Two weeks ago my Supermicro X10SAT suddently died. You can check the history here if interesed. Basically, I carried it to a local technician that said that it was a mere BIOS corruption issue, and the reflash cost 15 U$D or so. Currently, I have my computer working, however, there are several issues left pending...


1 - Supermicro has a tendency to only post in their website the latest BIOS version of a Motherboard, and does not provide either public changelog or older versions archives. I don't even know if the Supermicro provided tools allows you to downgrade a BIOS to an older version. At the moment, I'm stuck with the X10SAT8_518.zip / 3.2 version which seems to have omitted a few options that were previously available (Or that are bugged, see below), like enable/disable the X2APIC Opt Out Bit so that Linux automatically enables x2APIC instead of backing down to the older xAPIC. Could it be possible to force flashing an older version (Or a modded one), or do I need to do everything externally with a reprogrammer? I think that I have the older 2.x that I had in use stored somewhere...

2 - Reprogramming the BIOS chip had a collateral damage: Motherboard specific data has been totally erased. Being a Workstation Motherboard, it had some customized data for this very specific unit (I think that serial number data and other things retrievable via SMBIOS). A very notorious one is that the MAC Address of the Chipset NIC (The i217-LM, not the secondary i210 one) now has as MAC Address 88:88:88:88:87:88. Basically, important data specific to my unit was completely zeroed. Do someone with other Motherboards that have unique SMBIOS info programmed on them has any idea of how many things should I need to check to re-create as much of the old data as possible? Seems like it may be worth to dump SMBIOS from Server / Workstation Motherboards if you need to put it back to factory status from scratch.

3 - For some reason that may or may not involve the missing SMBIOS data, the BIOS seems to be missing some options. For example, I can't see the menu to enable the RAM ECC, nor there is the Graphics Configuration submenu in the Chipset Configuration menu to manage IGP related settings. At the moment, the latter is absolutely killing me since I use both the IGP and a Radeon 5770, the first for the Linux host, the later for VGA Passthrough to a Windows VM. When I have the Radeon 5770 installed, the IGP gets automatically disabled and Linux doesn't even see it in lspci. The IGP does work with no discrete Video Card, but I still don't get the menu. The menu is supposed to have the important option to select if I want the IGP to be "auto" or to force it always on, and which card I want to be primary video output. I'm not sure if this is an issue related to the latest BIOS version or the blank SMBIOS info.

4 - The X10SAT has a sister Motherboard, the C7Z87-OCE. The technician initially flashed the latter on my Motherboard because it was printed in the PCB, and it worked. The Z87 Chipset had a quite different feature set compared to the C226, the most obvious one being that the C7Z87-OCE had a few tabs with overclocking options whereas the X10SAT has absolutely nothing that allowed it to run out of spec. The X10SAT has other options including being able to enable Intel AMT (Active Management), ECC support for RAM, and a few other things which I don't use.
The first thing that I thought when I saw that the C7Z87-OCE BIOS worked in my X10SAT, is whenever a hybrid of some sorts could be created, as my wet dream was to undervolt the Xeon E3 and force a minor overclock to highest Turbo multiplier. Due to market segmentation purposes, Supermicro never cared about my request about hybridizing the Workstation class X10SAT with overclocking options (Pretty much all but freely modificable multiplier, as that requires a Z87 Chipset). Yes, I know that the first step would be to check if the options are already there but hidden, but for some reason I never checked that...

5 - A major issue is that the BIOS chip is soldered, so experimentation is extremely limited. I can't risk to brick the Motherboard again since it is my main and only system, but now I'm skeptical due to the previous suddent BIOS corruption that it may spontaneously happen again, reason why I'm thinking about getting a Flash reprogrammer. However, I want to avoid anything related to soldering. There seems to be some empty room that may allow to make a mod to replace the soldered chip with a socket. This would also required to replace the current chip for a socketed version. The current one is a Winbond, didn't checked the specfic part number. Do someone knows if such mod is viable? I don't have the tools to do it myself, but could ask the same technician to do the soldering assuming I figure out what is needed to do a proper mod.


I'm going to try to contact Supermicro support, too, but I also want opinions from the BIOS modding gurus here about what could be going on.

@zir_blazer - To be able to answer anything here, I need to know exact name/version of the older BIOS you want to use, so I can try to find it for you. Then we can figure out how to flash back to that, it can likely be done without programmer, but getting one will make it easier and they only cost $2.50 + 2.50 for SOIC8 cable

Yes, this is common to loose board specific details, if care is not taken before programming in new BIOS. The tech who fixed this for you knew that in advance and should have dumped your BIOS, corrupted or not, and copied out and over this board specific info. Even when bricked or corrupted etc, this info is usually still in the BIOS
To get this stuff back, you only have a few options, if you still have the box the serial may be there. If not, check all stickers on the board, serial and UUID could be on those, LAN MAC ID will be on a sticker on the board usually on or near the LAN Block, but could be anywhere else too. Be sure to check side of 24 pin, top/bottom sides of PCI/PCIE slots too.
Do you have a dump of your BIOS before/after the corruption, before it was fixed by the slacking tech that got it running again? If not, then putting this info back could prove to be a huge hassle, unless you can get another dump from someone you know that is willing to tell you their serial, UUID and MAC along with giving you their dump.
Sometimes I can find location to put these easily, but not always, so best to have a dump with known info to find locations (mainly for the serial + UUID)

