Aug 2024 - I’m editing this post I made a few years back, as the feedback from users that tried it, makes me doubt the DeathBringer hack. I will leave it here, however the safest way to do it, is to get the CH341A kit from Amazon/Aliexpress for a few bucks and reprogram the BIOS with Neoprogrammer.
Start by making a backup of the rom/bin file, add the driver with any of the sw tools and flash it back. Safe and sure!
Here is a comprehensive guide on how to update the BIOS on HP Elitedesk 800 G1 DM to boot from the NVME slot.
Update your BIOS first, and there you go:
- Make a screenshot of your BIOS system info that contains the MAC address, chasis #, etc. That can be handy later.
- Download the corresponding Intel ME System Tools version as described in the first post and unpack it in C:\Temp. You only need the Win64 folder from Flash Programing Tool folder. You can use the Win64.zip file I attached, if you have 9.1. It has all the files you need to succeed.
- Enable in BIOS the UEFI boot sources (it won’t boot if you don’t) and run Deathbringer GRUB Shell unlock posted as Part B at the end or on page 3 of this thread.
- Boot in Windows 10/7 x64 and open command line with admin rights and point it to C:\Temp\WIN64 folder (or whatever path you have to the Win64 folder)
- Dump just the writable BIOS part: fptw64 -A 0x580000 -L 0xA70000 -D bios.rom The file size should be 10,688kB(10,944,512 bytes).
- Confirm you can write it back: fptw64 -A 0x580000 -L 0xA70000 -F bios.rom If no go - retry step 3.
- Load bios.rom in UEFItool or MMTool, locate the section where dxe drivers are, and insert the NVME driver - NvmExpressDxe_4.ffs - at the end of the section after the Freeform section.
- Save the file as modbios.rom & reload to confirm the NVME dxe driver is there. Check the whole section, as MMTool has the habit of moving it up the list. (I prefer UEFITool). Size should be the same 10,944,512 bytes. Extensions .bin and .rom are interchangeable. Rename it as you see fit.
- Flash back the modded bin/rom: fptw64 -A 0x580000 -L 0xA70000 -F modbios.rom
- Reboot immediately to confirm BIOS is ok. Load BIOS and "apply defaults and exit".
Now your mini should be able to boot from the NVME disk. Depending on some parameters(SSD brand, controller, etc), your NVME disk may show or may NOT in BIOS. Do not re-flash over and over (till you brick it
), just test it, by installing Windows 10 from a USB and see if it boots into it successfully. If it does, you’re all set. You’d see in Boot Order a new item under UEFI sources "Windows Boot Manager" - that’s your NVME disk. Resetting again the BIOS to default and restarting made the NVME to show up in BIOS for me this time.PART B
Deathbringer unlock - Protection can be disabled in EFI GRUB Shell:
- Take a USB stick and format it to FAT32
- Create directory structure EFI\Boot
- Download and unzip bootx64.7z (it’s in the Win64.zip)
- Put BOOTX64.EFI in Boot directory.
- Boot from this USB stick
- At the prompt, run these commands:
setup_var 0x96 0x0
setup_var 0x97 0x0
setup_var 0x98 0x0
setup_var 0x99 0x0
setup_var 0x9a 0x0
Enjoy.
EDIT by Fernando: For better readability I have formatted the guide.
WIN64.zip (4.72 MB)