u/MetaN3rd

Ha! Failed to RTFM on my part, i only saw your first pic of the winbond chip.

No i didnt post it in chatgpt, but i did this time...

"For the Toshiba Portege X30-E, Toshiba/Dynabook’s official guidance is that a forgotten UEFI/BIOS password is not user-resettable. Their support documentation says the machine must be taken to an Authorized Toshiba/Dynabook Service Provider, which can clear the password; service charges may apply."

Well dang, i thought this would be easy. I read a comment you were new to this so I started at ground zero...did not mean to come across as condescending.

From what I'm reading the ch341a is a possibility but if you do it wrong you could brick the laptop. I have personally not had to flash a laptop BIOS like this before, so no first hand advice to give.

"Why the CH341A approach is more complicated"

On laptops of this generation, the SPI chip may contain much more than just executable BIOS code:

• UEFI firmware
• Intel Management Engine region
• motherboard-specific configuration
• serial/UUID information
• possibly Ethernet/management data
• NVRAM variables

Hi Bubbly,

I saw you made a comment that you are new to all of this. Let's talk through details.

Sounds like you adopted a laptop but it has a BIOS password that you want to reset. A 'ch341a' is a programmer designed to write to "flash" storage. Your BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) is stored on flash storage somewhere and most likely on that Winbond chip you shared the pic of. E.g. Winbond 25q80dvsig is a 1MB flash memory chip.

BUT, i think there is a simpler approach than obtaining a flash programmer. Laptop manufacturers will have procedures on how to update your BIOS without using a physical programmer. You can dig around the manufacturers site for a procedure, or ask your AI agent of choice.

What is your laptop model number? You can try a prompt like "I have a Dell Inspiron 1075a-1x and I do not know the BIOS password. How can I either reset the BIOS password, or flash a new BIOS onto my laptop?"

Let us know how it goes.

Saint

Yes, I would like to know this too. This year's conference seem to flow so smoothly crowd-wise.

Either you guys did amazing job at logistics, amd the new floor plan made everything go smoother, or there were significantly less people there. But a couple of friends and I remarked on the improved ease of getting around

They put out a closing ceremony that they have extra badges, and they will be for sale on the defcon website and a week or two

I think the community wants a write-up on your cool little fox hunting rig

Awesome post... And it was damn good to run into you this year!

Rocky, you sound familiar. I think I met you, and if I did we had a great time. Bottom line whoever I actually did leave it was a great time

Holy sh1t, I would have loved to us in the presentation from Chris Stoll

He is LEGEND

Super cool, see you in a while

Awesome, can't wait to meet you

The only thing to be scared of is the hot end of the soldering iron ...don't touch that with your fingers and you're just fine

Otherwise more than happy to walk you through the basics. I promise you love some blinking LEDs at the end of the day

That's so awesome to hear. What's your new skill set, you'll be putting badges together each year!

Thanks dude, I just love the folks so much

Wilkomen, bienvenue, come in already (Blazing Saddles)

I have done a few workshops over the years and some of them have been just amazing. But I do agree I've walked out on a couple

I helped a couple of ladies today and they were both great to hang out with.

Thanks for the compliment, I just really want to do something to give back to this community

Defcon is a community of people dying to share their info with you.. take a look at all the talks, all the villages, all of the goons, all the contest that people volunteered to put together. All to share the black magic and vodoo that we do

This guy gets me

Twas not me, but I will take the time to agree with you.. everyone in the hardware hacking village is super cool and the best at soldering

If you don't make it by I hope it's because you found something awesome to do

Come on by, we are going to make something happen. I have a couple kinds of soldering kids for you to take crack at.. right around the corner is badge life village and they're giving out those free Sao kits to solder together.. either way we're going to make something happen this time

Awesome, thanks for joining us

I have fun doing this, I hope you have fun putting something together

Excellent, future hacker in the making