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Lenovo IdeaPad Y500 Black Screen / Bios Mod Brick / No Boot Logo


PlannedObsolescence

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I recently tried this Lenovo IdeaPad Y500 bios mod by svl7.  I was originally running official Insyde Bios v2.02 and the stock vbios for the first graphic card GDDR5 750M. I was reluctant to try this bios mod initially because I could not backup the vbios for the first 750m graphic card, but I finally decided it to try it because I was convinced that I needed access to other hidden bios options to accomplish what I was trying to do.

 

I wasn't modding my bios so I could change the GPU clocks of my 750M graphic cards, and I did try to back up the vbios for each 750M first. If I tried to back up the vbios with GPU-Z, it would give me an error message saying bios reading is not supported, cause my computer screen to change colors, or freeze my computer completely. If I tried it to back up the vbios with NVFLASH, it would change my display resolution, disable my GPU, return an error message, and cause NVIDIA control panel to return a message which says a NVIDIA GPU must be attached to the display, etc. I could only backup the vbios for the second GPU.


I followed the instructions on the guide posted on the TechInferno forums correctly and everything. I backed up my bios, modified it using the tool, and then I flashed the modded bios. The bios mod was successful, and I now had access to other hidden bios options. However, I noticed that the vbios version for the first 750M GDDR5 graphic card was now different as I had feared, and it was also clocked at 1059 mhz, almost 100 MHZ higher than it was before the mod (it was at originally at 967 MHZ).  The original vbios version 80.07.95.00.17 was changed to version 80.07.9d.00.11.


Here are some other GPU-Z validations for reference:
vbios 80.07.95.00.17:
https://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/details/e7hcb
https://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/details/3yyyu


vbios  80.07.9d.00.11:
https://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/details/4z7pe


The GPU clock was higher (1059 mhz) for me with the 80.07.9d.00.11 version. I did a Futuremark benchmark in SLI, but I got the same/similar results as before.
But the computer seemed to running fine with the SL7 bios mod, despite the change to the vbios for the first graphic card.


I tried enabling and disabling various features and options in the bios, but none of them seemed to get what I wanted working. If the PC was stuck at the Lenovo logo after changing an option, or something else wasn't working right in Windows after making a change in the bios, I just undid the changes I had made previously in the bios.


One thing I noticed after I installed the bios mod was a command prompt which opened up and installed some WiDi certificate while I was running Windows 10.


I decided to press escape a few times while the Lenovo logo was displayed, and I noticed that it took me to some Grub4Dos boot menu, with gave me a list of options of booting Windows with or without SLIC, etc. I was never able to do this until I installed the modded bios v2.04, and I'm pretty sure I never actually installed Grub4Dos myself.


I tried experimenting with various bios settings in the video configuration which was accessible in the advanced section of the boot menu, but changing these options didn't suffice.
So, I decided to enable the Intel Smart Connect Technology and the Intel Dynamic Platform and Thermal Framework (DPTF) in the bios. A bunch of unknown devices showed up in Device Manager when I booted Windows, so I went ahead and installed the Lenovo Smart Connect software which was for a different Lenovo Laptop as well as the Intel Dynamic Platform and Thermal Framework drivers that were for a Lenovo Yoga. Both installations worked and installed drivers for the unknown devices.


I took of some options for the CPU which stood out to me. I saw that the "Bi-Directional PROCHOT#" in the thermal configuration of the advanced section of the bios, was enabled, but I didn't disable it. If this is enabled, it kinda makes the Intel Turbo Boost feature useless because the CPU Turbo Boost clock to 3.4 ghz etc. will only last a couple of minutes and maybe longer if you are lucky since the CPU cores will reach temperature maximums by that time. If Intel Turbo Boost is enabled at the same time, the Bi-Directional PROCHOT setting can also cause CPU-demaning games to freeze and lag. But the BDPROCHOT setting in the bios isn't something that you cannot disable in Windows using an external overclocking program if you want the the extra benefit of the Intel Turbo Boost, so it wan't really necessary to disable it in the bios.


I did see that there was an option to disable the hyper-threading for the CPU somewhere in the power section of the modded bios, so I gave it a spin. I once wanted to reduce extra  CPU threads without actually disabling physical cores of the CPU by disabling hyper-threading, and I could not do this until I installed the modded bios.


I was interested in the ACPI Table/ Features Control in the advanced section of the bios  as well, and I enabled the TC0 Watchdog Support which was originally disabled. It changed some configuration in Windows and required a reboot of the operating system. Changing this setting in the bios didn't seem to cause any problems.


I enabled Serial Port A in the Peripheral Configuration of the advanced section of the bios, and I'm not sure what this did.


