[REQUEST] Chinese Compute Stick Clone - Unlock Limited bios, rumour of 111mhz bus speed hack?

Hi @Lost_N_BIOS
My flasher finally arrived after like three weeks.
I saw the guide on how to use it, I’m just wondering what exactly you want me to dump with it now. I have the gold and black ch341a programmer with the 1.8v adapter and soic8 clip. I think it will be much easier to get a good connection because the board is so small and removable.
Essentially I’m ready when you are!
Thanks for your continued help

@Lost_N_BIOS ,
Hey, idk if you saw the earlier post, but my flash programmer has arrived and I’m keen to get this thing working again.
What do you need me to provide you in terms of the dump? Should I use flashrom and dump the whole chip?
Please advise when you can

Thanks for your help

@Lost_N_BIOS
Sorry to pester you, but I really need this thing going again. I appreciate you’re probably really busy yourself with your own stuff but this thing has been bricked for a month now…
I’d really appreciate if you could give me the next steps as to what to do. Do you want me to dump the whole chip, part of the chip, do something first before… idk.
Please advise when you can, I really want to get this thing working again.

Thanks

@thatubuntuguy - So sorry! Always busy and buried, so I’ve missed your post each time

Yes, dump entire chip. If you are familiar with flashrom then use that, I am not familar with it so cannot help there. I use windows software for this, here is general package of driver + many versions - http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?fil…695330485827902
What is the BIOS chip ID? In case I need to have you choose some other than specific chip ID Never mind, I see on page one. Try 1.30 or 1.34 software, if you can’t get those to work try ASProgrammer - https://github.com/nofeletru/UsbAsp-flash/releases/

Here is guide on how to use, best oen with most images has all image down though
[GUIDE] Flash BIOS with CH341A programmer
[Guide] Using CH341A-based programmer to flash SPI EEPROM
[GUIDE] The Beginners Guide to Using a CH341A SPI Programmer/Flasher (With Pictures!)

First thing to do is open all software versions and in “Auto” function uncheck erase and blank check, then exit. Do that without programmer connected to system
This way, nothing is accidentally erased.

Read, then verify, once you get a “Chip & Buffer match”, save and send me that. I will put back in your original untouched BIOS region and then we’ll be back at square one and can start to do this again

Hi @Lost_N_BIOS
Thanks for getting back to me. I was getting quite nervous haha
I finally got some time and I dumped the entirety of the chip. It took a few tries with that soic-8 clip but I got it. Flashrom is a piece of cake to use, it’s one command and it’ll dump the chip to the file. It was very convenient that I had my new T440P with arch linux running! - just had to install flashrom and boom dumped.
Here’s the link:
http://s000.tinyupload.com/?file_id=88817678931506458637
Thanks for your help

Hi @Lost_N_BIOS ,
Hope you’re good,
This probably got buried down your PM lists again, have you gotten round to rebuilding my base bios? I’m in no hurry so don’t worry about doing it super fast just I need it done at some point to get the Compute stick back up and running.
Thanks for your help

@thatubuntuguy - Apologies again for the delays here!!
It’s not about being buried in PM’s, I try to limit those best I can (see notice in my signature, I try to dissuade people from sending me PM for BIOS help), it’s the threads in general I can’t keep up with anymore (too many, always)
Here is your fixed BIOS - http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?fil…293594795170546

Once you are back and running again, then I can sort out the issues and we can try again! I will keep this tab open now, so we can get this original mod sorted in next day or two, out and it wont get buried

@Lost_N_BIOS
Thanks for your reply and fixed bios. I understand you’re busy, so I will endeavor to get it flashed tonight and check if it works.
About the threads, I understand. I thought it was PMs or smth because whenever you ping me or I ping you it sends me a PM. Apologies for any confusion.

Tysm for the fixed bios

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@Lost_N_BIOS ,
IT WORKS! You fixed it dude!
It took a little coaxing to get the stick to boot, but it accepted the bios and booted like nothing ever happened! It’s booted into windows rn, I have plans to install arch linux on it
Thanks for your help! I’d be fully prepared for you to send me modded files to flash now that I have a working base bios dump. I’ll be sure to keep it extra safe on my laptop.

@thatubuntuguy - You’re welcome, ye of little faith Yes, if I tag you then you get a PM, otherwise you shouldn’t, unless you are subscribed to this thread or have some setting set in profile to get PM/email updates to your own threads (I do not get PM’s when tagged)

I’m glad to hear the BIOS worked and stick is booting again! I had no doubt it would work, since it was your original BIOS, the only way it could fail would be a failed write with programmer.
Here is three BIOS, please test in the following order, stop once you see chipset in BIOS (load optimized each time after you flash, always ) Once you see chipset, no need to test other BIOS, let me know which shows you chipset
1. ChipOnly2SetAMIT.bin
2. ChipOnly2SetAMITBCPS.bin
3. ChipOnly2SetAMITBCPU.bin

Flash via >> FPTw.exe -bios -f filename.bin

Hi @Lost_N_BIOS
It seems there is no link to either of the three bioses?
Is this in error?

I can flash these tonight to test them

@thatubuntuguy AHHH!!! Yes, sorry, I uploaded the file when I typed out that reply, I must have forgot to drop link before I hit reply Sorry about that, re-uloading now
http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?fil…843422185764364

Hey,
Just got round to flashing the first ChipOnly2SetAMIT.bin,
It’s bricked again -_-, but no problem because I have my flasher. I’m too busy to reflash it using the programmer and try the other two but I’ll do that as soon as I can.
Does it not like modded bioses or something?

