Requesting help unlocking X-470F Strix.

Thanks for all the assistance I feel so much more comfortable now.

Fingers crossed my CPU is based on the top image of the bios lol.

@xlegacygt - You’re welcome! Don’t worry, if it’s not, you know how to do the edits manually now
I think it’s the lower one, based on the CBS being used

If the manual AMITSE/SetupDate edits have you concerned, don’t worry too much, it’s only that one setting really, at least that you’ve mentioned (the SB Clock Spread Spectrum).
And if you just need that edit done, and or others, and feel like you can’t do that kind of edit, let me know and I will do for you
Or, you can simply extract the lower AMITSE/SetupData module from SetAMITSDU above and swap into your working edit, and or compare that with a stock extract and you will see the one byte changed to 2D instead of 09
This Access Level change by itself will not be shown in AMIBCP, it will still show as “Default”

@Lost_N_BIOS well good news! My flash was successful and I’m not bricked, thats a +1 lol.

Bad news is, you’re right. Its the 2nd image so I can’t depend on AMIBCP. I will mess around with this next.

Lets say I do brick, does the motherboard have some sort of recovery? If not, how I fix it?

Yes, +1 always great when flash reboots without a brick!

No, there is no auto-recovery, be careful!! There is no recovery from brick except by you manually, and this is not possible, unless and until you have flash programmer in you hands >> CH341A + SOIC8 / SOP8 test clip with cable.
The tools are cheap, but if you order cheap ($7-8) it takes 3-5 weeks to arrive, you can pay more and get them quicker, this usually makes price around $12-15 depending on where you are and where you can shop etc.

Unless you insert something wrong, like body >> As-Is or As-Is >> body, generally if the menu edits are wrong and it’s not a bad insertion, then you just may not be able to enter BIOS, but it wont brick, and you can then reflash from DOS
But, that may not apply to all bad edits, so just be careful, double check, look things over as much as you can

If you want me to do, I can, just let me know! Or, if you want, upload your mod BIOS files and I will check, before you flash, to be sure all looks OK.
If you do this, please include all files you edited, and the final mod BIOS, I will only check the files you edited + the BIOS itself, so if you edited something else be sure to include it

* Edit - What is inside “AMD Overclocking” is that AMD PBS?

@Lost_N_BIOS I did it man!!!

Beyond excited, I feel so accomplished lol.

Seriously, I couldn’t have done it without your guidance. It seriously means a lot.

I will try CBS at a later time.

Gonna send you a PM.

@xlegacygt - Awesome to hear it man, congrats!! That’s really pretty in-depth edit too, for someone not familiar with BINOS editing and hex editing etc, great job!
So, you did the AMITSE/SetupData edit too, without even having to ask me for more details other than I provided in the linked post on other thread? If yes, super great, nice work

CBS, you can look through the IFR from that GUID, and see if anything is missing that you’d even want, may not be anything that interests you? I didn’t check again yet, was waiting to see if you wanted me to do, or if you’d hit it yourself.
Did you see my edit above, about “AMD Overclocking”? I’m wondering if that’s PBS in this BIOS, I think it is. Show me an image of inside if you are not sure. Lots of goodies in there
If you want to generate PBS IFR’s and see which one applies to what’s being used in your BIOS, to maybe unsupress stuff in there too, here is it’s GUID (There is upper/Lower) BBB77CB9-762D-436C-AC40-8EE4901C3446
Never mind upper/lower, I guess we now know it’s all about Lower for your current CPU

Also, setup can be edited in same way to unlock suppressed submenus or settings that you didn’t ask about or mention here, in Advanced (usually some submenus hidden), or Ai tweaker for example (usually some settings hidden)

@Lost_N_BIOS I did the AMITSE/SetupData edit as well, I followed the link you sent me lol. At first I was confused because I couldn’t get a IFR for AMITSE/SetupData and then after reading the link you sent me it went smooth!

I will def look around at some of the things you mentioned.

AMD Overclocking has a lot of the same options that AI Tweaker has, its actually pretty strange because AI Tweaker and AMD Overclock both have PBO options, ram overclocking, etc. It seems like AI Tweaker takes priority over some things. I dont know why they have the same options in 2 menu.

------------------------

@Lost_N_BIOS hm so taking a look at the CBS menu I found items I want to unlock but changing the suppression from True to False (47 02) does not unhide the menus for this one. Any ideas?

