[Request] Unlocked BIOS for Acer Nitro 5 AN515-55

[jonathah]

Hey Sweet_Kitten!

It’s remarkable how much dedication and effort you put in this community I really respect that.

Would you be so kind to try and mod my bios? I’ve put the vars.txt inside the zip to make it more convenient for you.

https://www(dot)sendspace(dot)com/file/l1qt5f

[Sweet_Kitten]

@Sweet_Kitten

In my country there is such a thing as military duty. I’m preparing for it and I will be in the army very soon. So, I won’t be online on win-raid or bios-mods or anywhere else for a long time.

If it’s my help you need, not earlier july then.

[JRMoore]

I will look into it in about 9h Jonathan, until then I’ll be busy I’m afraid. Yours is another AN515-55?

It shouldn’t be hard, what you need is access to the advanced menus?

[jonathah]

Hey JRMoore, yes it’s another AN515-55.

Yeah I’d need access to hidden menus/options. I’d truly appreciate your help, take your time though I’m not in a hurry!

[553349149]

Hi~ Kitten task is not over yet. So let me give you

[JRMoore]

I’m going to make you do the first step yourself , I want to document things so people know how to proceed and all, but since I haven’t done it yet (there may be guides already though) this basic walkthrough will have to do.

The first part is to remove some locks in place that prevents us from flashing modified firmware through FPT, don’t worry, it isn’t hard and I took screenshots of what you need to do and some basic scripts to simplify things. Needed stuff is already in the file you uploaded, but just in case the content of some UEFI vars changed since we’ll do it this way.

Anyway, let’s begin:

• Sanity check, make sure you don’t have any password set up in the BIOS or something. Download the file from here, its password is “Win-Raid”.
• Extract the file I uploaded for you somewhere in your machine and enter the “1. Vars” folder and right click the script named “1. Dump UEFI variables”, run it as administrator. A successful run should look similar to this:

• Next is editing time, notice a file in that same folder called Vars.txt, double click it to open it (the basic Notepad that comes with Windows is enough), and modify it as per the following pictures (don’t worry if numbers other than the highlighted ones are different):

• Save the file and close it, we’re done here. Next right click the second script, “2. Write UEFI variables”, and run it as administrator too. It will be updating the variables we just changed (to be fair, it’ll be trying to update all UEFI variables, but we just care of our edit).

• That checking for the index being successfully set is more of a formality, but still.
• Now whether a reboot or not is in order… I’m not quite sure, so do it just in case . The thing is, the next step which is getting a hold of the contents of the BIOS section in the flash chip also brings with it the variables we just changed, so I’d rather they be set as expected for when we update it.
• Next go to the folder labeled “2. Dumping” and you’ll find 2 scripts there as well, begin with the one that ends in 14.1, if that one works there’s no need for the other, but I included both anyway.
• A successful run of the 14.1 would look like this (disregard the file existing already, that part won’t show for you):

• Likewise, but for 14.0, it’s just the same:

• End of the road! You’ll see a file named BIOS.bin in that folder now, I want that, upload it somewhere and share a link to it, the next part is for me to do.

You’ll notice there are 2 other script in that last folder, it’s for later on and they have nothing to do with dumping anything so the folder name doesn’t represent what they do, but they are basically the opposite. When I do the modification to that file, you’ll put it there in that same folder and right click run as admin a flashing one to write the modified BIOS to your system.

[JRMoore]

Are those for me?

[553349149]

no no. they belong to jonathah

[jonathah]

Hello JRMoore!

Thats 's a neat little guide you have there, must’ve taken a lot of time, I appreciate it.

Here is the BIOS.bin you requested https://www(dot)sendspace(dot)com/file/m1bbw9

[jonathah]

Hey 553349149,

I’m quite confused, what am I supposed to do with the 2 exe’s you sent, what are they? I can see the insyde icons, are they executable bios flashers?

[JRMoore]

Perhaps those exes were to do what you did manually and the necessary changes automatically, Sweet_Kitten is waaaaay more knowledgeable than I am and a teacher to me .

In any case, I think I’m done, but I noticed the BIOS lock seems to still be in effect in this BIOS dump, could it be that the variables that come with the dump are in the default state? It’s easy to know either way, fastest is probably to proceed. Drop the file in the same folder where the flashing script is, “2. Dumping”, and run as admin one of them, for example, “Flash modified BIOS, 14.1”.

If locks are disabled you should see no error messages, otherwise one about FPRR protections being in effect should appear. There are other ways to change those variables and disable those locks if they are still on, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.

EDIT: Forgot the link: Download BIOS-Mod.bin from Sendspace.com - send big files the easy way

Oh, and by the way… Acer isn’t one to support machines for long so there may not be another BIOS upgrade for the AN515-55, but if there were, they can be delivered directly via Windows Update aaaaaand they would undo the modification. Not the settings though, while having a modded firmware if you change things in the advanced sections, as long as you don’t “load defaults” I think Acer’s flashing doesn’t undo your choices.

However, if you wanted to prevent firmware upgrades over Windows Update disable the interface for it in the Device Manager (open it via the Win+X menu, for example). You’re looking for this:

[jonathah]

Hey JRMoore, yes unfortunately I see an error message, Protected Range Registers are currently set by BIOS…

[JRMoore]

Tsk, I figured, I already thought it odd that the dump had the BIOS lock enabled, let’s try to edit that variable again but since I have a current version of it and we just need to edit the PchSetup section I’m sending you a “Vars.txt” file where I already removed the lock.

Drop it (overwrite the one you have) in the first folder, “1. Vars”, and run as admin the script to write UEFI variables. You should see this:

It’s a single section and the output won’t be like last time, see that it reads “Set Successfully!”. Then reboot and dump the BIOS again (2nd folder, one of those dumping scripts, overwrite if asked) and upload that file.

[JRMoore]

Why do I always forget to upload the thing! 1 sec…

Here: Download Vars.txt from Sendspace.com - send big files the easy way

[jonathah]

I was wondering

[jonathah]

Download BIOS.bin from Sendspace.com - send big files the easy way Here!

[JRMoore]

That one looks better!

Here you go, drop (and overwrite if you still have the old BIOS-Mod.bin file) in “2. Dumping”, there should be no error now: Download BIOS-Mod.bin from Sendspace.com - send big files the easy way

Just in case, word of warning for those who have the same machine, this is not to be flashed in yours, it’s for Jonathan’s, we could always repeat the modifications for your machine, with your dump, but since dumps usually contain data specific to each unit. it’d be ill advised to do so.

[jonathah]

HELL YEAH You’re the best man, thank you so much!

[rukfe]

Hello. And you can unlock my Bios?
Acer Nitro 5 AN-515-55
BIOS version 2.06
here is the link vars.txt: https://www(dot)sendspace(dot)com/file/yva3lz
thanks in advance

[JRMoore]

Sure, but I’ll need a dump of your BIOS, Jonathan’s won’t do.

Follow this reply I made a little bit up, since it is the same system the same things apply to disable the locks and the file linked in there has the FPT version you need to get a BIOS dump.

That’s the file I’ll need to upload to make the modification