Looking for Medion Akoya P4020D (MS-7621) BIOS to use for recovery

Tenshot

Anyone out there with a Medion All-in-one Akoya P4020D? They were on sale in ALDI about 3-4 years ago for €700, great little system for the house. The mainboard is an MS-7621, which seems to be a custom Microstar model specifically produced for Medion; it's certainly a good fit for the form factor of the all-in-1 case. The MSN number on the back is 10013779.

I bricked mine installing a BIOS upgrade that, despite being on the official Medion website, now appears to not be compatible. I've used a Blackcat SPI programmer to confirm that what was programmed matches the BIOS I'd downloaded, which it does, but the system is still dead on boot (other than spinning fans).

My reason for installing the BIOS upgrade was because the 8 GB RAM upgrade I ordered from Crucial, as recommended by their memory motherboard recommendation tool, wouldn't work reliably - I thought a BIOS upgrade might sort it out.

I've spoken with Medion but I'm not hopeful. If anyone else has the same model though maybe you could snapshot the BIOS for me and I can then program that via SPI to get mine back up and running.

(For anyone thinking of a similar upgrade, I found the BIOS upgrade here: http://www1.medion.de/downloads/index.pl?op=detail&id=10188&type=treiber&lang=au Once again, do NOT install this on an All-in-1 system, unless you want to suddenly have a vested interest in the outcome of this thread!)

Thanks in advance!

Tenshot

Now sorted - I found someone on YouTube with the same machine and they kindly emailed me their BIOS image. Installed it this evening, and it's all back up and running again.

If anyone else finds themself in the same position, PM me if you need the same image.

nicovde

I have the same problem i flashed the motherboard with the bios of Medion. the system is dead only the fans are running. the motherboard is ms-7621 ver 2.1. so if you can help me please do.

BloodBath

Tenshot wrote: »

Now sorted - I found someone on YouTube with the same machine and they kindly emailed me their BIOS image. Installed it this evening, and it's all back up and running again.

If anyone else finds themself in the same position, PM me if you need the same image.

Out of interest how did you install the new BIOS if the boards BIOS was bricked?

nicovde

Tenshot wrote: »

Now sorted - I found someone on YouTube with the same machine and they kindly emailed me their BIOS image. Installed it this evening, and it's all back up and running again.

If anyone else finds themself in the same position, PM me if you need the same image.

I have the same problem i flashed the motherboard with the bios of Medion. the system is dead only the fans are running. the motherboard is ms-7621 ver 2.1. so if you can help me please do.

Tenshot

nicovde wrote: »

I have the same problem i flashed the motherboard with the bios of Medion. the system is dead only the fans are running. the motherboard is ms-7621 ver 2.1. so if you can help me please do.

Are you in Dublin? If so, you're welcome to head over to the house here and I can use my SPI programmer to reload the original BIOS.

Otherwise, you could have a go at doing it yourself. The programmer was about €30 imported from the US. I bought mine on eBay from here:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/290505181360

But there are lots of sellers offering variations on it, probably at better prices. You need the third cable -- 8-pin jumper pins, 2mm, for smaller SPI headers, to connect to the MS-7621 motherboard.

If you're having a go yourself, PM me separately and I can provide the original BIOS image you need to load onto it.

nicovde

Tenshot wrote: »

Are you in Dublin? If so, you're welcome to head over to the house here and I can use my SPI programmer to reload the original BIOS.

Otherwise, you could have a go at doing it yourself. The programmer was about €30 imported from the US. I bought mine on eBay from here:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/290505181360

But there are lots of sellers offering variations on it, probably at better prices. You need the third cable -- 8-pin jumper pins, 2mm, for smaller SPI headers, to connect to the MS-7621 motherboard.

If you're having a go yourself, PM me separately and I can provide the original BIOS image you need to load onto it.

how do i pm you separately. and i'am not in Dublin iam in the netherlands.

Tenshot

nicovde wrote: »

how do i pm you separately. and i'am not in Dublin iam in the netherlands.

Hi, PM sent with details.

nicovde

thanks now i have tofind a way to flash the bios.

a00885

Tenshot wrote: »

Now sorted - I found someone on YouTube with the same machine and they kindly emailed me their BIOS image. Installed it this evening, and it's all back up and running again.

If anyone else finds themself in the same position, PM me if you need the same image.

Hello Tenshot,

I have made the same with my pc ​​and since then I am looking for the right BIOS. can you please help me and send a copy of the Image.

if it works I will always enclose you in my prayers :-D

Tenshot

PM sent.

spennipc

Hi Tenshot,
I wish I had read your post before I upgraded the BIOS with the image from the medion website. I just wanted sort some DVD issues, but it bricked the PC. Can you please send me the original BIOS image? I would also appreciate if you could give me some instructions how to restore the BIOS using the Blackcat USB SPI Flash Programmer ST SPANSION MXIC AMD.
Thanks in advance.

