Flashing Gigabyte while avoiding "Invalid BIOS image"

I recently got a Gigabyte GA z270xp SLI board and tried to flash my bios with q flash and efiflash including the modded efiflash on this forum. I keep getting the "Invalid BIOS Image" and "OEMID mismatch" errors. Can anyone help me out? It would be greatly appreciated. I modded the f9d bios

@otal999 You need to use the modified EFIflash program, v0.65 is on page 2 of this thread and v0.62 is on page 1.

@nikezzz - You’re welcome, and if I’m ever that way I’ll take that beer! What’s the 1.8v converter?
I bet the MAC ID’s, are either covered by the plastic cover over the I/O, or are they what I see in some reviews on stickers on top of the SATA ports?

@otal999 - be careful, sometimes invalid BIOS image means just that, recheck your mod and open that BIOS in as many programs as you can to verify it’s OK and not corrupted/broken.

Thanks for replying. I actually tried .065 efiflash and got the same error. I think the bios should be ok. I used the latest Phoenix bios tool and it said it completed successfully with no errors. Not sure where to go from here

You’re welcome @otal999 - Phoenix BIOS tool is not for/compatible with these BIOS, so there is the main issue. Are you talking about the Phoenix SLIC tool, if yes, is that what you are using it for, or are you using it in order to edit other modules?
What is it you are modifying, I mean what are you doing to the BIOS? I can probably help you do the mod safely, if it is something I know how to modify. If you just need SLIC Sorted, I can help you in PM a much better method

Did you try the not modified efiflash that came with your BIOS? I don’t suggest you do until making sure BIOS is Ok, asking only to confirm you tried both modified and not modified efiflash.
Sometimes, even with mod, regular efiflash is one that works vs modified one.

Ok so I got the MAC Adresses with ipconfig: They are E0:D5:5E:25:6B:1A for the Intel one and E0:D5:5E:25:6B:1C for the Killer NIC

@Lost_N_BIOS it’s this one: https://www.amazon.de/WINGONEER-Adapter-…n/dp/B072KYK2DR
The 1.8V adapter is needed because the BIOS chips on the K7 are only 1.8V and my MINIPro can only go down to 3.3V - the CH341a has the same voltage I think.

I’m going to try to flash the chips via the SPI Programmer now after making some backups of course - wish me luck :smiley:

@otal999 did you try the /x flag also?

Are you sure, about the chip only being 1.8V? Did you look it up by full number? If yes, did it say 1.8V/3.3V (And 5v)? Most all BIOS are 3.3V on motherboards, especially newer boards since past 10 years, and I’ve never seen Gigabyte use anything other than 3.3v roms.

Good luck getting verified backups!! I’ll help you with getting MAC into BIOS once you get it programmed over to correct BIOS, will look tonight where to put into BIOS for each.

@Lost_N_BIOS Yes 100% it’s 1.8V - here is the data sheet http://www.macronix.com/Lists/Datasheet/…8Mb,%20v1.2.pdf

So I tried the MiniPro first but it doesn’t support the MX25U12873F just the MX25U12835F which is similar - however when Reading of the Chip I only get an empty readout - even if the system is powered on.

Next I tried the CH341a with software ver. 1.29: I also just supports the MX25U12835F however if I read from the chip I get something. But if I try to verify the readout it returns an error.
Also if I try to flash the official BIOS file it takes forever to erase but then fails at writing because of a timeout issue. Also the erase doesn’t really work because if I boot up the machine after the erase the system boots fine and gets into the bios.

@maktamamatama had a similar problem in this post [Guide] Using CH341A-based programmer to flash SPI EEPROM (12) and fixed it by using the CH341aFREE.exe - However I can’t find this file nowhere online or on the forum

@nikezzz - Thanks, that’s new! Are you sure it’s exact match all number on your chip? If yes, I guess I’ll have to start watching BIOS chips on newer boards before reflashing Looks like 2.5V max suggested safe.

Here’s a copy of all the versions I have, try each and see if any luck backup and verify correctly - https://www.sendspace.com/file/iq8olo
I think there may be other versions in the CH341A thread here too, so check each page in there and maybe you’ll find one that works if one of these don’t

I didn’t have time to get into this BIOS last night to check about the MAC, will do tonight!

*Edit - please give me the invalid MAC ID’s you are currently seeing for each LAN MAC, so I can find easier in BIOS to correct.
Wait, are the ones above what you see now, or the correctedvalid ones? If they are the invalid ones, are those same as what you were seeing before, when you created the backupbios from Qflash?

