HP BIOS unlock tool

[RethoricalCheese]

Always the larger one. 25Q128A is 128Mb, 25Q16DVSIG is 16Mb. So 25Q128A is the one you need to work on.

[tlfrance]

Originally Posted by GabTal

Hi everyone, i need help.
I have a second-hand elitebook 850 g1 with bios locked by password.
Understood that i need to unlock the BIOS is the ch431a programmer+soip8 with the software to dump my own bios file, to reprogram it and at last flash it. But i see on the motherboard two chips. Which is the correct one? I need to reprogram both bios?
I've attached the img to be more clear.
Thanks everyone

Hello. I guess it is the chip with the orange dot on the left on your picture

[Vesko356]

Originally Posted by GabTal

Hi everyone, i need help.
I have a second-hand elitebook 850 g1 with bios locked by password.
Understood that i need to unlock the BIOS is the ch431a programmer+soip8 with the software to dump my own bios file, to reprogram it and at last flash it. But i see on the motherboard two chips. Which is the correct one? I need to reprogram both bios?
I've attached the img to be more clear.
Thanks everyone

Left one (with the pink dot on it) 25Q128A 13EC0 - you need to read this chip only.

[hallo51]

Hi,

first thanks for the great support here !

A short feedback, the unlock with the provided file worked perfectly on my HP Probook 470 G2.

Best,
hallo51

[tlfrance]

Originally Posted by tlfrance

Thanks for help. I saw 2 different ch341a programmers (black pcb and green pcb) . Difference seems around voltage (5v for black , 3,3 v for green). Which one should I take?

I’ll buy this https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?m...2F153306934960
Hope it will work for my 840 g3 bios

[grzesiek3108]

840 G3 i5 cpu, Desolder W25q128, puted on EZP, read bios .bin, just drag and drop 16MB bin on your .exe, erase chip and write .unlocked.bin

25min works fine. Great job.
Can u tell me how this tool works ? Thx verry much
@RethoricalCheese

[RethoricalCheese]

It just uses some keywords to find the password area and deletes (writes 0xFF-s) a part of it.

Planning on an update to make it a bit more user-friendly. Mostly to display an error message when somebody wants to unlock an unverified/broken bios dump.
But it takes some time, I have other projects to finish first.

[GabTal]

Originally Posted by RethoricalCheese

Always the larger one. 25Q128A is 128Mb, 25Q16DVSIG is 16Mb. So 25Q128A is the one you need to work on.

Thanks, I'm waiting for the programmer I've just bought. Now the last question is: how can I know which is the voltage of the bios? Googling I found some datasheet which says it's 1.8 and another one that's 3.0.*

[grzesiek3108]

Originally Posted by GabTal

Thanks, I'm waiting for the programmer I've just bought. Now the last question is: how can I know which is the voltage of the bios? Googling I found some datasheet which says it's 1.8 and another one that's 3.0.*

Probably 3V , but you do not damage chip if its 1.8V (at least i never did) just programmer wont recognize it.

@RethoricalCheese Thx again for explain. I used try HxD when ive gote several SMC.bin files delivered from Hp support to figure out how to create it for myself, but never did

Confirmed : Probook 650 g1 i5 cpu, Desolder, puted on EZP, read bios .bin, just drag and drop .bin dump on your .exe, erase chip and write new created .unlocked.bin

Works great.

[RethoricalCheese]

I know how SMC.bin files work but since I am unable to sign them without help from HP, it is useless knowledge. Right now editing bios is what works and is fast/easy enough for most people.

[tinto]

work fine on my 2pcs HP 820 G2, but bios screen is little slower...when tap F10 i wait for 4,5 sec to open bios.... but works OK

very good job

thanks RethoricalCheese

[RethoricalCheese]

Originally Posted by tinto

work fine on my 2pcs HP 820 G2, but bios screen is little slower...when tap F10 i wait for 4,5 sec to open bios.... but works OK

very good job

thanks RethoricalCheese

Try updating BIOS to latest. Should fix that problem for you.
It seems to be slow on some older bios versions.

[gabucis]

Originally Posted by peste

try this..

Hi have tried that also ordered new chip all it does 3 long beeps and 2 short have flashed smaller chip too no change do you think motherboard is damaged?

[jg007]

Hi guys a complete n00b here.

I will attempt to flash my locked Elitebook 840 G1 over the weekend and I have a question.

If I understand correctly I just need to:

1. Get the bios dump from my laptop
2. Use the HPUnlocker tool located on the first page of this topic
3. Write the dump back to the bios chip

Do I need to worry about the ME region at all? Saw some posts mentioning you need to clean it? Or does the unlock tool already do this?

[Vesko356]

Originally Posted by jg007

Hi guys a complete n00b here.

I will attempt to flash my locked Elitebook 840 G1 over the weekend and I have a question.

If I understand correctly I just need to:

1. Get the bios dump from my laptop
2. Use the HPUnlocker tool located on the first page of this topic
3. Write the dump back to the bios chip

Do I need to worry about the ME region at all? Saw some posts mentioning you need to clean it? Or does the unlock tool already do this?

1/2/3 - Yes
Don't worry about Me region, the tool doesn't change it, and since the bios is from your machine there is no need to alter the Me region, just write the unlocked bin file back to bios chip and you are good to go.

[jg007]

Originally Posted by Vesko356

1/2/3 - Yes
Don't worry about Me region, the tool doesn't change it, and since the bios is from your machine there is no need to alter the Me region, just write the unlocked bin file back to bios chip and you are good to go.

Great, thanks!

I'm thinking of using the ME Analyzer just to confirm the read did not corrupt the bios dump.

Is there a way of confirming that the bios is really unlocked before I write it back to the chip?

[Vesko356]

Originally Posted by jg007

Great, thanks!

I'm thinking of using the ME Analyzer just to confirm the read did not corrupt the bios dump.

This is a good practice, also you can read the chip twice and compare both dumps with Total Commander, just to make sure the dump is OK.

Originally Posted by jg007

Is there a way of confirming that the bios is really unlocked before I write it back to the chip?

There is no need to do that, the tooll is doing the job perfectly.

[lostr]

Please help !
SMC.bin for unlocking Bios : HP ProBook 650 G1
Serial Sistem 5CG50716YS
UUID Sistem 7F3B7601-3BB1E411-820378A5-3804C0FF
Thanks !

[Vesko356]

Originally Posted by lostr

Please help !
SMC.bin for unlocking Bios : HP ProBook 650 G1
Serial Sistem 5CG50716YS
UUID Sistem 7F3B7601-3BB1E411-820378A5-3804C0FF
Thanks !

Nobody can't give you the smc file, just dump your bios and use the tool for unlock.

[slaine]

Originally Posted by RethoricalCheese

If there are any issues, please do let me know so I can improve this tool.

no problem here - thanks a lot for the unlocker.exe - had some bios dumps in the past with manual VSS editing via hxd - thx to you the routine is much faster now. Gonna try it on some 840g3 this week after i figured the best way to read the chip without desoldering it (standard soic8 clip is not fitting since they use 8-WSON Package here for the eeprom)