I changed 3 suppressions from True to False.

https://pastebin.com/BjhrGqBa

Edit: These items dont have a questionID unlike the other ones.
Edit again: Is it possible this CBS menu is using the top image instead of the bottom?

@xlegacygt - Nice to hear you figure it out! Yes, no IFR from AMITSE or AMITSE/SetupData, those are more code/layout than settings like Setup or CBS etc.

Sorry, I don’t know AMD very much. What is PBO? Did you look at the IFR from the PBS mention I mentioned? Is that what is inside AMD Overclocking?

It’s possible that the CBS menu that I first edited was the correct one, and not the one I mentioned later? Maybe the options appear in BIOS different order than the appear in IFR output, sometimes this is the case.
If so, you’ll have to try and edit each CBS menu, until you figure out which one is actually being used by your BIOS currently, this may be unrelated to upper/lower or CPU type etc.
Here is all three CBS GUID’s, generate IFR from each, and then do same edit to each one at a time, until it works on one and then you know that’s the one being used.
Or pick some other suppressed singular setting to edit that you don’t see in the BIOS (unsupressing, or moving outside suppression as shown below), until you figure out which actual GUID is being used, then you can do the more major edit like you mentioned
3E7788CA-2BFC-4FCE-8122-5176CA492D9F
8E38A88A-C267-4131-A8CD-C0BC80A24CB5
A5E369C8-ABF9-4B43-B212-FF1BFD35666D

If doing True >> False does not work on either of the three CBS menus, doing the same three edits to true that you linked, then it may be for this edit CBS situation that you need to move the items outside of the suppression.
This involves cut / paste (Insert, not paste over), and when doing this you must be very careful to not add/remove any bytes, ending result should be exact same bytes total that the original file had.
This kind of editing can be VERY tricky!! So be careful, and always double check output file IFR to see that it all looks as you intended, after you double check output byte sizes matches original.
If you want me to do this kind of edit for you let me know


Original >>
Suppress If {0A 82}
True {46 02}
Ref: CPU Common Options, VarStoreInfo (VarOffset/VarName): 0xFFFF, VarStore: 0x0, QuestionId: 0x9, FormId: 0x7001 {0F 0F 05 00 05 00 09 00 00 00 FF FF 00 01 70}
Ref: DF Common Options, VarStoreInfo (VarOffset/VarName): 0xFFFF, VarStore: 0x0, QuestionId: 0xA, FormId: 0x7002 {0F 0F 06 00 06 00 0A 00 00 00 FF FF 00 02 70}
Ref: UMC Common Options, VarStoreInfo (VarOffset/VarName): 0xFFFF, VarStore: 0x0, QuestionId: 0xB, FormId: 0x7003 {0F 0F 07 00 07 00 0B 00 00 00 FF FF 00 03 70}
Ref: NBIO Common Options, VarStoreInfo (VarOffset/VarName): 0xFFFF, VarStore: 0x0, QuestionId: 0xC, FormId: 0x7004 {0F 0F 08 00 08 00 0C 00 00 00 FF FF 00 04 70}
End If {29 02}

After cut/paste(insert/move)
Ref: CPU Common Options, VarStoreInfo (VarOffset/VarName): 0xFFFF, VarStore: 0x0, QuestionId: 0x9, FormId: 0x7001 {0F 0F 05 00 05 00 09 00 00 00 FF FF 00 01 70}
Ref: DF Common Options, VarStoreInfo (VarOffset/VarName): 0xFFFF, VarStore: 0x0, QuestionId: 0xA, FormId: 0x7002 {0F 0F 06 00 06 00 0A 00 00 00 FF FF 00 02 70}
Ref: UMC Common Options, VarStoreInfo (VarOffset/VarName): 0xFFFF, VarStore: 0x0, QuestionId: 0xB, FormId: 0x7003 {0F 0F 07 00 07 00 0B 00 00 00 FF FF 00 03 70}
Ref: NBIO Common Options, VarStoreInfo (VarOffset/VarName): 0xFFFF, VarStore: 0x0, QuestionId: 0xC, FormId: 0x7004 {0F 0F 08 00 08 00 0C 00 00 00 FF FF 00 04 70}
Suppress If {0A 82}
True {46 02}
End If {29 02}

^^ For this simple example, you simply cut 0A 82 46 02 and move it to below (After) NBIO in hex editor. This way, those submenus are now not within any suppress is constraints

