[Request] NVMe support for 2 old Gigabyte BIOSes

@Lost_N_BIOS , unfortunately I’m the I.T Admin of the company just in the last two years, before me it was my previous manager (a real idiot) who insisted to continue using an old broken local exchange system and most of the data on it was unrecoverble.
The first reason why I’m the admin now, is bcz i was the only one who told the executive that it id going to fail.
Part of the data lost… Is that original ROM in the exchange data.

But what do you mean by changing access level?
I did not mod the bios in any way… Default settings are still the same, i only changed within settings, things like uefi mode only, shuting down wake on lan, old serial port, stuff like that, saved the profile i created… ohhh and added an admin password, the password is 898989
And allready checked, they did not change the build date.

Is it such a big problem that i changed the settings?

P.S: after reading @kentaurosk8 thread… It’s probley something with the mod… Bcz after he reflashed the ROM from Gigabyte site… The port started to work for him again…
So mybe it is the same ROMs we have?
Look… I know nothing about Moding ROMs… But if mine & kentaurosk8 make the usb functional, it’s must be something about the Mod itself i think, mybe comparing the version i uploaded, the original & your mod is possible in order to fix this?

@Lost_N_BIOS
@it.omri

The crazy thing with my case was that last year after flashing my BIOS from some old legacy version (f10 - f11 i don’t remember exactly) to the OFFICIAL U1n BIOS from Gigabyte’s website my rear USB 3.0 ports were not working (and some important OC settings missing also) but i could keep stable the 2700K @4.6GHz with 1.33V & a Dark Rock Pro 3 rendering FHD & 4K video for many hours. After flashing it with Lost_N_BIOS’s modded BIOS my USB 3.0 ports were still dead and i couldn’t OC the CPU anymore (basicaly after i OC’ed the CPU the modded BIOS crashed and never recovered). After many attempts i booted into recovery BIOS with an old 2GB RAM stick (stock BIOS i guess not modded) and the ports worked fine but i couldn’t boot with my RAM sticks installed (2*8GB Savage). I RE-flashed the BIOS with the official one from Gigabyte’s website (downloaded January 10th 2020) and everything worked perfect (USB 3.0 ports, RAM sticks and a small OC @4.2GHz)
I made a thought that the online file of U1n is not the same with last year…

@kentaurosk8
@Lost_N_BIOS

Same thing happend to me, only after reflushing to stock/version i have, the rear ports came back to life…

@it.omri - I see what you mean, sorry to hear, but good that you got the position!
Sorry, I assumed you edited BIOS using tools like AMIBCP, changing access level to make some settings visible to you, but maybe not?
If you only changed fail safe or optimal defaults, and can remember exactly which ones I can put them back, but that still wouldn’t be able to be compared to the current online version, due to once rebuild the compressed ares would not be same as before (nor NVRAM)
But others could use it after I set back and then would also have the working USB 3

You said you modified the BIOS, that’s why I mentioned wanting non-modified? Anything you change in your onboard BIOS doesn’t matter, only if you edited the BIOS file itself.
If you only have means to source this BIOS by dumping the current BIOS, then save yourself a copy as you have it now. Then, please remove password, clear CMOS, load optimal defaults and save/exit, reboot back to BIOS and enter Qflash and save the BIOS and send to me.
Once done, reflash back in your saved copy with settings how you wanted. None of this is needed if kentaurosk8 is flashing current stock BIOS from Gigabyte download and that fixes USB 3, so please wait until this is clarified as this may not be needed from you

The main issue here is NVRAM will be dirty (populated) and I\m not sure, but it may also contain your serial, UUID, and LAN MAC ID. I will have to check once you send me a backup as I outlined.
If it does contain your serial, UUID and LAN MAC ID, I will replace those with the stock default placeholders but the NVRAM nothing I can do about that, if I replace with stock from online that may break USB 3 again.
I didn’t think kentaurosk8 had fixed USB 3 from stock online BIOS, I thought he said that was failing before even asking for mod, and that only from flashing your BIOS it when fixed, but it was kinda confusing what you two were doing so I’m not sure.

@kentaurosk8 and you are not flashing same U1n, or are you now? If yes, and it’s only something with the mod BIOS, then great, I can redo differently and we can nail down the issue and avoid it!
Or, are you flashing stock BIOS from current gigabyte download kentaurosk8??

