first,sorry in advance for my bad english,i'm not a native speaker of it. :)

i have fully working asus p8p67 m with 2500k,nice air cooler and 2400mhz ddr3 ram on a latest 3703 bios. as you know,asus disabled OC on p/z sandy boards with ME 8.xxx. i would like to enable it, but i'm hesitant to go back to latest me 7 bios image (that would be 1701) because i have r9 280x and if i recall it right,p67 had problems with 2xx cards on old bios images,and i don't have much trust in my bios flashing skills and old bios flashing tools like afu and FTK.i did mod vbios of my 280 with vbe to disable UEFI part of vbios,to make it work on a z68 board with ME 7.xxx that i had.

my question is,can i just flash ME region from 1701 bios image using FTK and count on having a working OC (multipliers) and it working with my 280x or can i mod latest 3703 bios image with ME 7.xxxx modules using MMtool or UBU/UefiTool to have overclocking and working GPU?

again,i'm very sorry for my bad english,and thanks very much in advance for any help and/or input!

To do the ME backflash stuff, you have to either have flashback on your board, or first flash one modified old BIOS with ME Reflash enabled via mod edit, then flash newly edited old BIOS again with old ME in it. Best to not use new BIOS with old ME, it may not work due to changes in the BIOS, so yes, that may cause issues with your graphics card too as you mentioned.

Best thing for you to do now, before anything else, is order a CH341A flash programmer so you can recover from any bad BIOS flash. This will also allow you to program any BIOS/ME you want into the chip, without having to dance around trying different flash methods to try and get mod BIOS flashed in or old ME in there etc.

CH341A flash programmer is only $2.50-3.00 on ebay.

thanks for reply!

as i said,problem with going back to old version is gpu,i'm 99,9999 certain that it would not work with 280x,and it's the only one i have.and as you know,p67 doesn't have iGPU,so i would be stuck...i can try to find bios chip and leave the one in the MB as a backup.so the question is,can i hotswap chips in DOS mode?

P67 has Internal graphics and so does your CPU, but yes I see your board model does not And yes, you can hotswap in DOS, be careful not to bend the rom legs, they bend very easy.
Maybe get it half way out, or all the way out with it off, then put ribbon or tape under middle of chip coming out both sides or some kind of wrap around from underneath to top, so you can pull up easy from both sides at once or from top all at once, then carefully put in the other while in DOS.
It's not in use while in DOS, but I think Vcc/GND still live.

Hot swap wont help with the ME flashback though, you will need to do BIOS mods as I mentioned, unless it will let you straight flash back to older version of BIOS. Sounds like your card should be OK with ME7 since you used on Z68
If you need mod BIOS with ME-reflash enabled I can make for you, but you first have to get older version flashed in I think.
Or maybe you need ME refash enabled both times for the reflash to older, I can't remember on boards without flashback, AI Suite may do the flash to older for you itself and redo the ME, but usually Asus BIOS do not contain the ME inside BIOS.

i was unsuccessful in the past with afu and ai suite tools,as with EZ flash in the bios,because i have latest bios all other images asus tools render as obsolete.i did flash it at local service with initial (release) bios but it didn't display image with 280x and other i think nvidia uefi vbos card that guy had. so,as you can see why i'm hesitant to go to earlier bios images.

so there's no safe way to reflash just ME sector of bios with software tools?and it isn't guarantee to let me OC the cpu/ram and work with gpu?is ME sector that determines what generation of gpu will work?

But you modified your card, to work on Z68, so should work on here too now. No, there's no way to flash ME backwards while staying on new BIOS, many other modules are updated in BIOS when they move from ME7 to ME8, so to use ME7 you have to be on the old BIOS with ME7.
You can find newest BIOS that has ME7, and use that instead of super old one. Download all the ones leading up to "Added Ivy support" and check them with ME Analyzer, drag and drop BIOS onto ME Analyzer, it will show you what ME is in there (if any) Change probably at 1701 to 3602 as you suspected.
Maybe none contain ME except that one that adds Ivy support, and the original flashed in your board at factory with ME7. I will download them and check for you now

*edit, yes both BIOS include ME and ME change is at 1701 to 3602 - ME7 to ME8 - so you need to program in 1701 BIOS, backflash ME like that is not possible I think.
You can try mod BIOS with ME-Reflash enabled, and it may work OK since you are using Sandy Bridge ME messed up for a minute will be OK, flash once will get BIOS and then reflash again should do ME.
Give me a few minuets and I will post a BIOS for you with ME-Reflash enabled.