Thanks for your help

What!! Does this little stick have Boot Guard enabled somehow? There is no PCH, so not sure if that can be done in BIOS only?
Do not try the other two, they are modified on top of the first one. Yes, something is going on here, I double checked all mods before I packaged up for you, and this set shouldn’t have bricked at all as it’s a very simple edit being done here.
Odd, you’d think some cheap Chinese clone stick wouldn’t have any security measures or something like that blocking a BIOS edit. You are flashing how I mentioned, exactly, correct? And no errors during that process?

Maybe it’s the addition of a menu entry itself, how I mentioned there may be issues adding two, maybe there is issue adding this one too?
How we can test that is you recover, then instead of me adding, I swap chipset for other menu like boot or security (just for now, for testing purposes, you pick)
If we then find this works and adding a single menu is the issue here, I will try to sort it out how I mentioned I’d have to try and do when we wanted to add two.
Or, we can try something else a bit more simpler as a test edit, like update a microcode, or change a setting default or something like that, so we can see if any edit in general = brick.

What actually occurs here when it bricks, anything on screen, does it stay running or shut down? Also, is the symptoms this time exact same as last time?
This stick uses an eMMC doesn’t it? If yes, we ran into BIOS related issue on another stick or device recently, where user removed the eMMC and then could not boot into BIOS at all, so some part of the BIOS is on eMMC sometimes and maybe this is causing issue in some way here too?

Hi @Lost_N_BIOS ,
I just recovered it a few minutes ago, booted up just fine as usual with the stock bios into windows 10. The symptoms are the exact same as last time it bricked and I didn’t have a flasher to recover it, it turns on and just does nothing. Nothing on the screen, usb devices don’t receive power etc…
This little stick does have an eMMC, I can do a quick disk check to see if there’s potentially a hidden partition or something containing the suspicious data.
I used fptw.exe as you instructed, there were no errors apart from that PDR region which you’ve already said is nothing to worry about. There’s one thing though, there’s a WINDOWS and WINDOWS64 folder in the Intel Flash utilities which is saved on the compute stick. Should I use WINDOWS fptw.exe or WINDOWS64 fptw64.exe? Shouldn’t really make a difference should it?
I don’t know what Boot Guard is, but I can check to see if its enabled… but it seems I must use linux to download some script unless you know another way that can be done within windows itself.
I’m happy to try simpler edits if you think that’s the next step we should take. You can replace security with chipset - security is basically useless it’s just secure boot and admin password and I can try flashing that.
Could it potentially be fptw acting up? Perhaps I could try flashing the rom using my ch341a and see if it boots? Idk I have no idea what I’m doing lmao

Thanks for your support I really appreciate it

Thanks for the info. Use FPTw as mentioned

Boot guard is an Intel ME FW/PCH thing, since no PCH here I suspect it can’t be enabled and I think I already checked. But, how you can confirm is from MEInfo folder found in the system tools, run this command and show me bottom of the report (in image, not text)>> MEInfoWin.exe -verbose

No, don’t try anything more with programmer, the less you use that the better, and those cheap clips only get so many uses before they wear out and can’t grab the chip properly.

I will make you simple mod BIOS tonight so we can test if edit in general is breaking something, maybe change a setting or update a microcode or something like that. I have to run now, so can’t get to this until tonight.

You’re welcome! Sorry this is proving to be a much bigger pain than I originally suggested it would be.


* Edit - @thatubuntuguy - Sorry for delay! Here, please test and see if bricks or not, this is just update of both ucodes.
http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?fil…594993956656682

Hi @Lost_N_BIOS
Tried that ucode bios, bricked again. Same symptoms as before. Something’s definitely off here.
Where should I download the MEInfoWin as this is not present in the TXE system tools that I have.
Maybe there is some bootguard or something that checks the bios against a checksum that it expects and if there’s a mismatch it won’t start.

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@Lost_N_BIOS ,
Recovered again, I’m getting really good at applying the clip onto the chip, I got it first try this time lol
Booted back up as normal, everything is okay for now.
What should the next steps be now?

Yes, that is what I suspected, some boot guard maybe, or maybe some checksum I’m not seeing.
Sorry, I forgot this was TXE ME, you’ll need to run >> TXEInfoWin.exe -verbose
From the TXEInfo folder

Hey @Lost_N_BIOS ,
I’m going to delete Windows shortly because I’m replacing it with KDE Neon. I managed to get the wifi and bluetooth working by copying the relevant nvram files into the firmware folder.
Just to check, I ran flashrom in the internal mode on kde neon with no operation just to get info. It gave a warning: SPI Configuration Lockdown activated.
What does that mean? Could that be relevant to our problem? I ran a bios backup dump and I got an 8mb image instead of the 4mb image that fptw gave me. Should I upload that here or would the original 8mb fixed image you provided me with suffice for your needs?
I’ll boot back into windows and run the TXEInfo program and post the output of that. I would quite like to delete windows so if you have anything more that you need me to run with regards to information tools then let me know.

Output of TXEinfo tool @Lost_N_BIOS
https://pastebin.com/20LfnJNc
Hope this helps

Sorry, I don’t know, I’m not familar with Linux or flashrom, you’ll have to google around and see if you can find what that actually means. Yes, could totally be the cause of the problems, if something outside the BIOS is holding a lock mechanism or check signature etc.
Aside from that, in general it sounds like maybe flashrom is telling you it can’t “reflash” the BIOS, but your use of a programmer overrides any type of BIOS flash lock prevention, so if that’s all it is then no it would not be related.
From a quick google look, I think it’s the latter above, like BIOS Lock/SMI lock/FPRR/PRR lock (stop you from flashing, not something we have issue with)
I already have full 8MB dump BIOS from you I’ve been using as base, no need for any others.

No, nothing else I wanted to check in windows, and if we happen to need later, hopefully there is DOS version if it comes to that