ROG G512li No power

[Zparts01]

I had been posting looking for help with a new BIOS, but after writing the new BIOS to the chip and soldering it back to the logic board I have no power. Before I did this I has power, the laptop powered on and I had lights, fans, but just no display, even on external display. After writing the new BIOS to the chip and reinstalling the chip, I only have a red power light with the battery disconnected and a white light with battery connected. I reverted back to original BIOS, but unfortunately the same issue of no power now. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[mon2]

Re: ROG G512li No power

Is it possible that the BIOS chip was not soldered back properly?

Can you confirm that the IC was soldered back in the proper orientation? That is, pin #1 is truly pin #1 on the IC to PCB pad relationship.

Post a clear picture of the flash bios on the board.

[Zparts01]

Re: ROG G512li No power

Here is a photo of the BIOS chip now...

[mon2]

Re: ROG G512li No power

The soldering and orientation of the flash IC look fine.

Which BIOS image did you apply?

The same flash IC was selected in your programmer tool? Same density?

Measure the RTC battery voltage to ground. This is the first requirement in the power on sequenced rail chart (pg 83 of the schematic).

[Zparts01]

Re: ROG G512li No power

I used the BIOS created for me by a member here ... When it didn't work I reverted back to the original thinking it would at least power up again, but it didn't so I put the custom one back on it again. Here is the custom BIOS a member "Hardware1" I believe ... https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...9&d=1677264282

I will check the voltage now...

[Zparts01]

Re: ROG G512li No power

My schematic only goes to page 82. Is there a board view file and schematic for this laptop? I picked up the two PDFs from here, but like I said, it only goes to page 82.

Update I found it. Crazy, but it says 334.0mv .. It's a little up and down from that. This is with board out and no battery of course.

[mon2]

Re: ROG G512li No power

Just finished watching Ganglands (Netflix)...must watch series from France.

The RTC rail is too low. It must be ~3v to power up the board. Locate and replace the RTC battery. This is the first rail required for the power up sequence.

[Zparts01]

Re: ROG G512li No power

We're running low on new content to watch on Netflix so we'll have to check that one out! Thanks for the tip! .... I didn't know this board had a battery other than the main laptop battery. Just to be clear, as I mentioned the board is out of the laptop now with no main battery, but even when it was in the laptop and the battery was hooked up it would not power on. Strange thing is, when I picked up this laptop and first tried to power it up there was nothing, but I had found two of the mosfet chips were shorted and I replaced them. After that it powered up and I had keyboard and all RGB lights along with fan spin and a warm/hot CPU and GPU, but no image even on an external display. I had removed the WINBOND chip between the CPU and GPU as I thought is was the main BIOS chip. I tried to read it with no success, then when I discovered it was the wrong chip I reinstalled it on the logic board and tested to make sure it still would power up (although still no boot). It did, so I went ahead and removed the actual BIOS chip the AsProgramer detected the chip correctly as verified by the label on the chip, so backed up the original twice, ran the erase twice, then reprogrammed the BIOS chip with the BIOS someone had made for me here. I put it back together and no power, just a small red led near the screen end when battery is unplugged and it was white with the battery plugged in. I reprogrammed to original BIOS back and it was the same. I reprogrammed to the BIOS made for me here and of course it was the same, but I guess I should leave that one in as it was most likely not the issue and I'll need it when I get the power working again. I did notice the the black plastic tape strip under the one RAM slot was melted a little. I have no idea how that happened, so I checked it out and noticed a k1 component was not in place and the BGA chip looked a little off, so I completely reballed the BGA and put it back on the board with a very little nudge of course to make sure it was in place. (I've don't hundreds of these) and reset any component that looked a little off. As far as I can tell the area looks like factory, but maybe it's possible I'm missing something, not sure. I just don't think that's it. Sorry to go on so long, but this is everything so far. I've attached another photo ...

[Zparts01]

Re: ROG G512li No power

Anyone?

[chenwei]

Re: ROG G512li No power

Unfortunately!!!!!! Now the PCH lock. You are locked this situation. Need to replace PCH, I come from China, this situation is common. Replace the PCH and flash the new BIOS

[Zparts01]

Re: ROG G512li No power

Can you explain more about this? Not sure what you mean. Not sure this can be true.

[Zparts01]

Re: ROG G512li No power

Can anyone else help figure out my issue? Would like to know where to start looking.

