You could have done that with certain board with BCLK overclock featured enabled.
Does anybody test it on some MSI B250m board ? (I have MSI B250m Mortar - but this tutorial is like magic to me - I might try to flash mobo if somone will have coffee ready bios or will help me a little bit)
Look at this thread for more guidance:
Fixing PCI-Express for Coffee Lake CPUs on Sky/Kaby Lake non-Asrock(and some new Asrock) motherboards
The first post (with the guide in it) states that it works on MSI B150.
Also, look at the hwbot.org link on the previous page of the current thread (page 5, post #62 by chinobino).
B150 and Z170 are probably different boards 
First of all you should check your current version of bios, if you have v24 or v25 flashing attached bios is pointless because of ME version, unless you going to use SPI programmer. If you are not afraid to try, you have a prepared bios here: https://megawrzuta.pl/download/e5046a1b5ā¦453519f838.html This bios should work with coffee lake, kaby lake and skylake.
Remember that there is always a risk that modded bios might brick your motherboard and you will have to use the SPI programmer to restore the original bios. If you decide to use that bios please post the result.
First of all you should check your current version of bios, if you have v24 or v25 flashing attached bios is pointless because of ME version, unless you going to use SPI programmer. If you are not afraid to try, you have a prepared bios here: https://megawrzuta.pl/download/e5046a1b5ā¦453519f838.html This bios should work with coffee lake, kaby lake and skylake.
Remember that there is always a risk that modded bios might brick your motherboard and you will have to use the SPI programmer to restore the original bios. If you decide to use that bios please post the result.
is it modded bios from https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/support/ā¦ORTAR#down-bios with PCI-express fix included ?
I had bricked bios few months ago - I have used raspberry PI and flashed new bios via SPI (connected to JSPI1 mobo)
I have v24 version right now - can I make a flash from raspberry PI via JSPI1 ?
Yes, it is modded bios v25 from oficial MSI support site and yes it include PCIe fix. If you have v24 then you must use raspberry PI for flashing by JSPI.
@Wolf_Larsen , thanks! I see you started from BIOS P7.60, which normally has ME 11.8.5, but youāve backdated it to 11.6.0.1126. I was wondering how to do that; I assume it is manual editing with the UEFITool that I have not learned how to do yet. Correct? Does that mean you managed to include the Spectre/Meltdown security fixes while evading Intelās CPU lockdown? Thanks!
Iāve modified BIOSes to include the 906EA microcode in UBU (update version 80, where you have 84), but it just has not allowed the computer to post with the Coffee Lake CPU. I am thinking my problems are related to the āunknown Device_IDā problem that affects all the non-ASRock boards. Maybe the STX boards are limited in ways that other ASRock boards are not. I tried the pcie_patcher(1.4).cmd, but it found nothing to patch, and it didnāt help.
I will probably try your BIOS and tell you what happened. If it works, Iād like to find out why my attempts have not worked so far. But Iāll probably never know.
Edit: it did not work. Same result, fan spins up but immediately turns off, no post.
I still think itās the device_ID issue, though I have no evidence, and I donāt know how to fix it. Yet. Thatās the point of doing this, right, to learn how?
I see they shorted two pins on hwbot, but they never explained why. Does anyone know? Could that be what is stopping my board from posting with the hex-core cpu?
This is exactly what stopping your motherboard from posting. To run 6-core coffee lake on Asrock motherboard you have to short two pins otherwise motherboard doesnāt detect CPU. To do this you may use for example electrically conductive epoxy, electrically conductive silver adhesive, graphite varnish etc. I thought you are aware of this fact.
Have you tried to run skylake with the bios that I attached?? It could be an indication of whether the bios work properly. You should also check if the Intel iGPU is working correctly.
Iāve noticed that you donāt understand how the PCIe patch works, so let me quote:
So thatās why patcher found nothing to patch. Device_ID is not the issue here.
Yes, I started from BIOS P7.60, which normally has ME 11.8.50.3425. I used UEFITool to change ME to version 11.6.0.1126 by extract ME region from bios P7.20 and replace it in P7.60. I checked this method on my own motherboard and works perfectly. But that does not mean that I was able to implement the Spectre/Meltdown security fixes, avoiding the Intel processor lock. You are confusing two separate problems. ME in version below 11.8ā¦ has vulnerabilities but does not concern Spectre and Meltdown. Intel has fixed Spectre / Meltdown issues through a new microcode, which unfortunately also affects performance. Therefore, it is recommended to use an older microcode but you have to choose between safety and performance. I used the latest microcode because you asked about it in an earlier post. If you want to test, I can prepare a new bios for you with an older microcode. But firstly you have to start by shorting those two pins.
Okay, thanks! Iāve been asking if anyone got a hex core working, but youāre the first to reply. The only place I saw the shorted pins was on that overclocking site with a different type of board, and they never said why it was needed, so I did not know if it applied or if I should do it. If I did it for the wrong reasons, it might fry things.
