Hi.
The workstation version of my motherboard still gets bios updates.
Would it be possible to use the ASUS Z170-WS bios on a ASUS Z170-A board? I have a CH341A bios flasher.
Is there any risk of permanent bricking if I’d try it?
Thx in advance!
No risk of permanent brick, especially since you have programmer. But, be 100% sure you have a confirm (checked by someone) backup of your current BIOS dumped with programmer before you do anything.
If the board layout is 100% same, then it may be OK. If not, then some stuff may not work properly, or at all. You will need to edit in your serial, UUID if you care about that and LAN MAC ID for sure if you want to use Ethernet.
Or, you could just update your Z170-A BIOS to be more up to date than the WS BIOS, then you wouldn’t have to do any of that crossflash stuff!
This would be what I would do 
Thanks for your reply!
I bought a replacement bios chip from ebay which I use to play around with. The original bios chip is left untouched, but has a modified bios image on it (I used UBU tool to replace the microcode). I also made backups of both chips with the latest flashrom. Is there anything else that I could potentially backup?
With the FD44Editor? In the original Z170-WS bios image? Or is there a better/alternative way?
With the UBU tool e.g.? Isn’t there a lot of things that the UBU tool leaves untouched that might be more up to date in a later bios version?
PS: Should I flash an unmodified Z170-WS bios image first, before replacing MAC/UUID/SN and microcode/modules?
I’m going to try the Z170-WS bios image later today. I’ll keep you posted. 
Just some things to keep in mind when cross-flashing;
1. The VRM circuits on these boards are completely different, the Z170-A has 4 power phases (from the ASP1400B controller) for the CPU as opposed to 8 power phases on the Z170-WS (via the ASP1405I controller)
2. The Z170-WS has a PCIe lane multiplexer (PLX) for quad SLI and the Z170-A does not have a multiplexer at all.
3. The Z170-A has an Intel I219V NIC while the Z170-WS has 1x Intel I219-LM NIC + 1 x Intel I210-A NIC
4. The Z170-A has the Realtek ALC892 Audio Codec and the Z170-WS has the Realtek ALC1150 Audio Codec
There are other differences but these are the ones that will likely cause failure to POST - these 2 boards are as different as chalk and cheese.
You can cross-flash similar boards like the Z170-A and the Z170-AR (only differences are extra iGPU outputs) but in this case I think there are too many differences.
If you do try it please report the results! 
This sounds potentially scary. Could it damage hardware? Can the driver (or whatever is needed) for the controllers be replaced?
I219V and I219-LM/I210-A use the same UEFI driver (Gigabit.efi), or no? Are there other things that might need changing (hardcoded bus/vendor/device IDs in the bios image or so?)
Can that be replaced or disabled? I don’t need onboard audio anyway.
Well… As long as I don’t damage the CPU/mainboard or its components I’m willing to give it a try. Do you think there is a chance of bricking/destroying something?
If the VRM circuitry is vastly different then the commands sent to the VRM IC’s could be invalid or possibly even sent to the wrong pins due to the different configuration.
Could it damage hardware? It’s definitely possible, although I think it’s more likely that it just won’t work.
The subtle differences between the Intel Gigabit NIC models may not be an issue but the Z170-WS BIOS will be expecting two NIC’s and will need to configure the sole NIC on the Z170-A. It might work, who knows lol.
The onboard audio most likely won’t work and can possibly be disabled.
Chance of bricking in this case I estimate to be ~90% just due to the differences in the VRM.
Alright. I’m not gonna do it then. Thanks!
Are there things (that UBU Tool doesn’t update) that would be worth extracting from the Z170-WS image and implementing into the Z170-A image?
Thanks @chinobino - I assumed he already did, so I didn’t even look! Due to this, I would also advise against crossflash here! @C_con_con
I meant update however, I do not use UBU so I wouldn’t use that myself, but yes, you can use UBU to update whatever it allows updating.
Anything else you wanted updated that it doesn’t do would need done other ways (ie manually, with other tools etc, how I would do all updates myself)
I would not extract anything from WS BIOS for updating the Z170-A, this is unnecessary (And some things may need edited/not work) and it’s very likely you would find more up to date items to use here instead anyway.
Dump original BIOS region with FPT, unlock BIOS lock, flash it back, then dump again and mod whatever you want, then flash it back.
Or, dump entire chip with programmer, modify it or have someone else mod, then program it back
I’m using AFUDOS.EXE Z170A.ROM /REBOOT /GAN on FreeDOS to flash the modded bios. What other methods are there that allow for flashing a modified bios images?
FPT is suggested, I actually advise against the use of AFU, especially OLD AFU that allows /GAN (This was made for BIOS 10+ years ago)
Using this method can cause bricked BIOS sometimes on modern boards, and often causes issues with future BIOS flashing as well.
What I suggest for modern Asus board without flashback is FPT (Intel Flash Programming tool) You must dump your BIOS region first, then modify it, then flash it back
Check BIOS main page and see if ME FW version is shown, if not then download HWINFO64
Then on the large window on left side, expand motherboard and find ME area, inside that get the ME Firmware version.
Once you have that, go to this thread and in the section “C.2” download the matching ME System Tools Package
(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)
Intel Management Engine: Drivers, Firmware & System Tools
Once downloaded, inside you will find Flash Programming Tool folder, and inside that a Windows or Win/Win32 folder.
Select that Win folder, hold shift and press right click, choose open command window here (Not power shell).
At the command prompt type the following command and send me the created file to modify >> FPTw.exe -bios -d biosreg.bin
Right after you do that, try to write back the BIOS Region dump and see if you get any error >> FPTw.exe -bios -f biosreg.bin
If you do get error, show me image of the command entered and the error given
^^ This is important step, don’t forget ^^
If you are stuck on Win10 and cannot easily get command prompt, and method I mentioned above does not work for you, here is some links that should help
Or, copy all contents from the Flash Programming Tool \ DOS folder to the root of a USB Bootable disk and do the dump from DOS (FPT.exe -bios -d biosreg.bin)
https://www.windowscentral.com/how-add-c…creators-update
https://www.windowscentral.com/add-open-…menu-windows-10
https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/open-…ator-privileges
Or here is simply registry edit that adds “Open command window here as Administrator” to the right click menu
Double-click to install, reboot after install may be required
http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?fil…134606820377175
See also, this guide I made, you will need to disable BIOS Lock before you can flash BIOS region back in with FPT (Without this first, you will get error 280 or 368 at step #2 above)
[GUIDE] Grub Fix Intel FPT Error 280 or 368 - BIOS Lock Asus/Other Mod BIOS Flash
You can start at step #6 in above guide, for this board and BIOS 3802 BIOS Lock variable is >> 0x8C6
Rename .efi file to >> Shell.efi
If you are using BIOS other than 3802, let me know version and I will confirm BIOS Lock variable above is OK, or give you the proper one per that BIOS version.