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Why is System Information displaying that BaseBoard product is invalid

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Context: Only two users (including myself) have ever had physical access to this device. Neither one of us would dare even attempt a repair on such a small, compact, expensive, device. The only outside entities that have ever opened this device are 1. whenever this was initially put together and 2. when the device was sent to lenovo for repair back in 2022.

In my efforts to simply ask lenovo why my Baseboard is invalid, the only way to get in contact with them is through their live support service, since my warranty expired last year. Note that this live support only deals with software so I was transferred to their limited hardware warranty line.

First transfer the person on the other end does not verify my last name, email, or phone number. They ask, "Are you [First-Name][Last-Name]? I say yes and he proceeds to say the serial number of my device rather than having me verify it. I get transferred again and the call coincidentally drops while on hold.

No issue. I call back and it takes roughly 20 minutes to connect to another agent. This time they performed the verification process correctly, only for them to say that their system is down right now. I then asked why it was necessary to request my serial number, when I have the repair case number from the repair done back in 2022 right in front of my monitor.

I notice the time and they were about to close in 10 minutes. They instructed me to just create a service request for repair and then they can help. To even submit the request costs 109$ if no warranty. They go on to tell me a different method (just going to Lenovo / support lol) that was not even correct as I had earlier spent 2 hours trying to find a method to ask a simple question to a human. I even had a tab that was already open to the page. I tell him this and politely request for help navigating the UI, as I am not seeing what they're instructing me to do. They eventually just hung up on me.

I was left feeling so outraged that they not only disclosed sensitive information about my device when I could have been literally anyone, but that they were literally telling me lies because they wanted to go home. This was on Thursday and at the time of this post I have received no follow up call.

The repair case provides absolutely zero information of what repairs, if any, were even made on the device. It's literally just status update logs.

There is literally no way that a hardware component that went through manufacture repair center would even have been serviced if the board was invalid. I only recently realized this as the machine runs fine. I just randomly look into sysinfo a few days ago and I'm seeing this. I also don't understand why the platform role is set to mobile.

Because of this INVALID BaseBoard PCR7 Configuration is not possible, making my device unable to have encryption. There is 100% chance that there is a technical explanation for all of this, but I'm not even able to ask a simple question to the manufacturer.

I own two Lenovo devices and this laptop is the one without warranty. I can reinstate the basic warranty that offers technical support, but I don't want to give a company that dodges questions in a sketchy manner another cent. So I'm turning to the most well respected toolset for electronics on the internet for insight and if needed, advice on repairing.

I'm not scared to work with hardware, I'd just rather not do it, as this isn't my area of expertise. What I do know is that if this was malware it would have to have higher privilege's than the kernel, which is a level of sophistication that I'm not important enough to have conducted on me.

Why are these being displayed in my system info? What are the future consequences, if any, of allowing the device to remain in this state?

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In my experience in working with Intel servers, it is standard practice to store device-specific information in non-volatile memory called a FRU, for Field Replaceable Unit. The information you're looking at isn't carved in stone; it just takes a software utility to read and write the data. As you've already seen, the sysinfo is capable of reading the board's FRU data, and for some reason that information was erased or never filled in when your repair was done. That kind of implies that the motherboard may have been replaced, but you didn't mention what it was sent in for, so it's hard to say.

Once again referring to the Intel server boards I work on, they have a specific utility that is used to write the FRU data, and I've seen cases where IPMI commands could be used to write FRU information via the BMC as well.

Since you're not getting any support from Lenovo, I'd say your best bet would be to set your sights on locating a FRU utility that works on Lenovo laptops.

Have you checked the BIOS settings? I would think the security settings would be there rather than relying on a field in the FRU. You mentioned you've got two of these; can you compare the BIOS settings on both to see if there are any differences?

Ultimately, I don't think you need to worry about that field not being filled in; it's not going to do anything bad in the future if it hasn't already. I'm personally skeptical that it's what's causing the encryption issue, but then again that's not my area of expertise so take that with a grain of salt; I freely admit it's possible.

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Firstly thank you for such an insightful and promptly response.

It was sent in for repairs when it would power on, but not allow either power or input from any i/o device. So they more than likely did replace the motherboard. And I have two lenovo brand devices, but different models (the other is a legion desktop). The BIOS in either devices are similar, but I don't really know how to identify which setting could be the culprit without some further research.

Since I have an intel processor I'm going to look for FRU on their website. It's also possible my intel driver could be out of date as well. I say this because I do have optional updates for them but i'm a little confused because there are two of them but they are named an in illogical manner, ill post both of them in plaintext below:

Intel - System - 4/12/2017 12:00:00 AM - 14.28.47.630

Intel - System - 9/19/2017 12:00:00 AM - 11.7.0.1000

I'm in NA for dating format. You can see that the dates seem to conflict the version, like it is a rollback.

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David Renteria will be eternally grateful.
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