@RiggsUSA - Probably you need to reboot after removing driver, then install new one, otherwise there would be no driver installed. Not sure, that sounds like an odd situation I've never heard of before
Whichever works for you, leave it that way, otherwise your writes are going to fail too

What "Other" driver had you installed? Please upload so I can check it, thanks

It looks like windows installed the drive one I first plugged it in, both the windows driver and the one you provided look the same, so I have no idea what's going on. to side step some issues I have installed windows in bootcamp and have left windows to install the driver, instead of taking 11 minutes to complete it only takes 2. I have found that CH341 Programmer V1.1.1.32 works the best, it has just read the chip and verified it, so I now my finale backup, I'm about to flash your upload.

Good luck, fingers crossed for you!!
I will be back in about 10 hours, hopefully to see success

Could you explain this "First, I would like you to test a BIOS with one copy (backup/old) of your original NVRAM in place of current/main (NV2Test.bin)" I don't have a nvram backup as far as I know all I did so far was dump the chip to a .bin which I sent you

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Never mind that last post, I went ahead and just flashed the NV2Test.bin but the system did not come back so I flashed NV1StockNVRemovedm.bin and that got the system back and into Windows.
FPT gave two errors:
"PDR Region does not exist." "GBE Region does not exist."
I will include a screenshot in the upload with the bin file.

upload http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?fil...671904880648888

If we need the asset tag and service tag I can pull that from the sticker, as for the Windows OEM key I was using a retail version of Win10Pro and not the Home version so I don't think I can pull that from anywhere.

I couldn't be bothered adding the edits to get the right-click menu option so I just opened CMD and CD'ed to the folder its been so long since I did a Windows prompt I nearly forgot the basics, as I've been doing terminal work in linux/mac for so long. In 25 years as a IT engineer this is my first physical bios flash from a kinda dead system so thank you for teaching me something new. Another notch on the belt.

@RiggsUSA - I have your NVRAM from the backup dump you sent. This is where the issue lies, sorry if I didn't explain that clearly.
And, from your test of NV2Test.bin, both NVRAM 1 (main) and 2 (backup) are both affected by whatever causes the failure to start

Asset tag and service tag I should have in your backup BIOS, so if you are unable to put those back from within BIOS we can do with Dell tools or a BIOS edit. Windows Pro Key, that's not something stored in BIOS, only the OEM key would be there (And I did put back), Windows certificate/SLIC is also still in the BIOS I sent you so you should be able to activate with your windows ket from the sticker/case etc.

PDR/GbE errors can be ignored, BIOS region is unlocked for read/write since step #2 passed, so we can fix whatever else we want using FPT instead of programmer, so you can put it back together if you have apart and put programmer away. We shouldn't need it again, unless we test some iffy BIOS edit that might brick, if that is case I will let you know in advance.

The only thing I think we need to put back now, is the following into NVRAM, this goes into "DellTag" area of NVRAM.
HCRDSD2 (48 43 52 44 53 44 32)
CN0FRTKJ697026710341A00 (43 4E 30 46 52 54 4B 4A 36 39 37 30 32 36 37 31 30 33 34 31 41 30 30)

And as I hoped, NVRAM rebuilt itself and created both volumes after you did process I requested, so back to proper NVRAM areas now

If the above two things are not your asset/service tag info, please tell me what they are if you know, and what your service and asset tag is so I can locate in your original backup.

And you're welcome, glad to have helped you learn how to use programmer to revive a bricked BIOS

This is the info i have
Service Tag: HCRDSD2
Express Service Code: 37776886742
It's not a corporate system so I don't it would have had a asset tag unless Dell put one in by default.
As for raid I haven't set one up on this system I don't even remember whether I ever saw the setting in bios, it was always disappointing basic bios lol, I'm so used Asus bios.

Thanks, I see "Service tag" in info above, let me see if I can find Express Service code in BIOS you dumped.
RAID??? Not sure what you mention that about? Ohh, maybe I mentioned sometime previously?
If yes, I only mention because I told you to load optimal defaults and if you use RAID and didn't set it before loading windows it would break the RAID array.

