I tried to use it, but it did not bring any result. Although the structure of the BIOS is different from the modified file by the MMTool program.
All that remains for me to do is to take a dump and compare it.
UPDATE
I checked the BIOS backup. The module was flashed without problems.
UPDATE2
Bad Ubuntu. Windows start without problem.
Thanks for module with bios.
The file mod is all your credit, glad that you succeed and the issue was after all an OS ISO and not indeed your mod work/flash. You can share it, if you want it, in this section of the forum, all the best.
Dear Win-Raid Forum administrators/managers,
I am a new member of this forum, although I have been following You for a while but not as a registered user.
I would need to write a detailed report and upload material (screen shots, legitimate files) regarding the BIOS Mod for a Laptop HP ZBook 17 G2 to enable support for bootable NVMe M.2.
I would like to point out that before doing so, I carefully read various documents/procedures described by the member âFernandoâ and âLost_N_BIOSâ mainly.
I would have developed a procedure and material to perform the operation in a âcleanâ way, but I would need definitive confirmation from more qualified and experienced people, in order to minimize the risks and obtain a 100% validated procedure.
Can You tell me how to do it?
Is it better if I open a specific post for this Laptop?
Or insert the above in another post?
And if so, which one and how?
Thank you very much for Your attention.
Besides the flash/program method to be used by you, if the standart guide here presented is not working for your laptop model, then yes open a new thread, files can be shared in private service provider.
Dear MeatWar,
Of course, I understand what You are telling me, in fact I will post the .bin Mod files ONLY after having given them to private individuals to view them and only to some of you with experience and specific to the BIOS sector who have the patience, possibly, to test them.
Only at the end, after having tried them myself, as a thank you I will make them public on this forum.
Unfortunately, being new, I still have a lot to learn about the rather complex functioning of this forum.
Thanks for the clarification.
/
OBJECT: BIOS Mod for SSD type NVMe M.2 support on laptop HP ZBook 17 G2 (2015).
Dear members of the âWin-Raid Forumâ, good day to all.
First of all, a small premise.
I have been following this forum for several years for my personal interests in BIOS Mod in order to make my PCs last longer by bypassing a series of absurd and, sometimes, fraudulent limitations imposed by manufacturers on users to force them to throw away even very expensive machines without any respect for the planetâs resources and the environment.
In the past (early 2021) I have successfully performed a Mod for one of my mth. ASUSTeK P9X79 Pro for BIOS v.4701 Mod (with NvmExpressDxe_4) and v.4801 beta Mod (with NvmExpressDxe_4) for the support of NVM2 m.2, perfectly working and for which I publicly thank here members of the forum in the figures of the very
patient âDieter (alias Fernando)â, âLost_N_BIOSâ and also the user âdiegotruâ.
I have always read the many sections of the Forum very carefully BEFORE operating, learning all the notions, indications and tools necessary to clarify the doubts and minimize the need to ask questions that are not strictly necessary.
Unfortunately in the case that I am going to expose, I am finding myself in difficulty, both for the risk in itself of the delicate operation and because the PC on which I intend to operate, due to the cost, was not a very widespread machine and, therefore, there are not many RELIABLE sources on which to rely.
And letâs get to the point: I intend to modify (Mod) the LATEST OFFICIAL BIOS version of a HP laptop mod.ZBook 17 G2 in order to provide it with support for booting from NVMe m.2 which, according to the BIOS, should be enabled (item âPCIe/NVMe Boot supportâ) but, in reality IT IS NOT and in the official HP technical manual it is NOT clearly stated (they are deliberately ambiguous and NOT very transparentâŠ).
In fact, by scrupulously following the installation of Win 10 Enterprise 2019 LTSC (64bit) in pure UEFI mode from USB boot key, I get to a point where after formatting and copying the system files, at the first reboot of the PC to finish the setup, I get a BLACK SCREEN and the PC tells me that it has NOT found ANY boot disk!
After researching for days, I discovered that HP has inhibited, on the entire G2 series, the ability to boot from NVMe, even though it is perfectly capable of doing so at a hardware level (the laptop has a mth. PCIe 3.0 and an Intel gen. 4 âHaswellâ CPU, all perfectly compatible and, in fact, on the subsequent G3 models the OS is mounted on NVMe⊠but You are forced to CHANGE laptops!).
So I start studying the various posts on this (and others) precious Forum (thanks âFernandoâ for Your patience in what You do!), I collect material as a good engineer and I start to analyze the procedure that I will have to follow to obtain the maximum result with the lowest risk of failure possible (as is customary in the aeronautical sector).
Unfortunately I have reached a point where I am blocked by a whole series of questions to which I cannot give a sensible and rational answer: please help me as much as You can.
