[Guide] How to flash a modded AMI UEFI BIOS

[ChrisM]

I have a basic FPT flashing question. I’m 99% sure I’ve got a solid modded bios that’s ready to flash. My Intel ME version is 12, so I’ll be using the Flash Programming Tool under CSME System Tools v12 r38. My Dell has a physical service mode pin that will allow for an FPT flash.

Is it problematic or potentially problematic to simply flash over the current bios with the command FPTW64.exe -f bios.bin (and this assumes the modded bios is named bios.bin)?

Or, is it safer or required to erase the bios first, and then flash?

I’m getting this idea from this post:

1. Type FPTW64 -ERASE and press enter.

2. Type FPTW64 -REWRITE -F moddedbios.rom (for example) and press enter.

turn off your pc and reboot.

When I mis-flashed my bios, there’s no question that the replacement bios was broken. But I did simply overwrite with FPTW64.exe -f bios.bin, and am now considering proper FPT flashing to finish this off. Thanks

[MeatWar]

-ERASE Erase the contents of flash.

-REWRITE Rewrite the SPI with file data even if flash is identical.

fpt -h will get you the CMD switches

The rewrite switch usually is not needed but its useful to write if the system has the same bios version and ensure the block override, when for ex.: some tiny adjustments were made in previous flashed mod file and tool still complains about it, being identical data.

[asparaguswizard]

the hey the Flashrom v1.2 utilities link doesnt seem to work anymore, i was trying to help a friend get rid of a cyberpowerpc bios from his ASRock b450m, and for some reason the link either says that it doesnt have a app associated with it to open it and errors out, or for his pc it just turns into a notepad file. is there something im missing? (i’m a mega noob and usually solve issues via reddit and google)

[Fernando]

@asparaguswizard
Welcome to the Win-Raid Forum!

@asparaguswizard

the Flashrom v1.2 utilities link doesnt seem to work anymore

As I just have tested >this< link is still working fine and doesn’t need an associated App to get the *.rar archive downloaded. Nevertheless you need an up-to-date unzip tool like 7-Zip (currently latest: v2408) or WinRAR (currently latest: v7.01) to get the compressed Flashrom Utilities extracted.

[asparaguswizard]

you’re a life saver, I’m a little slow and didn’t have an unzip tool.

[peggidead]

My old p8b75-v asus motherboard (.CAP Bios) don’t have USB Flashback features and i’m not buying pcie to nvme adapter before ensure bios is modable so i can’t use AMI AFU method.
AI Suite is not available for Windows 10 so i had to install Windows 8.1 and use it to flash and voila it worked

Use UEFITool load BiosOgirinal.CAP, search text “CSMCORE”, scroll down to the last entry before “Volume free space” and insert after NvmExpressDxe final save to file Modded.CAP
Open Ai Suite → Asus Update → Update BIOS from file → Choose BiosOgirinal.CAP → after it loaded don’t click next → Delete BiosOgirinal.CAP and rename Modded.Cap to BiosOgirinal.CAP → now you can click next and flash it

[Fernando]

@peggidead
Welcome to the Win-Raid Forum and congratulations for having succeeded!
Enjoy the speed of an NVMe SSD being used as system drive!

[Gregory_Tumanyan]

@Fernando As an MSI Z370 owner I want to write a short guide about flashing a modded BIOS:

Just use FPTW64 -bios -f mod_bios.bin from the corresponding CSME System Tools.
No other tools are needed.

[Fernando]

@Gregory_Tumanyan
Thank you very much for your short guide about how to get a modded MSI BIOS properly flashed by using the Intel FPT tool.
To make it easier for the MSI mainboard users, your guide has been quoted by me within the first post of this thread.

[euranooo]

I managed to successfully flash modified bios to ASRock x570 phantom gaming 4 using flashrom. Original board bios version was 2.20 ( notice that it’s before AGESA 1.2 update came ) and I flashed newest version with mod applied.