As for disappointing BIOS menu/options, we can fix that if you want If you want to do this, I need BIOS images (in full) of all pages, submenus, settings (ALL) of your BIOS, then I can unlock menu for you.
If you do this, please set camera to small images, or resize before you zip/rar them for me (and use max compress) I don't need to see 2k-5K 3-6MB images, 800px wide and 100-200KB per image is more than plenty

I looked and 37776886742 or it's hex 33 37 37 37 36 38 38 36 37 34 32 is not in the BIOS you dumped. I can add back the above info though, it would be whatever is specific to that system, and maybe that other # above somehow translates into express service tag via some Dell method?

I don't know if the express service code was in the bios, i pulled it from the sticker on the system along with the service tag.

Well, all I noticed is the info I gave you above, it's all in one entry in NVRAM (x2 locations), and that is the only place HCRDSD2 is found too.

I guess we will go with what is in the NVRAM

Can you see service tag in BIOS before, and what about express service tag? if not, could you see those anywhere in software or something else you noticed?
If yes, or not, yes I think that is only option, to put back that info where I see it in previous. I will do this once we get started on menu unlock, for that I usually send a few BIOS up front as initial test to figure out a few things on the BIOS before I do the full unlock
So I will stick it into those and build from there.

I don't recall seeing it in anything maybe the Dell Support assist software but that is not loading right now so I can't check, when I was taking the pictures of the bios there was a screen asking for the Service Tag when I click to setup a password for bios, the alert is in the upload. http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?fil...630851867780497

Ahh, so you can set service tag in BIOS, I expected you would be able to somewhere since I didn't stick it in there.
Don't setup password until we're done, if you did plan to use pass. Thanks for images, I will work on this and get back to you soon!

Hope all is well, I was wondering if anything we have done would effect the secure boot function as in can I re-enable it.
Also do you have any good pointers/links so I can learn more about bios modding?. I feel like with how long I've been in IT this is something I should have a basic knowledge of, more tools in the kit for helping others.

@RiggsUSA - Yes, all is well, sorry, just always buried here No, secure boot will be fine, but wait for that and password etc, until we are done.

BIOS modification is a multi-layered art, with many ways to do any single one thing, and 1000's of "things" you can do to a BIOS.
So I can't answer that question in general you have to be way more specific about what you want to learn to modify and then maybe I can give you some pointers to how-to info or quick guide etc
Really, there's not a lot of guides I've seen, but I've personally posted a lot of how-to around here.

Looking at BIOS Images to do menu mod, is this MSI Motherboard?? That is MSI BIOS GUI
At least they gave you Chipset from the get-go, that is usually a menu I have to swap for something else (hidden) in OC area to give user chipset menu access in most all MSI BIOS
So, at least that is out of the way already, which is nice because it takes me a long time to gather all the details needed to swap that in

So, here is all that info added back into NVRAM at area I mentioned I found it before (the HCRDSD2 + CN0FRTKJ697026710341A00) + first test I need you to do for menu unlock
Please test in this order and let me know which BIOS shows you "DRAM Reference Clock" on Chipset page now. If BIOS #1 SetO shows it, no need to test other two BIOS
1. SetO
2. SetAMITSDS
3. SetAMITSDU

Flash in via >> FPTw.exe -bios -f filename.bin

http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?fil...221960923250853

Before flashing this, be ready for recovery via programmer, there is an added padding file no matter how I do the edit on setup unless I spend a lot more time to sort, and some systems brick due to this, others are OK.
Since I can't find a way around it right now, you'll have to test and let me know if it bricks or not, if it does then I will put more time into this and figure out how to do the edit without the padding getting added
I can do it but it usually takes me a few hours to sort out method, so instead of wasting time and since you have a programmer, we can test up front if it's OK or not.
I can work around, It's just a long dance, removing extra modules one by one and then rebuilding inserting all at once until it doesn't happen. If it bricks then I will sort and then we carry on
If you'd rather not have to recover again, it's OK and I understand, let me know and I will put in the time to work around this so you don't have to worry about it.

Also, after flashing these, check BIOS main page, do you now set a set Asset and service tag?

It looks like a lot of stuff you already have visible, only a few things here and there, and a few submenus to add into advanced, and you'll have full BIOS menu
Ohh! And on RAID, it's set and enabled by default (when optimal default is applied), so I assume you have two disks in there in RAID Mode 0 or 1.
Be careful now, if you don't always start with optimal in BIOS AHCI mode is fail safe setting, I'll make this visible for you shortly It's at Advanced >> Integrated Devices page