Bios Serial Number Lenovo
Does anybody know how to set the new Machine Type and Serial Number after a motherboard replacement for an H535?The motherboard recently failed on my H535 (outside of the Lenovo warranty but still under my credit card's extended warranty). After a great deal of frustration and time, I was finally able to obtain a replacement motherboard from Lenovo.I have now installed the motherboard, and it is working.
Well, my BIOS is by American Megatrends, and I discovered that they have a set of utilities that includes one called AMIDEDOS. It is intended for manufacturers to be able to change text strings stored in BIOS for things like the Manufacturer, Product Name, Version, Serial Number, UUID, SKU Number, Family, etc., which is what I needed to do.
It is not intended for consumer use, but it is out there, and I was able to get it.When I ran the AMIDEDOS 'DMIEdit.exe' program (right-clicked and ran as administrator right from Windows 10) and clicked on 'System Information' in the list, I saw 'Product Name STRING INVALID' and 'Serial Number STRING INVALID'. The other fields seemed to have valid entries.
I double-clicked on the invalid fields and changed them to 'H535' and my computer's serial number, respectively, and then clicked on 'Update ALL' at the top.Much to my surprise, it reported that it had successfully saved the new information. And, perhaps even more astonishing was the fact that, when I rebooted, the double-beep and warning about invalid machine type and serial number had disappeared. In addition, the BIOS showed the new values I had entered, and the 'Manufacturing Boot Sequence' option (which I understand can be much slower than a normal boot) had disappeared.Again, I am a bit astonished at how simple it was to actually fix the problem once I had the correct piece of software, which neither Lenovo nor American Megatrends apparently provides to owners, and it took hours and hours of research and searching to figure it out. Use this information at your own risk, though, as messing with BIOS apparently can lead to problems that are not easily fixed.
That said, the changing of these text strings seems relatively safe.I will mention that I also ended up changing the boot method from 'LEGACY' to 'UEFI' in the BIOS after noticing that selection.message edited by splinke. Are you sure there's no bios downloads on the support page? Even if no updates are available because it's a new model there's usually a download for the original bios.I'd go ahead and see if clearing the cmos helps. The battery itself should be good on a new motherboard but you might want to put a DC voltmeter to it. (It did ship with the battery didn't it?).Unless lenovo does things really different, the bios doesn't know what case the motherboard is installed in.
Since the machine type and serial number is just a sticker on that case I'm wondering how the bios knows the difference.Maybe the motherboard you received wasn't completely programmed by lenovo before being shipped. Mikelinus,Thanks for your reply. The numbers are shown in the BIOS (the Machine Type and Serial Number show 'INVALID', but other numbers are there).
However, there is no option in the BIOS to change the numbers.I was able to obtain a Hardware Maintenance Diskette image for the Think branded Lenovo's (IBM's?), which is only supposed to be available to repair facilities. I can boot from it and bring up the utility.
However, when I make a selection to change the numbers, it says that the 'EEPROM is currently set to read-only', and that I should reboot and hit 'Esc' when the ThinkPad logo appears. I presume that, if I had a ThinkPad, that would make the EEPROM writeable, and I could fix the numbers.However, my computer is an H535, which is technically in the IdeaCentre family of desktops-a completely different set of computers than the ThinkPad laptops.
So, I am skeptical that hitting 'Esc' when the Lenovo logo appears would make the EEPROM writeable, and, even if it did, I am extremely concerned that the ThinkPad utility would overwrite something in the wrong place, preventing me from ever being able to boot my computer again.message edited by splinke. DAVEINCAPS,Thanks for your reply.
There are currently no BIOS downloads for the H535. There is one for the H520, which may be the same, but I can't be sure. Similar to what I stated above, I am afraid to try that lest I ruin my computer, and I doubt it would do any good. As I now understand things from a ThinkPad Hardware Maintenance Manual, I may actually need to enter the numbers from my old motherboard. The Serial Number on my old motherboard is different than than the one on my computer.I could try the CMOS clearing thing where you unplug the computer and remove the CMOS battery (one did come with the new motherboard) for a minute to completely drain everything.
It doesn't seem like that would do anything, but it may be worth a try. Lenovo is telling me I need to find an Authorized Provider, but none of the ones on their list are in business or offering Lenovo support any more. So, I am in an impossible situation. Well, my BIOS is by American Megatrends, and I discovered that they have a set of utilities that includes one called AMIDEDOS. It is intended for manufacturers to be able to change text strings stored in BIOS for things like the Manufacturer, Product Name, Version, Serial Number, UUID, SKU Number, Family, etc., which is what I needed to do. It is not intended for consumer use, but it is out there, and I was able to get it.When I ran the AMIDEDOS 'DMIEdit.exe' program (right-clicked and ran as administrator right from Windows 10) and clicked on 'System Information' in the list, I saw 'Product Name STRING INVALID' and 'Serial Number STRING INVALID'. The other fields seemed to have valid entries.
Lenovo Thinkpad Bios Serial Number
I double-clicked on the invalid fields and changed them to 'H535' and my computer's serial number, respectively, and then clicked on 'Update ALL' at the top.Much to my surprise, it reported that it had successfully saved the new information. And, perhaps even more astonishing was the fact that, when I rebooted, the double-beep and warning about invalid machine type and serial number had disappeared. In addition, the BIOS showed the new values I had entered, and the 'Manufacturing Boot Sequence' option (which I understand can be much slower than a normal boot) had disappeared.Again, I am a bit astonished at how simple it was to actually fix the problem once I had the correct piece of software, which neither Lenovo nor American Megatrends apparently provides to owners, and it took hours and hours of research and searching to figure it out. Use this information at your own risk, though, as messing with BIOS apparently can lead to problems that are not easily fixed. That said, the changing of these text strings seems relatively safe.I will mention that I also ended up changing the boot method from 'LEGACY' to 'UEFI' in the BIOS after noticing that selection.message edited by splinke.