Second-generation Carbon no-boot after firmware update

[SurrealMustard]

I'm dealing with a second-generation X1 Carbon, (20A8) fresh off the eBay boat. Loaded up Windows, installed Lenovo System Update, and let it (and Windows) begin the process of installing drivers and patches. After reaching the home stretch, I opted to install the newest version of the motherboard firmware. This went well, or so I thought. After successfully staging, the machine rebooted, finished flashing, and then restarted once more... to nothingness. It now powers on, blinks the shift key light as it normally would, lights up the touch buttons, but I get nothing on screen at all whatsoever. If I leave it for a minute or two, it eventually shuts off on its own. Otherwise, it only requires a brief press of the power button to accomplish this.

I've tried holding down the power button for a really long time, pressing/holding the normal reset button, and even the motherboard battery reset button. No change. I also tried pulling the SSD to see if perhaps it was halting the post process, but the condition persisted. In my research, there have been a handful of reports of this, but no solid solutions. Has anyone here seen that before? If so, is there some kind of secret backdoor key combo or a way to reinstall the motherboard firmware off of a flash drive when the computer is in this state? I've installed motherboard firmware quite a few times in my life, but never once had it end this way. I was expecting the ThinkPad X1 to be less of a sissy than this .

[axur-delmeria]

Problems like this generally require a hardware SPI flasher like the CH341A, a SOIC8 clip, and another computer. That said, I've never done any sort of hardware flashing so I can't be of much help in that regard.

[RealBlackStuff]

$hafted by Micro$haft, so what's new?
If/when you go for CH341A, get a black one with 3.3V option built-in.