To try to be precise and concise, I will list what I have done so far according to a procedure for âSTEPSâ.
Letâs proceed:
I have certainly read that the BIOS of the HP ZBook 17 G2 is from
American Megatrend Inc.; therefore I use (with administrator rights) the utility âAMI Aptio IV UEFI MMTool v.4.50.0023 (upd. 010.03.02)â.
NOTE: the version âAMI Aptio V UEFI MMTool v.5.02.0024 Modâ
does NOT work, because it tells me that the BIOS is NOT suitable!.
I load the image âM70_0126.binâ [extracted by unzipping the
original update file of the latest official BIOS provided by HP
âBIOS v.01.26 Rev.A(sp103523).exeâ] to see its contents: MMTool
does NOT show me anything, but if I try to save it by pressing
âSave Imageâ, it does something on the .bin so that THEN it
loads correctly and displays all its contents.
However, the file CHANGES very little in size, even though I have
not added/removed anything yet and it remains .bin.
In fact, compressing it with WinRAR I get:
A) Original HP (Untouched):
File: M70_0126.bin,
Size: 10 485 760 bytes,
Packed: 3 547 456 bytes,
CRC32: 08F15B4C.
B) After saved by MMTool:
File: M70_0126.bin,
Size: 10 485 760 bytes,
Packed: 3 547 384 bytes,
CRC32: 5A258AF3.
QUESTIONS.
Is it normal that this can happen without having entered anything?
Does MMTool handle badly/DOES NOT handle the .bin format or is
it NOT compatible with THIS HP BIOS, even though it is an AMI
perhaps modified, evidently, by HP?
Finally, I would like to point out that MMTool displays the content
showing entries that are VERY different from those described in
Fernandoâs tutorials and by the UEFITool software (for example,
the entries âCSMCOREâ and âDXEâ do NOT appear).
Following what is described in point 2) and to avoid the risk of
corrupting the BIOS, I decide to adopt the second safer procedure
suggested by âFernandoâ, using instead the latest version of the
more reliable alternative software âUEFI Tool v.0.28.0â.
I launch (always with administrator rights) the executable and take
the untouched image âM70_0126.binâ, which is immediately
loaded.
Only one item âUEFI imageâ is displayed and by expanding the
fields I obtain what is shown in the image â01. Snapâ.
In this BIOS there is NO âCSMCOREâ field and I note that there
are TWO large volumes (the FIRST TWO) â7A9354D9-0468-444A-
81CE-0BF617D890DFâ which are apparently IDENTICAL and within
which the âDXE coreâ appear in the sections called âCompressedâ
and âRawâ.
Using the very convenient âSearch\Textâ function I see that the
âDXE driversâ are all located in the aforementioned volumes, as
shown in the following images â02~06. Snapâ in succession: You
can see a good part (but not all) of the âDXE driversâ, of which I
have highlighted one, the LAST one (âDXE driver XhciDxeâ).
Highlighting the LAST ITEM âDXE driver XhciDxeâ in the FIRST large
FFSv2 volume and giving the command âInsert afterâŠâ, I then
added the string for the Boot recognition of the NVMe M.2 units
âNvmExpressDxe_5.ffsâ (I inserted this one and not the other one
that I have âNvmExpressDxe_4.ffsâ, already used in the past for the
ASUS P9X79 Pro), being currently the most recent, as suggested in
some points of this Forum (image â07. Snapâ).
Then I performed THE SAME OPERATION also in the second FFSv2
volume, since this BIOS contains two exactly IDENTICAL ones
(image â08. Snapâ).
In all this I NEVER received any âNot enough space within the
Volumeâ message, a sign that both FreeForm modules
âNvmExpressDxe_5.ffsâ do not create pb. of space (which is why
using âNvmExpressDxe_Small.ffsâ would be SUPERFLUOUS!).
In the end I saved the file in another location and always naming it
as originally âM70_0126.binâ.
IMPORTANT: I had NO problems with the creation/removal of any
âPad-fileâ by visually checking what UEFITool showed after saving
the BIOS Mod, for direct comparison with the original BIOS.
Finally I checked the size and CRC32:
A) Original HP (Untouched):
File Name: M70_0126.bin,
Size: 10 485 760 bytes,
Packed: 3 547 456 bytes,
CRC32: 08F15B4C,
Full size: A00000h (10485760).
B) After Mod by UEFITool:
File Name: M70_0126.bin,
Size: 10 485 760 bytes,
Packed: 3 553 656 bytes,
CRC32: 9BD1DC06,
Full size: A00000h (10485760).
QUESTIONS.
Is the fact of having inserted TWO strings
"NvmExpressDxe_5.ffsâ, instead of ONE, a CORRECT procedure?
Did I insert them in the right positions, i.e. as LAST DXE drivers?
