I currently own a Chromebook C213N, and am attempting to manually reset the bios chip.

The chip in question is the 8-pin winbond W25Q128FW and after looking at the datasheet (attached), discovered the reset pin.

I believe I have to short this pin to ground if I am to manually, if messily, reset the chip (could someone confirm this?)

My question is: whilst doing this, should it be turned on, should the battery be connected to the motherboard at all, or should all power be disconnected whilst doing this?

Many thanks!

 

I currently own a Chromebook C213N, and am attempting to manually reset the bios chip.

The chip in question is the 8-pin winbond W25Q128FW and after looking at the datasheet (attached), discovered the reset pin.

I believe I have to short this pin to ground if I am to manually, if messily, reset the chip (could someone confirm this?)

My question is: whilst doing this, should it be turned on, should the battery be connected to the motherboard at all, or should all power be disconnected whilst doing this?

Many thanks!

Keep reading the datasheet. The answer should be there.

 

Keep reading the datasheet. The answer should be there.

That's not super helpful...after looking through it all I couldn't really find the answer i was looking for - perhaps I don't understand it.

If it were as simple as just me reading it off of the datasheet then I wouldn't be here a few days later asking for help.

 

That's not super helpful...after looking through it all I couldn't really find the answer i was looking for - perhaps I don't understand it.

If it were as simple as just me reading it off of the datasheet then I wouldn't be here a few days later asking for help.

Resetting that chip is very simple. Find the reset pin. It is active low. Connect that pin to ground for at least a us. Of course the chip has to be powered and you have to make sure that you are not applying a ground signal to the pin if it is being held high, unless the circuitry can support that. A reset returns the chip to the power on state. A reset does not erase the flash memory.

On the 8-pin package it is a little more complicated and it depends on some other factors. In fact, the pin that you would use to perform the reset can be programed as an I/O pin and not a reset pin.

I know your question specifically asks if you should do that with or without power and I am intentionally avoiding answering that at this point except to say that if no power is on anywhere, you will not be resetting the chip.

My guess is that you do not really want to reset the chip; you want to reset a portion of your BIOS that is stored on the chip and you hope that you can do that by simply resetting the chip. It is possible that when the system boots up, it looks at that pin/line (which again can be configured as I/O) and if it reads as GND while it is booting up (i.e., it would normally be high); it interrupts the normal boot and executes special code that re-writes dedicated areas of memory that hold configuration data (exactly the kind of data that can appear to brick the machine if it gets corrupted). That could, therefore, be a way that a technician might be able to restore the factory defaults – if the code exists to do so. That is possible, but you would need to make certain it is the case and not just hope it is because it is also possible to do additional damage, especially if you very little experience with such matters.

In my opinion, it is not possible to clear the BIOS by resetting the chip alone. I had an unpleasant experience attempting to help someone who was following such a train of thought (with a different computer) and it was a one way trip. I regret that I ever had attempted to help him at all. But that was my choice and I am willing to help you if I can, as are many others on here.

So, to cut to the chase, how did the computer get trashed and what is it doing or not doing? Why did you decide that you needed to perform the reset to reinstall the factory BIOS settings? Have you already tried any of the many fixes on YouTube and the like?

 

I don't want to make any reply or post but I was looking for assistance and and am still reading till I find what I need otherwise will ask you later

 

I'm curious. What is the alleged benefit of "resetting" the BIOS chip? Is this know to produce desirable results or is this just another random tech myth being propagated by members of the idiocracy

 

I currently own a Chromebook C213N, and am attempting to manually reset the bios chip.

The chip in question is the 8-pin winbond W25Q128FW and after looking at the datasheet (attached), discovered the reset pin.

I believe I have to short this pin to ground if I am to manually, if messily, reset the chip (could someone confirm this?)

My question is: whilst doing this, should it be turned on, should the battery be connected to the motherboard at all, or should all power be disconnected whilst doing this?

Many thanks!

Why can't you hold some key combination and 'go into the BIOS' at startup, like on Windoze machines...?

 

Why can't you hold some key combination and 'go into the BIOS' at startup, like on Windoze machines...?

You apparently have to enter the Chromebook priesthood to know such things. Part of the mythology -- you understand.