No, I cannot guarantee anything to you about overclock or GPU, I can only try to help you do what you wanted to do Yes, in this case ME controls what Gen CPU work OK. Ivy only ME8 or above, Sandy either is OK

You may have to have programmer, due to hotswap wont help with dump complete BIOS needed to flash back older version BIOS + old ME at same time. But above method may work
CH341A flash programmer is what you need, it's only $2.50 on ebay but long 3-5 weeks shipping, or you can usually buy locally (I mean PC hardware store you buy stuff from, like Newegg, Amazon etc) for $8-12

* Edit 2- I checked, there is no ME Re-Flash setting in this BIOS, so you have to either try and see if it will let you and if it fails (likely due to ME rules) you will need flash programmer, or you can try this method which many had success with
https://hardforum.com/threads/how-to-dow...series.1629404/

if i can't get it to work through software i'll buy flasher and a spare bios chip to mess around,no point i messing with a working one as chip alone is like 15 cents. i'll get some cheap 1155 board to have a backup before messing with this. :)

so,if i get it right my options are:

1.flash 1701 and hope it will work with my gpu.
2.flash modded 3703 with me 7 (what tool and ME source should i use?)
3.flash modded 1701 (just update ME to latest ME 7.1.80.1214_1.5MB_PRD_RGN.bin or update all i can with UBU and UefiTool?)

i did inspect 3703 bios image with AMIBCP and OC features are still present and enabled by default,so i suspect that ME is what disables them (turbo ratio and multiplier).

edit:

i did a little investigating the whole ME issue - 1701 has me 7.0.4.xxx version,that msi board that i've used had me 7.10.xxx version. so, if i get it correctly - there's no point in flashing 1701 version...

edit 2:

here's a paste from ME tab of hwinfo:

Yes, you can get sets of 3-5-10 chips very cheap

1. Yes, this is suggested
2. Not an option, at all, you cannot put ME7 into BIOS originally containing ME8 (Same applies in reverse as well)
3. That will be fine too, but first #1 to make sure it's OK with your GPU, if not borrow another GPU from something and reflash back to latest BIOS

What you see in AMIBCP has nothing to do with what's enabled in BIOS always, only what you see in BIOS is enabled. If you see something in AMIBCP but not in BIOS, it has to first be enabled/made visible to you to be active, by a BIOS Mod.

But yes, what you mentioned is somewhat responsible for the overclock locking with certain CPU's, it's usually ME+CPU microcode that does this.
I have never heard of Asus disabling overclocking with P67 and ME8, nor have I experienced this myself, but I can't remember testing Sandy on there with ME8, maybe that is the issue, I do remember them saying stay on ME7 for Sandy and ME8 for Ivy (Many brands said this)

i don't think my bios/me region is locked,i just flashed latest me 8.1.70.1590_1.5MB_PRD_RGN.bin with FWupdate.with what tool should i replace me region in 1701,as modded 1701 seems like safest bet?and with what tool should i flash it?ftk8 in dos?flash programming tool?

See my reply above #2 - I did not say your ME region was locked, which it likely is, but that is beside my point.
Updating with ME FW Update tool does not mean ME region is unlocked, to check if ME region is locked you have to try to dump ME via FPT (fptw.exe -me -d -me.bin)
If you get error ME is locked by the FD, if no error and a full ME dump is output then ME is unlocked (check file in hex or notepad to make sure it's not empty/all FF's).
You can also check with MEinfowin, see >> Host Read Access to ME / Host Write Access to ME, if enabled then great your FD has ME unlocked, that only makes what you want to do more dangerous since you have ability then (It is possible to force, several ways, but don't)

What I said in #2 has nothing to do with ME locked or unlocked or whether you can update it or not ect.
ME8 BIOS has many edited modules in it only compatible with ME8, same for ME8, you can't switch ME8 with ME7 (Or reverse) by yourself, only the manufacturer can do that because to many other modules need edited, updated, changed etc.
If you still do not believe me and try to flash in an ME edited BIOS, it will fail anyway, but if you forced via some random method and succeeded, then be ready to recover with flash programming tool because the board will be bricked.
FW Update tool, or FPTw, neither will backflash ME V7 from ME V8, due to several rules set in both tools. The only way that could even be attempted would be via edited BIOS, which will fail to flash and if programmed in with programmer will fail to boot.

