So I just attempted to cross flash my ASRock B250M-Pro4-IB from the stock 1.00 BIOS to the 1.20 ASRock B250M-Pro4 BIOS using FPTW64 from CSME System Tools v12 r38 using the following commands:
The backup was successful. I made a copy of the backup onto a USB stick.
The flash was successful.
As soon as I entered the FPT64 -greset command, I got an error which stated something along the lines of “could not set global reset bit” and my system rebooted. As soon as the reboot process took place, the system appeared to be off. No lights, no power, nothing! I waited a few minutes and pressed the power button. No response. I tried everything but the motherboard showed no signs of life.
I then attempted to flash the ROM chip using flashrom on a Raspberry Pi using the BIOS_PH header below the chip. I wired it according to this image which I got from here:
The Pi won’t detect the chip at all. I tried with the WP and HOLD pins connected to either the 3.3V pin, to the motherboard GND, or not connected at all. No dice! Am I missing something? Also, with all the other wires connected, a short while after connecting the VCC pin to the Pi 3.3V pin, the Pi crashes.
I just noticed that one person replied that they needed to set the bios reset jumper to clear. Is that necessary?
Finally, I inspected the backup file I made of the original 1.00 BIOS using UEFI tool. It only contains the UEFI image/BIOS region. No descriptor/GbE/ME region. If I’m going to be able to flash this chip, I might need the full iBuyPower BIOS file which I am not able to obtain since they seem to have removed it from their website and I can’t find it anywhere on the internet. The following link doesn’t work anymore: ftp://drivers.ibuypower.com/BIOS
Does anyone have a copy of the B25MPB1.** files which they could share?
Any advice would be highly appreciated as I am now stuck with a PC that won’t power on at all. Thank you in advance!
Well, a small update for now. I contacted iBuyPower and they kindly provided their 1.22 BIOS file. B25MPB_1.22.zip (7.9 MB)
Here’s a copy for anyone who needs it.
Another update. I managed to interface with the ROM chip (MX25L12873F). I used the Pi and the wiring I described above. Except this time, the WP and HOLD pins were grounded, and the CLRMOS jumper was set to the lower position (reset CMOS). I made a backup of the current data. Then I flashed B25MP2.50 from the ASRock website successfully. I verified every flash from this point forward by making two backups and comparing the two backups with the file that was flashed. I tried powering the system on, but nothing happened.
I then flashed B25MP1.00, also from the ASRock website. Same result.
I flashed the B25MPB_1.22 provided by iBuyPower. The system would power on. But it would not POST (LEDs and fans turn on, but no output on the HDMI). At this point, I was using the built-in HDMI as opposed to the one on the PCI-E graphics card which was usually plugged in, so I inserted the graphics card and used its output, same result.
Finally, I used UEFITool to replace the BIOS region from the FPTW64 BIOS backup into the file I first pulled from the ROM chip. After flashing the custom file, the system also powered on but I still got no graphics output.
I’m really at my wits’ end. I can’t figure out why the motherboard refused to power on with a fresh flash of ASRock firmware. I’m not sure why it powered on with no graphics output with the iBuyPower stock 1.22 image or the custom 1.00 image I patched together. I tried everything from a CMOS reset to only using one stick of RAM. Is the motherboard fully bricked?
Can anyone please advise me on what I should do next?
As far as I know. The last BIOS I flashed to the chip is a modified version of the backup I pulled from the chip right after I flashed it with B25MP1.20.zip using FPT.
According to UEFI Tool. The ME version is 11.6.0.1126.
I cross-referenced the ME version against all the other BIOS files available to me. None of them match. I also found that the MAC address of the network card is contained in the GbE region as well as the BIOS region I replaced into the custom file. So theoretically, the chip should now contain an image which is identical to what was on it before I flashed anything.
I flashed the ASRock V1.20 BIOS using FPT and then the system stopped powering on.
I connected to the chip and pulled a backup using flashrom.
I replaced the BIOS region from the flashrom backup in step 3 with the backup BIOS region I obtained using FPT using UEFITool. Then I flashed that into the chip.
The system now powers on but does not POST. I’m not exactly sure why. Am I correct to assume that the BIOS is now restored? I thought that since FPT only replaced the BIOS region and nothing before that, and since I backed up the BIOS region and merged it with what I pulled in step 3, that this would restore the image to what it was before.
I also found it odd that the first two sections of the BIOS region I backed up in step 1 have the same GUID and size. Is it possible that this is how iBuyPower has their BIOS region formatted? Or should I remove one of them and attempt to flash that instead? According to UEFITool, neither the ASrock V1.00 BIOS nor the iBuyPower V1.22 have two sections with an identical size before the padding.
Is there a way for me to check the ME FW status? Is the ME stored on a different chip? How do I proceed?
My advice only… get the system stable till the last iBuyPower ORIGINAL bios files, test board stability, make new backups/dumps with FPT tool and CH341A, reset bios, power off 15m, plug the SPI programmer, cross flash with Asrock, test stability, update to latest ME FW version, done…
Other option, FULL all regions fpt image write…
Results? Unpredictable to a cross flash… what else can we say…
Thanks for the advice. However, I’ve been trying everything I could think of and no matter what I do, I cannot get an output on the screen.
The system is now powering on but not POSTing. I’m not sure how I’m supposed to get the system stable at this point as I can’t boot into Windows or the BIOS settings for that matter.
I tried the only version of the original iBuyPower ROM I had (V1.22). I contacted them again and asked for V1.00 and they said that the earliest version they had was V1.10 which is the same as what the OP @1fero said when he first posted this thread.
Here’s a copy of V1.10 if anyone needs it: B25MPB_1.10.zip (7.9 MB)
I’m about to flash V1.10 as is and take it from there.
Is there anything else I should know or any advice you can give me on how to get the system stable? Any tools I should be using? Something to clean the ME region?
I mean that’s the goal. Unfortunately, no matter what I flash with the programmer, I can’t get the system to boot at all. I can’t get into BIOS, let alone the OS to use apps/games.
The fans spin, the lights turn on, but no output on the screen. Any idea what might cause this?
I just flashed the stock iBuyPower V1.10 BIOS. Same result. I’m starting to lose hope in this motherboard.
Edit: After removing the RAM from slots A2 and B2 and using a single stick in slot B1, the system POSTed and I was able to get into the BIOS and update to V1.22 from the USB stick. I suspect the no display was a RAM issue all along.
I plan to make a backup of the ROM. Flash the custom V1.00 ROM file I made earlier to try and restore my original MAC address. Then I’ll update to V1.22 and keep it there without any cross-flashing unless someone can confirm a safe way to cross-flash from V1.22.
Edit 2: Flashing the custom iBuyPower V1.00 worked. I then updated to iBuyPower V1.22 through the UEFI BIOS. I’m going to try and reseat the RAM and hope all the slots still work.