I also disabled some PCI clockrun setting as well. I believe it was the turn off unused PCIE/PCI  clocks in extended ICC in the advanced section of the bios.


Finally, I decided to change a setting in the PCI Express Graphic in the Video Configuration which was part of the advanced section. The setting was called "PCI Reset Delay". I changed the setting from "100 ms" to disabled. Now I cannot even access the bios of the laptop. The laptop powers on, but all I get is a black screen. I cannot get a video output using an external screen.
I wanted to do a factory reset of the bios somehow, but I'm not sure how I can accomplish this. I tried calling Lenovo technical support, and they told me to try a remove the CMOS battery. I'm aware of the location of the CMOS battery on the motherboard, but it does not seem to be removable and might actually be soldered to the motherboard. The Y500 also seems hard to disassemble, and I was watching a video on how to disassemble it from this website:


https://www.how-fixit.com/laptop-repairguideslenovo-laptop/lenovo-y500-y510p

 


I tried to take the laptop apart, but I was having great difficulty doing this. I couldn't fully take it apart to expose the CMOS battery. I'm also afraid of breaking the connectors which connect the CMOS battery to the motherboard. I already broke a plastic piece of the second GPU because I had trouble removing it from the Ultrabay port of the laptop. I'm trying the bios reset by using the discharge laptop battery method that someone used on their Z400 laptop, but I'm not sure if it will work on my laptop or not. If anybody knows of a way I can fix this problem so I can use my laptop again and can explain it to me, I would be very thankful. I hope that a replacement of the entire motherboard is not necessary just to fix a bios or CMOS battery issue.

Edited by PlannedObsolescence
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Here is a visual representation of the CMOS Battery in question that may be soldered to the motherboard. I believe the CMOS Battery for the Lenovo IdeaPad Y500 should be located in the area circled in red:

 

CMOSBATTERYY500.jpg

 

This isn't an actual picture of my own Lenovo IdeaPad Y500's motherboard. The original photo was from the Y500 disassembled (pictures) thread:

I have yet to try fully disassembling out again to try and remove the CMOS battery for 10 minutes out of the fear of physically damaging the laptop. I have tried booting from a USB drive and the draining the battery bios reset method, but I have had no success so far. 

 

 

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Prior to changing settings after installing the bios mod for my Lenovo IdeaPad Y500, I decided to take some pictures of the original settings. I didn't take any photos of the Power section of the bios, but the only setting that I changed there had to do with the Hyper-Threading for the CPU. I can't upload the images directly to this thread because they exceed the limit of 1 MB, but I uploaded them to PostImage, and here is the link to the gallery:

 

https://postimg.org/gallery/jiuaqrq6/

 

 

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Someone took some pictures of their modded Lenovo IdeaPad Y500 bios and posted them to Svl7's Y500 unlocked bios guide a few years ago:

 

Y500_bios_07.jpg

Y500_bios_14.jpg

Y500_bios_21.jpg

Y500_bios_27.jpg

Y500_bios_01.jpg

Y500_bios_02.jpg

 

Y500_bios_04.jpg

Y500_bios_05.jpg

Y500_bios_06.jpg

Y500_bios_08.jpg

Y500_bios_09.jpg

Y500_bios_10.jpg

Y500_bios_11.jpg

Y500_bios_12.jpg

Y500_bios_13.jpg

Y500_bios_15.jpg

Y500_bios_16.jpg

Y500_bios_17.jpg

Y500_bios_18.jpg

Y500_bios_19.jpg

Y500_bios_20.jpg

Y500_bios_22.jpg

Y500_bios_23.jpg

Y500_bios_24.jpg

Y500_bios_25.jpg

Y500_bios_26.jpg

 

You can compare those to the pictures I posted of my own, and as you can see that my pictures are of the original modded bios configuration before I made changes to it.

 

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Someone posted in the Lenovo Y400 / Y500 - unlocked BIOS / wlan whitelist mod thread links to an older 2.02 Bios mod and a modified 80.07.95.00.17 vbios. If I had known about the older 2.02 bios mod, maybe I would have tried this instead. However, the links to the attachments appear to be dead, and the files were also removed from Svl7's Y500 unlocked bios guide.

 


"Hey Svl7, I tried this Lenovo_Y500_BIOS_v2.02_Mod - rev01.zip and the GPU 0 (main GPU) still have the +135MHz OC limit, as shown in EVGA Precision.
The Y500 - Y400 - SLI 750m - 80.07.95.00.17 - OC.zip works fine for GPU 1 (secondary SLI GPU).
What is weird is that before this GPU0 would go up to 1102MHz, but after flashing I believe it went up to 1189MHz in game. On the other hand, after flashing GPU1 would go above 1200MHz easily.


