T3600 bios conversion to t3610

So that was FPT dump, then it’s not corrupt NVRAM unless due to something someone did in past, but yes, I think someone also put in BIOS incorrectly (usually to try and fix ME or recover BIOS improperly they program in stock BIOS region and that looses one of two NVRAM volumes)
No need for other FPT dump, however, yes go ahead and dump again with V7 FPT since this is V7 ME FW system, so we can rule out incorrect FPT as cause of the possible corrupt thing I was checking out. No, don’t wipe NVRAM

And, since it’s about time for programmer anyway, go ahead and dump each BIOS chip with your programmer, and send me those dumps, so I can confirm they are OK/Valid so you have a backup, and so we can learn what software version needs used for each in case there is any issues.
While you do that, get the ID of each chip and let me know. I assume you plan to do this conversion from FPT DOS, or maybe even windows, but I still suggest doing this with programmer since you have it and so that you’ll for sure have recovery files in case anything goes wrong while we work on wrapping it all up.
Best done with programmer anyway, especially since I plan to edit the FD to unlock everything, unsure if your jumper allows the FD re-write or not?

Just ran into a major issue, the 8mb ROM is a soic16 and I don’t have a clip for that. I can try a dump with me tools v7 but otherwise I’m stuck.

We can move forward with FPT alone if you want, but if anything goes wrong you may be stuck until you get a SOIC16 clip (let me know if you need link)

okay lets try this dump. if it doesn’t work ill amazon a soic16 clip and itll get here tomorrow.
http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?fil…425458300568876

@Lost_N_BIOS the only thing that worries me is that both v7 and v8 verify the file as correct and the diff of the dump between the two is identical. keep in mind this is an updated bios since i did the first dump. this is a17 i believe.

anyways its 2am here, and im exhausted so i think ill head to bed. ill check here when i get up to see if there’s any progress but zero pressure. i’m in no way in a hurry and i actually think all this is pretty cool to watch from the outside.

@Lost_N_BIOS i put in an order for a soic16 and it should come tomorrow for me, which is friday. but i did extract a copy of the bios again using fptw64.exe. the only thing im worried about is i have a ch341a based programmer just like in your pictures and i don’t know if itll work for the soic16 chip. thanks for all the work your doing and i am sorry for any stress i am causing you by being impatient.

@lowrck - It’s not about what FPT says is valid, even a hardware flash programmer can dump an invalid dump (all FF or all 00) and say it’s valid / verified.
This is probably either their (Dell) mistake or previous owner flashed in BIOS incorrectly. It may be fine, not corrupted and just “looks” that way to me, but the missing volume is not correct and is not part of what I wanted to check as this would be the same (still missing) no matter how you dump it.

Comparing both dumps, they are not the same, but this could be due to time changes, dates, checksums, NVRAM variables updating between first and second dump etc.
Both still look like they have corrupted NVRAM volume (what remains there anyway), one NVRAM volume is missing and other is corrupted/invalid - however this may be how it normally looks for this system, I’d have to have some other T3600 dump to compare…
Off to check my storage for a T3600 dump = None - But, I did look around forum and found one to compare with!
And theirs looks same, so this either means this is normal/how Dell does it on this system (it’s not like this, and proper on T3610), or both yours and his computers have been recover/flashed in the same incorrect manner (which is possible, maybe more than we’d imagine too)
But, I think we can ignore this for now Especially since you wont be using this NVRAM anyway on the other system, I could transfer over, but it’s tedious and some of the data in there may not match/cause issues etc. You will loose service tag and asset tag, but those can be put back in later with Dell tools if you want.

Yes, CH341A works with the SOIC16 clip same as the SOIC8 clip, provided you ordered a proper SOIC16 clip like this one - https://www.ebay.com/itm/332156943251

I am so buried in threads here, years behind, so your not putting any stress or pressure on me, I get to threads and post a reply when I get there, I can’t go any faster, can only go as fast as I go
Please edit your posts if you want to add more info and no one else has replied yet, thanks

Put on jumper, boot to DOS or windows and use FPT >> FPTw.exe -f lowrckT3610M1.bin
http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?fil…762864281614556

Well I have good news and not as good news. The system still posts but it freezes at the Dell symbol. And bad news is the one I ordered is 16 pin to 16pinn. I’ll just have to make some jumper wires for it.

Order a cable like I showed, or look at some images of that one and maybe others on ebay, so you can see how to cut and resolder the wires.

Did it flash the entire BIOS, no errors in FPT and it look like it wrote all 12MB? If yes, shut down system, remove 8/24 pin power cables, short power on pins for few seconds or hold in power on button for few seconds, then short CMOS Pins for 1 minute or remove battery.
Leave it like that, with no power connected, and all power drained for one minute, then put it back and try again. This will reset the ME State, in case this is what’s causing the issue. If this does not help, either FPT did not write entire BIOS, or these boards are not as similar as you think.
This is still with the older original CPU correct?

