[REQ] Panasonic CF-53 MK3 SATA III and RAM Frequency Unlock (Enable Hidden Menus)

BIOS/UEFI Modding BIOS Modding Requests
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Hi Everyone,

Please enable the hidden menus in my Panasonic CF-53 MK3 BIOS so that I can enable SATA III (6 Gbps) and increase the RAM frequency to 1866 MHz (currently capped at 1333 MHz)

Here is a link to the original Panasonic BIOS:
Link to original Panasonic CF-53 MK3 BIOS

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@pkkilleru - So sorry I missed your post until now!!! Do you want full BIOS menu unlocked, or only those two things you mentioned changed directly?
You may need full menu unlock to change memory speed away from 1333, unless changing the two limiter settings alone allows it to increase. If not, then it may take several settings changes in grub/setup_var (or RU method)
SATA change only takes a single edit in grub/setup_var

What error do you get at step #2 in spoiler below? Also, on the comments at top of this spoiler, if you have not done those things before making BIOS dump attached at post #1, please make a new dump after you do them now

Also, please link me to the stock BIOS download page, thanks (Not direct BIOS download link, as you have above, yes I see that )
Ahh, I see this is a mess to link, and or find!! Latest BIOS I see for your system is 310 (0620) - https://pc-dl.panasonic.co.jp/dl/downloa…_53_V310L14.exe
Do you want to update to that first, or keep using 300 (0565)?

Also, please give me a max compressed zip of ALL your currently visible BIOS pages, so I can see all settings.
Please resize these to 1000px wide, I don’t need 2-5K images, thanks

If you have already modified the BIOS in ANY way, you will need to re-flash it back to factory defaults using factory method (NOT FPT)!!!
Additionally, please remove all BIOS passwords, disable secure boot, and disable TPM or Encryption if you have enabled. Do this before moving on to below

If you do not have Intel ME drivers installed, install them now from your system driver download page, then start over here after reboot.
Check your BIOS’ main page and see if ME FW version is shown. If not then > DOWNLOAD HWINFO64 HERE <

Once HWINFO is open, look at the large window on the left side, expand motherboard, and find the ME area.
Inside that section is the ME Firmware version. Take note of the version. (ie. write it down or get a screenshot)

Once you have that, go to the thread linked below, and in the section “C.2” find and download the matching ME System Tools Package for your system.
(ie if ME FW version = 10.x get V10 package, if 9.0-9.1 get V9.1 package, if 9.5 or above get V9.5 package etc)
> DOWNLOAD " ME System Tools " packages HERE <

Once downloaded, inside you will find Flash Programming Tool folder, and then inside that a Windows or Win/Win32 folder (NOT x64).
Highlight that Win/Win32 folder, then hold shift and press right click. Choose “open command window here” (Not power shell! >> * See Registry file below *).

If you get an error, reply to this post with a screenshot of it, OR write down the EXACT command entered and the EXACT error given.

((If “open command window here” does not appear, look for the “Simple Registry Edit” below…))

Step #1
Now you should be at the command prompt.
You are going to BACKUP the factory un-modified firmware, so type the following command:
Command: " FPTw.exe -bios -d biosreg.bin "

>> Attach the saved "biosreg.bin ", placed into a compressed ZIP/RAR file, to your next post!!! <<

Step #2
Right after you do that, try to write back the BIOS Region dump and see if you get any error(s).
Command: " FPTw.exe -bios -f biosreg.bin "
^^ This step is important! Don’t forget! ^^

If you get an error, reply to this post with a screenshot of it, OR write down the EXACT command entered and the EXACT error given.

Here is a SIMPLE REGISTRY EDIT that adds “Open command window here as Administrator” to the right click menu, instead of Power Shell
Double-click downloaded file to install. Reboot after install may be required
> CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD CMD PROMPT REGISTRY ENTRY <

If the windows method above does NOT work for you…
Then you may have to copy all contents from the Flash Programming Tool \ DOS folder to the root of a Bootable USB disk and do the dump from DOS
( DOS command: " FPT.exe -bios -d biosreg.bin " )

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@Lost_N_BIOS Thank you very much for replying to my thread, please see the answers to your questions in red below:



I need a full BIOS menu unlock (if you are going through the effort, might as well go all the way, no need to bother you later )


When I try FPTw.exe -bios -f biosreg.bin I get: Error 280: Failed to disable write protection for the BIOS space!
I have done everything needed before step #1 in the Spoiler, the dump attached in my first post is OK (but please let me know if it’s not good)



There is no BIOS Downloads direct page that will show only my model, it needs to be selected from a menu on the page here is the best I could do, you need to select the CF-53S/Y/1 [mk3] from the Filter by dropdown, then expand the BIOS update program section

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@Lost_N_BIOS I followed the guide here https://www.win-raid.com/t3908f16-GUIDE-Grub-Fix-Intel-FPT-Error-or-BIOS-Lock-Asus-Other-Mod-BIOS-Flash.html to unlock my BIOS for flashing because of Error 280
I booted from grub efi and I ran:

setup_var 0x49 0x00
setup_var 0X4A 0x00
reboot

Now my laptop has a black screen of death and it will not boot to the BIOS splash screen! Please help! Is there a solution to this???
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@Lost_N_BIOS If you unlock the menus for the biosreg.bin that I have attached in the first post, do you think I can flash it to the EEPROM chip using an SPI Programmer?

