I’ve ordered the CH341A kit. It comes with a clip rather than a vertical pogo pin I see in all of the above pictures. Does the clip have connectivity issues and is it compatible with the Framework 13’s chip? Should I purchase the pogo pins as well?
Update: I’ve been told by AI that the SOIC8 clip above does not work on WSON8 chips, so I need to separately purchase a WSON8 8*6 mm pogo pin probe.
You will need a WSON8 probe, the SOIC8 clip will not fit over the geometry of the chip or make contact with the pins.
Apart from it probably not fitting be really careful with clips, it is extremely easy to knock off tiny components near the flash with it, don’t ask me how I know XD.
Has anyone managed to read the BIOS of a Framework 16 yet?
I’ve been trying to do this but simply haven’t succeeded so far. I started by trying a CH341A programmer. Whenever I attach it to the chip, the power supply drops (the power LED dims, and the chip isn’t detected).
Hoping for better results, I then got an RT809F programmer, as the software is supposed to be better. Unfortunately, there was no improvement with that device either.
I’m at a loss—can anyone here help?
I’ve used both programmers with and without a 1.8V adapter, but the chip still isn’t detected.
The motherboard is completely unpowered—no battery, no external power supply connected. It just isn’t working.
I tried letting you know in my reply here that the issue you are facing is mostly likely an issue with the power supply to your flash chip, not the programmer.
Have you tried programming the flash chip with the mainboard powered? If you do try, make sure to not connect the VCC pin (pin 8) from your programmer/power supply to the chip.
From the datasheets I could find, the flash chips for the Framework 12 and 16 are basically identical other than the voltage (the Framework 12 uses 3.3V instead of 1.8V). Datasheet for W25R256JVxx (Framework 12) & datasheet for W25R256JWxx (Framework 13 & 16)
I have found with some Framework devices that, if the power supply from the flasher is enabled when you push the pogo jig on, it will short out.
Bus Pirate reports this and disables VOUT. Other flashers might just give up.
Try to push down the pogo jig and making sure it is secure before connecting the flasher to USB.
Add me to the list 
This video was especially concise and helpful. Thanks everyone for saving me hundreds of dollars!
Did it work for the first write or did you have to do several attempts (like in my case, 3) before writing was successful?
Well, it seems like I just found myself in the same boat doing the 3.20 update today. It’s a wonder that the update still hasn’t been pulled from LVFS when it’s been bricking so many people’s boards…
I am still waiting for a response from Framework support, but I am preparing for the worst given that my laptop is a bit old. Unfortunately, I am mostly a software person and my forays into hardware stuff are limited, and I’ve never tried flashing a chip like this before… Hence, I am doing some research in preparation and have some questions.
What did you actually buy? From comparing your pictures to AliExpress listings and YouTube videos, it looks like a black CH341A programmer with a 1.8 V level shifter and a WSON8 6×8 mm pogo pin thing?
From what I’ve read online about that specific black model, and from this message earlier:
There are some concerns with the programmer not outputting the correct voltage? Has anyone run into any issues with the voltage? Did you all do the voltage fix or something?
I’ve seen newer versions of the CH341A with different colours that don’t seem to have the voltage issue, but they all seem to be sold out on AliExpress… I hope it’s not because of everyone running into the same issue.
Did you use the pogo pins or was that the clamp? It’s not super clear from your picture. I would rather not have to manually hold down the pogo pins if possible.
Also, has anyone tried the CH347 instead of CH341A? It’s supposed to be much faster at programming these chips due to supporting higher SPI clocks and also doesn’t cost a fortune (unlike some of the fancier programmers…), and it might really help here if I end up having to hold pogo pins down.
It wrote successfully the first time, but I had more trouble getting it to detect the chip. In the end the problem was fixed by applying more pressure.
Yes, exactly :
I just followed previous poster’s choices for the hardware to buy.
I didn’t do anything about the voltage. Just added the 3.3V → 1.8V converter sold with the CH341A programmer pack.
Thanks for the quick reply, guys.
Yeah, I watched the video, which is how I found out about the CH347. The documentation on this model is very lacking. I see two different versions on AliExpress, none of which inspires confidence:
The alternatives in that video are all kinda crazy expensive. Like, the XG Pro T76 is $150 USD as linked in the description, and I think that wipes out a large chunk of the savings from trying to repair this motherboard.
But I guess I might as well try with the black CH341A if no one seems to be having trouble with it. If any of you have an oscilloscope or a multimeter, it would be nice to lay the whole voltage issue to rest for posterity. Otherwise, I guess I might just do some multimeter testing when my parts arrive.
Also, how did you end up holding down the pogo pins while flashing?
Held it down with my father’s steady hands. It only took around 5 minutes to flash in my case, so it wasn’t too bad. Others had more creative setups.
I’ve independently extracted the 3.20 BIOS, both with tail | head and with InsydeH2O extractor and got the same hash. For anyone else who might need it: https://dl.quantum2.xyz/firmware/framework-3.20-bios.bin
The hashes:
8bc4cde1b7e8413b9b405b8e7b243e1fb562976496f3bafba5e07f2d96b03804a708f90da645413ee19c7cf287917a717099883ea37ed6b556c74cf31adbc5b1afcc9c05@David_Henry can you confirm it’s the same file you successfully flashed?
I also forked InsydeH2O extractor and fixed the compilation issues on Linux, if anyone needs it in the future for other BIOS versions: GitHub - quantum5/InsydeH2O-extractor-2: InsydeH2O firmware extractor (compilable on Linux) · GitHub
The command to run is:
git clone https://github.com/quantum5/InsydeH2O-extractor-2.git
cd InsydeH2O-extractor-2
cmake .
make
./extractor /path/to/bios.cap
BIOSFILE.FD in the directory would be the one to flash.
Thank you for the advice. I obviously cannot speak for @Scale_Hardwarebox_De, but for me, with my Framework 12, the led of my ch341a dims regardless of whether the pogo jig is connected before or after plugging it into usb. I guess this probably isn’t the right place to talk about it though - this post is labeled for the Framework 13 AMD 7040 mainboard.
Yes, I get the same hashes.