On #3 - Sounds like he also flashed in stock BIOS, instead of actual dump, which stock BIOS download is only a partial update and will leave/blank out many NVRAM settings and often an entire NVRAM volume of settings.
That, and he may have flash in the wrong model entirely (As alluded to in #4), it's not normal for so many settings to go hidden on you from one BIOS to the next. I can unlock BIOS for you though, so this may not be such a huge deal.
Whatever BIOS you want in there, we can do, especially and so much easier once you have a programmer, but either board BIOS I'm sure I can unlock all options for you.

Yes, you can solder in a socket type BIOS if you want, there's several ways to do that, but since you don't solder it's much easier to just get a SOIC8 test clip cable
Here's what you need on ebay, you can purchase shipped faster from other sellers on ebay, or other places like Amazon or Newegg type shops, these are just examples so you have an idea of what to look for and what you need etc.
There is also kits like EZP2010 or EZP2013 and many other flash programming kits (Like SkyPro), those cost more but you get more too, and sometimes you might find a kit shipped quicker.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/201316582787
https://www.ebay.com/itm/382486015977


If you can get SuperMicro to give you a full proper SPI image (with complete/populated NVRAM Volumes) that would be great!
Even if serial/UUID is not there, all the stuff missing in BIOS upgrade from downloads would be a huge improvement if they'd give you a full SPI image instead of the partial downloads they provide on site.

Thanks for your quick reply.

Zitat von Lost_N_BIOS im Beitrag #2

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@zir_blazer - To be able to answer anything here, I need to know exact name/version of the older BIOS you want to use, so I can try to find it for you. Then we can figure out how to flash back to that, it can likely be done without programmer, but getting one will make it easier and they only cost $2.50 + 2.50 for SOIC8 cable

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Zitat von Lost_N_BIOS im Beitrag #2

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Yes, this is common to loose board specific details, if care is not taken before programming in new BIOS. The tech who fixed this for you knew that in advance and should have dumped your BIOS, corrupted or not, and copied out and over this board specific info. Even when bricked or corrupted etc, this info is usually still in the BIOS

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Zitat von Lost_N_BIOS im Beitrag #2

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To get this stuff back, you only have a few options, if you still have the box the serial may be there. If not, check all stickers on the board, serial and UUID could be on those, LAN MAC ID will be on a sticker on the board usually on or near the LAN Block, but could be anywhere else too. Be sure to check side of 24 pin, top/bottom sides of PCI/PCIE slots too.
Do you have a dump of your BIOS before/after the corruption, before it was fixed by the slacking tech that got it running again? If not, then putting this info back could prove to be a huge hassle, unless you can get another dump from someone you know that is willing to tell you their serial, UUID and MAC along with giving you their dump.
Sometimes I can find location to put these easily, but not always, so best to have a dump with known info to find locations (mainly for the serial + UUID)

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Zitat von Lost_N_BIOS im Beitrag #2

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On #3 - Sounds like he also flashed in stock BIOS, instead of actual dump, which stock BIOS download is only a partial update and will leave/blank out many NVRAM settings and often an entire NVRAM volume of settings.
That, and he may have flash in the wrong model entirely (As alluded to in #4), it's not normal for so many settings to go hidden on you from one BIOS to the next. I can unlock BIOS for you though, so this may not be such a huge deal.
Whatever BIOS you want in there, we can do, especially and so much easier once you have a programmer, but either board BIOS I'm sure I can unlock all options for you.

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Zitat von Lost_N_BIOS im Beitrag #2

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Yes, you can solder in a socket type BIOS if you want, there's several ways to do that, but since you don't solder it's much easier to just get a SOIC8 test clip cable
Here's what you need on ebay, you can purchase shipped faster from other sellers on ebay, or other places like Amazon or Newegg type shops, these are just examples so you have an idea of what to look for and what you need etc.
There is also kits like EZP2010 or EZP2013 and many other flash programming kits (Like SkyPro), those cost more but you get more too, and sometimes you might find a kit shipped quicker.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/201316582787
https://www.ebay.com/itm/382486015977

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Zitat von Lost_N_BIOS im Beitrag #2

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If you can get SuperMicro to give you a full proper SPI image (with complete/populated NVRAM Volumes) that would be great!
Even if serial/UUID is not there, all the stuff missing in BIOS upgrade from downloads would be a huge improvement if they'd give you a full SPI image instead of the partial downloads they provide on site.

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Zitat

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Unfortunately, we can’t provide any utility to the customer that can re-program the mac address on the LAN port due to the regulation from the government. Custom BIOS can’t fix this issue. Thank you for your understanding!

