CoreBook X (2021, i5-8259U) BIOS/UEFI Resources

[fat_bird]

No problem. I’ve answered what I know about your particular situation in the other thread where you posted the details:

Need BIOS update for Corebook x

For the record, you have the i5-7267U, which I think is the 2020 model. The 2021 model is the one with the i5-8529U. How the keyboard works is determined by the keyboard controller (KBC), a part of the embedded controller (EC). You have version CH-EC-V1.1.4 of the EC firmware. Seems there is a newer version CH-EC-V1.1.7 around, along with a matching BIOS version JXX-14-WU133SR200-V1.1.7. There exists also another version CH-EC-V1.8.0, which might be an even more recent update. Or it might be f…

I can only talk about the i5-8529U model, which is what I have. It looks very much the same but in terms of firmware it’s completely different. Some of the following might not apply to the other variants (including yours):

• Firmware (BIOS) can be easily read and flashed with Intel FPTW64. There is no protection of any kind. Since FPTW64 works and we don’t have any OEM images, I didn’t test AMI’s AFUWIN64 but it should probably work as well.

• Flash chip is XMC XM25QH128C. It’s a bit uncommon but supported by Flashrom in the recent versions. Support is experimental (untested).

• I was able to probe and read this chip using Flashrom with a CH341A hardware programmer. I didn’t try erasing or writing.

• There are 3 BIOS versions I’ve been able to confirm the existence of:

  • CFL_CM131_U43E_V1.0.3
  • CFL_CM131_U43E_V1.0.5 (2021-05-08)
  • CFL_CM131_U43E_V1.0.8 (2021-05-21)

• BIOS version 1.0.8 has EC version V1.04. With the earlier 1.0.5, the EC version string was “090200.1717” (or maybe “902.001.717” – not sure, since I only saw it on a screenshot).

• I could not obtain any BIOS dumps shared by other people.

• The laptop I got already came with BIOS 1.0.8 / EC 1.04, which seems to be the latest version.

• Since everything is already unlocked, I just changed the boot logo and called it a day.

• I’ve been experimenting with memory overclocking settings but have been unable to make it run at anything past the default 2400 MT/s, even if the onboard 8GB memory is disabled. This seems to be a CPU/SoC limitation, since the additional memory stick I installed is DDR4-3200, so it can definitely do more. If anyone’s had any success speeding up the memory, I’d be interested to know.

• Thus far, I didn’t even play with many of the other settings. But for the record, this variant does have the ability to toggle the Fn key mode: it’s under Advanced → Function Keys Mode in the BIOS and was set to Standard F1-F12 Mode by default.