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@pkkilleru - I asked because I’m not sure if I can, or have already, unlocked this BIOS menu. If you only needed a few settings changes that would be simple and not require any BIOS mod.
I’ll have to look in this folder, I may have already unlocked this BIOS before, and if so then it will be no problem, but if I have not, then there may be a reason for that and I’ll have to see why.

Error is expected, thanks for error # - this means we need to disable some locks before you can flash back mod BIOS, if it’s possible (see above again, can’t remember)

Due to the download mess, please download the correct latest BIOS for your model, and upload that file for me.

Ohh!! Sorry to see you jumped ahead of me and didn’t wait! Looks like you bricked your system and will need CH341A + SOIC8 / SOP8 test clip to fix this now
You should have waited! Yes, I can fix your BIOS once you have programmer ad dump current BIOS Contents (DO NOT ERASE or WRITE ANYTHING!!! - WAIT FOR ME!)
In regards to unlocking, first you have to have system running so I can have you check some things first, then we proceed with that via FPT or programmer, if it’s possible (some BIOS you cannot, due to Intel Boot Guard key burned into PCH chipset)

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Hi @Lost_N_BIOS
I have bought a CH341A programmer, some spare 25Q128A EEPROMs and some SOIC8 sockets.
Then I installed a SOIC8 socket on my motherboard.
It’s too late to dump the corrupted bricked BIOS with the programmer because when I took off the BIOS chip from the motherboard, it died probably from overheating, because I didn’t have a heat gun and have used a lot of solder to heat both sides at the same time.
Long story short, I dug out a BIOS dump for my laptop from another forum and I have deleted the ME region (which is located at the end) from it.
Then I took my biosreg.bin ME region and pasted it, then I flashed the new bios combination to one of the EEPROMs.

To my surprise, the laptop booted up, and everything seemed to be fine, but after looking a little closer, I have noticed that the ME version went from 8.1.72.3002 down to 8.1.30.1350 and even that is not stable. The ME either disables itself when the laptop boots to Windows, or, after loading Windows for a while, I get (Code 10) STATUS_DEVICE_POWER_FAILURE on the ME in Device Manager. If I reboot the laptop and go into the BIOS, the ME Version shows as N/A.

I tried to flash the firmware again but I get Error 8193: Intel (R) ME Interface : Cannot locate ME device driver from FWUpdLcl64.exe or, when the ME fails to load at all I get Error 8743: Unknown or Unsupported Platform from FWUpdLcl64.exe.

I also tried to see if I can fix it with fptw64.exe using the -greset parameter but that didn’t work, then I tried to use fptw64 -rewrite -me -f biosreg.bin and I get Error 25: The host CPU does not have write access to the target flash area. To enable write access for this operation you must modify the descriptor settings to give host access to this region. from fptw64.exe

Even if I try to dump the biosreg.bin, I get Error 26: The host CPU does not have read access to the target flash area. To enable read access for this operation you must modify the descriptor settings to give host access to this region. from fptw64.exe

As an experiment, I tried using the unlocked ME region from here https://www.win-raid.com/t6122f16-Panasonic-cf-mk-unlocking-data-1.html#msg105874 and everything worked just fine, I got full unlocked menus and I could change my SATA to Gen3 and increase the clock on the RAM to 1866, but my laptop’s model number and serial number (maybe other things too) changed when I used that unlocked ME region. But that did not fix the ME corruption.

The laptop seems to work fine without ME, but I would like to get that fixed and my original ME region fully unlocked, if possible.

If there is a way to fix my ME, please let me know what you need me to do.

Once again, thank you for your response and Merry Christmas! I thought you couldn’t be bothered by my posts, but I can imagine you are very busy with everyone else.

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@Lost_N_BIOS I have used the guide here https://www.win-raid.com/t3553f39-Guide-Unlock-Intel-Flash-Descriptor-Read-Write-Access-Permissions-for-SPI-Servicing.html to unlock the descriptor in my bios bin image and now I have free access to use fptw64.exe but I don’t know what commands to use to fix my ME.
I would appreciate your help!

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No worries, I managed to fix my MEI by following the guide here https://www.win-raid.com/t1353f39-No-ME-after-updating.html#msg22366
Your descriptor needs to be unlocked for fptw to work (see my previous post) and please ignore the size mismatch that fptw is throwing.

Now I have a BIOS with unlocked menus (even if it belongs to a different laptop with same make and model) and my corrupted MEI is fixed. I am happy with what I have.

There is no need to unlock my previous BIOS. Thank you for all the guides!