Hey guys, I’m new to this whole bios modding scene tbh my main motivation for doing this is to try and sell a skill and secondly I’ve always liked tinkering with my PC. I have no idea how one would get started with this skill, is there a comprehensive guide out there for a newcomer like me? Would appreciate all the help
Did you really know “the scene”…? I bet you still dont…any way start with older hardware mods/gather tools, spare/junk hardware to serve as “test” subjects… or skip the bases and then you’ll be asking a lot, what you really have no clue and flood forums.
Guide…not really, they are specific to each hw generation, platform, bios types/vendors, objectives to achieve…
So yes…read a lot, you’ll get “the picture”, plenty of it to read in this forum and around the web and i hope you become a “good one” to contribuito to the scene.
Good luck.
@Maguswafflus Hi and welcome to the Win-RAID forum.
The best way to learn is by reading then doing, so having some old hardware to test with will help.
Learning BIOS structure (technically UEFI structure) is highly beneficial. This post by plutomaniac is a must-read if you are serious about learning how modify a BIOS:
[Guide] Unlock Intel Flash Descriptor Read/Write Access Permissions for SPI Servicing
There are many forms of BIOS locks (often software but sometimes hardware) that may hinder you from editing a BIOS and/or writing to the BIOS chip. Vendors such as Intel, Asus, HP and Dell almost always protect their UEFI/BIOS.
A free hex editor such as HxD is extremely useful for examining BIOS files and modules and in some cases editing them.
There are many BIOS vendors (AMI, Phoenix, Insyde, and other OEM’s like Dell, HP etc) so you will need to know who made the firmware you want to modify. You will also need specific software tools depending on the BIOS vendor. AMI is generally the easiest to modify as we have access to tools that can read and modify Aptio IV and Aptio V files e.g.
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UEFITool by LongSoft is extremely useful for looking at the UEFI structure and the various modules (current version UEFITool_NE_A72_win64.zip).
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UBU (UEFI BIOS Updater) which uses a Windows batch file to list the modules in a compatible UEFI/BIOS file and in many cases update them.
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IFRExtractor RS by Longsoft is also very useful when attempting to unhide menus and/or change setup variables from their defaults. It is not very beginner friendly but is a very powerful tool.
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SmokelessRuntimeEFIPatcher is a tool to patch and Inject/Patch EFI modules at runtime.
A tool for more advances users, you will want to read this thread.
It is always recommended to make (and keep) a backup of any BIOS you plan to edit before you start to edit and flash the modified BIOS, and also to have a hardware programmer (such as the very cheap CH341a) in your possession to recover from a brick.
A SOP-8 clip is also extremely useful, just make sure to buy a quality one that will last more than 1-2 uses such as Pomona.
Hope this helps 
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