Hi everybody. I’ve been trying in the last days to unlock the BIOS of this machine(Asus F550ZE-XX072H).
What i did is: update bios to the latest version(212), then dump bios to file via afuwin64, then enable some sections and options with AMIBCP 4.53. There are sections like for example main and advanced which are occurring two times. Whatever i modify in the first occurrence doesn’t have any effect. What i hide or show in the second occurrence effectively changes my firmware setup after flashing back the modified firmware.
What i suspect is that ASUS put a second menu in the firmware which has precedence over the AMI provided one.
How can i get to fix this?
What i’d like to accomplish is to be able to enable the IOMMU(i know that the cpu has it and, when i bought the laptop back in 2014, it was possible to enable or disable it. Asus disabled all the option BIOS update after BIOS update).
Follows a link to a shared folder in my Google drive.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1…aJr?usp=sharing
In that folder there are 3 files:
X550ZEAS.212 → original firmware provided by ASUS
afuwin.rom → rom dump of the freshly installed BIOS
afuwin3.rom → last modification flashed on the notebook ROM.
I’ll be grateful for any hint.
Sorry if my english is far from perfect but i’m italian
Thanks
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Is it a password? I think that in order for others to help you with this question, you should specify if it is password lock, or explain with more details. otherwise your question is going to get stuck.
On the other hand, if it is password bios lock, it is recommended to always check if you could unlock it via password respond.
Thanks for your reply.
It’s not a password problem.
My problem is about hidden menus.
Even if I thought i explained it in the body of my message 
vestasroth: Hi everybody. I’ve been trying in the last days to unlock the BIOS of this machine.
My Bad, is just that when I read the word "Unlock" which applies to a bios being lock by a password, that’s the only time when I use the word ‘lock, unlock, etc.’ 
vestasroth: Hi everybody. I’ve been trying in the last days to unlock the BIOS of this machine. My Bad, is just that when I read the word "Unlock" which applies to a bios being lock by a password, that’s the only time when I use the word ‘lock, unlock, etc.’
Don’t worry
most probably its my English’s fault 
This is what i can see in AMIBCP:
Then, using UEFITOOL, i’ve seen that there are two setup modules in the bios:
Setup and ASUSSETUP.
I’ve extracted the IFR’s from both of them, follow the first lines for eac one.
Both the complete IFR’s are attached.
I’ve no clue on how to enable the full menu.
Sadly modding bioses is not my main activity, i’m a full time mainframe developer
By the way, i fixed the link in the first post
Setup:
UEFI Protocol Detected
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
String Packages
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Offset: Language:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
0x4 en-US
Form Sets
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Offset: Title:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
0x14C73 Main (0x6)
0x19C51 Advanced (0x1C)
0x1CF6F Chipset (0x1E)
0x207EC Boot (0x20)
0x21581 Security (0x3B)
ASUSSETUP:
UEFI Protocol Detected
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
String Packages
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Offset: Language:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
0x4 en-US
Form Sets
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Offset: Title:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
0x14C5F Main (0x70)
0x14F19 Advanced (0x8B)
0x15816 Boot (0xEF)
0x1602F Security (0x113)
Section_Freeform_subtype_GUID_97E409E6-4CC1-11D9-81F6-000000000000_Setup_Setup_body IFR.txt (322 KB)
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@vestasroth - Please link me to the BIOS download page at Asus, and tell me what BIOS version you are using (if not still 212)
Then please reflash latest stock BIOS using EZ flash or whatever standard procedure is. Then do below, and send me file from #1, and tell me what error you get at #2
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 " )
@Lost_N_BIOS , thanks for your reply.
Here is the direct link to the BIOS: https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/nb/X550ZE/X550ZEAS212.zip
Tomorrow evening, after work, I’ll follow your directions.
By the way, that laptop has an AMD APU, does it have an ME section in its firmware?
I checked a few days ago in HWINFO and i didn’t see anything about it 
Thanks
@vestasroth - As requested, please link me to the BIOS download page at Asus, and tell me what BIOS version you are using (if not still 212)
No, if it’s AMD CPU, then you cannot use FPT method and there is no ME FW. 
You’ll have to try “Annex” method at end of post one here, if that fails then only “safe” way to do this is with flash programmer.
There is other ways we can do the flash (ie old AFU DOS), but may brick your BIOS, so not ideal to try unless you are ready to recover
We may be able to modify Asus stock flashing tool, if there is one, but I need to check your download page first and no link yet…
Hi @Lost_N_BIOS , here ise the link to the page: https://www.asus.com/us/supportonly/X550ZE/HelpDesk_BIOS/
I’m still using version 212 as it is the last available one(fairly old machine).
I’ve dumped and flashed back the bios region many times in the last days, while triyng to mod this strange beast. Always done via AFUWIN under windows 10 60 bit and no problem at all.
You can also check the link in the opening post, if you want. It’s on my google drive and there are the unzipped BIOS as provided by ASUS, the bios region extracted with AFUWIN and one mod trial made by me(https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1…aJr?usp=sharing).
Thanks
Thanks! Ahh, so you can flash mod BIOS with AFUWin? If yes, great then, I can unlock BIOS menu for you without issue!
IF, you are 100% sure your mod BIOS is being flashed in by AFUWin??? Have you confirmed that by EVER seeing ANY change you made?
Sometimes AFU or other stock BIOS flashing apps only “look” like they flash, but nothing is flashed in, so if you’ve never seen a single change you made, then it’s probably not flashing.
You can confirm by changing the default of some setting you can already see. Check it’s stock value at optimized default loaded in BIOS. Then make mod BIOS and change the value for optimized, flash it, and see if your change it there or not.
I don’t need to check any files, just needed the stock BIOS
@Lost_N_BIOS I confirm that I can flash with AFUWIN, and yes, I confirm it properly flashes.
After enabling some advanced options in the ASUS crippled menu(whith AMIBCP, in the Advanced section in the secon set of pages) i flashed the modded BIOS and i was able to see and modify those options 
Again, thanks a lot
@Lost_N_BIOS I flashed the BIOS part, not the entire firmware as downloaded from ASUS’s site.
I mean, I updated the mainboard to the 212 version, then dumped the bios to file with AFUWIN, modded that one then reflashed.
I don’t know if AFUWIN would be able to flash a modded complete firmware.
Just to give you all the infos
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