Looks like you might be right about them not being close enough, any chance you could tell me how to seperate the backup file into two pieces so I can reflash it to at least have a functioning desktop?

@Lost_N_BIOS just did several resets and yep im still running into the same issue. Thanks for trying I guess I’m just dumb. Thanks for all the help

@Lost_N_BIOS i got really lucky and my clip came with both a direct 16pin to 16pin and a 16 pin to 8 pin adapter. i used my dump of the 4mb bios to find the start and end point to create a split bios recovery fileset. if anyone wants it post here or dm me for a copy. it should both help you restore a t3600 and enable intel amt.

@lowrck - Sorry, I assumed you knew how to do that. It may not work, ME and FD is on the 8MB chip which you already programmed in, but if that ME FW works with your T3600 BIOS then you don’t even need the T3610 BIOS region, but I suspect some of the differences are at the ME FW settings/layout too.
But you can try and see what happens. Nice that your clip came with 8 Pin dip adapter too!

So are you recovered now, or do you still need split T3600 files? If you want to try some things, half this or that, and see if you can get it working please send me dump from each chip and label each file as the size of the chip.
Then I’ll send you some mix-match files to try (ME FW from T36100 with BIOS region of T3600, ME FW original with BIOS region of T3610) so we can see if it works either way of those in order to maybe see if we can figure out what is the issue.
If not, I can also manually redo the ME FW as a test, with T3610 BIOS region and use the T3600 specific settings into the updated ME FW.

I got it recovered. Luckily I made a dump of the 4mb ROM before I flashed it, but we can flash the me region from the t3610 and see if it still boots. I don’t yet have an ivy bridge chip to test with but I can… Aquire one soon.

And now i have an easy recovery good set.

@Lost_N_BIOS
I suggest we could establish a zone collecting bioses of mobos which cannot be downloaded in official website,or cannot be dumped by official bios file.
That could save mobos which bios is broken and could be use for modding or transplanting.

And we could dumped the bioses by spi programmer or afu/fpt.

Remember,we need the whole bios which size is equal to the bios chip in mobo.

Maybe we should wait until you have the Ivy CPU, just in case it’s working in some manner but only with Ivy. I thought you already had Ivy.

@gloobox - that would be good, if someone had time to keep track of all that. Even when I get dumps from people I would never have time, remember etc, to add to the thread - I just keep copy in case I need, so if you ever need ask me too.
I finish mod BIOS all the time for people, and never have time, or remember, to go add a copy to the finish mod BIOS area

Hello, i have a t3610 with corrupt bios. The Machine do not boot. I want to program the two bios chips. SOIC8 and SOIC16 chips are on the board. What dump should i use and how do i split the dump?

Did you guys ever figure this out? In the same boat.

Is there any progress? I am highly interested in the mod since V2 Cpus are getting cheaper and T3610 Mainboards are really expensive.

@mikehue - Sorry I missed your post until now! Please dump both chips and send to me. Also, tell me the chip ID for each, and what software/version you make the dumps with.

@amunoz951 - I don’t think so, but am not 100% sure. Do you have flash programmer?
@stefan0815 - Same as above

@gloobox - do you know where, or if, we ever were able to crossflash T3600 to T3610? I want to think for sure we did that somewhere, maybe even you did directly too, but I can’t find the thread.
I need to find info about what we did, how etc - So I can advise two threads below, and users above
Dell t3600 bios upgrade to t3610 for Ivy Bridge
[REQUEST] Dell T3610 to use multiple NVME on Asus Hyper m.2 x16 (2)

@Lost_N_BIOS -I’ve done it myself. The dell machine is running again but has been replaced by an HP dl 360 Server.

@Lost_N_BIOS
I remember it!
But it’s about T5600 crossflashing to T5610,and the consequence was kind of reluctant that the T5600 could launch with the IVB after flashing but stuck in the DELL LOGO.

Let’s revive this topic! I have an T3600 and I want to run ivybridge cpu in it. So what i’ve tried:

1. In Flash Image Tool v8 I opened the T3610 dump and changed the GbE Region with the T3600’s. After that the computer not boots.
2. In UBU tool (T3600 dump) I updated the cpu microcode to sandybridge & ivybridge ep. The computer starts, but after dell logo it halts with cpu microcode update fault. I think it needs ME8.
3. I flashed Lost_N_BIOS’s modded bios for lowrck, but the computer not boot at all.

Here is my dump, if anyone wants help me, or just for fun :slight_smile:

T3600_peti1000.bin.zip (5.28 MB)