[Huike]

My personal experience of this guide. Thanks for this guide first. It helped me to flash an Asus H87i-Plus board and an Asus P8Z77-V-Pro board with modded UEFI BIOS to support boot from NVMe M.2 SSD on a PCIe to M.2 NVMe adapter. My experience has slightly different part from the guide. See below:

1. Use UEFITool 0.28.0 to extract the BIOS body as .rom file.
2. I found out that the H87i-Plus .cap file missing the PcieLaneDxe.ffs driver. So I downloaded a Asus Z87 .cap bios and extracted it from the bios file. Use the “Extract as is…” command.
3. Use the same UEFITOOL 0.28.0 to open the H87iP.rom extracted before. Find the CSMCORE part and scroll down to the last line of the DXE driver region, insert the previously extracted PcieLaneDxe.ffs and the downloaded NvmExpressDxe_5.ffs, then save the image. Then open it again and compare it with the original .rom file to make sure there is no errors.
4. Flash the modded BIOS. This part is a bit hard. I have read many guides and tried many different methods and finally flashed it. Couple of things first: The Asus flashback method is easy, I used it to flash my modded Z77VP.cap easily. But for the H87i-Plus there is no flashback method. I tried AMI AFU for DOS core8, Aptio 4 and Aptio 5 in Freedos 1.3. All not working. The Aptio 5 and Core8 just crashed. The Aptio 4 just saying the BIOS is write protected so it even can’t read the BIOS. Tried different AFUWinx64 versions on Windows 11 and they never worked. So I have to install Windows 10 on the H87i-Plus machine and finally use the AFUWINx64 3.05.04 with GAN option to flash it. It worked. The only thing different from this guide is that you don’t need to flash the original .cap BIOS first. Just flash the modded .rom file as below:

AFUWINX64.EXE MODDED_ROM.ROM /GAN

And It was successful. After reboot I can boot Windows 10 from the NVMe disk.

But there is one issue with my H87i-Plus board. I use this board to build a NAS using TrueNas-Scale 24.10.0.2. The TrueNas Scale can be installed onto the NVMe disk, But it can’t boot. No options in the BIOS. Windows 10 and 11 can boot correctly from the NVMe disk. So some further digging needed.

Hope these experience will help somebody.

Thanks again for this guide.

[kenshin_1997]

hello brother greetings
I hope you have a happy holiday brother look I have a big problem I have the asrock x99 extreme 4 with the bios 3.80 of the year 2018 is its original bios with an xeon e5 2698v3 but I tell you probe all the methods that you comment on the thread above and none work by editing bios with the UBU
much less edit the bios by DOS
I get a message that the bios is protected x region and that you can not copy it much less edit it nothing allows me and with the UBU
it comes out that the protection has not been removed already the truth that I do not know what to do since this xeon has a turbo boss not despicable of 3.6 ghz in all its nuclei but for now I only reach with luck the 2.8ghz nothing more and I am losing enough with the xeon so you have some idea how to get the mod of the active turbo on this board for the series e5 26xv3 if you can share it a lot bro te I have a lot of time.
happy 2025

[Fernando]

@kenshin_1997
Have you already tried to use an old UBU tool v1.79.xx?

[Nameless]

| ASRock B450 Pro4 MOBO |

Hello World,

I’m seeking guidance.
I’ve attempted to follow several passages on this site now.

However, I’ve yet to be successful…

Purely modding the BIOS to enable Re-BAR on my capable RTX 2080. I was on the latest stable 8.02 iirc, downgraded to 4.50, now on [2-3.something] as I was trying to pass the security check that still plagues me with its presence…

So, I assume downgrading will not pass the security check [I’ve just attempted experimenting to see how it played out].

Nonetheless, I believe my issue lies with the Romflash tool [I need to download it still as I’ve bounced to various links, comments, other threads that have come to integrate with this one in unison]

Although, reading various walls of text that don’t relate to my board, going back and fourth/not assessing the process in one, rather, processing multiple methods, off the basis of [General Misc troubleshooting].

I don’t exactly have an A-B guide for the solution for this board. I certainly may have missed it as I’ve been searching and reading a multitude of threads, comments and the likes.