If not, HOW MANY and WHERE should I have inserted them?
Is this a different BIOS from many others, or is it something that
frequently occurs in laptops to have DUPLICATED volumes?
I ask the experienced members of the Forum: in Your opinion,
was what I did done ALL CORRECTLY, or do You see something
that would be better to change in my procedure to MINIMIZE the
risks of bad BIOS Mod?
Finally, always following the precious advice of âFernandoâ and
âLost_N_BIOSâ, to write the BIOS Mod in the EEPROM of the HP
laptop, I decided to PREPARE a USB boot key (1 GB) using the HP
utility âBIOS v.01.26 Rev.A (sp103523).exeâ from under OS Win,
following the instructions.
In particular, in the USB boot key we must:
âHewlett-Packard\BIOS\Newâ â copy the BIOS âM70_0126.binâ
MOD
âHewlett-Packard\BIOS\Currentâ â leave the BIOS âM70_0126.binâ
ORIGINAL
The update must be done from the BIOS (press F10 at POST) from
the path:
âMain\Update System BIOS\Update BIOS Using Local Mediaâ
and making sure that the âLock BIOS Versionâ item is UNCHECKED
(it is a BIOS protection; it can be re-enabled AFTER the update).
QUESTION
In Your opinion, will the utility perform the flash or will it block due
to its check on the size/coherence of the .bin file?
And if so, how can I bypass this check, being sure that I have
inserted only legal and non-malicious content?
I await Your detailed answers on the matter, BEFORE carrying out the
operation, since the laptop in question is a machine that in 2015, new, had a value of around 6200$ (source HP), having an Intel Core i7-4940MX CPU 3.1/4.0GHz, an nVidia Quadro K5100M GPU (8GB), a system memory DDR3-1600MHz 2x(2x8GB) supply, a 17" FullHD screen and now also a 1TB NVMe M.2 2242 PCIe 3.0x2 ORICO
mod.J10-2242 SSD: ruining it by performing a wrong operation, would
keep me awake at night, given that even though I bought it used, I paid about 1/4 of the value of the new one (and I canât find the money by digging in the ground)!
Obviously if everything goes well, I will make available here for all
those who want it the BIOS Mod file to install on this laptop model to make it bootable also from NVMe M.2 drives.
Best regards to all those interested⊠and I remain waiting.
/
Sorry but itâs too much reading, this is a forum not a blogâŠ
This is only my contribuition for your request and not confirming or deny anythingâŠyou should wait for other users POV.
Now i want to point some guidance on who comes here, âaskingâŠâ for secure files, risk free solutions, expensive systems not to loose, etcâŠ
This is MOD world, no one can or is here to assure anything to no one, if some one does it, its wrong from his part.
Any users that want to engage in modifications to the original firmware of a system should, must and has to choose, to put his system to tests of failures or sucess, knows how to recover a system or not and in that case, better to choose NOT to risk their asset.
All the best, regards.
First of all, thank you for Your prompt reply, MeatWar.
And of course I knew that the Mod operation would have been at my own risk: I only asked for help from all of You, since you have much more experience and âeyeâ in this very delicate sector.
I read the two links You posted above and I learned with certainty that all HP laptops (so also the 2015 ZBook 15 G2 & 17 G2 models) from 2013 onwards have started to implement BIOS protected by MULTIPLE nested âSure Startâ RSA keys: I would like to attach a .rar file with various official HP .pdf regarding the description for those who are interested [file âHP Sure Start Docs (2017-2024).rarâ].
HP Sure Start Docs (2017-2024).rar (4.5 MB)
Since my skills and resources in recovering the laptop in question (HP ZBook 17 G2) from a failed BIOS flashing are limited (even though I prepared a USB boot key with the modified .bin file inserting the string âNvmExpressDxe_5.ffsâ as already mentioned), I will NOT attempt the operation to avoid risks, considering that the laptop still has some residual value, especially after the upgrade on the CPU, GPU and 1 TB SSD NVMe m.2 2242 (with 2260 adapter) side!
However, I will try to attach a .rar file [âBIOS Original & Mod for NVMe M.2 Support.rarâ] containing the latest ORIGINAL HP BIOS v.1.26 and the .bin MOD files obtained by me for Your analysis/inspection, reminding the reader that even though they were obtained as described, I HAVE NOT TESTED THEM⊠maybe they could work, maybe not.
Best regards and I await any developmentsâŠ
/
I can have a look into your mod file (no shared linkâŠ), regarding the DXE insertiton,not any assurances at all
And thank you for the HP docs but i do not loose time into HP security thecnologies, im a light casual âtinyâ mods user and helper, thats it.
But again i do not advise further actions since its an nice laptop and thereâs no experience and tools for recovery on your side.