After checking with Nvidia Inspector, both GPU 0 and GPU 1 has the same BIOS (80.07.95.00.17), which says MODIFIED beside it.
I have tried re-flashing and GPU0 still wouldn't go above 1189MHz, meanwhile GPU1 went up to 1254MHz stable."
That user said that the second vbios for the secondary SLI GPU was the same as the first vbios for the main GPU (the 80.07.95.00.17 version) , but in my experience the second vbios for the secondary SLI GPU was different from the one that was used for the main GPU. The secondary SLI GPU vbios version ended in "1A". I have a backup of the unmodified, stock "1A" version.

 


I believe I did use the Phoenix tool once to try and get the main GPU vbios extracted from it, but I had some trouble identifying it. If I can take a look through those files again, I'll look for some files that are around 159 KB in size.


I'm not sure whether or not flashing a different vbios caused the issue I'm having with my laptop.

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On 1/22/2017 at 6:35 AM, gavrosh said:

Hey. I have the same situation. I have included a graphic processor core. black screen. reset bios too can not. rosiyskih forums on the same nobody knows what to do. where else to look for a topic?

 

 

I still haven't tried removing/desoldering the CMOS battery from my laptop and resoldering it to the motherboard to try and do a bios reset. My problem is similar to what is described by some other posters:

 

 

 

 

If I manage to reset the bios by desoldering the CMOS battery and resoldering back to the motherboard and it works, I will let you know.

 

I think this happened to my laptop because I disabled the PCI reset delay. I messed around with some other settings that deal with video configuration like Primary Display (iGFX, PCI, PEG, SG, etc.) and Always Enable PEG, but I would still manage to get the Lenovo boot logo and be able to access the bios nonetheless. Some Video settings in the bios would revert back to the original when I changed them. It was only until I decided to disable the "PCI reset delay" did the laptop decide to become unbootable and not show anything on the display. I can get power from the USB ports, but I can't boot anything from them, and I'm wondering if the disabled "HS Port Switch 2" under "XHCI" in the "USB Configuration" of the "Advanced" section has anything to do with it. I have tried pressing the Novo button on the laptop, but nothing has ever happened when I have tried this.

 

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To add, I'm also doubtful that 5 minutes of installing, using, and uninstalling the Lenovo Smart Connect program would cause a short circuit in the motherboard, or that disabling the hyper-threading of the CPU would completely kill it. The GPU wasn't overclocked for very long, so I'm also doubtful that GPU would die in a day or so from being overclocked. I played a game for like less than 5 minutes and did a Futuremark benchmark in SLI to see if there were any differences, but that was pretty much it. The GPUs had ASIC qualities in the range of 73 to 75 percent from what I remember.

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Here is my log of the second GPU vbios backup that I did with NVFlash before the laptop got bricked:

 

NVIDIA Firmware Update Utility (Version 5.218)
Simplified Version For OEM Only

Select display adapter:
<0> GeForce GT 750M      (10DE,0FE4,17AA,3802) H:--:NRM S:00,B:01,PCI,D:00,F:00
<1> GeForce GT 750M      (10DE,0FE4,17AA,3802) H:--:NRM S:00,B:02,PCI,D:00,F:00
Select a number (ESC to quit): 1
Adapter: GeForce GT 750M      (10DE,0FE4,17AA,3802) H:--:NRM S:00,B:02,PCI,D:00,
F:00

The display may go *BLANK* on and off for up to 10 seconds during access to the
EEPROM depending on your display adapter and output device.

Identifying EEPROM...
EEPROM ID (C2,2012) : MX MX25L2005 2.7-3.6V 2048Kx1S, page
Reading adapter firmware image...
IFR Data Size         : 0 bytes
Image Size            : 95744 bytes
Version               : 80.07.95.00.1A
~CRC32                : D316B74A
Image Hash            : 21141F9F460E61CEE435CEABBB8671A4
Subsystem ID          : 17AA-3802
Hierarchy ID          : Normal Board
Chip SKU              : 750-0
Project               : 2044-0100
CDP                   : N/A
Build Date            : 01/17/13
Modification Date     : 02/01/13
UEFI Support          : No
UEFI Version          : N/A
UEFI Variant Id       : N/A ( Unknown )
UEFI Signer(s)        : Unsigned
Saving of image completed.

 

That vbios is around 94K and is different from the one on the Lenovo website.

