I would buy an Optiplex 9010 board to replace the MIH61R (Vostro 260) board. But I still don't want to give up on the Vostro 260 project. Besides Ivy Bridge support, I would still want to make EFI OS booting possible.

That may be due to it didn't get the ME reset before you tried checking the ME.

This is what I use almost always now, it's higher price investment than the cheaper CH341A programmers, but it's well worth the cash and works great with all types of BIOS.
Almost forgot, I already posted this here, on page 3 post #50 - [Request] Dell Vostro 260 - Add Ivy Bridge support (4)

If you give him your exact BIOS chip model via message before you pay, he may be able to send you compatible copy instead of the default (8MB) one he usually includes.
I say message before you pay, because he may take off a dollar or two for the lesser included chip vs the usual default 8MB one.

Or, you could read here in the CH341A thread and ask about "Jumper" cables to use with CH341A, it's cheaper route but does not always work properly.
My advice is get the Nano USB Programmer with the solderless adapter.

For now this will be at a stand still while I try to recover the board. I want to get an Optiplex board to use my computer in the meanwhile since the front panel headers are compatible.

Well if/when you do get the other board, let me know and I'll probably purchase that from you if you want to sell it, that way I can finish this mod and testing since I'm interested in making it happen now.

The Dell Optiplex 3010 uses the same mobo and allows Sandy Bridge and some Ivy Bridge cpus which work with HDMI video and audio. A compare with the Voatro 260/Inapiron 620 BIOS might be helpful.

I have a i3-3225 running on an Optiplex 3010 and and I just purchased a Vostro 260s. I'd like to put a 3225 in the Vostro. I am interested in this project and would love to see your results.

Yes, I already compared 620 BIOS with 260 on first page, it's the exact same BIOS byte-wise. So if force flashed or programmed it should work as expected, unless there is some missing hardware component on the 260 board (1 tiny missing or moved resistor on 260 board could cause it to not work the same as 620 board)

I am not sure if @flagers ever tried programming a 620 BIOS instead of 260, or if his programmer arrived yet or not? I think maybe we forgot about that after a while, and didn't look back to reconsider that, then the board was bricked....
Until now, when you reminded us! So hopefully once he has a programmer he can try 620 BIOS but I doubt it will change anything due to thoughts below.

I doubt it will work, since the BIOS is byte-wise the same as the 260 BIOS, possibly some trace is missing or disconnected or resistor missing or moved between the two boards as I mentioned.
I'd have to have a board from each in my hand to inspect up close to figure out if that's the case or not. I don't see how it couldn't be that (hardware level issue) since BIOS are the exact same for each.

Indeed the Vostro 260 and the Inspiron 620 use the same Bios. I do not think that either one supports the Ivy Bridge cpus which the Optiplex 3010 does.

I'd love to know what tools to use to compare the BIOS modules.

As it stands, I have downloaded all BiOS files for the Vostro/Inspiron, the Optiplex 3010 and the Optiplex 390. I'll compare release numbers and file sizes.

Sorry, I thought you initially said 620 did indeed support IVY. I compared 260 and 620 byte for byte in a hex editor.

BIOS size does not matter, except you can't use 2MB BIOS on a 4MB BIOS board and vice versa. Comparing 2MB BIOS to 2MB BIOS is not relevant really either, size-wise I mean, that doesn't mean anything really.

BIOS can be edited or viewed with many tools, depending on how they are created. Many various tools can check/see or edit different things in BIOS as well.
For 260/620 BIOS you can use MMTool, AMIBCP, MC Extractor, UEFITool, UBU, PhoenixTool, hex editors, and probably many other tools as well.

OptiPlex 3010 BIOS is 7.7MB/8MB BIOS file, so totally different chipset and BIOS on this board than the 4MB BIOS on 260/620

All four systems use a mobo with the stamp MIH61R which tells me that they use the same chipset Intel H61. Is this a Foxconn stamp?
Dell's part number for each mobo is different, of course. As to the sizes of the various BIOS chips, I have no clue.

The BIOS files I found on Dell's website for the Optiplex 3010 were around 4MB as were the BIOS files for the Vostro/Inspiron, although the 390 Bios files weighed in at mere 2MB.

One of the A04 downloads (a zip file) for the Vostro/Inspiron showed lots of information about ME and internal flow charts and other documents. One of the many files showed a check for ssid to determine whether the system was a Vostro or an Inspiron. Where that information is maintained might be interesting to know.

In any case, good luck on your quest

I am unsure what the stamp means, probably manufacture stamp as you mentioned or just some Dell meaning.

Once extracted to actual size for the BIOS from the OptiPlex 3010 BIOS is a 7.7MB file, BIOS file size for the 260/620 is 4MB actual, so not the same at all for those boards.

The Jetway company makes a series of mobos with names like MIH61M-??. None are exactly the MIH61R. None support Ivy Bridge. All have 32MB of SMT Flash BIOS. This may be the source of these mobos. They publish many Drivers and many items of BIOS information. You may find something useful on their website. I had hoped that the BIOS for the Optiplex 3010 might have some useful bits that you could use for the Vostro since the boards are so similar.

@draco09 @Lost_N_BIOS
hey bro,I will give you bios of 3010 dumped by programmer which size is 8MB.You can programme it into the 8MB size of bios and replace it into the 620 or 260 motherboard(it's original bios size is 4MB),thus they can support 22nm CPU.
http://s000.tinyupload.com/?file_id=38684322843025974928

But i hope there is a more convenient way to mod the bios dumped from the bios with software and flash it with software too~~
So far,I only knew the way of mod this bios is similar to the mod the coffee lake supported bios,such as ME,Micro Code,VBIOS and so on?but I sincerely wonder if there is guide about adding Ivy Bridge support in a motherboard in our whole forum and other forum???

8MB BIOS can't fit on 4MB chip, so I don't understand what your meaning to do there @gloobox

Ivy bridge support in many cases needs ME8 BIOS from manufacturer first, sometimes you can make Ivy work on ME7 too but not all cases. All you have to do is add microcode, especially if BIOS already ME8

@Lost_N_BIOS
I mean you can replace the 4mb bios chip with 8mb bios chip by a heat gun
About the ivb cup support,could I get the ME module from the board in the same brand？

@gloobox - yes, that can be done, I wasn't sure if that was what you meant.
For ME transfer, you need same board to transfer ME settings from, in regards to changing ME version, I think that will always cause some issues due to not having ME settings from old ME to put in new version, since some might not exist in old ME that's in new ME
Ivy support rely on chipset, sometimes ME/ME Settings, and CPU microcode. And when you change ME major version, many other BIOS modules may be edited as well, to work with the ME properly and to add the new CPU support too.