If you are into taking risks like you keep wanting to do, then do as you suggested in post #7 step #1, that is my suggested move for you and what you initially requested, then if all goes well you can do what you mentioned in post #7 step #3

i already did dump with fpt,no problems.i'll find and post findings of meinfowin.

so,there's no way to go back to me v7 from me v8?not even with hardware flasher?how's that possible,if me is stored in bios chip and SPI flasher first erases whole chip than writes all of the image?also,they say on pages of FTK and flash programming tool that it first erases whole image or region and flashes new,sector by sector,so i don't know what difference would be what is flashed after what,so if you would be so kind and explain that to me it would be greatly appreciated. :)

i will not flash anything that's not somewhat safe (like that me8 to latest me 8 update) without further research and instructions.

edit - screenshot of meinfowin64:

Yes, there is a few ways to go back to ME7, only with old BIOS though, you cannot use ME7 on new BIOS that original had ME8 in it. Thanks for MEinfo, you are correct, your ME is unlocked in the FD

Yes, FPT (What's used in FTK, along with FW Update tool for some actions) can update ME, or BIOS, or both at once etc.
Flash programmer can write anything you want to the chip, but as I said being a bootable BIOS is another story. You cannot rename bios.cap to BIOS.bin, you are lucky the program batch files you are using from FTK remove the capsule for you creating a .rom BIOS before flashing!

Great you have your overclock back! Looks like your BIOS or ME was possibly messed up before, or you needed to reset ME state from some previous action you did, cool it's all working for you now!
I thought removal of OC by Asus for ME8/SB CPU didn't sound right as soon as you mentioned it, glad you were able to fix the system without having to flash back to old BIOS.

funny thing is that i already flashed initial bios (no out with some more recent nvidia GPU the guy had to test) and 3703 at local service with spi programmer and stil didn't had OC and ram speeds past 1333mhz.sadly,it didn occur to me to flash 1701 then...

asus p/z67 boards don't come encapsulated,they are in native .rom ami format and don't have to be modified to flash with ftk/flash programming tool or SPI programmer,that begin with native me8 boards because of problems with me v7 to v8 upgrades...that info i found on asus forums,and on more places on the net.and,as you said,ftk extract them,i've used ftk because i have legit win activation on that board (one of the reasons why i tried this hard to restore it,other being having nice 2500k that i've got for dirt cheap :) ) and ftk automatically transfers it to new bios image.

thanks to @CodeRush for this nice software if he's still active here! :)

my theory is that there's more steps in restoring me than simply flashing,maybe me is restoring itself from some backup on the board so when you flash it like 2 or 3 times you flash it over...that is of course simply my speculation,i've honestly no idea why this time worked.

edit:

is there any real world benefit of updating cpu microcodes either by software and/or bios modding?i suppose there's none in updating ME and as we saw this board has problems with it...so should i just stop tweaking further and be happy or thinker it further?i already disabled metdown and spectre with InSpectre v8,because performance on this system is most important,it's cheap little gaming box that i've haphazardly assembled from spare parts laying for years around,so i'm not that concerned of messing it up. :) and i'm thinking of dualbooting macOS and win...

Probably ME reset was needed, with FPTw -greset, without that is was messed up and somehow broke the OC. You are right, I just noticed that earlier about the .rom/.cap on these BIOS too, sorry about that!

Yes, especially now, updating CPU microcodes fix huge security risk holes (Spectre and Meltdown hacks most recently as you mentioned) If you are using Win10, then that can be done on the OS level, because win10 will load it's own microcodes now to override any old ones in the BIOS. But yes, you can update them to latest if you want.

can you be so kind and please mod the latest 3701 bios image with all,microcodes,rst oprom,me, i tried it myself but didn't had any luck either with UBU or UefiTool...i've read all the guides but either it gives some error,or as in case of UBU just hangs...thanks in advance!