake? I got the system barebones and added my components. Thanks.
Do you have a link to the listing? I can ask my wife to read it and let you know what it says if you're still curious.