@electricSNICK
1. Are you able to flash back to acer stock bios??
2. I can help you find the bios password if you don’t remember your password.
3. Are you able to boot into windows.??
- Currently, I’m running Acer stock BIOS Insyde 1.49. According to Acer, this release updated Intel microcode; which may (?!?!???) make it more difficult to switch between BIOS and UEFI (and/or install previous versions of BIOS)
2. Thanks, I know my password! But, according to @Lost_N_BIOS , the mere fact that a password is set severely limits recovery options. Because everything is greyed out/I can’t select items in BIOS/UEFI, I can’t unlock the password enablement
3. Yes, I’ve now completely restored my system and am running the disk image I made just prior to attempting BIOS modifications. In truth, “everything is fixed” and my system is operable … BUT it drives me nuts that the UEFI aren’t right and I can’t select other options.
I’ve attached the HWiNFO 64 report FYI and I can provide other information/documentation as you’d like.
@Lost_N_BIOS also sent along detailed instructions about trying to resolve using RU (I can share that with you if you’d like). Can you see that post? (I’m still getting use to the boards and I’m not sure what is public view vs. private view)
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Thanks again for all the info! I’ve now recovered my previous image but, as I mentioned in comments to @airstars , the fact that UEFI isn’t working correctly is irksome.
I’ve also got a test clip but, sadly, this is my only WinTel box and I may wait until I have a backup before I go mucking about (more) with the guts of the machine … it just depends on how antsy I get.
I’m going to poke around RU a bit. I also tried Rufus previously but didn’t have much luck with that … I wonder if it might be time to revisit now.
HWiNFO System Report.zip (58.2 KB)
@electricSNICK
I can help you downgrade to 1.32 if needed
Just want to confirm this
There is no option in bios to clear the bios password??
Can you provide me the screenshot??
I properly can help you remove your bios password if you know how to flash modded bios.
Cool. A couple of questions:
–Would I be able to do this on my own? I tried rolling back to an earlier UEFI with the Insyde installer but my system said NOPE
–Rufus maybe (on linux???)
I appreciate your help!
To verify, no, I cannot make any changes in my UEFI currently. It’s a bit hard to tell from the screenshot, but you can see that none of the menu items are white/blue
Pretty slick aistars … I did a quick search on programming UEFI, if you have any great resources where you learned how to do so, I’m curious to see them.
Update:
–Your script worked and I’m now running v 1.32 ZAAR UEFI!
–Sadly, I still cannot modify any of the UEFI settings, I cannot select them. 
I think it’s time for me to check out Lost_N_Bios RU recommendation 
. Thanks for jumping into the fray!
I’ve been corresponding with @airstars a bit but thought it would be best to move the discussion back over here.
Status: I’ve recovered my original Win10 installation and everything works BUT, for some reason, it seems like any UEFI that is installed does NOT allow me to select options. Since this is odd, I thought I would re-hash what I was doing when I initially broke the system (this also answers your question about UEFI & BIOS airstars).
**I was trying to boot from Hackintosh bootloader tool Clover UniBeast." I actually got partway through the procedure, you can see the vid here. BUT, I made the mistake of thinking that I should have been using Legacy BIOS for that procedure and, so, yes, I changed my UEFI to BIOS “Legacy”, here’s a grab of when I did that about a week ago:
@Lost_N_BIOS , to use RU, I need to change some settings in UEFI, and I still can’t do that. airstars has sent me a couple of files and I’ve now done two variations of a factory reset:
1. Remove CMOS battery, replace, power on and boot. This restored the UEFI from the BIOS “Legacy” that I had been running. However, no options could be selected so …
1(a). After two attempts at installing a prior version of my Inside UEFI …
2. airstars instructed me to do a key reset of the power booting directly from a drive with a file (s)he provided. When I reported back that I successfully completed the procedure but that the UEFI still had no, I could almost airstars shaking his/her head in befuddlement
Which brings us to:
–Lost: I cannot access command shell, or anything, from the UEFI menu. I DO have Win10 up and running and I can also install Linux or whatever if you think there’s any hope following a path like that
–airstars: I’ll document with screenshots
–I have the AiTrip SOIC8 programmer available, but I need to get another laptop up and running (I have to buy a cheapie) before I break that out; I could probably putz around with that early next week
@airstars
Laptop model and drivers: https://www.acer.com/ac/en/MY/content/su…pn=NX.GTSAA.005
Click thru for higher rez images
@electricSNICK - In reply to post #23 - No, I cannot see anything about RU, at least not before or on post #23. Nothing is private here, except in private messages, I mean there is no hidden part of the forum that the public can post into.
