[Problem] NVMe BIOS Mod for Lenovo M73 Tower

BIOS/UEFI Modding BIOS Modding Guides and Problems
1

greetings to all,

i would like to have NVME booting on a Lenovo M73 Tower
i ‘roughly’ followed guides from:
[HowTo] Get full NVMe Support for all Systems with an AMI UEFI BIOS - Special Topics / NVMe Support for old Systems - Win-Raid Forum
and from: Modify the BIOS of a Lenovo M92 to enable native NVMe support

my unit has an i5-4590 of w/c i had trouble w/ blank reboot, fixed w/ ME update (9.0, Build 1487, Hot Fix 31)

what i did as follows:
-: dump BIOS: fptw -bios -d biosORIG.bin
-: insert: “NvmExpressDxe_Small.ffs” after UsbVfs & saved BIOS to: ‘biosMOD.bin’

-: flashing the BIOS w/out putting the PC to sleep gives error below: fptw -bios -f biosMOD.bin
Error 28: Protected Range Registers are currently set by BIOS, preventing flash access. Please contact the target system BIOS vendor for an option to disable Protected Range Registers.

if i put the PC to sleep, then perform: fptw -bios -f biosMOD.bin
i get error below irregardless if “ME_DIS” jumper is set or not


Intel (R) Flash Programming Tool. Version:  9.1.10.1000
Copyright (c) 2007 - 2014, Intel Corporation. All rights reserved.

Platform: Intel(R) H81 Express Chipset
Reading HSFSTS register... Flash Descriptor: Valid

    --- Flash Devices Found ---
    W25Q64BV    ID:0xEF4017    Size: 8192KB (65536Kb)

PDR Region does not exist.
GBE Region does not exist.

- Reading Flash [0x800000] 4096KB of 4096KB - 100% complete.

Error 7: Hardware sequencing failed. Make sure that you have access to target flash area!
Trying to erase the same block (iteration: 2)

Error 7: Hardware sequencing failed. Make sure that you have access to target flash area!
Trying to erase the same block (iteration: 3)

Error 7: Hardware sequencing failed. Make sure that you have access to target flash area!
Failed to erase this block 3 times!!

dumplock info

c:\bios>fptw.exe -dumplock

Intel (R) Flash Programming Tool. Version:  9.1.10.1000
Copyright (c) 2007 - 2014, Intel Corporation. All rights reserved.

Platform: Intel(R) H81 Express Chipset
Reading HSFSTS register... Flash Descriptor: Valid

    --- Flash Devices Found ---
    W25Q64BV    ID:0xEF4017    Size: 8192KB (65536Kb)


Lock Settings.
=======================
Host CPU master:   00 00 0B 0A
ME region master:  00 00 0D 0C
GBE region master: 18 01 08 08
FPT Operation Passed

uploaded bios.zip (5.1 MB) containing orig & modified bios
i am stuck & i would like to seek guidance/insights/pointers for this & thank you for reading my post


Edit by Fernando: Thread title shortened and customized

2

When FD is locked for accessing certain SPI regions and ME_DIS jumper has no effect, a CH341A spi programmer or similar is needed.
[Guide] Unlock Intel Flash Descriptor Read/Write Access Permissions for SPI Servicing - Special Topics / Intel Management Engine - Win-Raid Forum

3

@MeatWar
thank you for the insights
i have also read the link provided & just wondering if the unit still has a chance for “pinmod”? although the chip/pin are extremely small!, am unsure if i’ll ever correctly short them, needs hair thin contraption to short the pins or would shorting all adjacent/neighboring pins work (at the expense of frying the audio chip)?

may anyone review/check my modded BIOS that is attached? just to make sure it is correct? (worried about the “padding” as i can’t identify) though, am unsure when i can get an SPI programmer to flash it

4

Similar situation… it’s not always an easy task for inexperienced users.
ME Reflash Help - Special Topics / Intel Management Engine - Win-Raid Forum

PAD check opened in UEFItool and against the original Lenovo file (same version), that’s how you check the presence of the original or newly crated or absent, if its present in original it should also be present in the mod file and vice-versa for non-present, in the same volume of insertiton usually, rarely modifies other volumes…but it can happen.

When this happens, other version of UEFItool must be used or MMtool method for AMI Aptio bios core.

5

i may resort to Clover boot in the mean time…
noted & thank you for the info.