[mon2]

Re: ROG G512li No power

Personally have not done this yet, but the comment is that the PCH component is deemed defective. The PCH & CPU are integrated together. With caution to work with a stable & trusted vendor in China, the PCH / CPU must be purchased and then replaced. A lot of fakes / defective parts in the Asian markets. The CPU is a very large # of balls BGA device and special BGA rework stations are required to perform this replacement. We purchased a very high end workstation but openly still testing to fully understand the process.

To work with physically large devices like the CPU, you must have an underside heater + topside hot air tool with large enough surface area to remove the defective CPU -> then with care, flux & apply low temp solder to coat the BGA pads -> flatten the solder pads -> flux again -> apply the new CPU with proper visual alignment -> reflow the new CPU onto the board and test again.

We have the Seamark 7200C model which is quite automated. It is a dream to work with for part removal and also the soldering of pre-placed parts. Seems to be ok with the small sized BGA devices (144 balls) but have not yet tested larger area parts. Hope to do this soon.

[Zparts01]

Re: ROG G512li No power

Thanks for that info as well Mon2! .... I'm just having a hard time thinking it's the PCH at all. Before I am willing to accept this I need to figure out a way to test and confirm it. I have reverted to the original BIOS that was on it when I last had power, but still nothing. Is there any known way to test this PCH issue for my G512li?

[mon2]

Re: ROG G512li No power

Remove all power. Meter in the lowest resistance scale.

Measure the resistance to ground of your CPU power rails.

Post each measurement.

[Zparts01]

Re: ROG G512li No power

I can't seem to find a good board view file, only PDFs that I see on badcaps. Is there any out there that I'm missing. I would not know how to identify all of the power rails to the CPU otherwise.

[reformatt]

Re: ROG G512li No power

My first inclination looking at your pictures is exposed liquid metal on the CPU. Make sure none of that got anywhere it shouldn't as it often shorts things out.

First point of call for troubleshooting for a totally dead machine after BIOS update is around the EC, not the PCH. I have seen the EC corrupted by bad BIOS dumps, however this one does not have that in the BIOS. So it's either in a separate ROM or it's programmed in the EC itself. See if you have +3V on the power button and if there is any reaction to input current when pressed.

[Zparts01]

Re: ROG G512li No power

Thanks for the info reformatt! Yes, I was worried that maybe a little liquid metal had made it's way onto the board somewhere, but after checking this board, up and down, under the microscope at least 20 times, I was not able to see anything. Hopefully none made its way under chip where I can see it. I have carefully cleaned off the liquid metal yesterday just to avoid any issues. I think it's a good point about the EC and not the PCH. Also, crazy thing is, I did remove the other winbond chip on this board at first as I thought it was the BIOS chip. I was able to read it and backup its content, but I never wrote to it. I am actually worried that maybe it became damaged and not sure how to check it though to see if it's ok. It's back on the board of course and nothing around it has been knocked off or anything. I believe it did power on when I first put it back on and it was only after writing to the Actual BIOS chip that it did not power up after I put it back on the board. When you say I should check the power input current, that would be great, but I'm so used to .brd files along with a schematic and there is only a PDF for a board that's not exactly the same. I can't use it to help guid me, so I'm not sure how I would find where to test the switch. Any idea what I can do to test that?

[reformatt]

Re: ROG G512li No power

No battery, external power supply to check your input current. This reveals a lot about what the machine is doing. All EC's have some kind of programming, it just depends on how that is derived on a machine by machine basis. Some have an internal EEPROM in the EC itself, or it's loaded by an external EEPROM (which you say you it has, haven't seen a schematic for this model).

If you have +3V on your power button, and EC does not proceed in the power sequence, then it's likely not loading its code for some reason. You mention earlier that you replaced some shorted FET's, so if this was around the CPU/GPU, this could all be moot.

[Zparts01]

Re: ROG G512li No power

Ok, so with no battery plugged in, I tested the power button (what I believe to be the power button) and it's at 0 until I push the power button, then it goes to 3.398 volts. I am hoping the CPU/GPU are not dead, but that is why I was trying to replace the BIOS in the first place, as once I replace the FET's the laptop would power on, the CPU/GPU and PCH would get warm/hot, the fans would come on and all LEDs would light up, but not display. I connected to an external display, but nothing also. Now, I get nothing after writing a new BIOS to the chip, then when I had no power I wrote the old one back to the chip, but still nothing. As I said, the other chip (W25Q80EW-1.8V) was removed, but never written to, just backed up, then put back on the board. Wondering if my programer maybe hit it with too much voltage and fried it. If so not sure what to do or how to test it.