Therefore, I kindly ask for some clarification from a clear cutting soul who would like to enlighten me.

I modified everything I need atm.
A DXE patch to be inserted after the final DXE file of the volume under the main BIOS Image.

I can’t flash the modded BIOS.
I know this now as I’ve just recently seen comments around this.

However, it’s 05:30 currently….
which means I’m F KEN tired…

So, I’ve decided to write in for some foreign aid as I predict to occur xD

I just need a clear set of instructions going forthwith.
A bullet point comment would suffix.
pun intended
Terrible one at that

Just so I’m not directed to various redirects that may not be clear as a lot is outdated.
I was hoping to find potentially redirects for a compiled 2022 guide or 2024 updated

Regardless, great work from the dedicated guys n’ gals here.

Keep up the great work!!

I’ll be on the lookout for a reply,

Thanks everyone for your time, and of course—
your efforts to the cause.

[Fernando]

@Nameless
Welcome to the Win-Raid Forum!
Since I have a rather modern ASRock mainboard with an AMD chipset myself, I know about the problem to get a modded AMI Aptio V BIOS properly flashed. It is the mainboard manufacturer, who tries to prevent any manipulation of the BIOS by inserting a secret integrity check into the BIOS.
Did you already try to use the Flashrom/Flashprog tool (currently latest v1.3 can be found >here<)? You can find my Guide and a link within the start post of this thread. According to >this< page your mainboard model has not yet been tested.

[Girofox]

Is there even a chance to flash modded BIOS on Asus nowadays? Should be based on AMI.

I tried it with patched GOP drivers for Intel graphics on an old Asus X99 via Bios flashback, no chance. Seems like there is some checksum check maybe with encapsulated BIOS .cap files.

[Fernando]

@Girofox

Is there even a chance to flash modded BIOS on Asus nowadays?

It should be no problem, if
a) the BIOS is encapsulated (as *.CAP file) and
b) the mainboard supports the USB Flashback method.

[Nameless]

I’ve not downloaded Flash yet, It was next on the cards [has to sleep though xD}

I’m assuming that I need to flash the modded BIOS and then that’s pretty much it.
Hopefully not an oversight here…

I was cast by bewilderment though, as I followed the ASRock specific section which still left a Flash Check Failure even after using UBU, removing the Security Tag Code within.
I presumed this was due to AMI 5 architecture present on my board, V opposed to IV which was catered towards IV boards when most of the initial discussion flourished, as it started back in 14’

If my board has not been tested, I believe that it should be no different as ASRock boards have been successful from users [from what I’ve seen, yourself included on IV boards and more recent boards like your X570 iirc]
One user I seen managed successfully and they had a B450M Pro4 or B450M Pro4 R2.0, very similar boards, one a revised model facelift and the other micro-ATX scaled down version

So, at a glance I’d assume they would function identically for the most part with some variation in areas.
Even at that, my specific board could be assumed to be easier/identical as it is the original variant pertaining to the configuration of these boards [could be 110% wrong with these assumptions though xD]

I’m still not aware of the tools I specifically need to utilise here.
I have unpacked the Mega archive published by @SoniX
However, I believe I only need to use certain tools from this depending on the board and its architecture.
I wasn’t sure If I’m meant to use MMT at all or a certain version or…
Also unsure on some comments referring to the process relating to this code snippet
{ FPTW64 -bios -f mod_bios.bin },
that’s to be used along with other snippets I have seen for the same application tool and/or others that either apply to me or don’t.

Hence why I mentioned I haven’t seen/maybe missed an up-to-date post/guide that is not obsolete to my specific scenario/board due to the elapsed duration of the thread to date, and comments that relate to different boards/processes/solutions/variations on board architecture.
Likewise the tools published to tackle specific issues for each board.

I’ll stop rambling on here xD

Just want to express my position/phase in the current entanglement that’s got me in a mental chokehold currently, and hopefully, provided information that’s transparent for yourself and others to understand so that we are 1:1 or at least close in order to tackle the issue, further meeting a solution thereafter.

Thank you for the initial response @Fernando greatly appreciated, Sir