BIOS Programmer on B350

[Jordaniel95]

Hello, 

 

I have a MSI Mortar Arctic B350M that I bought used a year or so ago. The seller had a BIOS password set, that I have not been able to erase. Yes I've reset the CMOS jumper, removed the CMOS battery and all power for 24 hours, etc. 

 

I've been using the board with an R6 1600 and would like to upgrade to a R6 3600 but can't because the BIOS isn't up to date. 

 

My last resort has been to turn to a BIOS Programmer. Specifically the CH341A w/ 1.8V adapter. My plan is hopefully to read the contents of the BIOS to see if I can either find or edit the BIOS password. If not, then I'm hoping I might be able to flash from the Programmer which would hopefully remove the password or at the very least make it so I can upgrade to a R6 3600 and have what should be the final BIOS revision on the board in perpetuity. 

 

The only problem is I'm not sure how to use the programmer with the 1.8v adapter and I cannot find a version of the software that supports the BIOS chip on that board. There are plenty of tutorials on how to use the programmer on it's own, but none that I could find on how to use it with a more contemporary chipset like B350. 

 

I've identified the BIOS Chip as: MX25U12873F (https://www.macronix.com/Lists/Datasheet/Attachments/7446/MX25U12873F,%201.8V,%20128Mb,%20v1.2.pdf)

 

From the documentation it looks like the 1.8v adapter will work on the chip, but I don't see the chip anywhere in the software. 

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated. 

 

Thanks!

[goto10]

those units require you to desolder the bios, then plug it on the reader and finally flash the new bios, or am i watching the wrong motherboard picture?

 

if it is a socketed bios chip, remove, rewrite with the new bios, then put it back on the motherboard, or write the old bios again, should remove the pasword

 

i remember that there was some tools to read bios content like the password, but i do't know of any now, or if it is even legal to mention them, so i won't point you in such direction

[Levent]

Software usually finds the correct chip if you got a connection, if that fails just make sure to select correct size flash in the software and you are able to read, you should be able to flash. Thats what I do anyways.

[Jordaniel95]

goto10- I've seen that these programmers can be used as long as you get a good enough connection to the sodder joints, without desoldering the chip, is this not the case?

 

Levent- So as long as I get the correct size the chip that's selected in the software doesn't really matter?

 

Thanks for the responses.

[1van]

21 hours ago, Jordaniel95 said:

 

You could use a SOIC-clip, or an SPI-cable to connect the programmer to your BIOS chip directly, or to a JSPI-header on the motherboard.
I've listed the parts in this post, although for a different purpose.