Tenshot

spennipc wrote: »

Hi Tenshot,
I wish I had read your post before I upgraded the BIOS with the image from the medion website. I just wanted sort some DVD issues, but it bricked the PC. Can you please send me the original BIOS image? I would also appreciate if you could give me some instructions how to restore the BIOS using the Blackcat USB SPI Flash Programmer ST SPANSION MXIC AMD.
Thanks in advance.

Hi, if you PM me your email address, I'll send over a copy of the BIOS.

Tenshot

Okay, after some emailing and Skype back and forth with @nicovde, he now has his system working again.

We discovered a couple of additional points that might be useful for anyone else trying to get this working.

The Blackcat software will NOT auto-detect the 1 MB flash chip on the MSI motherboard. However, if you go to the SPI tab and switch to manual settings, then just change the default size from 0x20000 to 0x100000, everything else should be fine.

You should also set the clock divider to something slower than 8 MHz, since ribbon cables aren't always the best for high-speed signals. A divider of 16 or 32 should be plenty fast enough.

Originally, we had SO and SI connected back to front, and were only getting zeros when we attempted to read from the flash. We eventually switched them around, and suddenly everything sprung into life.

For clarity, here is the exact pin wiring that worked:

BlackCat      Color      JSPI1 
   #1         Green       #7 (GND) 
   #2         Grey        #1 (VCC) 
   #3         - 
   #4         Orange      #3 (SI) 
   #5         - 
   #6         Purple      #4 (SO) 
   #7         - 
   #8         Yellow      #6 (SCK) 
   #9         - 
   #10        Blue        #5 (CS)

Hopefully this will help anyone else trying this themselves.

Edit: @nicovde reminded me that in addition to the above, while we were experimenting, we also switched from SPI Mode #0 to SPI Mode #3 in the Blackcat SPI setup. While most flash chips will work with either mode, it's no harm mentioning, just in case it's significant for the MSI flash chip. (I believe it's a 1 MB Winbond W25Q80, but the writing on the chip itself is too hard to make out.)

Gemew

Hi Tenshot,

I have done exactly what you did to upgrade the bios and what you know ..... I got the same exact result. A bricked motherboard.

Can you please help me with the right Bios and the steps to do it without the blackcat SPI ?

Tenshot

Gemew wrote:

Can you please help me with the right Bios and the steps to do it without the blackcat SPI ?

PM sent, but basically, you'll have a hard time recovering the system without some form of SPI programmer.

(You could potentially de-solder the BIOS chip -- it's only 8 pins -- then mount it in a socket and re-program it using a PC with a proper socketed BIOS by hot-swapping the chips while the PC was powered up, but it's a heck of a lot less risk to just get an SPI programmer.)

edmcgaha

I have also lost the BIOS for my MS 7621, how can I get a copy, any help is appreciated.

Bios Eugen

Hello,

i need the Bios Image.
Can someone send me the Bios file?

thanks.

regards,
Eugen Müller

Tenshot

The 2.07 BIOS for the MS7621 motherboard that I used successfully is at http://tinyurl.com/medionbios

Use at your own risk, only intended for dead motherboards, no warranty implied or otherwise, etc. etc.

Bios Eugen

thanks you!

knutselsmurf

Hello !
Just got a Medion SIM PC Akoya P4011D from a client which has a dead bioschip.
Normally no problem for me, but I can't get this PC open !!!

Can somebody tell me how you must disable this model without breaking it ?

I can reprogramm the bioschip (after desoldering) and also do it with SPI.

I can see the bioschip and the SPI connector, but can't get to it to make a SPI connection or whatever...

First thing I can't open, grrr.... ;-)

Many thanks in advance !

Regards,

;-) Arthur

Tenshot

I presume the 4011 is very similar to the 4010 which I have. Yes, it's a real pain being able to see the SPI header through the expansion panel, but not *quite* reach it.

Opening the case was a bit fiddly, it mostly just took some nerve.

From memory, I removed all the obvious screws at the back and bottom; I think there may have been a couple behind some of the rear panels also.

Then it was a case of using a thin flat blade screwdriver to prise off the plastic surround. If you start at the underneath area (near where the centre power button is, though closer to either corner), you can get a start on it. There are lots of plastic clips holding it on all the way around, about every 2 inches or so; each time you get one to pop out, you can advance a bit further. If you take it slowly, you should be fine. I think I broke one of them in the process but didn't affect anything badly when I reassembled it later.

