Replacing BIOS chip on Thinkpad X200s

[zogthegreat]

Hi everyone,

I have a Thinkpad X200s that just had a bad bios flash, (i.e. is now a brick). I have tried the Phoenix Crisis Recovery with no luck.

I have another X200s motherboard that has a bad video chip. What I want to do is remove the BIOS chip from the board with the bad video and place it on the bad flash board, (yes, yes, not fun, I know, but also not beyond my skill set).

Thanks to these forums, I know where the security chip is, but does anyone know how to identify the actual BIOS chip?

Thanks

zog

[RealBlackStuff]

While your X200s is open, could you please take out the slider that holds the battery (near the fan)?
Then take a a macro picture of it and post a link to that here.
Would be great if you could also take exact measurements.
My 'slider' is broken and I don't know what an original part looks like, so I could try and repair it after getting your info.

As for your BIOS chip: it should be an 8-pin or 16-pin MCIX chip MX25L3205DM2I-12G or MX25L6405DZNI-12G
or a Winbond chip W25X64VSFIG.
Most likely it sits on the bottom of the motherboard.
Position U44, near resistors R400, R401, R405, R406, and capacitor C338, if you can find them.
It is NOT the 8-pin P24S08 top-left of the wifi card.

[zogthegreat]

Hi RealBlackStuff,

Sorry for the delay in responding, my allergies/asthma has had me flat on my back for the last couple of weeks.

Here are the pics that I took:

http://ohsmeg.com/stuff/01.JPG
http://ohsmeg.com/stuff/02.JPG

f you need more, let me know.

As for the BIOS chip, I decided to go with this:

http://www.allservice.ro/forum//viewtopic.php?t=1311

This will enable me to force a new BIOS onto the chip. It is also good for other laptop models, so it is something nice to have on the shelf for the future.

zog

Admin edit: Changed huge inline pics to links. When posting images, please keep them <50KB otherwise use links. Thanks!

[zogthegreat]

Hey RealBlackStuff,

Just to mention, I have an extra X200 case bottom, so if you need it, I could mail you my extra latch piece, (no charge).

PM me if you want it.

zog

[RealBlackStuff]

Thanks for the pictures and the great offer.
PM'd you.