 

Here is the a picture of the NVIDIA Control Panel error I got after trying to get a vbios backup of the first 750M GDDR5 GPU attached to the laptop's motherboard:

 

1STGPUBIOSCONTROLERROR.PNG

 

I never tried backing up the first 750M GPU vbios with a modified version of NVFLASH from Tech Inferno.

 

Here is picture of some files from the dump of my laptop's bios:

 

1STGPUBIOS.PNG

 

I read some tutorial online somewhere and dumped the bios using the Phoenix tool sometime ago, but I couldn't find the vbios. Perhaps one of these files listed above is the vbios for the first 750M GPU? I used my own laptop's original bios when I used the SVL7 Bios Fixer tool, so if the vbios isn't in the Phoenix dump of my laptop's bios, then how come a different vbios was flashed when I flashed my SVL7 modded bios to the laptop?

 

 

 

 

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I did a Futuremark benchmark weeks before I did the bios mod, and I also did some Passmark performance tests a week after that.

 

The Futuremark benchmark was done on December 30th, 2016: http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/17053334

 

I was using an outdated version of Futuremark because I don't think a proper scientific assessment can be made if you change too many variables at once (graphics card drivers, CPU clocks, etc.). I did another Futuremark benchmark after I did the bios mod, but I didn't save the link to it. I noticed that the core clock says it is 1058 MHZ in the December 30th benchmark, but I never saw that speed in GPU-Z (I saw 967 MHZ boost clock speed) while using the 80.07.95.00.17 vbios in Windows for the first 750M GPU, hence that is why I thought I got a 100 MHZ overclock when the new 80.07.9d.00.11 vbios replaced it. I guess the GPU clocks change depending on what you are doing. I found this in another thread:

 

post-12486-14494995080335.jpg

 

 

Here are the Passmark benchmark screenshots I saved from January 7th:

 

PassMarkRating.png

 

PassMark3DGraphicsMark.pngPassMark2DGraphicsMark.pngPassMarkCPUMark.pngPassMarkDiskMark.pngPassMarkMemoryMark.png

 

I think the 3D Graphics Mark is twice as high as the 750M you will see on PassMark's website because I was doing the test in SLI. I never submitted my results to Passmark.

 

I'm posting this because I'm trying to rule out whether something was going physically wrong with the laptop before I starting making changes to the bios, etc. If something was physically wrong with it, I think I should have noticed it in the results I was getting or while I was actually using the laptop.

Edited by PlannedObsolescence
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  • 2 weeks later...

A method I used on a bricked bios was directly connecting the bios chip to my raspberry pi and using a program called flashrom to flash it. I soldered wires directly to my chip but you can get clips that do not require soldering.

https://www.flashrom.org/RaspberryPi here's the flashrom link. http://www.win-raid.com/t58f16-Guide-Recover-from-failed-BIOS-flash-using-Raspberry-PI.html tutorial link, I did this without the resistors or capacitor(Ignore the ground that the capacitor was connected to) I checked the bios chip on the y500 schematics and it has the same pinout as the one in the tutorial.

 

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On 1/22/2017 at 6:35 AM, gavrosh said:

Hey. I have the same situation. I have included a graphic processor core. black screen. reset bios too can not. rosiyskih forums on the same nobody knows what to do. where else to look for a topic?

 

Sorry it took me so long. So the CMOS battery on my laptop was desoldered and resoldered back in, but it didn't seem to solve the problem with the bios.

 

However, I tried recovering the bios from a USB flash drive using the backup I made prior to flashing the modded bios using the file name "QIWY3.BIN" and the same bios recovery method that was used to do a bios recovery for the Y510P that is described here: http://blog.jimsjump.com/2016/02/07/lenovo-y510p-v305-bios-bricked-crisis-recovery-solved/

 

The bios recovery was successful for my Lenovo IdeaPad Y500. It even restored the original Insyde bios version 2.02 (the modded bios updated it to version 2.04) and the original "80.07.95.00.17" vbios for the first GDDR5 750M GPU that is part of the laptop's motherboard.

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On 2/13/2017 at 8:48 PM, robinlecouteur said:

A method I used on a bricked bios was directly connecting the bios chip to my raspberry pi and using a program called flashrom to flash it. I soldered wires directly to my chip but you can get clips that do not require soldering.

https://www.flashrom.org/RaspberryPi here's the flashrom link. http://www.win-raid.com/t58f16-Guide-Recover-from-failed-BIOS-flash-using-Raspberry-PI.html tutorial link, I did this without the resistors or capacitor(Ignore the ground that the capacitor was connected to) I checked the bios chip on the y500 schematics and it has the same pinout as the one in the tutorial.

 

 

Well, thank you for this post. So you are saying that this RaspberryPi method of flashing a bios will work for a Y500 motherboard with a bricked bios without actually replacing the bios chips on the motherboard?