EDIT: New users with few reading minutes/posts still cant by system forum rules, any user till then can share a link for a sharing service.
⊠unfortunately I canât upload the .rar!
You certainly can upload the *.rar file to any storage provider (One Drive, Google Drive, MEGA etc.) and post here the link to it.
Good day, Fernando (alias Dieter).
Thank you for Your suggestion and I will now upload all the BIOSes I modified in .bin format following Your instructions in this channel and as I described in detail above.
Inside there will be TWO (2) .bin Mod files containing respectively a pair of strings âNvmExpressDxe_5 (upd. 2021.09.20)â and also the other version âNvmExpressDxe_Small (upd. 2018.04.01)â, always in the same positions.
I uploaded the .rar (31.7 MB) on the âJumbomai Hosting Serviceâ and it will remain there in host for SEVEN (7) days from now, for anyone interested.
The active link for the download is this:
I hope that this modest effort of mine can be of some use and I am still waiting for suggestions/considerations from You, having read several of Your guides in the past and for which I thank You for the competence and descriptive meticulousness in formulating them. /
You and some other members of this serious forum have been fundamental in the past to allow me to successfully modify the BIOS of my mth. Asustek P9X79 Pro for the support of NVMe M.2 modules (I also wrote a detailed guide on the subject with much of Your material), currently always perfectly in service⊠even if I am thinking of inserting support for the âResizable BAR (ReBAR)â for nVidia Titan RTX GPUs⊠but I am very undecided after this experienceâŠ
/
@A-A-C
Since I am currently making holidays far way from home, I donât have the required time to help you.
Neverlesss here is my comment:
Courtese Fernando,
First of all, happy holidays and thanks anyway for the prompt response also from the âwell-deserved rest locationâ.
In the package that I posted COMPLETE for completeness and checks of the case, as You may have noticed I also attached a folder with the words âBIOS Backup v.01.26 Rev.A (sp103523, extracted)â, which is nothing other than the official HP file âBIOS v.01.26 Rev.A (sp103523).exeâ self-extracted: inside it there is the file âM70_0126.binâ in the root along with others⊠it is the ONLY .bin present!
And it is the one I used with UEFITool to obtain the two .bin Mod., NOT having others: therefore from Your answer I understand that in reality it is NOT the complete HP BIOS that would be needed and that We are looking forâŠ
And in fact You confirm that in this circumstance, in all likelihood, trying to insert the .bin file modified by me would cause problems: which is why I did NOT flash it from inside the BIOS even though I had the USB stick created with the HP tool ready to do so!
Precisely for this reason, not knowing if I would have encountered problems with the âNvmExpressDxe_5.ffsâ file, as a precaution I also created the âNvmExpressDxe_Small.ffsâ⊠it took me a few minutes; in any case, I would have initially used the first complete one.
So, in conclusion, I do not have the âpureâ .bin and I do not know where to get it from: or perhaps You are tacitly asking me to read the contents of the laptopâs EEPROM and save everything in .bin to post here?
Currently the laptop has a BIOS v.M70 1.26, i.e. already updated to the latest official one provided by HP.
In that case I can say with certainty that this laptop has an EEPROM of this type (read directly by person, being easily accessible by removing the back panel⊠but Iâm NOT sure if there are others inside soldered on the pcb):
Brand: WINBOND
Silkscreen on the chip (x1):
WINBOND
25Q16DVSIQ
1524
Type: 16Mb (2MB), 2.70~3.60 Volt, Dual/Quad SPI, 8PIN SOIC
and I have a Mini USB Programmer mod.CH341B with various reading/flashing utilities (NeoProgrammer, AsProgrammer, etcâŠ).
Let me know if and when You want and⊠happy holidays!
/
@A-A-C
After having done a deeper look into your modded BIOSes and having tried to do the required modification myself by using the UEFITool here is my evaluation:
Here is the proof:
a) This screenshot shows the end of DXE Driver Volume of the original BIOS:
b) This is the end of the DXE Driver Volume of the BIOS after the insertion of the NVMe module:
I do not recommend to flash such modded BIOS.
Since the AMI MMTool variants do not work with your HP BIOS, I have no idea how to help you.
Hello. I am using a PC with H61M-P20(G3) mainboard with 8GB RAM, 2.5 inch 250GB HDD, AMD Radeon R5 340X OEM VGA with i3-3240 CPU. Today I plan to upgrade my PC to make it faster and stronger, but there is a problem that to further increase the speed of accessing files on the hard drive, just SATA2 SSD is not enough, I need an NVMe SSD here. I need to mod BIOS to do this. Does anyone know how to do it?!
@825_vanhafam
Welcome to the Win-Raid Forum!
Just follow the Guide. You can find it within the first post of this thread.
Good luck!
