I managed to obtain a fully working EC firmware file, which I programmed through the keyboard connector using a SUCCESSOR50 programmer.
The programmer was explicitly set to 128 KB during the programming process.
I originally had an exploded IT8226E-192 EC. Unfortunately, I purchased several replacement ICs from AliExpress and eBay, but all of them turned out to be fake, as the programmer identified them with EC ID 8887.
Eventually, I was able to salvage an original, non-counterfeit IT8226E-192 from an NM-C221 motherboard. However, after installing and programming it, I ran into the well-known issue where the internal keyboard and its backlight did not work.
I spent a lot of time struggling with this problem before everything finally came together, but after flashing this specific firmware file, both the keyboard and the keyboard backlight started working perfectly.
It took quite some effort to reach this point, but I’m happy to share this information if it helps others facing the same issue.