thank you for your tutorials and work that you put into this site, it really helped me a lot to understand the Bios mod process.
I purchased a stock Gigabyte motherboard and a “Mr Su special” BGA1440 to 1551 converted ES cpu and got the modified bios as well.
I flashed the modified bios to the board using a CH341A programmer, installed the CPU, configured Opencore and started up my existing Catalina hackintosh without problems. As I went through the small things, like mapping USB and other small tweaks I could not get the wake from sleep function properly. The unresponsive programs (only some were, which was confusing) in the end pointed me towards to the ME more precisely the lack of ME witihin the Bios.
I have Win10 installed in dualboot, and could not find any trace of the ME in the HW info either… I used the ME Analyzer on the modded bios file, and that showed an installed version (with some warnings, please see attached screenshot) but the CoffeeLake Mod Tool errored out when trying to downgrade the ME in the modded firmware. I managed to downgrade the ME in the stock latest firmware without a problem (when trying to see if it was previously user error, or an actual problem with the modded bios)
I thought that maybe extracting the CPU uCodes (from the modded bios) using the AptioMM Tool and applying it to the stock bios I will have a working modded bios, but realised that the extract from both the latest stock and the modded bios are exactly the same (used diff to test it)
Could someone help me to either extract what needs to be extracted from the modded bios, so I can apply that to a stock one and have a ystem with fully functioning ME or point me to a guide which would help me to achieve this.
I am happy to dissect the bios file, I am also in a good position as I have the programmer and the (somewhat) modded bios so even if I botch the mod, I can flash the working bios back onto the motherboard. I do not have a stock 1151 CPU to test with, so for me the microcode update to allow the laptop cpu to run on the system is essential.
Have u tried to ask to Mr. SU Special…after all, ur his client.
EDIT: Damm…i thought he cares about is customers…seems is all in for the $$$
Weren’t u here…about 1 month or 2 ago, with the same issue…maybe a different user name perhaps… humm
So if i understood right…there is cpu converted and he provide a bios…witch do u think is fake, or wich one needs the other, the converter or the bios file Seems that u believe that his secret is only in bios file…
I have tried to extract the CPU patch codes from the modded QQLS bios, but when flashed, the system blinked once and shut down immediately. I managed to flash it via the BIOS and athe CH341 programmer, but got the same result.
When I tried to identify the ME version of the QQLS bios with the Intel CSME Version Detection Tool and the Intel-SA-00125 Detection Tool, both of the m reported an unknown version of IME.
The Intel Flash Image Tool extract gives me a ~2Mb ME Region.bin file, which is much smaller for the corporate version, than the files in the v11.7 repository…
I still see 2 ways… either repair the modded QQLS Bios’ ME firmware, or build a fresh bios…
When I try to use the CoffeeModTool, to downgrade the ME on the QQLS_modded bios, it errors out, and does nothing. When I open the QQLS_modded bios in the Flash Image Tool, I don’t see how I could swap the ME and build an image with an upgraded ME version…
Likewise extracting the CPU patch codes seem to be unsuccessful using the APTIO MM Tool.
Update 1: Using the Flash Image Tool, extracted the ME Region.bin from the latest FW for the board and replaced the QQLS modded bios’ ME region.bin and rebuilding the QQLS bios did not result in success via the BIOS update. Trying to flash it via CH341 now…
Update 2: Flashing the attached Bios via CH341 results in a POST, I can get into the BIOS, configure it as normal, but after exit, the system restarts and then powers off. Afterwards it exhibits the same brief start then power off, like before. (by the brief on I mean, that fans starts spinning, all the LEDs seem to come on as normal and after ~1 sec the whole system shuts down) I tried to upload it, but it’s too large even when compressed… >External link<
I have replaced the ME in the QQLS_modded bios, and flashed it with CH341
In all instances the BIOS loaded for the first time, I was able to configure it, but after "Save and Exit" the system powered down and exhibited the same behaviour… turned on for 1 sec, leds lit up briefly, and then everything powered off. (no boot loop) I tried 3 different ME versions, but none of them worked.
Tomorrow is another day, for now I flashed back the "Mr Su Special" working bios (QQLS_modded) and will try to find some more clues…
have pinged Mr Su again, but got fairly dry reply… oh well… they are in the $$$ business…
Can’t figure out what the secret sauce is in his bios. there is something wrong with the ME, but the system boots, and works fine (apart from the ME part of course)
ps: this is my first reg here, so I definitely was not here a few months ago…
UPDATE: the Bios although functional, does not work as expected. The sytems sleeps, but only if the IGPU is set to auto in the BIOS which results it not being present for MacOS…
I think I can live with this until the new test clips arrive, as I wore out my current one and it only stay in place with some magic… (after trying to clip it onto the Bios chip like 15 times…)
Managed to find the combination of things that allowed me to create a bios that works correctly and now sleep also works 100%
Finally gave CoffeTime a try and using the latest 15a stock bios and replacing the ME v11.8.77.3664 and leaving it disabled, applying the Patches and Fixes in CT resulted in a fully functioning bios.
I have uploaded the final bios file, in case anyone finds it useful
Yes very helpfull, i was trying the 9980hk es from mr su in a asrock z170 oc formula and had the same issue: no post just on than off. Im not very much in the loop in case off ami bios mods, so how do you change the ME version?
I probably going to buy a gb z370-p d3 but i very much like to try my z170 oc formula
Download Coffee Time and choose the ME version offered by the Coffee time, it might be the case, that you need to go with the Corporate version of ME. I have uploaded the Bios always by CH341 programmer to the flash chip and I would highly recommend you to do that (It eliminated quite a few possible hickups for me)
Have you had a look if there is a post for your specific motherboard (and CPU)? if not I would suggest you to open one upload your BIOS file from Mr Su and maybe document your journey too… (let me know if you have uploaded your file, I am quite interested to see what it is… )
Well i havent contacted mr su because i dont have contact information and second because I thought it wasnt that deep just swaping microcode something like that. Anyway I bought the CH341, takes a couple of days to arrive.
The CH341 has arrived, however it seams to be damaged - for every winbond 25q128fv1q(i have 3) I tried to read with it is corrupted. So i dont trust it. Have you tried flashing with FTP?
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