Good luck!

hard60

Hello!

I've had the same Problem with updating the BIOS to 1.09 last Month.
My Medion Aycona Akoya P4010D just started the Ventilator and Light, but nothing on the Screen.

Following your Way in the Post I could solve the Problem.
(I bought the BlackCat now FlashCat) and used it.
Now the PC is running.

Thanks a lot for your posts here. And the Link to the Bios. I used this Bios.

I made a description (in German) with Pictures off Opening the case and Flashing the Bios.
You can find it on my Page "berger-langenberg.de" under "PC-Tips"

Again: Thanks a lot

Tenshot

hard60 wrote: »

Thanks a lot for your posts here. And the Link to the Bios. I used this Bios.

I made a description (in German) with Pictures off Opening the case and Flashing the Bios.
You can find it on my Page "berger-langenberg.de" under "PC-Tips"

That's great - I'm delighted you got your system working again!

Thanks for posting the update guide also. For the benefit of other readers, here are the links to your guides:

PC Tips page (in German)

Opening the Medion case (translated)

Updating the BIOS with Blackcat USB (translated)

shadam

hard60 wrote: »

Hello!

I've had the same Problem with updating the BIOS to 1.09 last Month.
My Medion Aycona Akoya P4010D just started the Ventilator and Light, but nothing on the Screen.

Thank you Reinhard for your detailed guide on this! It happened to me under the same circumstances.... no help from Medion or MSI.

Did anyone try if the AMIBIOS recovery mechanism works?
(Power on with Ctrl + Home and AMIBOOT.ROM on Optical or USB storage).

Maybe this is an alternative to the hard way ...

By the way: How to open the ROM file with AMIBCP?

shadam

Finally I did it tonight.
My experiences are like this:

- SPI wiring as suggested by TenShot (no bridging)
- 3.3 V
- Connect Power to P4020D
- hold front power button until Fan goes off
- start BlackcatUSB
- plug USB connection

Winbond flash is automatically detected.
Read/Write to flash is working!

Tenshot

shadam wrote: »

Finally I did it tonight.
- Connect Power to P4020D
- hold front power button until Fan goes off
- start BlackcatUSB

I'm glad it all went so smoothly for you!

That's a handy tip for powering down the CPU while still keeping power to the main board so the Blackcat doesn't get overloaded; I'll definitely try this if I need to do it again.

Which will hopefully be never - though I have a Windows 10 upgrade to attempt soon. The Win10 upgrade wizard is saying some of the drivers are not yet supported for the Akoya, so it won't auto-update but I reckon it will work well enough on a standard forced install using Microsoft's installer.

Anyone else tried Windows 10 on the Akoya yet?

Tenshot

Tenshot wrote: »

Anyone else tried Windows 10 on the Akoya yet?

Responding to my own thread - it's been running Windows 10 happily for the past 12 months; no real problems.

It's our kitchen computer, so it gets a lot of use during the afternoon/evenings. The touchscreen is still holding up well.

evidex

Bit of a long shot, but I'm looking for the screen power inverter for one of these machines. It seems impossible to get online, as so much of these boards were custom. Do you still have that P4010D?

Gemew

Tenshot wrote: »

Gemew wrote:

Can you please help me with the right Bios and the steps to do it without the blackcat SPI ?

PM sent, but basically, you'll have a hard time recovering the system without some form of SPI programmer.

(You could potentially de-solder the BIOS chip -- it's only 8 pins -- then mount it in a socket and re-program it using a PC with a proper socketed BIOS by hot-swapping the chips while the PC was powered up, but it's a heck of a lot less risk to just get an SPI programmer.)

Tenshot wrote: »

Gemew wrote:

Can you please help me with the right Bios and the steps to do it without the blackcat SPI ?

PM sent, but basically, you'll have a hard time recovering the system without some form of SPI programmer.

(You could potentially de-solder the BIOS chip -- it's only 8 pins -- then mount it in a socket and re-program it using a PC with a proper socketed BIOS by hot-swapping the chips while the PC was powered up, but it's a heck of a lot less risk to just get an SPI programmer.)

Tenshot I am now posting through that computer again, it came back to life. I am really grateful for your help. Thank you

Tenshot

Gemew wrote: »

Tenshot I am now posting through that computer again, it came back to life. I am really grateful for your help. Thank you

That's great news! Thanks for letting me know :-)

Unfortunately, the screen has started to go on my own Medion in the past 2-3 weeks -- it flickers for several seconds at power on, then fades to black. The rest of the computer is still working perfectly, so hopefully I can get it repaired.