Same for next two, do similarly
Before >>
Suppress If: {0A 82}
True {46 02}
Ref: 300/400/500 Chipset Common Options, Variable: 0xFFFF {0F 0F 0A 00 0A 00 0E 00 00 00 FF FF 00 06 70}
End If {29 02}

Suppress If: {0A 82}
True {46 02}
Suppress If: {0A 82}
Variable 0xF equals 0xFF {12 86 0F 00 FF 00}
Not {17 02}
End {29 02}
Numeric: Combo CBS (630419800979387248-630419800979387248) , Variable: 0x20 {07 91 0B 00 0C 00 0F 00 00 50 20 00 10 20 00 FF 00}
Default: 8 Bit, Value: 0xFE {5B 06 00 00 00 FE}
End {29 02}
End If {29 02}
End If {29 02}

After >>
Ref: 300/400/500 Chipset Common Options, Variable: 0xFFFF {0F 0F 0A 00 0A 00 0E 00 00 00 FF FF 00 06 70}
Suppress If: {0A 82}
True {46 02}
End If {29 02}

Numeric: Combo CBS (630419800979387248-630419800979387248) , Variable: 0x20 {07 91 0B 00 0C 00 0F 00 00 50 20 00 10 20 00 FF 00}
Default: 8 Bit, Value: 0xFE {5B 06 00 00 00 FE}
End {29 02}
Suppress If: {0A 82}
True {46 02}
Suppress If: {0A 82}
Variable 0xF equals 0xFF {12 86 0F 00 FF 00}
Not {17 02}
End {29 02}
End If {29 02}
End If {29 02}
End If {29 02}

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If the above editing method fails, due to the way this is all laid out at this area, then you may need to move them ALL outside that first Suppress If at the top of this section
Before >>
Suppress If {0A 82}
True {46 02}
Ref: CPU Common Options, VarStoreInfo (VarOffset/VarName): 0xFFFF, VarStore: 0x0, QuestionId: 0x9, FormId: 0x7001 {0F 0F 05 00 05 00 09 00 00 00 FF FF 00 01 70}
Ref: DF Common Options, VarStoreInfo (VarOffset/VarName): 0xFFFF, VarStore: 0x0, QuestionId: 0xA, FormId: 0x7002 {0F 0F 06 00 06 00 0A 00 00 00 FF FF 00 02 70}
Ref: UMC Common Options, VarStoreInfo (VarOffset/VarName): 0xFFFF, VarStore: 0x0, QuestionId: 0xB, FormId: 0x7003 {0F 0F 07 00 07 00 0B 00 00 00 FF FF 00 03 70}
Ref: NBIO Common Options, VarStoreInfo (VarOffset/VarName): 0xFFFF, VarStore: 0x0, QuestionId: 0xC, FormId: 0x7004 {0F 0F 08 00 08 00 0C 00 00 00 FF FF 00 04 70}
End If {29 02}

Suppress If: {0A 82}
True {46 02}
Ref: 300/400/500 Chipset Common Options, Variable: 0xFFFF {0F 0F 0A 00 0A 00 0E 00 00 00 FF FF 00 06 70}
End If {29 02}

Suppress If: {0A 82}
True {46 02}
Suppress If: {0A 82}
Variable 0xF equals 0xFF {12 86 0F 00 FF 00}
Not {17 02}
End {29 02}
Numeric: Combo CBS (630419800979387248-630419800979387248) , Variable: 0x20 {07 91 0B 00 0C 00 0F 00 00 50 20 00 10 20 00 FF 00}
Default: 8 Bit, Value: 0xFE {5B 06 00 00 00 FE}
End {29 02}
End If {29 02}
End If {29 02}