This is a common issue across the Gigabyte P67/Z68 series and the Hybrid UEFI BIOS, so it’s something due to the cross flash process I think, maybe that first flash from Award to UEFI messes it up and no one noticed that a second reflash fixes it?
Maybe this is the cause of the issue, or flashing mod BIOS with Qflash causes it? We can try flash mod BIOS with FPT + Qflash of same BIOS, to see if both or only one causes it.
First, I can/will redo the mod differently and see if we can find the cause, once you confirm after flashing current online stock BIOS this fixes USB 3

NO One FPT flash any BIOS, without first dumping their BIOS with FPT and sending to me for mod, FPT BIOS dump/Reflash is a system specific thing, do not flash others FPT dumps nor stock BIOS with FPT

@Lost_N_BIOS
Based on what you write here, i think the more logical conclusion, that it is the way the mod creted, and not the way we reflashing the rom, so if there is another way to do it & then use qflash (“This is a common issue across the Gigabyte P67/Z68 series and the Hybrid UEFI BIOS”)
Probably this will fix it…
But to your QA, no i did not edit the bios with AMIBCP or any other tools like that, only copied the profile i created to fast configure all of the boards the same.
Secondary conclusion is that what i can provide is useless bcz it’s “unpure” so let skip that step.

Anyway, answers i can allready provide:
1. I’m 99% sure we have the same Offical ROM, but the diffrence is i recieved it by mail, and then GIGABYTE uploaded it to their site after confirmation from me that it works & years later this is what @kentaurosk8 downloaded.
2. 1000% it did not save the specific serial, UUID, and LAN MAC ID, bcz i have 4 of this boards on the same network and i do not get any errors wich one is who, also windows is activated as OEM & OEI attaching it self to serial of MB, and if i had duplicate serial on them i would lose activation.
3. When connecting rear ports with Moded ROM, they do recieve electricity for sure (solid light on the USB Dongle when connected) , but not recognized in UEFI or Windows

QA:
1. I completley misunderstood if you are asking us to do something, or explain a procedures we will do after remoding the firmware…
"NO One FPT flash any BIOS, without first dumping their BIOS with FPT and sending to me for mod, FPT BIOS dump/Reflash is a system specific thing, do not flash others FPT dumps nor stock BIOS with FPT"
SO until clearing that, i will not touch the ROMs again and fiddle with it until getting instructions from you how to continue. Cool?

@Lost_N_BIOS
@it.omri

Hi guys,

Maybe the cross flashing that i did last year was buggy (from old legacy to UEFI BIOS) or the online U1n it self was a crap until they uploaded a new file (the one that i download before 2 weeks and was great).
The bios that i am using now after the crash is the official from Gigabyte’s website ( https://download.gigabyte.com/FileList/B…ud3h-b3_u1n.zip ).
Modded BIOS didn’t fix the USB 3.0 problem and also couldn’t OC the CPU so it was much worst than the previous one (stock last year’s BIOS).

So, this BIOS https://download.gigabyte.com/FileList/B…ud3h-b3_u1n.zip
You guys are both using, have Qflashed in recently, and USB3 works? If yes, OK, thanks for clarification. I will use that and redo mods one by one and have you test after each step (Some done in different ways, so we can find the cause of the problem)

@it.omri - FPT comment was a general warning, because I mentioned maybe possibly testing FPT flash stuff, but we don’t need to do that here, so you can ignore.
FPT flash (certain ways) is what would loose your boards LAN MAC ID, and possibly serial, UUID etc (Some/all gigabyte BIOS may not have this, but most have LAN MAC ID in there) - all this is left in place on the board when using Qflash, so nothing to worry about there.
And yes, if the BIOS Linked above works fine for you as is (I mean USB 3 works, without you doing any profile stuff), then this is the only file I need and we’ll use that to redo the mods in steps and find what caused the USB 3 loss and do that differently.

@kentaurosk8 - OC sucks on these hybrid UEFI BIOS, especially for Ivy CPU - SB OK generally, but for Ivy it’s never as good as a Z77 board (Z68x is better than P67, but both still kinda suck for Ivy and a Z77 board should be sought after instead)

@Lost_N_BIOS

Cool, & yes, we both use the same one and both have USB3.0 Rear port working with stock BIOS.
So let me know when are you ready :slight_smile:
Thanks for all of the help and councling!

@Lost_N_BIOS - i think that in general all Z68s and Z77s from Gigabyte sucks except UD5s… I have a combo of z77x-ud3h with a 3770K and also it is not an OC beast but yes you are right it is better than the Z68x. I have made several builds for friends and customers using other brands mobos (Asus Z77, Asrock Z77 - even Asrock H61 ) and all of them had better BIOS than Gigabyte’s…

@Lost_N_BIOS

I’m happy to report that our first test to install windows 10 on the nvme drive worked! :slight_smile:

But… Unfortunately it does not detect the second nvme drive installed…:-<br />
Bothe drives installed on pcie
970evo plus 250gb(os) on pcie*16 (runing at 16)
970evo plus 500gb(backup) on pcie
16 (runing at *8)

If relevent, according to the manuals, while both populated, both will work at *8 speed

Do you have any thoughts on how to fix it?

