@cookie
Apologies for the late response, I did not get notified for some reason.
I can’t really add anything stated by @lfb6 (thank you for your help here) as I don’t have a programmer and have never needed one (I have been fortunate!)
I can’t comment on the version of 9903 you used but the performance effect to my system by the Spectre/Meltdown patches was negligible, especially as I disabled Meltdown via the registry “switch” and of course full PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe SSD performance.
With reference to Intel ME, just using the IntelME.zip file I attached should have worked regardless of the BIOS used; any subsequent BIOS update would not override the newer ME version. However, I previously found it would take quite a bit longer to complete the process (I assume having to bypass the ME section), hence my replacing the ME region directly.
Also, I have always updated directly from the installed HDD/SSD, not a USB stick.
Sorry I can’t really be of more help here but I’d be happy to answer queries if I can.
@Iken This is a late response, but my previous post on the last page was never resolved.
Was supposed to merge my motherboard data(serial numbers and such) with the new flash but never was able to figure it out.
Any ideas?
@PhatAgent - Sorry I never replied back, it’s hard to keep up here and stuff is lost to me very easily!
I have your dump from #15, what stock or mod BIOS do you want this inserted into?
Since this model does not have flashback, it would be ideal for you to dump GbE region and BIOS region w/ FPT and send to me to edit, but first we need to see what error you get if any, when trying to write back BIOS region with FPT
Then we disable anything stopping it, then you dump BIOS region & GBE region and send to me for edit. Or, you can simply dump current working BIOS from chip with programmer if you have it, then I can edit that and you program it back.
Which way do you want to proceed?
@Lost_N_BIOS
What is FPT?
As for the bios version, I used Iken’s modded 9903 bios.
Which works perfectly for me. Not sure If it’s using the latest MCU etc at this point but it should be fine.
Is it not as simple as merging the data from the bad modded bios with the correctly modded bios?
What benefit is there to dump the bios that I am using now; it should be the same as what’s already posted in Iken’s link correct?
And no worries on the late response, It is working fine regardless.
I appreciate your response.
Since I don’t have flashback, it’s not a big deal to pull out the programmer if it does fail.
I’ll have a fallback with that tool.
@PhatAgent - FPT is Intel Flash Programming Tool. But, reading post #15 again, I see you have programmer, so we can use that if you want, or I can show you how to do via FPT?
How did you flash in 9903 mod BIOS? I only mentioned dumping now, so you could easily and safely flash mod back via FPT, but if you’ve already flashed 9903 some other way and it was all OK, then I can mod that and you can flash it again same way.
Do you want updated microcodes? Yes, I will extract the system specific info from a few places and insert into the modded BIOS
@Lost_N_BIOS
I just updated the bios from within the bios itself.
Pretty sure anything below Z77 does not have the bios security checks so there is no problem flashing a modded bios.
That modded 9903 bios might already have the latest updates, but you can check if it isn’t a problem.
Thank you
@lfb6 @Lost_N_BIOS , Hi,
Would appreciate your assitance.
See my post #17
Attached is a full dump of my bad flash. Could you instruct me how to properly reflash it with the Ch341a programmer and AsProgrammer without losing my serial, uuid etc info?
What i’m trying to achieve is to have a bios which is like the modded 9903 posted by Iken, but without the microcode updates. In other words, to have the microcode data from the bad flash i had (or the modded 9903 i used to flash, which i will attach shortly), with his version of oroms and intel ME (should be v8.1.70.1590 unsure what ME version the bad flash has).
[Edit - removed links. Please contact on PM]
Many thanks
Any help would be greatly appreciated
Use FD44Editor for extracting / transfering you board specific data, use UBU to exchange µcodes (edit MCUpdate.txt and put µcodes in corresponding directory)
Update:
AsProgrammer v. 1.4.1 was able to properly read, backup and clear the Winbond 25Q64BV chip, but not able to write properly. Any attempt resulted in error (windows 10). Eventually i was able to write the chip and verify it successfully via flashroom v.0.9.9-97-g29333a0 included in the CH341A Tools.
1. In attempt to preserve my system information i first tried replacing the ME section of my bad flash with the original ME binary (verified identical against @Iken 's modded bios), via UEFITool_v0.28.0. sadly that DIDN’T WORK. Cpu error lit solid. Panic ensued.
2. I then tried flashing Iken’s bios as it was, and my pc POSTED!
Meaning, the bad flash bios file has some other kind of error that i am unable to identify (would appreciate help on analysis). As it currently stands i lost the serial info but i’m going to import it with FD44Editor shortly.
@lfb6 , Thank you.
I read that FD44Editor doesn’t import the info to all relevant places. @Lost_N_BIOS . If that is true / still relevant today, I would appreciate help in repairing my own original bios, attached as the bad flash. Also as a learning experience to better understand the BIOS file format.
In the meanwhile, i would play with the current working bios. Could you please direct me for more instructions on how to downgrade the µcodes? If I understand correctly, @PhatAgent 's issue was caused by a bad update of the µcodes.
Many many many thanks.
@lfb6 , I was able to successfully change my microcode to the one i wanted through UBU. I made sure the update was made with mmtool_a4.exe.
I also verified the offsets were linear through UEFITool NE, to make sure, and wrote the image with the programmer and flashrom. Since my issue was caused by an update to just a few OROMs and not the microcode, it’s hard to know what caused the failure and whether it’s related to the one @PhatAgent was facing.
Thank you for all the help.
@Lost_N_BIOS
Any chance you can provide that BIOS we mentioned?
My post 15 bios has my serial and such; it just needs to be merged with the updated 9903 Bios.
Thanks!