What you really need here is your BIOS backed up, how it was at your original post, stuck in Legacy Mode. Then we could fix all the grayed out items, remove password, etc (all that we discussed with RU)
I don’t think the BIOS is all grayed out due to UEFI or legacy, it’s due to a BIOS glitch while you saved, setting the menu items User Access Level to “View Only” Setting below for that, if you can ever get back into Legacy mode and use RU
Please notice! The following, AND the above variables, “May” only be the correct values on BIOS 1.49. Oother BIOS, may use other values for the same settings, so BIOS IFR and values should be checked to confirm same or not, if you are not using 1.49 when changing these below or above
User Access Level, VarStoreInfo (VarOffset/VarName): 0x80, VarStore: 0x1234, QuestionId: 0x3, Size: 1, Min: 0x2, Max 0x4, Step: 0x0 {05 91 3D 00 3E 00 03 00 34 12 80 00 00 10 02 04 00}
One Of Option: View Only, Value (8 bit): 0x2 {09 07 3F 00 00 00 02} << cause of grayed out issue I believe, this was accidentally set/applied during save of BIOS changes at some point.
One Of Option: Limited, Value (8 bit): 0x3 {09 07 40 00 00 00 03}
One Of Option: Full, Value (8 bit): 0x4 (default) {09 07 41 00 10 00 04}
Or maybe it’s possible, that airstars can help you flash in a MOD BIOS with this set in setup AND In NVRAM, so it’s applied and is the only possible outcome post-BIOS reflash.
If you don’t know how to do that edit airstars, let me know and send me flashable mod package for him and I will make the BIOS edit to setup and NVRAM to change this.
Since you have flash programmer! Break it out now and get a backup, made I can make you fixed BIOS easily! Give me your BIOS chip ID first, before you dump, so I can tell you what may be best software to use
I can also confirm if the above thing about View Only being currently set is true too, if you send me backup of current BIOS via FPT.
Do step #1 only and send me the file, with BIOS as it is now, no need to worry about the relfash BIOS, change settings stuff 
If you have already modified the BIOS in ANY way, you will need to re-flash it back to factory defaults using factory method (NOT FPT)!!!
Additionally, please remove all BIOS passwords, disable secure boot, and disable TPM or Encryption if you have enabled. Do this before moving on to below
If you do not have Intel ME drivers installed, install them now from your system driver download page, then start over here after reboot.
Check your BIOS’ main page and see if ME FW version is shown. If not then > DOWNLOAD HWINFO64 HERE <
Once HWINFO is open, look at the large window on the left side, expand motherboard, and find the ME area.
Inside that section is the ME Firmware version. Take note of the version. (ie. write it down or get a screenshot)
Once you have that, go to the thread linked below, and in the section “C.2” find and download the matching ME System Tools Package for your system.
(ie if ME FW version = 10.x get V10 package, if 9.0-9.1 get V9.1 package, if 9.5 or above get V9.5 package etc)
> DOWNLOAD " ME System Tools " packages HERE <
Once downloaded, inside you will find Flash Programming Tool folder, and then inside that a Windows or Win/Win32 folder (NOT x64).
Highlight that Win/Win32 folder, then hold shift and press right click. Choose “open command window here” (Not power shell! >> * See Registry file below *).
If you get an error, reply to this post with a screenshot of it, OR write down the EXACT command entered and the EXACT error given.
((If “open command window here” does not appear, look for the “Simple Registry Edit” below…))
Step #1
Now you should be at the command prompt.
You are going to BACKUP the factory un-modified firmware, so type the following command:
Command: " FPTw.exe -bios -d biosreg.bin "
>> Attach the saved "biosreg.bin ", placed into a compressed ZIP/RAR file, to your next post!!! <<
Step #2
Right after you do that, try to write back the BIOS Region dump and see if you get any error(s).
Command: " FPTw.exe -bios -f biosreg.bin "
^^ This step is important! Don’t forget! ^^
If you get an error, reply to this post with a screenshot of it, OR write down the EXACT command entered and the EXACT error given.
Here is a SIMPLE REGISTRY EDIT that adds “Open command window here as Administrator” to the right click menu, instead of Power Shell
Double-click downloaded file to install. Reboot after install may be required
> CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD CMD PROMPT REGISTRY ENTRY <
If the windows method above does NOT work for you…
Then you may have to copy all contents from the Flash Programming Tool \ DOS folder to the root of a Bootable USB disk and do the dump from DOS
( DOS command: " FPT.exe -bios -d biosreg.bin " )
Additionally, please remove all BIOS passwords, disable secure boot, and disable TPM or Encryption if you have enabled. Do this before moving on to below
If you do not have Intel ME drivers installed, install them now from your system driver download page, then start over here after reboot.
Check your BIOS’ main page and see if ME FW version is shown. If not then > DOWNLOAD HWINFO64 HERE <
Once HWINFO is open, look at the large window on the left side, expand motherboard, and find the ME area.
Inside that section is the ME Firmware version. Take note of the version. (ie. write it down or get a screenshot)
Once you have that, go to the thread linked below, and in the section “C.2” find and download the matching ME System Tools Package for your system.
(ie if ME FW version = 10.x get V10 package, if 9.0-9.1 get V9.1 package, if 9.5 or above get V9.5 package etc)
> DOWNLOAD " ME System Tools " packages HERE <
Once downloaded, inside you will find Flash Programming Tool folder, and then inside that a Windows or Win/Win32 folder (NOT x64).
Highlight that Win/Win32 folder, then hold shift and press right click. Choose “open command window here” (Not power shell! >> * See Registry file below *).
