Bricked trying BIOS update

[Bill Christiansen]

Windows did work for me after flashing bios, there was just a message the first time Windows was loading about needing to reboot to fix something then it was fine.

I did have an unrelated issue several weeks later that I had to reinstall Windows from Chuwi image and after that I had trouble to reactivate but in the end I was able to do it by phone.

[qboy]

Thanks Bill for the answer.  I will also need to reinstall Windows once I revives my bricked hibook with the EPROM programmer later (waiting for the programmer kit to arrive).  I have messed up the registry and Windows could not boot successfully before it bricked.

I have recorded down the windows license key when my hibook was still running fine.  Is there a way to enter a different windows license key to replace an existing one on these tablets?  I don’t understand how the windows license key got stored in the BIOS and whether there is a way to change it.  And I don’t understand why you don’t encounter duplicate windows license key problem after you re-programmed BIOS that should have same win license key as others who programmed their tablets with the same BIOS.

[Martijn]

Okay, another update on my dead Chuwi.

Today a new 1.8 voltage regulator arrived. I disconnected the battery, hooked up the USB programmer and clip thing and… halleluja, it detected my chip! Hurrah! All this time I was using a faulty voltage regulator.

So. Okay. Erased, blanked, checked, wrote the BIOS and verified it. I’m quite sure I have to correct 64-bit 3000-5000 bios file. So I felt happy when all went OK.

So then I removed the clip, I hooked the battery back up, I tried to power the tablet… nothing.
I then tried to charge the tablet… nothing. No lights, no screen, no nothing.

It WILL do something; there is power to both USB ports (plugged in a xiaomi LED and a xiaomi fan) when the tablet is switched on. But it flashes. The light flashes and the fan spins up spins down spins up spins down.

So appearently something is still wrong. Any ideas?

[Lupo]

Congrats for the first success!!!

I would reflash few times with the CORRECT BIOS version for your Tablet hardware. As I remember when I fixed my Chuwi I have made few test flashing it with the dual boot BIOS version which is for the newer hardware than mine, then when I flashed with wrong BIOS image nothing happened after the flash the tablet was still dead, but after reflash with the correct BIOS image it was back to live.

I wish you LUCK man! 🙂

 

[Peter Persson]

Lupo, i have the same problem…

Where did you find the correct bios file? Link please….. Whats the name/date of it?

Thanks….

[Martijn]

I’m not having any luck. Tried to reflash, no dice. I do notice a quick jump from 20% to ~50% whilst writing; but the buffer/chip check says it’s fine.

I’ve got a ChuwiHi10 Q64 G42151104788

I have downloaded the 3000-5000 bios.bin which should be fine.

No dice. No LED, no boot. The USB ports will start going on and off (when fan is inserted, it will spin up, spin down, spin up etc).

I’m out of ideas. I will charge it overnight, maybe a miracle happens. I’ll be sure to let you folks know.

[UPDATE]

Charing overnight did not make a difference. I dug up my external LIPO charger and connected it straight to the Hi10’s battery. It reads as fully charged. I will now try to drain the battery completely and recharge it. But I think it won’t make a difference.

[JOVO]

<span id=”result_box” class=”” lang=”en”><span class=””>Hello, many thanks to the forum and this thread.</span> <span class=””>I followed your advice and now my Chuwi Hi 10 runs again as on the first day.</span> <span class=””>Thanks and keep up.</span> Greetings from Germany
<span class=””>Jovo</span></span>

<span id=”result_box” class=”” lang=”en”><span class=””>Translated with google translater</span></span>

 

[Andres]

hi from Spain, i had the same problem but not have idea for repair by hardware útil, i try to find how install the bios again, beacause the Intel flash phone utlity in certains combinations detect the Tablet, in fact, i can installa Android with it and all its ok but not boot,,,any can say me how with adb or another utility i can try to flash?

i downloaded the “manufacturing flash tools” but i have several error during execution in Windows 10 and the program not run,

thanks for all

• i trie see in google before ask here

[JB]

Hello guys.

Thank you for all the fabulous information in this thread.

Managed to brick my Hi12 (serial Q64G4517XXXXXXX) on the day I recieved it.

I was running OS updates, installing programs and then went to update BIOS as I’d been reading about so many problems.

Went for the one marked as as dual boot latest from the Chuwi website, flash seemed to go well although the some of the letters on the keyboard started typing numbers instead of letters so I couldn’t type exit to leave the console and did some sort of button combo to initiate what I thought was a restart only for the tablet never to come back to life.

I’d tried all sorts of button combinations and the 3 short clicks and one long one (and I’ve held it a long time trust me) and no life.

Finally got all the gear I needed to do a reflash today.

I’ve now done the original dual boot bios and the one marked as latest.

Still dead as a dodo. No power, leds, nowt.

Put my multimeter across the battery terminals and there is still about 3v in the battery. That should be enough shouldn’t it?

I’ll try charging but if anyone can suggest anything I can try I’d be eternally grateful?

 

[Bill Christiansen]

3 volts is too low on the battery, it needs to be at least 3.7 V to boot. A charged battery would be around 4.2V.

[JB]

Thanks but the battery is only rated at 3.7v so I would have thought 4.2 would be quite a bit over charged.

I’ve left it plugged in for two days.

Battery is now at 3.75v and the tablet is still not booting.

Totally at a loss of what to try now.

I should have just returned it when I had the chance.

[Bill Christiansen]

You can read here about LiPo batteries:

https://learn.adafruit.com/li-ion-and-lipoly-batteries/voltages

3.7 Volts is the nominal (average) but 4.2 is the max or fully charged voltage

So I would definitely try to charge it some more. Also it may be difficult to start first time, try a long 15 or 20 sec hold of power button to make sure it’s off then the normal 5 sec hold

[JB]

Hey Bill.

Thanks for that.

The tablet did indeed charger further.

I’ve done another flash with the latest BIOS just to be sure I’ve done the right one and with a USB ethernet adapter connected I can now see the lights on that come on when I hold the power button for a few seconds and then go off if I hold for 10 seconds but no life on USB keyboards caps locks key when plugged in via either of the USB ports or the OTG port.

Nothing displayed on external monitor when micro hdmi is plugged in.

Seem to be taking steps forwards but still missing something.

Just downloading the Windows image now to see if there is someway of applying that blind in case this is a corrupted windows image but then I’d still expect to see something during the BIOS stage of the boot.

[JB]

Ok, well if my idiocy ever needed confirming it turns out I’d been flashing the BIOS for the 8300 cpu version and I have the 8350.

I found a link on the first page of the BIOS download page on the for the 8350 and flashed that and it’s now booting and working in Windows although only on an external monitor.

The built in monitor doesn’t even display in the bios or android so I suspect this may still not be the correct version and have emailed the mods on the chuwi forum.

I’ll update with my progress.

[Alessandro Bonarelli]

JB wrote:

Ok, well if my idiocy ever needed confirming it turns out I’d been flashing the BIOS for the 8300 cpu version and I have the 8350. I found a link on the first page of the BIOS download page on the for the 8350 and flashed that and it’s now booting and working in Windows although only on an external monitor. The built in monitor doesn’t even display in the bios or android so I suspect this may still not be the correct version and have emailed the mods on the chuwi forum. I’ll update with my progress.

 

Same for me 🙁

Hi all I’m Alex from Italy, my poor chuwi lasted 2 weeks and that PUF, bricked bios.

Today I received the programmer, clip and voltage and i tried to flash the bios. Bios has been writted succesfully, but now the tablet  doesn’t turn on maybe because the battery is very low (3.38V).

Thanks for this guide, I’ll update later

[Author]

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