@Lost_N_BIOS Yes this is definitely the chip. Thx for the files - it didn’t contain the CH341aFree.exe but I found it elsewhere in a trial version and tried it but it couldn’t detect the chip so also no luck there :frowning:

I checked the different BIOS versions but the MAC addresses didn’t change so the ones I mentioned before are still valid - this means that efiflash doesn’t erase or rewrites them.

Keep trying software until you find one that works. Sometimes old version works better too, so be sure to try 1.16 and 1.18 too. Please post a copy of the CH341AFree you found, thanks

I can’t find either of those MAC ID’s in the BIOS, so Qflash must not be backup up the full BIOS. EFIFlash normally would not overwrite those, but programming an entire BIOS will, so we need to figure out working software to get good full backup before doing any reflash corrections.
May have to try “flashrom” app in Linux, if the windows version hasn’t worked for you, have you tried it yet?

Are the LAN’s both working properly right now?

I was just testing one of the “Green/Blue” programmers, with MX25L12873FPI chip, and software versions 1.29 and 1.30 fail to read/verify, with selecting correct rom ID. So I tried 1.18 version, using only MX25L12805D because no proper ID, it read and verified 100% correctly.
So maybe, depending on flash rom type, and maybe sometimes more often than noticed, you need to try other chip ID’s instead of other software versions. I went back and tested on 1.29/1.30 using same wrong ID, but both versions still failed

These CH341A cheap programmers are OK for the price the run, can’t be beat at those prices! But a much better/faster/more capable programmer can be had on ebay if you want to spend a little more $$
$15-20 - Nano USB Programmer - w/ whatever adapters you need, even solderless jumpers - not cheap cable jumpers either PCB and pins

@Lost_N_BIOS sorry for taking so long to respond - my work took all my spare time last week. I’ve attached the CH341AFree. I don’t really know how to use flashrom and I didn’t find a guide online on how to use it with the CH341A.
The LANs are working perfectly. I’ll try to select the MX25L12805D chip with 1.18 when I get back on my home pc.
Normally I’m flashing all my bioschips with my MiniPro TL866 but this one also doesn’t recognise the chip and just reads 00s

CH341A v1.31.zip (5.36 MB)

Thanks for the file @nikezzz Good your LAN’s are working! Copy down each of the LAN MAC ID’s from ipconfig /all or other software that you can see them in (Like AIDA64 or HWInfo etc), that way you have copy in case they get wrote over later.

Do you need a guide for CH341A? There is many online I could link you, and one here too but it’s not super in-depth - [Guide] Using CH341A-based programmer to flash SPI EEPROM

Added Efiflash_0.65_mod to first post. It is basically the same file as the one posted >here<, because it is the same patch. If there are newer versions or you need a specific Efiflash, post a request in this thread.


I’ve test this file and found it can not bypass the "OEMID" check , test on my B150M D3H DDR3 when flashing from F1 to F20 .

Update:
I’ve bypassed all verification such as OEMID/BIOS ID/Downgrade/FFS GUID .

And I found an interesting thing . When I use efiflash to backup my BIOS , it will correct checksum automatically , and I can use Q-Flash to flash this file.

Edit: Upload to 0.74 , 2 edition for bypass "Invalid BIOS" or bypass all check.

efiflash_0.65_mod2.zip (44.6 KB)

Efiflash_0.74_mod.7z.zip (42.1 KB)

Try with /x or /y or /z - only use one at a time. If you are flashing same BIOS as your board, there should never be a OEMID check issue.

BIOS jump like that, probably had one, maybe two, Qflash version changes, so it’s best to update via @BIOS (Not ideal), or make some jump BIOS flashes in-between (1 > 5 > 10 > 15 > 20)
This is likely either due to Qflash version updated between BIOS, very likely, or if this is mod BIOS you need to use one of those switches, or edit the BIOS to remove Qflash block


I’ve modified efiflash to bypass all verification . gigabyte efiflash doesn’t offer option to bypass the check.

What you mention originally maybe is not a valid check for the instance outlines, unless you are crossflashing another boards BIOS?
That is why I mentioned the issue is not really OEMID/BIOSID, but rather due to the large jump in BIOS versions and over Qflash version changes.
Even with BIOS 11 for example, Qflash update in BIOS 12, often you must use @BIOS to update to 12 in those cases (or other methods).


I switch BIOS from Main to Backup , and use efiflash to flash it like what I have done to Main BIOS but it alert me OEMID mismatch .
Besides , Intel FPT always can handle this .

I think that’s due to large jump/Qflash change as mentioned, when trying to use official tools other than @BIOS. Yes, FPT is a good way around that
Qflash block removal here, not sure if I linked in this thread or not, this sometimes is needed for mod BIOS flash when using Qflash - [OFFER] Gigabyte GA-Z370-Aorus Gaming 7 BIOS mod (6)