P.S: still didn’t heard from you regarding the USB3.0 rear ports…

@it.omri - Sorry I get buried easily here

Is that all you have, two PCIE Slots? What does not detect second card/NVME, windows or BIOS? If BIOS, does not matter, you aren’t booting from that so it would not be visible to BIOS anyway, only NVME with Windows boot loader would be seen by BIOS like this.
You should see it in windows for sure, if not, confirm the card and NVME work on another system

USB 3, from what I re-read above, I think you have to send me the known USB 3 working BIOS then I redo the mod for you.

Happy to report, that all is well…

during playing around with the system i removed the battery from the MB, and used the recovery proccess for the MB, re flashed with the bios you sent me.
and now i have usb3.0 and both drives are visible:)

@it.omri - Great to hear it! So, BIOS was OK all along, and some CMOS issue needed cleared? I guess maybe best to clear CMOS after flash on some boards, and always load optimized too (always, always, always).

Hi,

So you guys say you have a working bios for this board!! Is there some way I can get hold of it too (download link or…)?

I have the same board (z68X-ud3h-b3), but rev 1.0. Windows-insatller see the disk, but not seen and bootable from bios.
Only what to use a single NMVe for booting and running Win 10.
The old Awaard-bios can see the disk, but not support boot from a GPT- formated disk (unless a pre-usb-boot). The new/latest bios don¨t show the disk.
Thought I had to go back for the Award-bios, but You seems like to have a solution fir me too.
Yaeh, this is an old board, but sufficent for a HTPC.

Regards
// Kim - (Qunaki)

@Qunaki See post #10, new link added. Flash to U1n first using standard method, if you are on old award BIOS right now. If you are already on U1n, flash this BIOS via Q-flash, clear CMOS once done, enter BIOS, load optimized then save and reboot back to BIOS to make other changes you want.
Make NVME RAW drive (ie delete all partitions, do not initilize etc), then follow all steps in #4 of the “This is what you should do” section of this thread - [Guide] How to get full NVMe support for all Systems with an AMI UEFI BIOS

@Lost_N_BIOS. Must have missed that link, thanks.
I’m on U1n, so I go from there. Years since I used CMOS, but I’ll follow your good/clear instructions.
I see I have to run Diskpart again and make the disk raw again. Tokk a bit to clear it when it was on GPT (right now it’s MBR).

I was about to go MBR and olld Award bIOS (since the disk showed up then), but this is a much better way.
I’ll reply how it went. Thanks in advance,
---------------------------

@Lost_N_BIOS. It’s up and running…yeah! Many thanks to you! You are a beast on tweaking bios.
Everything was spot on as you guided.
After BIOS update, and clear CMOS it restarted itself a couple of times before getting me access to BIOS.

Had some trouble 'cause Windows would not install first. This might be my fault in the heat (not choice format first :slight_smile:
Diskpart and convert to GPT and then it rocked.
The old os-disk with a corrupt (and non revoverable) Windows still exist. Unfortenately now I realize that I have´t saved the Windows-key for this machine (upgraded from Win 7 years ago). Only have my laptops winkey

This was better than Xmas. I deeply thank you for your support.
// Kim
-----------------------------

ShowKeyPlus fixed that WinKey part (I both had the old OS and a backup).
The logo is perfekt, but it is also been disabled in bios anyway for my part.
Both BIOS and Windows starts in 10 sek - great. This machine has alwasy been on before. But with this start-time (and usage) I think we will keep it off more, no need for it 24/7.

But the computer seems not to power off - very odd. Never happened before, and I don´t know.why.

@Qunaki - Great to see you made it through all those hurdles and are now up and running Win10 again! [wink

On the shutting off thing, check windows power options, power button setting, and make sure you have it set to power off not hibernate (I think that may be default). If you have that all set OK, it could be a ME FW issue, let’s check ME FW to confirm.
Please 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, as you see in screenshot below. If you do not see ME FW, you may need to install Intel INF package, or also Intel Management Engine drivers.
If you cannot install ME drivers, or you see 0.0.0.0 or N/A for ME FW version, then your ME FW is corrupted and we need to fix. If this is the case, let me know and I will make you a clean updated ME FW for this system and get you info on how to flash it in

@Lost_N_BIOS - Just found your PM in the junk mail.
[The FW/NVME/Win10 was quite straight forward]
I fixed the power off option after installing.

But I will look into the HWINFO, but I guess everything should be ok. I’m bow and thank you for your help.

Hi, just found this and it seems just what I need! I am trying to update an older machine to an NVME boot drive but have had no luck. It is a Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3 board, but when I try to update to your awesome modded BIOS via Q-Flash it just says "BIOS ID check error"???
If you have any suggestions I would greatly appreciate them!
Thanks, you are doing great work on here!
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I should add that I am currently running UEFI BIOS version U1J. It is Beta…

@ktmaniac - I see your thread and was about to reply, but then I see your message above first. What BIOS in this thread, what post #, are you trying to flash to your board?
* Edit - never mind, I looked through all 3 pages, there is no BIOS posted here for you model board, so that is why you can’t flash any BIOS from here