Reddit mentions of Gikfun USB Programmer CH341A Series Burner Chip 24 EEPROM BIOS Writer 25 SPI Flash AE1185

1. Probably not. You could either buy/borrow a 1st gen Ryzen or Bristol Ridge APU to do the update, or if it's got a removable BIOS chip (or if you desolder it) you could use an external programmer https://www.amazon.com/Gikfun-Programmer-CH341A-Burner-EEPROM/dp/B01I1EU9LG/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1518096730&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=bios+programmer&psc=1 to flash it to the new version.
   
   
2. We won't really know until it's available.
   
   
3. Nope.

Yeah, you can reflash the bios on your own with a few tools from amazon and another machine. If you are going to be messing with running linux or w10 on these machines you probably should just pick them up for when you need to reflash the bios.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072KYK2DR/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00V9QNAC4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01I1EU9LG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

So it worked...

I followed the basic concepts described here: http://www.malos-ojos.com/?p=823

But I used a slightly different EEPROM reader: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01I1EU9LG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01I1EU9LG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I have a Mac Book Pro so I had to find a driver for the reader. For that I used ch341eeprom found here: https://github.com/command-tab/ch341eeprom

I downloaded the ch341eeprom package from github link above and unzipped the contents, then from MacOS Terminal...

>mac-os-prompt$ cd ch341eeprom-master/
>
>mac-os-prompt$ brew install libusb
>
>mac-os-prompt$ brew link --overwrite libusb
>
>mac-os-prompt$ ./ch341eeprom
>
>ch341eeprom - an i2c EEPROM programming tool for the WCH CH341a IC
>
>Version 0.5 copyright (c) 2011 asbokid ballymunboy@gmail.com
>
>This program comes with absolutely no warranty; This is free software,
>
>and you are welcome to redistribute it under certain conditions:
>
>GNU GPL v3 License: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html
>
>Usage:
>
>-h, --help display this text
>
>-v, --verbose verbose output
>
>-d, --debug debug output
>
>-s, --size size of EEPROM {24c01|24c02|24c04|24c08|24c16|24c32|24c64|24c128|24c256|24c512|24c1024}
>
>-p, --speed i2c speed (low|fast|high) if different than standard which is default
>
>-e, --erase erase EEPROM (fill with 0xff)
>
>-w, --write <filename> write EEPROM with image from filename
>
>-r, --read <filename> read EEPROM and save image to filename
>
>mac-os-prompt$ ./ch341eeprom -v -s 24c256 -r cpi_rom.bin

(I used 24c256 b/c this is the type of EEPROM chip used for the Concord 4 https://www.microchip.com/wwwproducts/en/24LC256 this wrote the contents from the chip to a file named cpi_rom.bin)

>Searching USB buses for WCH CH341a i2c EEPROM programmer [1a86:5512]
>
>Found [1a86:5512] as device [26] on USB bus [20]
>
>Opened device [1a86:5512]
>
>libusb: info [darwin_claim_interface] no interface found; setting configuration: 1
>
>Claimed device interface []
>
>Device reported its revision [4.03]
>
>Configured USB device with vendor ID: 1a86 product ID: 5512
>
>Set i2c bus speed to [100kHz]
>
>Read [32768] bytes from [24c256] EEPROM
>
>Wrote [32768] bytes to file [cpi_rom.bin]
>
>Closed USB device

Then I downloaded the following Hex Editor: http://www.suavetech.com/0xed/

I opened the cpi_rom.bin file using the 0xed Hex Editor app. Then I read the values for the following offsets.

System Master Code: 0x03E2 - 0x03E3

Installer Code: 0x03E5 - 0x03E6

Dealer Code: 0x16F2 - 0x16F3

Hope this helps others.

here's what I'd recommend using:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01I1EU9LG/
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00V9QNAC4/

or equivalents from ebay, etc. Then use flashrom from Linux to write a good firmware image back to the board (PM me for download link)

Any idea if the bios chip is accessible by any means? If it's on the bottom and relatively easy to access you can flash it using a USB adapter system. I ended up buying one for my tech kit when a server of mine failed a bios update too. It works like a charm and since it sounds like the bios is already corrupted you don't have any further risk.

Here's an Amazon link to the programmer I bought: Gikfun USB Programmer CH341A

And here's a link for the adapter you'll also need, although research and make sure it's the same chip type: Signstek SOIC8 SOP8 Flash Chip IC Test Clips Socket Adapter Programmer BIOS

EDIT: Hyperlinked words to shorten post.