 

I believe the bios chips are located somewhere not too far from the CMOS battery. They are marked on the motherboard as "U5" and "U9", one of them being for the embedded controller.

 

Apparently, the IdeaPad Y500 has a 256 KB CMOS Ram chip, but I'm not sure what it does though. The only thing desoldering and resoldering the CMOS battery seemed to do was reset the bios real time clock to Sat Jan 1st 00:00:00 2011. There is also a much bigger chip with the "Lenovo" logo on it around near where the CMOS battery is located, but I don't know what it does either. Maybe it is flash memory.

 

I didn't have to use the RaspberryPi method as I managed to do a successful bios recovery from a USB flash drive. I used the file name "QIWY3.BIN" and the same bios recovery method that was used to do a bios recovery for the Y510P that is described here: http://blog.jimsjump.com/2016/02/07/lenovo-y510p-v305-bios-bricked-crisis-recovery-solved/ . The USB flash drive I used had an LED, was much bigger than 2GB, and was formatted as FAT32.

Edited by PlannedObsolescence
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23 hours ago, juhbuh said:

Question because I wanted to try this same mod -- Did you upgrade to the latest Lenovo BIOS version before running SVL7's procedure? Thanks!

 

My laptop was running on Insyde Bios version 2.02, and I did not upgrade it to version 2.04 before running SVL7's procedure.

 

I just did a successful bios recovery on my laptop using an LED flash drive formatted to FAT32. I used the backup I made prior to flashing the modded bios using the file name "QIWY3.BIN" and the same bios recovery method that was used to do a bios recovery for the Y510P that is described here: http://blog.jimsjump.com/2016/02/07/lenovo-y510p-v305-bios-bricked-crisis-recovery-solved/

 

This bios recovery method wasn't well-documented, and wasn't easy to find on the net. It was also for a Y510p, but it also works on the Y500 and Y400 if you use the right recovery name.

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2 hours ago, PlannedObsolescence said:

 

My laptop was running on Insyde Bios version 2.02, and I did not upgrade it to version 2.04 before running SVL7's procedure.

 

I just did a successful bios recovery on my laptop using an LED flash drive formatted to FAT32. I used the backup I made prior to flashing the modded bios using the file name "QIWY3.BIN" and the same bios recovery method that was used to do a bios recovery for the Y510P that is described here: http://blog.jimsjump.com/2016/02/07/lenovo-y510p-v305-bios-bricked-crisis-recovery-solved/

 

This bios recovery method wasn't well-documented, and wasn't easy to find on the net. It was also for a Y510p, but it also works on the Y500 and Y400 if you use the right recovery name.

 

 Wow thank you for sharing that procedure, that was going to be the next thing I had to dig up! When you say change the recovery name, do you mean step 3 in option 2, where you create a directory you have to name it Y###BIOS based on whatever model you have?

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  • 2 months later...
On 2/15/2017 at 7:45 PM, PlannedObsolescence said:

 

My laptop was running on Insyde Bios version 2.02, and I did not upgrade it to version 2.04 before running SVL7's procedure.

 

I just did a successful bios recovery on my laptop using an LED flash drive formatted to FAT32. I used the backup I made prior to flashing the modded bios using the file name "QIWY3.BIN" and the same bios recovery method that was used to do a bios recovery for the Y510P that is described here: http://blog.jimsjump.com/2016/02/07/lenovo-y510p-v305-bios-bricked-crisis-recovery-solved/

 

This bios recovery method wasn't well-documented, and wasn't easy to find on the net. It was also for a Y510p, but it also works on the Y500 and Y400 if you use the right recovery name.

Bro, you have saved my life!  Cannot thank you enough....

 

I still don't know how you made the bin file name correct.  I tried the model of my motherboard, and it didn't work.  And I googled QIWY3 which is the motherboard for Y480.

 

HOWEVER, "QIWY3.BIN" works perfectly with Y500.  I just renamed the backup bin file when I modded my bios, putted it on my usb and follow the instruction. BOOM, I am back.

 

Could have ended up with a brick, since you said even discharge battery wont work.  GOOD JOB!

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  • 1 year later...

Excited to try this out once I can dl the needed files. This machine has been collecting dust for years and would love to get it running again. Due to having a blank ( won't turn on) screen, how long did the flash/repair take for anyone else? I lost power when I was updating the bios last time so I don't even remember how long it took before it was bricked. hope this works 

 

Edit - Is there a  preferred usb drive to use? Tried to mess with the machine again to unbrick it and can't get it to recognize any of my usb drives.

Edited by Fixnabrick
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