[Help] Unlock Advanced Tab on Acer

@fairestmeat - Yes, - 1-2 = pins furthest from the lever, on the lever side. Look at any for sale images, this is usual stock position that it should have been in when it arrived.

* edit - Just noticed your edit after I replied. Please upload the dumped BIOS only and I will fix for you (with BIOS From #13, so you’ll be back to square one with unlocked BIOS again).
Stock BIOS download is only partial BIOS, that is why it’s smaller than dump

@Lost_N_BIOS

That’s great! Sending dump

bricked BIOS

Here you go, I unlocked FD and put back your already tested and confirmed unlock OK BIOS region
Erase, blank check, the open BIOS file and write/verify
http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?fil…419092536877373

If it fails, then ME FW may need fixed, but it looked OK generally, so I left alone for now.

@Lost_N_BIOS

Thanks! Trying right now, I’ll send feedback in a minute.

When you say you unlocked FD, what exactly means? All regions are unlocked?

And to fix a bad BIOS like this one, you replaced the BIOS region on the file by the working file at the #13 post? Or there is more into it?

@fairestmeat - Yes, I mean I unlocked your Flash Descriptor for all regions.
And one more yes, that is all I did currently to fix (so far), replaced BIOS region in dump with known good working BIOS region, can be done via Hex or UEFITol 25 (I used)

@Lost_N_BIOS

I see, thanks for the information. Everything worked like a charm here! Up and running again

Thanks alot!!

@fairestmeat - Awesome to hear it man!! I knew it would be working nicely, provided the write in didn’t fail on you
You’re welcome Now, this time, be careful, or at least you know how to fix it now And you can now always use that same BIOS if you have to recover again

@Lost_N_BIOS

Yeah!! thanks once more!

Just one more question, is there any way to brick a system beyond recover? I’m talking about BIOS and hardware misconfigs…

@fairestmeat - You’re welcome!
Once you have programmer, really nothing is beyond recovery, especially when you plan in advance and have confirmed working backups.
But even without that, someone can always make you a BIOS that will boot, or find one to get you started, then work/rebuild from there etc.
As long as you don’t physically damage something, scratch, short etc, you can fix always fix it if it’s BIOS related once programmer is in your hand

Speaking of that, you should now also find and backup your EC FW chip too, just in case it ever gets messed up. Should look same as BIOS chip, but only 128kb-1MB usually.




@Lost_N_BIOS

Coming back to this old subject… (If you think I should I can creat another thread to talk about this)

Today I tried to mod the vBIOS. I found the correct one by comparing the version on GPUz with versions on the many vBIOSes present on my BIOSreg. I extracted using UEFItool 0.28 (right click on RAW than "extract as is" option). Than I edited the base and boost clocks using Maxwel"s tweaker tool, inserted back the way I extracted, than flashed new image with FPTw. The flash went perfectly fine. But after restart, non of my alterations took place…

My guess is that since there was nothing different with GPU after restart, the vBIOS did not flash for some reason, but I’m sure the flash worked at some level, because some BIOS settings I chaged before were back to default…

Now I’m thinking if I need to disable any blocks with hex editor on the vBIOS for this to work, or change some config on BIOS before flashing, or maybe if I have to use programmer…

Hello @fairestmeat
I have a F5-573g too, Idk how to flash bios and if it’s safe to do this? also I don’t understand why you’re modifying Bios with Maxwel ,isn’t there a advanced menu currently?
here’s the exact model I have F5-573G-547K just to make sure

@whatsmyname
Hello! Flashing bios os an easy and safe process If the BIOS you’re flashing has nothing wrong with It. And if you have a ch341a programmer is even more safe and easier, cause If something goes wrong you can Just program the working BIOS back.

Post your BIOS at the BIOS modding request subforum and someone will Help you. The process of how to flash is here at this Thread, but i don’t know if there is any diferente steps for your model.

And the Maxwell thing is because I can’t control dedicated gpu in BIOS, so to change clocks, tdp, etc I need to extract the gpu BIOS wich in this case is inside the main BIOS, mod with Maxwell, insert back on my BIOS and flash it.

Edit

Even if your BIOS is the same as mine, still post yours at the subforum and ask for someone to mod it for you. I don’t recomend flashing the one thats in this thread cause something might be different.

@fairestmeat what could be different I flashed same bios as yours from official acer support page
Can you give your f5-573g model details

@fairestmeat - Two things I’d suggest you do differently, to rule those out. Use UEFITool 25, and extract Body/replace Body on the vBIOS. And make 100% sure yours is the correct one you are edit if there is multiple vBIOS in there (not looking at BIOS now)
Maxwell may not be able to properly edit that file, does it look as you intended when you reopen with maxell?