After >>
Ref: CPU Common Options, VarStoreInfo (VarOffset/VarName): 0xFFFF, VarStore: 0x0, QuestionId: 0x9, FormId: 0x7001 {0F 0F 05 00 05 00 09 00 00 00 FF FF 00 01 70}
Ref: DF Common Options, VarStoreInfo (VarOffset/VarName): 0xFFFF, VarStore: 0x0, QuestionId: 0xA, FormId: 0x7002 {0F 0F 06 00 06 00 0A 00 00 00 FF FF 00 02 70}
Ref: UMC Common Options, VarStoreInfo (VarOffset/VarName): 0xFFFF, VarStore: 0x0, QuestionId: 0xB, FormId: 0x7003 {0F 0F 07 00 07 00 0B 00 00 00 FF FF 00 03 70}
Ref: NBIO Common Options, VarStoreInfo (VarOffset/VarName): 0xFFFF, VarStore: 0x0, QuestionId: 0xC, FormId: 0x7004 {0F 0F 08 00 08 00 0C 00 00 00 FF FF 00 04 70}
Ref: 300/400/500 Chipset Common Options, Variable: 0xFFFF {0F 0F 0A 00 0A 00 0E 00 00 00 FF FF 00 06 70}
Numeric: Combo CBS (630419800979387248-630419800979387248) , Variable: 0x20 {07 91 0B 00 0C 00 0F 00 00 50 20 00 10 20 00 FF 00}
Default: 8 Bit, Value: 0xFE {5B 06 00 00 00 FE}
End {29 02}
Suppress If {0A 82}
True {46 02}
End If {29 02}

Suppress If: {0A 82}
True {46 02}
End If {29 02}

Suppress If: {0A 82}
True {46 02}
Suppress If: {0A 82}
Variable 0xF equals 0xFF {12 86 0F 00 FF 00}
Not {17 02}
End {29 02}
End If {29 02}
End If {29 02}


* Edit - To your edit, these are “Reference” items, referencing a submenu, so they wont have a questionID, this is normal and expected

@Lost_N_BIOS I got CBS unlocked! It turns out the “3rd” image I tried was the right one “8E38A88A-C267-4131-A8CD-C0BC80A24CB5.” All I had to do is change suppression to false, I didnt have to move any data.

I’m still wondering how you locate these files easily. My UBU doesnt tell me what each module is, if that makes sense.

I normally go to search and type in “CBS” under text with unicode on and it gives me 2 results, I would’ve never found the 3rd result if it wasn’t for you telling me.




PBO is Precision Boost Overdrive- https://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/3491-…chmarks-auto-oc

PBO does show up inside of AMD Overclocking as well as AI Tweaker, both are set to visable so its strange that Asus would have 2 options for PBO and ram overclocking. I tend to use AI Tweaker for all of this.

I also took a look at the PBS menu, I have to be honest I’ve never heard of PBS menu before but the options in it look different then AMD Overclock menu.

@xlegacygt - That’s the one I said was your CBS at post #20
I locate the CBS/PBS by known settings inside and or known hex codes for their names >>
59 B9 63 B8 C6 0E 33 40 99 C1 8F D8 9F 04 02 22 - AMD PBS
E3 35 45 B0 04 30 46 49 9E B7 14 94 28 98 30 53 - AMD CBS

Thanks for info on PBO Often, PBS is a submenu like CBS, if none of that matches what you see in “AMD OC” section, then we may need to do different edit to make PBS appear in there, I’ve not looked at this for you to see if it’s where it should be to be visible or not (I will check now)
I checked, and it’s not there, but sorry I am not 100% sure how to add it into this BIOS to make it appear. So hopefully anything in there you may want is in other menu. If not, let me know what settings you need to change, and to what, and I will show you how to do and or give you edited files to replace (This involves in-depth NVRAM edit)



Woah, woah, that sounds like some big next level stuff lol. For now I will explore small edits, I got the 2 things I needed thankfully which was spread spectrum and the CBS menu for memory training and bankgroupswap.

I want to mess with UBU/microcodes next, I posted in the UBU Tool thread because the tool says it replaced mcodes but when the screen reloads it still show the original mcodes.

Edit: Not just microcodes but updates to other items like network also fail to replace.

“EFI Intel PRO/1000 GUID 7250FD57-BF4E-47B5-98A5-C7AE2D1B8F5C
parseBios: one of volumes inside overlaps the end of data
parseBios: one of volumes inside overlaps the end of data
parseFile: non-empty pad-file contents will be destroyed after volume modifications
parseBios: one of volumes inside overlaps the end of data
parseBios: one of volumes inside overlaps the end of data
parseFile: non-empty pad-file contents will be destroyed after volume modifications
No replacements can be applied to input file”

@xlegacygt - Yes, NVRAM editing is kind of tricky. This may be required here for any menu or setting you couldn’t get to show up, we change it’s default in the module itself, and then the current applied/in-use value in NVRAM in several different NVRAM areas
I’ve explained this a few times to users, but not in-depth, I really need to make a guide about it but I never have any time. If you want to try and read, maybe figure some of it out, below is links I’ve saved where I tried to show users a few different times
But, as mentioned, this is only necessary, if there is something in PBS that you want to change away from it’s current default, that you don’t also see in some other area of the BIOS.

