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    Modding BIOS with CH341A Programmer

    Discussion in 'Razer' started by amihail91, Jun 27, 2020.

  1. amihail91

    amihail91 Notebook Evangelist

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    Perhaps one of you lot could talk me through this? I'm successfully reading and writing chips but rebooting my Blade 17 Pro seems to be writing back the old files over the top as part of the boot up process - has anybody else noticed this?

    Maybe @hackness you could chime in?
     
    amihail91, Jun 27, 2020
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  2. jDally987

    jDally987 Newbie

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    Could you elaborate, how'd you notice it was rewriting the ROM? Give a system log or something?

    I'm also wondering this, I just got a programmer myself to flash my own SPI chip because I'm experiencing some super-persistent rootkit malware. Remote access from bootup that manages a bunch of system policies in the background and is extremely good at hiding itself. I have an LG Gram 17, I made a few long posts in the thread over in the LG forum.
     
    jDally987, Jul 6, 2020
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  3. amihail91

    amihail91 Notebook Evangelist

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    Flash chip with modded BIOS > verify chip contents > boot PC once > dump chip contents > compare files.

    It ended up being a failsafe built into the Razer Pro models at least - it will reflash the BIOS with one stored somewhere hidden on the board if there are many failed boots or file corruption detected.
     
    amihail91, Jul 6, 2020
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  4. jDally987

    jDally987 Newbie

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    Oh what the heck. Wonder how it does that, is the backup BIOS (.cap I'm guessing or .rom?) stored on the disk somewhere? If you wiped out the whole SPI chip I mean.

    What kind of BIOS does your razer use? Phoenix, AMI etc?
     
    jDally987, Jul 6, 2020
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  5. amihail91

    amihail91 Notebook Evangelist

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    There's a backup chip on the board with the default settings stored in it somewhere I guess, it only comes into affect when you pull the CMOS battery. Same goes for the VBIOS chip for the graphics card. Probably .rom format yes, thats what I get when I dump the chip contents.

    Razers on AMI Aptio V atm.
     
    Last edited: Jul 6, 2020
    amihail91, Jul 6, 2020
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