@whatsmyname - Please download the following package, and run the command below from each versions folder that directly contains it’s exe.
Once done, copy the entire folder somewhere, delete everything but any created vars.txt and then repackage this and send to me, this way all created vars.txt remain in place in the folders of the version that created them.
http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?fil…212104496994806

Additionally, please do below, for now skip #2 we know it’s locked, send me your BIOSreg.bin file from step #1

If you have already modified the BIOS in ANY way, you will need to re-flash it back to factory defaults using factory method (NOT FPT)!!!

If you do not have Intel ME drivers installed, install them now from your system driver download page, then start over here after reboot.
Check your BIOS’ main page and see if ME FW version is shown. If not then > DOWNLOAD HWINFO64 HERE <

Once HWINFO is open, look at the large window on the left side, expand motherboard, and find the ME area.
Inside that section is the ME Firmware version. Take note of the version. (ie. write it down or get a screenshot)

Once you have that, go to the thread linked below, and in the section “C.2” find and download the matching ME System Tools Package for your system.
(ie if ME FW version = 10.x get V10 package, if 9.0-9.1 get V9.1 package, if 9.5 or above get V9.5 package etc)
> DOWNLOAD " ME System Tools " packages HERE <

Once downloaded, inside you will find Flash Programming Tool folder, and then inside that a Windows or Win/Win32 folder (NOT x64).
Highlight that Win/Win32 folder, then hold shift and press right click. Choose “open command window here” (Not power shell! >> * See Registry file below *).

If you get an error, reply to this post with a screenshot of it, OR write down the EXACT command entered and the EXACT error given.

((If “open command window here” does not appear, look for the “Simple Registry Edit” below…))

Step #1

Now you should be at the command prompt.
You are going to BACKUP the factory un-modified firmware, so type the following command:
Command: " FPTw.exe -bios -d biosreg.bin "

>> Attach the saved "biosreg.bin ", placed into a compressed ZIP/RAR file, to your next post!!! <<

Step #2

Right after you do that, try to write back the BIOS Region dump and see if you get any error(s).
Command: " FPTw.exe -bios -f biosreg.bin "
^^ This step is important! Don’t forget! ^^

If you get an error, reply to this post with a screenshot of it, OR write down the EXACT command entered and the EXACT error given.

Here is a SIMPLE REGISTRY EDIT that adds “Open command window here as Administrator” to the right click menu, instead of Power Shell
Double-click downloaded file to install. Reboot after install may be required
> CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD CMD PROMPT REGISTRY ENTRY <

If the windows method above does NOT work for you…
Then you may have to copy all contents from the Flash Programming Tool \ DOS folder to the root of a Bootable USB disk and do the dump from DOS
( DOS command: " FPT.exe -bios -d biosreg.bin " )

@Lost_N_BIOS I ran this command H2OUVE.exe -gv cars.txt and my keyboard got disabled so I have to reboot for every version, is this normal

edit
vars : http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?fil…664382586033356
bios dump : http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?fil…388843101812257
just to make sure I used “Intel CSME System Tools v11 r32” for bios dump because my intel ME version is “11.5 build 1058”

@whatsmyname

Yeah, that happened to me to. apparently that’s normal

@whatsmyname - Yes, on some systems this happens, not sure why? Here, copy varsm.txt into the H2OUVE_100.00.16.11 folder which contains it’s EXE - http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?fil…422054778241965
Then program back via CMD below, there will be a list of success/error, this is expected, then reboot and toss previous BIOS dump out so there is no mix-ups, then dump BIOS region again using new name (like BIOSregnew.bin) and then try to flash it back (ie step #2 in above FPT spoiler)
If success now at step #2, then send me this new BIOS region dump and I will unlock it for you

H2OUVE.exe -sv varsM.txt

@Lost_N_BIOS I got this warning while flashing bios
"GbE Region does not exist." but it flashed Successfully
two thing I wann say to just make sure it won’t break my system 1)I have undervoltage’d with throttlestop same in linux 2) safe boot is disabled and I put a master password on my bios
http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?fil…969088398437960

@whatsmyname - Yes, that is normal, sorry for not mentioning (PDR error normal too if you see it)
Please remove BIOS password, as well as any Encryption or TPM enabled, then reboot, then flash stock BIOS and start all over. Not sure what you mean about “Safe Boot” but Secure Boot should be disabled for now too, even after stock BIOS flash, disable it before doing rest here.
Also, remove any undervoltage you’ve done with throttle stop first, reboot and make sure that’s removed, then do as mentioned above.

Then start over Dump vars (just using 100.00.16.11) and send to me, I do not need your FPT dump, but toss out all previous ones you’ve made, so they don’t get mixed up with new ones.
I will send you back edited vars again, then you program in, reboot, dump BIOS with FPT using new name again, and confirm you can write it back, then send it to me.

@Lost_N_BIOS Ok I’m doing, do I should keep undervoltage even after flash unlocked bios