I think I did understand pcie patcher; it is supposed to swap out some code -if it is present-. I ran it, it did not find find that code, therefore that code was not the problem in my case. But the unknown device ID would have produced the symptoms of momentary spin-up and immediate shutdown.
Skylake has worked, with integrated GPU, on every BIOS Iāve tried. The ones I did, the one you so kindly provided.
I will find something to short those two pins and try again. But right now my second board is on its way back to ASRock for other issues, so it will be a while. I just donāt feel like taking the remaining one apart again at the moment.
I have really messed up big time, 3-times. Updated to latest BIOS on 3 of my motherboards which certainly put ME 11.8 on them. Gigabyte H110M-S2PV and 2 Gigabyte B150M-HD3. All 3 are now on F20f.
Can I downgrade the BIOS without desoldering? I have a TL866A programmer and SOIC clip, but have never been successful with in-circuit programming using the clip in the past. Programmer software always detects over or reverse current even when motherboard is powered. I would greatly prefer not to have to desolder the chip. Any ideas?
Have you tried powering only the 3.3 rail? I think that is important. Normally the motherboard tells the psu to turn on with 5v sense line (green wire). So dont do that. dont power the 5v and 12v rails. And reference the same common ground / +3.3v rail to your programmer.
What else? If another chip is draging / fighting the CS_SELECT pin on comon shared spi bus. Then if you can find that other chip, then you might be able to interfere with it / disrupt it. Since it will also be powered by the very same 3.3v rail.
What else? If the programmer is too weak for sourcing / sinking enough current to provide correct voltage levels. Then some clever pull up or pull down resistor circuit can help to adjust logic levels to be within the recognised operating range.
What else? 858D hot air rework station costs $30 USD, mask area around it with kapton tape, and blow of / remove with tweezers. Wheras lifting just only the Vcc pin (pin 8). And placing an insulator under it will let you do isolated 3.3v powering, without lighting up the entire 3.3v rail of the motherboard. But I cannot recommend this.
Please come back and let us know if you have any success / any luck finding out.
I will give that shot. I do have a 995D hot air rework station if I get desperate.
Do you know of any Windows-based utility that will return the ME version so I can check to see if itās properly downgraded? The BIOS doesnāt seem to report ME version anywhere.
No luck with i3 8100 on Asus Maximus VIII Hero
qcode a2 and b2
Have you tried fixing pcie lane?
Fixing PCI-Express for Coffee Lake CPUs on Sky/Kaby Lake non-Asrock(and some new Asrock) motherboards
@Dnatwork Donāt be afraid to do this mod. Just tape the place around two procesor contact pads you want to short, then with the needle put thin path of electrically conductive glue or epoxy or varnish. Wait till dry. Pull off the tape and CPU is ready! As easy, as it sounds
@GnatGoSplat Before you get desperate and start to use hardware solutions you should try to force restore backup bios. To be honest I donāt know if it works with gigabyte motherboards, but I know that to downgrade ME, without using SPI programmer, on Asrock motherboards with dual bios is enough to run backup bios and perform āsecure backupā B->A.
If you want to check ME version, you may use Intel CSME System Tools v11 r10
@danyalbmw Try with this bios if you like.
@Wolf_Larsen , Iāll give that a try. Iāve already tried options #1 and #2 from that link, but havenāt tried #3. I suspect I wonāt have any luck, because when I flashed the new BIOS through the QFlash utility in the BIOS, it first shows progress for āFlashing BIOSā and once finished, shows progress for āFlashing Backup BIOSā. So I suspect it flashed the same BIOS image to both main and backup which also explains why options #1 and 2 didnāt work. It doesnāt make sense to me that Gigabyte would flash both BIOS chips at the same time, but maybe the purpose of Gigabyteās DualBIOS is not so much to be able to revert to an older BIOS, but just to have a recovery available if flash of main BIOS should fail due to power failure.
@GnatGoSplat You are correct, Gigabyte boards with DualBIOS and no DIP switch can update both BIOS chips at the same if you use Q-Flash or efiflash, which means that if the flash fails on the main chip it will likely also fail on the backup and brick the board.
I bought an SP8-F programmer after this happened to me and recovered both BIOS through in-circuit programming.
To do this I did the following;
1) Discharge the motherboard capacitors by pressing the PC case power button with the PSU turned off and unplugged from the wall
2) Remove the ATX 24-pin and 8-pin/4-pin 12v CPU connectors from the motherboard
3) Take out the CMOS battery
4) Attach SOIC-8 test clip and flash via laptopās USB port (I havenāt needed to use the serial port yet)
I have also reverted Intel ME firmware to an earlier version this way (although you may need to do a greset afterwards using Intel fptw).
Where should I look for the ME version in Intel CSME System Tools v11 r10? After downgrading my Gigabyte boardās BIOS from F20f to F20b using QFlash, under MEInfo itās saying FW Version 11.6.0.1126 (it did say 11.8-something before). Itās not supposed to be able to downgrade ME version, so I guess Iām looking at the wrong thing?