Hi everyone,
I have started a support ticket, just wondered if anyone else might have a solution.
- OS: Windows 11
- Laptop 16 AMD 7040 Series with AMD Radeon™ RX 7700S
I have been running my mainboard in standalone mode (no battery, no internal display etc) connected to my TV. I noticed there was suddenly no audio to my TV, so I tried to update drivers (did not work) and update the BIOS from 3.05 to 4.04.
While I was trying to update to 4.04, there was a prompt on screen to connect to AC. For some strange reason, I could not see the entire screen, so part of the message was obscured and hence could not tell if the BIOS was already updating. Moreover, I was already connected to 180 W AC (there was no battery, but I did have an RTC connected) and the screen was not responding, so I tried turning it off with long-pressing the power button and that did not work.
I then (perhaps foolishly) disconnected the AC. On reboot, there was a rather pixelated message saying System Flash with a % progress. I allowed it to finish flashing and it prompted me back into standalone mode. Afterwards, there was nothing, so I disconnected power again and tried to do a mainboard reset. Tried to power on again and the fans would spin up for a few seconds, then repeats a spin-stop pattern and eventually the mainboard shuts down after a few minutes. The LED indicators blinked 2 reds towards the end (I will need to check again which ones).
I suspect I have bricked my mainboard. Any suggestions welcome.
Contact support. They should know how to proceed.
Already did, waiting for further reply.
I suspect I will need the mainboard replaced. Will update here.
After some back and forth with Framework Support (I appreciated the quick responses), I was told that the problem was with my mainboard (which… I already knew) and I would need to get my mainboard replaced out of warranty. They did not specify what was wrong with the mainboard.
RESOLVED:
I chatted with one of the volunteers on SalemTechspert’s Discord (shoutout to Sim!) and he confirmed my suspicion that the BIOS was corrupted and I needed to flash the BIOS using an external programmer. I brought my laptop to a local laptop repair shop, provided them with a copy of the BIOS bin file extracted from the EFI Updater shell capsule file using UEFITool as well as a copy of the BIOS bin extracted from the exe installer (the latter was built by Sim). The technician desoldered the BIOS chip, reflashed the BIOS (he used the one that was extracted from the exe installer, but the one from the capsule file would have worked as well), soldered the chip back on, and the mainboard was successfully unbricked! I was very willing to pay the AUD$223 for this compared to having to buy a new mainboard under Framework Support’s recommendation (would also like to add that Framework Support did not tell me that a corrupt BIOS was the problem).
For anyone who can do some soldering work and have access to an external programmer such as the CH341A (with level conversion), you can probably do it for much cheaper! I have no soldering experience so did not want to take any chances doing it myself.
Feels good to save a mainboard.
This video is a good tutorial on how to do it (the BIOS chip used in this video is exactly the same chip on the Framework 16 7040 series mainboard - Winbond 25R256JWEQ). Part 2 of this series also tells you how to extract the BIOS bin from a capsule file.
I hope this helps someone!