NVRAM edit explained - Determine configurable aperture size from BIOS file
Setup and NVRAM editing here as well - [Request] Unlock advanced menu on 2019 Acer Predator Helios 300 PH315-52 (5)

Be VERY careful with updating microcodes, you can brick your board if microcode edit done wrong.
These need done manually in your BIOS via extract padding, edit in hex and replace back in, unless UBU can now update microcodes in padding, not sure and from what you mention it sounds like it still cannot.
Your microcodes #1-11 are located in second padding at offset 60000h, the other four are already up to date so no need to mess with those.
If you extract this padding, then drop on MC Extractor, it will give you the exact offsets to go to for each, then just replace with new from here writing over old, since they are same size

Or, if you want, send me your current working BIOS and I will update those two old microcodes that need updated. I can do the network one too if you want?


Nice, I will definitely take a read! I mean, is there really big differences when upgrading modules? Do people mod modules as well?

Is it common that bios updates dont include the newest items?

These are the updates that come up:

Disk Controller
[Current version]
EFI AMD RAIDXpert2-Fxx - 9.2.0-00105
EFI AMD RAIDXpert2-Fxx - 9.2.0-00105
OROM AMD RAIDXpert2-Fxx - 8.1.0-00064
OROM AMD RAIDXpert2-Fxx - 8.1.0-00064

[Available versions for replacement]
1 - EFI AMD RAIDXpert2-Fxx - 9.3.0-00158
2 - OROM AMD RAIDXpert2-Fxx - 8.1.0-00064

Video OnBoard
[Current version]
EFI AMD GOP Driver - 2.7.0.0.0_signed
EFI AMD GOP Driver - 1.69.0.15.50_signed
OROM VBIOS Raven - 016.002.000.010.000000
OROM VBIOS Raven 2 - 016.002.000.010.000000
OROM VBIOS Picasso - 016.002.000.010.000000
OROM VBIOS Carrizo - 015.048.000.073.000000

[Available version]
EFI AMD GOP Driver - 2.12.0.0.0_signed
EFI AMD GOP Driver - 1.69.0.15.50_signed
OROM VBIOS Raven 2 - 016.002.000.011.000000
OROM VBIOS Raven - 016.002.000.011.000000
OROM VBIOS Picasso - 016.002.000.011.000000
OROM VBIOS Carrizo - 015.048.000.073.000000

Network
[Current version]
EFI Intel PRO1000 UNDI - 6.9.07
EFI Intel PRO1000 UNDI - 6.9.07
OROM Intel Boot Agent GE - 1.5.73
OROM Intel Boot Agent GE - 1.5.73

[Available version]
-\ for i82579/i217/i218/i219 chips
EFI Intel Gigabit UNDI - 0.0.29
OROM Intel Boot Agent CL - 0.1.16
-\ for i210/i211/i350 chips
EFI Intel PRO1000 UNDI - 9.3.10
OROM Intel Boot Agent GE - 1.5.88

As far as the Microcodes, Sonix said:

@xlegacygt - Sometimes it helps to update modules, especially if it’s ones you actually use
ie RAID, if you don’t use RAID, no need to update, LAN, if you don’t use Wake on LAN or Boot on LAN, no need to update, same for onboard graphics, if you don’t use then no need to update

Sadly, yes, it’s very common that latest BIOS do not contain latest module updates.
Various reasons for this include lazy engineers, they don’t care, security reasons, module updates still in internal testing, module updates did not pass internal testing with all their scenarios, time allotted to engineers per series/BIOS (ie they may not have had time to update yet)

If UBU can do the microcode updates, then it should be OK If it fails, let me know and will update them manually for you if you need

Hello @Lost_N_BIOS ! I hope all is well! I finally started messing around with the PBS menu and I had 2 images with 1 suppression on each image. I set the suppression to false on both images and it still doesn’t show a PBS menu.

I do not see a QuestionID so I dont think its suppressed behind any admin/supervisor provisions.

Any ideas?

Here is a pastebin- https://pastebin.com/yYGnNeXU

Line 83 is where I changed True to False.

Here is the modded bios if you want to take a look- https://ufile.io/irujx19q

I used GUID BBB77CB9-762D-436C-AC40-8EE4901C3446 and edited both the top and bottom PE32.