Problem with Clevo P650RE3 BIOS mod

My Sager NP8657-S (Clevo P650RE3) laptop arrived yesterday and I was successfully able to unlock the advanced options! I flashed using Intel FPT and I got an original backup of the BIOS and modded the advanced and chipset menus in AMIBCP. However chipset options are still locked down though, even after trying to change the hex codes to false. :frowning:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ztsdb4w6kkdtxn…071329.png?dl=0

I tried this tutorial: http://forums.mydigitallife.info/th…io…nus-MSR-unlock!

but to no avail :frowning:
I found no hex strings like that (Setup, Advanced, Chipset, Security, Exit: 01 01 00 01 01) in the IFR file…

I’m having trouble here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ctuzqmgs1ha7jt…072122.png?dl=0

Where it says “suppress if true…” I changed it to false by changing the 46 to a 47, but still no chipset options after flashing.

The prema mod for a similar model (P650SG) doesn’t have that structure/format either.

You can check out the BIOS from the clevo mirror posted here and using amibcp, hxd, and uefitool http://repo.palkeo.com/clevo-mirror/P6xxRx/

Any ideas? Thanks for the help!

@Exec360 :
Welcome at WinRAID Forum!

I am sorry, but I cannot help you myself, because I don’t have any experience with this kind of BIOS modding.

Why didnt you post into that thread?
By the way: >This< is the correct link to the tutorial.

Regards
Dieter (alias Fernando)

@Fernando Thanks for the help.

I didn’t know if this was the right forum to place those kinds of questions. I hope they can help out :slight_smile:

Also, thank you for your in-depth tutorials and guides on Option ROM and AMI BIOS modding.

@Exec360 :
Hey, sorry to bother you. I am refering to your start post of this thread.
I cannot seem to find the information that you did about unlocking the bios on this laptop (the link to the tutorial that you posted doesnt seem to work for me) . I bought the same one back in February and have just started looking into this process yesterday.
would you be able to send me some information on this or point me in the correct direction?

the main thing that i want to do (which i know is kinda silly) is change the boot logo when the bios is loading from saying SAGER to a different image.

EDIT by Fernando: Fully quoted post removed (to save space) and replaced by directly addressing the desired recipient, which is the much more effective option.

@spike229 :
Welcome at Win-RAID Forum!

I hope, that you will get a reply from Exec.

Regards
Dieter (alias Fernando)

Hi @spike229 :

Welcome to Win-Raid!

Here’s a short crash course on Intel FPT (how to flash a modified BIOS when you have an Intel motherboard/CPU):
In DOS or in the Windows Command Prompt,
fptw -f <BIOS_NAME.bin> -BIOS → lets you flash your BIOS region
fptw -d <BIOS_NAME.bin> -BIOS → lets you dump your BIOS region
NOTE: DO NOT attempt to flash using fptw -f <BIOS_NAME.bin> without -BIOS, you will be flashing ALL firmware files accessible through FPT! Remember to make backups regularly and note what you are flashing.
On Clevo P650RE3 models, you can also DUMP the ME and FD regions using -ME and -FD command-line flags respectively. More on this later.

I recommend using UEFITool 0.21.5 (other versions won’t let you repack modules) to look into and modify BIOS modules: DXE drivers/menu configurations/CPU microcode update/etc., a small part of the BIOS that changes how the BIOS ROM works on the system.

The UEFI BIOS logo is the one that shows up during POST and while Windows boots. I have posted on another thread describing the process in detail for removing it.
To change it, first dump your BIOS using Intel FPT on DOS or through Windows (DOS is more stable because there is less risk of corrupting the BIOS flash, which could require another SPI flash).

The process of changing the BIOS logo is similar to removing it. The BIOS code will only show the image on POST if the header (in hex) of the Logo.bmp, MyOemLogo1, MyOemLogo2… etc. modules is present before the GIF image. This is how the “AFU/AMI Change Logo Utility” works, it detects the header to find the modules with a “logo” tag and repacks modules with modified images passed into the program. This is a useful thread on how to change the GIF image through hex patching manually.

I have not fully tested changing the BIOS logo through hex editing (AFU Change Logo worked for me), but I have successfully removed the BIOS logo by deleting the Logo.bmp, MyOemLogo1, MyOemLogo2 modules, repatching, and flashing the BIOS.

If you want to change the F2 “Boot Menu” and F7 “Boot Options” text also, EnterSetup, AckEnterSetup, etc. are the modules you are looking to change in your ROM.

Special Notes:
The Clevo P650RE3’s have their FD (Flash Descriptors) for the BIOS read/write-unlocked by default. This is good, so you can skip the step of overwriting the FD with the Clevo flashing override program MESET.exe (which can be found here), although unlocking the FD will help if you want to flash the Intel ME for ~1% BCLK overclocking/some other CPU configuration.

Software Analogy for BIOS Module Headers:
It’s like when you look into a file format, it’s important to include a header at the beginning to tell the computer “this is a PNG image”. If headers aren’t included, the image viewer won’t be able to interpret it properly.

Hey Exec360,
The information you provided me was really helpful.

to sum up the process for anyone else looking for this information here is what i ended up doing that worked for me.
1:using AptioV utility in windows I did a backup of my current bios onto my computer.
2:next i used ChangeLogo 5 to change the logo to the new image i wanted.
3: i used a flashdrive formatted in fat32 and copied the fpt.efi program and my modified bios file ‘afuwin.rom’ to it
4: rebooted into bios, moved to exit tab, selected boot from EFI filesystem device
5: typed in command 'fpt -f afuwin.rom -bios’
6: watched in absolute terror waiting for the bios to flash
7: typed ‘exit’
8: back in the bios i clicked save and exit
9: watched in joy as my new logo appeared
10: came back to this forum to thank Exec360 for his help :slight_smile: and write this post.

Hi Spike229,

No problem! Great job getting it to work!
Since there is a high demand of documentation for BIOS modding, I am uploading my firmware engineering tutorials and research write-ups on a git repository. I am planning to add more.
https://notabug.org/TGS/Firmware-Engineering