EDIT: just realized that the BIOS chip found by the software says "W25Q64FW_1.8V" so I guess should I use the 1.8V adapter for the CH341A programmer !?! Original UART applications are totally compatible without any modification in Windows operating systems. I did get it to work last night, although not using the CH341A programmer. Because of my weird arrangement, I wondered if it could be an issue due to noise on the SPI bus. I wondered if I could fix this by playing with the SPI speed. As the CH341A can't do that, I got my raspberry pi up, which has native SPI and flashrom support, and used flashrom to play around with the speeds. After a lot of trial and error, I got multiple good, verified reads and proceeded to modify the bin file, successfully upload and verify the flash chip, resolder the chip, and boot the device. if the Bios is still not recognized with Detect, then manually enter the type, the brand and the model. Disconnect the Pico and proceed to wire it to your flash chip. Raspberry Pi Pico pinout, when using the firmware linked above A Raspberry Pi Pico connected to a SOIC16 flash chip

If in the end nothing works, the problem becomes even more insoluble. The motherboard may eventually be damaged. You are good at buying an old motherboard with the risk of having an obsolete card, or the same problem of corrupted Bios. CH341H is only used for USB to 4-line interface, etc. (such as SPI). New designs are not recommended. CH341B or CH341F is recommended.

USB to serial port Android driver-free installation driver, application library and demos, supports CH340/CH341/CH342/CH343/CH344/CH347/CH9101/CH9102/CH9103/CH9104/CH9143, for Android OS 4.4 and above in USB Host mode, without loading Android kernel driver and without root access operation. Includes apk installer, lib library file (Java Driver), App Demo (USB to UART Demo Project SDK)

This guide is for use in case of last resort, at your own risk. Each configuration presenting its own problems, its own flaws. But, if it does have the flip up cover and removable BIOS chip in there, it may program easier in a spring adapter directly in the programmer vs programming on-board with SOIC cable Wire an SPI flasher, using 2.54mm dupont leads, to the breadboard, using the correct wiring (see link to SPI flashing guides below) Since the Windows tool has severe issues with some chips and doesn't have an auto-verification system, your best bet is to do the flash from a Linux computer. If you don't have one, you can use the instructions in the following paragraphs to set up a Live USB with Linux (a Live USB is one which contains an OS you can boot from and use as a normal computer). If you do have a Linux system already, you can skip to the next part of the guide.Lost_N_BIOS So essentially what happens is that the Board doesn’t start at all upon pressing the power button. insert the clip’s jumper into the mini programmer (with the numbers 1 2 3 4 on the left, 5 6 7 8 on the right) in the first part of the CH341A female connection (ie on the left, the part right being dedicated to EEPROM 24 chips), CH341SER.ZIP– archive containing driver files and serial API and library (you don’t need specific API for standard serial port, but it contains some special functions to get IC version etc.)

Do not disconnect your chip from the flasher until you’ve disconnected or turned off the power source. If the software announces that the programmer is connected, then press the Read button. Normally the buffer should fill on the interface and the solid lines of FF should be replaced in large part by codes in hexadecimal. If all the lines only have FF codes, then it means that the software could not read the Bios properly. It is unlikely that the chip is completely empty. Why didn’t it work ? because the programmer must be able to send enough energy in at least half of the motherboard to actually read the Bios. It will easily read the Bios in small motherboards, such as tablet, laptop, micro ATX. On the other hand in motherboards of desktop, it will have to power this last one. If the software could not read correctly the Bios, then disconnect the clamp. Reconnect the PC power supply to the motherboard (with both pins), reconnect the power supply to the mains. Reconnect the clamp. Press the Read button. This time the software should read the chip correctly. That’s what worked for me with a motherboard MSI Z77A-G43. If this is still not the case, refer to the help at the end of this article.By reading the datasheet, we can see that the manufacturer recommended to connect a 0.47 uF capacitor between RSTI (pin 2) and VCC for improved stability. There is none on this board.