[Guide] How to flash a modded AMI UEFI BIOS

@Lost_N_BIOS
Yep thats the bios i have tried to mod
https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/support/Z170M-MORTAR
Is the support page
Cpu is i5-6400 currently running at 4ghz, didnt have time to push further. I Always reset bios before ocing or swapping parts
Thank you

@Lost_N_BIOS have you had a chance to have a look at the bios buddy or should I try and mod it again
This older bios works well but temps cant be read, not sure what other functions are not available

Sorry for delay @CivilDrone - mod looks OK, but FIT table is not changed correctly, but the error shouldnā€™t cause issues.
I think the only thing here is difference between old and new BIOS and you expecting to use exact same settings which is almost never the case due to internal BIOS changes, CPU microcode changes, ME FW changes etc. Overclock will always need re-tweaked to find stability again.
I can correct the FIT issue if you want, but I donā€™t think itā€™s causing any issue (Itā€™s only the count of CPU microcodes in the table is off by one, so an incorrect and empty table would be loaded). If you want me to fix that let me know.

Today is the day! Iā€™m lodging ā€œSmall claims courtā€ papers in Australia seeking $5000 damages against Asrock distributors in Australia for blocking modding on x470/Z390 motherboards. Itā€™s going to cost me $90 dollars AU to lodge. But we need to keep the bastards honest. The court will Probably deny it but you never know right?

@elitethem - You can mod those BIOS, however you may need flash programmer to flash it back in @ price of $3.60 to possibly $7 total shipped.
If you have socketed BIOS only $2.60+$1 (CH341A + U Type Flat Chip IC extractor), if your BIOS is soldered then price is $2.60 + $3.50 (CH341A + SOIC8 test clip w/ cable)

Let us know outcome of court case

@Lost_N_BIOS I will it will be interesting for sure. If I win I will reinvesting the money in reverse engineering these ā€œso calledā€ blocks on the modding community. They can get stuffed/screwed. :slight_smile: I know we can ā€œsomewhat can bypass itā€ But these crap ā€œsoft blocksā€ is always the first step to something bigger and more harder blocks this is a attack on the modding community.

https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Australia%2ā€¦chips_are_legal

@elitethem - I forgot to mention, Z390 Asrock I can help you flash via FPT, if you need BIOS mod on those, no flash programmer needed

@Lost_N_BIOS Thanks for the offer mate. But sadly I have a x470 motherboard FPT doesnā€™t work on this platform. This ā€œblockingā€ makes me so mad/pissed off. Do you happen to know of any other way then only CH341a to flash modded bios on AM4/x470 board(s) with crappy ā€œwrite Protectā€/Secure fail error - that you cant turn off?.

Yes, thatā€™s why I mentioned Z390 only . There may be some AFU method or certain AFU version that will flash mod BIOS onto your board, but thatā€™s a lot of tests to try.
You can first try this method here, download the package attached to this thread, just so you can get the AFU version, then follow the method outlined in the last spoiler
https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/592ā€¦r-motherboards/

If that doesnā€™t work, see PM, and try both GUI and CMD line version (Can use /GAN but risky)

@Lost_N_Bios.

Nothing works mate. No older versions of AFU works ā€œError getting informationā€ newer versions donā€™t have /gan switch. You have to use newer versions of AFU and use ā€œCapsuleā€ switch to downgrade and only can go up to P1.90 after that its impossible to flash modded bioes. The only way is using a external flasher e.g CH341A. They are arseholes ASRock. They royally screwed over the modding community. Iā€™m thinking of selling my motherboard and buying a different brand. This is the information I will telling the court when it goes to court soon. They are breaking Australian laws.

Edit: Telling customers they canā€™t downgrade bios after flashing P3.20 (x470 Master sli) is straight up lying and miss leading. You could say older bioes might have "Better performance"

Edit2 If you downgrade to P1.0 you canā€™t upgrade to P3.20 modded bios because of ā€œrom holesā€

Edit3 iā€™m going to take a risk and see if /L in afudos works?

Iā€™ve never heard of /L and only heard bad things about /CAPSULE, so be careful. The package I sent you in PM is a newer version, and has GAN if you use the command line version, but yes itā€™s not super new, but not the really old ones either. It may not work though
Just get CH341A + U Type Flat chip IC extractor if socketed or SOIC8 test clip w/ cable if soldered.

@Lost_N_BIOS Yeah /L programs all rom holes. Anyways. I went and brought a new motherboard (MSI) and bonus round: Iā€™ll be making a video of me sitting on fire the AsRock x470 master sli motherboard and ill send it to AsRock the arseholes. The Asrock had 8+8 pins for the bios (winbond) W25Q256JW. I got a CH341A already. :slight_smile: The MSI motherboard I brought I can use afudos/afuwin and do whatever I want unlike AsRock. :slight_smile:

So MSI boards do not have any bios protection, modded bios can be flashed just using the built-in flash tool without ā€˜secure check failā€™ of similar errors, even on latest z390 boards (those without USB flashback)?

@twometres. I donā€™t use the ā€œbuilt in flashersā€ M-flash in MSI case. I always use afudos/afuwin and CH341A so iā€™m not sure. Iā€™ll test it soon. I made a full bios backup via CH341A so iā€™ll test it for sure. :slight_smile: MSI release tools to downgrade and flash modded bioses. so no problem there. :slight_smile:

OK, just found ā€˜MSI Forum HQ USB Flashing Toolā€™ from MSI forums: https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=116721.0

Now I just need to find information if flash fails or something gets corrupted, what kind of recovery methods MSI has. For this board: https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/MPG-Z390M-GAMING-EDGE-AC/

@twometres Hardly any motherboard vendors/manufacturers have a fail safe plan for flashing bioses. Like come on itā€™s mid 2019! not 1995. Just get a CH341a programmer. Back up the full bios using CH341a before installing the motherboard in the case and your set. No one should have to pull out there ch341a just to flash a modded bios thatā€™s ridiculous. Like I dont get it why motherboard vendors/manufacturers are blocking flashing modded bioses? They can get flapped iā€™m looking at you ā€œAsRockā€. Like whats next I have to get a JTAG to install a custom rom on my android phone?

Thank god I returned my Asrock board in favor of Gigabyte. Had no idea there were so many roadblocks. Perhaps the modding section of the forum needs an Asrock specific unlocking pinned thread of its own. As far as MSI goes there are special premade ch341a cables with matching headers to the msi jsp1 motherboard headers. I picked one up last year from Aliexpress I think. So no need to use test clips.

Link:

https://www.aliexpress.com/store/productā€¦55b895498JNdcy

@elitethem - if you have CH341A now, then you can do whatever you want on the Asrock BIOS too.

@twometres - yes, sometimes this is possible, rename BIOS to exact stock BIOS name (including extension) and try.

@davidm71 - itā€™s new Asrock protection, and of courser AMD always more difficult than Intel to get mod BIOS in there. This is recent issue, UBU can remove old type, like Z170 and any previous

@Lost_N_BIOS Thatā€™s very true mate. :slight_smile: But what Iā€™m concerned about is whats next? Maybe theyā€™ll start encrypting each main bios with a RSA4096 key say goodbye to modding community overnight. You have to stand up and say something get them back inline. Anyways Iā€™m spamming the thread.

@elitethem - I know what you mean, hopefully that never comes to mainstream desktop motherboards! Some OEMā€™s already do this, HP specifically and some of their stuff is worse than that (Sure Start), even with programmer it recovers stock BIOS after programming