[Request] Acer Aspire TC-780A BIOS with CoffeeLake Support

BIOS/UEFI Modding BIOS Modding Requests
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Hello, I am having difficulty modifying the BIOS to enable Coffee Lake support on an Acer Aspire TC-780A. I’ve done this with non-OEM motherboards and Lenovo machines (without Boot Guard) using CoffeeTime, but I cannot seem to update the VBIOS+GOP or microcode on the Acer using CoffeeTime (click through the prompts, but VBIOS, GOP, and microcodes don’t “update”).

Is anyone who is more knowledgeable able to assist? I’ve attached a full dump of the stock BIOS using FPT. BIOS Dump


Edit by Fernando: Thread title customized/shortened

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I dont know if this would work, but try flash this and see if the machine would boot: darkenshadow-mod.rar (4.9 MB)

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It worked perfectly. Thanks for taking your time to assist.

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Did it work with a coffee lake/refresh cpu?

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Hello! I’m sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I’m terribly curious to know if this update successfully worked. I’ve recently repurposed my old Aspire 780A motherboard for a home media server, and while I’ve managed to install Windows 11 on the i5-7400 that shipped with this computer, I’d love to be able to put in an “officially” supported CPU.

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Although this thread is inactive now, I figured I might well report back that the modded BIOS provided worked perfectly on this device. The motherboard now successfully takes an i3-8100.

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Greetings,

I recently flashed a modded BIOS for my Acer Aspire 780A Kaby Lake motherboard so that it will accept a Coffee Lake CPU. The bios I flashed is linked at this thread. I used a CH341A programmer and SOIC8 clip.

As I reported in that thread, the flash was successful, and the motherboard is accepting the Coffee Lake CPU. However, I noticed that the modded BIOS is missing the “Advanced” menu that was available on the factory BIOS. I was hoping it might be possible for someone to add the Advanced menu back into the modded BIOS . There is one feature in particular that I would very much like access to again - the option to enable WOL.

I have a backup of the factory BIOS that I made with the CH341A programmer before flashing (it’s a .bin file). I also have a .cap file that is the factory BIOS. Finally, I have the modded bios. Please let me know if any of these files are needed and I will upload them.

Thank you for the assistance!

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could you upload the AMITSE PE32 from stock bios?

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@jonomite @karfel @Koekieezz @darkenshadow
Since the latest contributions are about the BIOS, which has been modded by @Koekieezz, I have merged both threads and hope, that it is ok for you all.

4 Likes
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Thank you both so much for the responses!

I’m sorry, I’m very much a beginner and will need some assistance figuring out how to do this! Alternatively, I can also upload the stock BIOS (there seems to be both a .bin and .cap file), and/or the backup of the stock BIOS if it would be easier for you to take a look?

@Fernando
Yes, thank you for merging!

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Sure, send it via DM. I’m quite concerned now about the privacy of the data inside the BIOS, especially since most OEM devices contain Windows license keys and other info.

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FIles

GUID :

  • AMITSE - B1DA0ADF-4F77-4070-A88E-BFFE1C60529A
  • PciBus - 3C1DE39F-D207-408A-AACC-731CFB7F1DD7

Changelog :

  • Chipset and Second Advanced menu
  • PciBus patch for ReBarUEFI and NvStrapsReBar
  • ME Region ready to use (QE bit must be enabled)

Note : use UEFITool 25/25.1.

Workaround for UEFITool crashing when opening the bios, change the hex pattern “53 AA 01 2C 18 10 00 F8” → “13 AA 01 2C 18 50 00 F8” using a hex editor.

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