If you get an error, reply to this post with a screenshot of it, OR write down the EXACT command entered and the EXACT error given.
((If “open command window here” does not appear, look for the “Simple Registry Edit” below…))
Step #1
Now you should be at the command prompt.
You are going to BACKUP the factory un-modified firmware, so type the following command:
Command: " FPTw.exe -bios -d biosreg.bin "
>> Attach the saved "biosreg.bin ", placed into a compressed ZIP/RAR file, to your next post!!! <<
Step #2
Right after you do that, try to write back the BIOS Region dump and see if you get any error(s).
Command: " FPTw.exe -bios -f biosreg.bin "
^^ This step is important! Don’t forget! ^^
If you get an error, reply to this post with a screenshot of it, OR write down the EXACT command entered and the EXACT error given.
Here is a SIMPLE REGISTRY EDIT that adds “Open command window here as Administrator” to the right click menu, instead of Power Shell
Double-click downloaded file to install. Reboot after install may be required
> CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD CMD PROMPT REGISTRY ENTRY <
If the windows method above does NOT work for you…
Then you may have to copy all contents from the Flash Programming Tool \ DOS folder to the root of a Bootable USB disk and do the dump from DOS
( DOS command: " FPT.exe -bios -d biosreg.bin " )
Or, you can do this, and send me the vars, and I can confirm this way as well. >> download the following package, and run the command below from each versions folder that directly contains it’s exe.
Once done, copy the entire folder somewhere, delete everything but any created vars.txt and then repackage this and send to me, this way all created vars.txt remain in place in the folders of the version that created them.
http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?fil…212104496994806
You people are incredible! Besides the site advertising, is there any way I can contribute to server/maintenance costs?
Two things:
–Why do you respond in private? Is that to keep the threads from becoming too long? I would think that any/all information might be helpful for other users …
–I need to pick up another laptop so that I have something to work with in case I brick everything, I’ll probably start messing around with the programmer (and report back, asking you and @airstar more questions !!
next week)
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Uhhh, I feel really dumb asking this, but I can’t readily ID the BIOS chip on the motherboard. It’s not apparent to me in HWiNFO 64 or even when I open up the case – although I outlined what I think it might be in the hi-rez photo I’m attaching. FYI, here’s a link to a teardown
@electricSNICK - Thanks There is a yellow donate button down on bottom of all pages helps keep the site going, thanks 
If someone sends you a private message, you’d have to ask them why, in that private message It may be they like to talk there, not sure?
Yes, that looks like it may be the BIOS you circled. What is the ID printed on it?
Sorry for the lag …
Okay, so the chip has “Winbond 25Q64JVSIQ 1804” printed on it, but that seems to be pretty esoteric. I found it online at aliexpress.
There are a lot more hits and documentation for another BIOS chip with a one letter difference, replacing “J” in 25Q64JVSIQ with “F”: Winbond 25Q64FVSIG, 64MBit SPI Flash, SOIC-8 … but it really looks to me like the chip has “J” printed on it.
Any software I can use to find out that information?
Hmmm …
@electricSNICK - No worries, I am always behind and buried too, so never a rush around here, I can’t ever keep up 
W25Q64JV is correct - https://www.winbond.com/resource-files/w…32016%20kms.pdf
Use software 1.30 and W25Q64FV or BV ID, this chip is update/new version of W25Q64FV/BV - Please do dump with FV and BV and let me see both
One user had issue using BV and only FV worked, other user opposite, so it may be board/power connected dependent. Some boards, no matter what, you need to have main battery and PSU attached, or both removed.
And usually with FV chip you need to use BV to write properly, so that may be case here (usually) too.
http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?fil…213094641136166
So, to be clear, you’re asking me to flash the chip using my programmer and the file you provided.
Remember, I haven’t done this sort of thing before … I found this video and this overview but if you have another guide or site that walks me through the process, please feel free to share.
Thanks!
@electricSNICK - No, I was linking you to software package, to dump the chip using version 1.30 and FV AND BV ID
If you need a guide about how to use programmer, we have one here with lots of images - [GUIDE] Flash BIOS with CH341A programmer
Hi i have the same model with version 1.49… is there a guide to unlock the advance menu for this bios?. I’m hoping to adjust the TDP for this laptop if possible but it does not give me an option in the bios… Hope someone can help…
Uhhh, well, about, what, 1.5 years later I think I’m finally ready to give this a go on the system we were discussing. Unfortunately, after a couple of system re-builds, I lost the original file you sent via TinyURL (http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?fil…213094641136166). Can you share that again?
could you please send me that same file? I have bricked my same model laptop. ZAAR is what was written on the board.
I did “Insyde Firmware Update” through Windows Update and it’s bricked. Just flashed on and off. Boot loop. If i could get the original BIOS on there I think I could bring it back to life because right now I can’t even boot into BIOS. Someone please help me. I don’t mind buying a programmer if that’s what I need. But right now I have a brick. And I need help. Please, anyone. This is my main machine.
I have Bachelor’s Degree in IS so yes I’ve tried everything you can imagine. I can get the laptop into Crysis mode but can’t get the flash to take.