[OFFER] ASUS Z97-A updated BIOS

Based on:
ASUS Z97-A BIOS 3503

Updated:
Intel RST RAID EFI/OROM 14.8.2.2397
Intel VBIOS 1044
Intel GOP EFI 5.5.1034
Intel Boot Agent GE OROM 1.5.62
Intel PRO/1000 UNDI EFI 6.6.04
Intel Broadwell Microcode 1E
Intel Haswell Microcode 25
Intel Haswell Engineering Sample Microcode 14
UDK2018 FAT file system driver

Added:
UDK2018 EFI Shell
- startup.nsh is skipped by default
- Screen resolution is optimized on startup
- Available using the “Launch EFI Shell from USB drives” menu item

Possible modding:
Boot logo can be changed using UEFITool by replacing BMP image in the raw section of 7BB28B99-61BB-11D5-9A5D-0090273FC14D

Flashed using:
Save original BIOS using AFUDOS BACKUP.ROM /O
Transfer MAC, UUID and S/N from BACKUP.ROM to Z97A.ROM using FD44Editor
Flash new BIOS using AFUDOS Z97A.ROM /GAN
AFUWINx64 worked too

EDIT by Fenando: Title slightly customized (now matching the other offers)

Z97A.ZIP (5.78 MB)

Thx worked great.

Updated microcode with fix for CVE-2017-5715 (Spectre variant 2)

Updated Haswell microcode with fix for branch target injection (CVE-2017-5715) and unexpected page faults (WHEA errors)

Updated Broadwell microcode with fix for branch target injection (CVE-2017-5715) and unexpected page faults (WHEA errors)

Improved EFI Shell experience by setting default colors on startup and using UDK2017 device path library

Updated to UDK2018 EFI Shell

Updated to UDK2018 FAT file system driver

Hi is there anyone still updating this Bios
Z97-A/USB 3.1 BIOS 3503
http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1…1-ASUS-3503.zip

@mac1 :
Note that this modded BIOS is for the original (non-USB 3.1) Z97-A and I don’t recommend cross-flashing it to the newer USB 3.1 model.

I’m still maintaining this modded BIOS, but since the only change I am aware of is update to the exact same CPU microcodes that are included in the latest modded version, I had less motivation to re-apply the changes to the latest BIOS version.

thanks Ethaniel for your reply I was looking for someone that could update the Asus z97-A usb 3.1 not sure how much work is necessary to update the usb 3.1 version. Will do some reading up as I was interested in any improvements to the Asmedia chip
thank you once again
mac 1
gail

Updates:
ASUS Z97-A BIOS 3503
Intel VBIOS 1044
Intel Broadwell Microcode 1E
Intel Haswell Microcode 25
Intel Haswell Engineering Sample Microcode 14

Hello! I have two questions =

1. In this file the SSD with NVMe ?
2.My BIOS Asus Z97A file extension .CAP, and in archive your file extension .ROM . My BIOS can’t see this file. What should be done?

Thanks! Forward to hearing.

@Udotov , BIOS versions 2205 and later already have NVMe support. Note that I have not changed the NVMe driver in the modded BIOS either. For NVMe support you simply should download the latest BIOS from ASUS, it is a .CAP file.

Note that the last section of the first post in this thread gives you a high level overview of flashing, but you should research this forum before flashing a modded BIOS so that you understand the risks and the possible solutions.

@Ethaniel , does this modded bios have native nvram ? I mean nvram unlocked with write access ? if not would you like to add it please ?
Thanks.

@Sdr41 I have not changed write protection, unfortunately I am not familiar with that modification. You should be able to flash it using AFUDOS and AFUWINx64 using the /GAN option. Note that you need a version of these tools that have support for /GAN.

Hi again Ethaniel, I have those questions :

1-Can you confirm if this mod work with i7-5775C ?
2-Why skipping startup.nsh ?
3-Can I flash this rom without using an SPI programmer ?

Thank you for your work.

@Sdr41 :
1-I have not tested it with i7-5775C, but it should work because it has microcode for Broadwell.
2-I wanted to avoid automatically running potentially untrusted scripts, and I don’t usually use a startup.nsh, so I wanted to skip the wait. I also made all the changes to the UEFI Shell that I would include in a startup.nsh. Note that you can run an external shell from a disk that has startup.nsh enabled. Or just run startup.nsh manually.
3-Yes, see flashing instructions in my initial post.

@Ethaniel :

Thank you for your reply.
for native nvram writing support and after searching I found a way to unlock it by patching a module named "NVRAMSMI:
if you have a disassembler program like IDA Pro search for the following bytes :

1E 49 8B D4 48 8B CE E8 08 FD FF FF 84 C0 75 0F
48 BB 0F 00 00 00 00 00 00 80 E9 F6 00 00 00 44

replace them with :

1E 49 8B D4 48 8B CE E8 08 FD FF FF 84 C0 EB 0F
48 BB 0F 00 00 00 00 00 00 80 E9 F6 00 00 00 44

we changed a JNZ to JMP (75 to EB)

now my question to you after unlocking the nvram module, can I use your method to flash it back using just AFUDOS ? I mean no SPI programmer ?

@Sdr41 :
It’s great that you were able to patch it, but please note that you will need an SPI programmer to fix it if the computer is not booting.

If you follow the flashing instructions in my initial post, you don’t need any patches for flashing without an SPI programmer.

Note that you need a version of AFUDOS or AFUWINx64 that supports the /GAN option, because not all versions support that.