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I have absolutely no knowledge about how much a full SPI image differs from a BIOS update. I'm aware that in a standard update not everything gets overwritten, like the NVRAM or the static SMBIOS data that I just lost, but how many other things get lost?
Do you have some tech article or something to read about the matter? What I'm interesed about is how much data I have to somehow re-create, re-invent or recover. Like, for example, a list of SMBIOS entries that usually contains unique info programmed during manufacture. Some other brands that aims at consumer seems to use extremely generic static info, but Supermicro or other vendors that aims to enterprise and have those low level inventory management systems actually seems to take serious things like Software retrievable Part Numbers and such.

An user in ServeTheHome has a X10SAT and said that he was also missing the Graphics Setting submenu apparently beginning with BIOS version 3.0, but that Supermicro provided him a custom BIOS with that option unlocked. Why the hell they hided it in the first place is something that I can't understand. Heck, it even has a Support FAQ Entry!
It seems that to get this thing at a functional state I need to either: Unlock the missing settings in BIOS 3.2, or, downgrade to the previously working one, the X10SAT5_128.zip / 2.2. At the moment, I will be happy enough with just getting the Graphic Settings submenu working, so I may actually omit any fancy modding solutions.

How do you suggest to flash to bypass any potential lower BIOS version warnings? Should I do it with an USB Flash Drive, renaming the ROM to super.rom and setting a Jumper to Recovery Mode, or using some DOS based tool?


The same user says that he can provide a full BIOS dump assuming that he shut downs the system at some point. What sort of tool and parameters does he needs to do so? What I suppose that should be possible, is to compare whatever static data area he has that in a dump from mine is empty, blank, or has default values, then do a full ROM flash instead of a BIOS update.


Also, here is my archive of X10SAT BIOSes (Link already broken. Any easy place to upload them without registration and bla bla bla?), downloaded from Supermicro website when they were the latest one available. That is a temporal session, if you don't grab them say so and I will upload them again.

Included are:

X10SAT4_421
X10SAT5_128 (2.2)
X10SAT5_526 (3.0)
X10SAT7_505
X10SAT8_518 (3.2)

@zir_blazer - You're welcome!

Anyone working on BIOS, especially in a professional work environment, already has it drilled into his process to backup first before doing anything, this applies to anyone for any edit to BIOS or hard drive etc, I'm sure he did that.
Now, whether he kept the file or not, or used it for anything in his process, as you mentioned that's another matter.

Obviously he didn't use it for the NVRAM or board specific details, this is usually overlooked (accidentally on purpose) because tech is either lazy and doesn't want to go through all the work to locate and transfer stuff.
Or maybe doesn't know how to do that for all type of BIOS, or simply didn't really do any of the BIOS stuff and only desoldered the BIOS and replaced with a new pre-programmed one he ordered from someone else lazy that put on stock upgrade BIOS from web download (Such as ebay seller, or other shop)

Graphics sub-menu could be hidden by default if you have CPU's that do not have onboard graphics, this is the norm, and if you're CPU's do not have built in graphics then it's possible that in older BIOS they forgot to set this way and then now have in the latest.
I'd need to know exactly what you mean, which exact menu and it's location etc, or at least some of the settings you know that were in there, to know which menu you need unlocked (Or I could just unlock them all, for that I need images of all pages of your BIOS, so I know what you can and can't see)
For BIOS images, use your camera, or try with USB plugged in before you boot and hit F12 in BIOS, if it asks you for saved image name then screenshots are working.
If you end up using camera, please set it to a low quality setting first, or resize images once you are done and then zip/rar or 7zip to send to me. I don't need 3-5MB single images, even 1MB is way too much for a single image for this purpose

Good you have serial and MAC, UUID is often some combo of those + YY/MM or other random digits. But yes, as mentioned, I may need another dump from a working board that has not been sloppily recovered in this manner, along with it's UUID, Serial. Maybe someone on server forum would be willing to help you out with that?
I may not need it, but it would help save a lot of time digging around. I do need a proper dump from this model though, even if we can't get one with it's known details, but I can probably find that myself if you can't. For this, I don't care about UUID/Serial, but it would be good to know it as said above

Flash programmer is very easy to use once you use it a time or two, and will be a lifesaver for you for any future board that gets messed up like this. That is what I suggest you do.
Putting on a socketed BIOS holder to a board without through hole pins for the socket, so surface mounted (SMD) socket, will be very tough to do for someone without proper solder tools and skills (hot air/warming plate used for this, not soldering iron)
Winbond chips work, almost any chip works for these, that's what they're designed to do, people even use them to fix monitors and TV BIOS too.
Some chips need to user certain non-matching config, like W25Q64FV you need to use certain version software and different ID W25Q64BV, and W25Q128 you need to use a different software, but those are about the only two odd things I've ran into helping people and using/testing these programmers myself.
Yes, they pretty much work at first try, once you are familiar with using. We have guides here for these too, with plenty of images, and of course I can advise as you start using them as well.
Here's the three guides we have here on using these
[GUIDE] Flash BIOS with CH341A programmer
[Guide] Using CH341A-based programmer to flash SPI EEPROM
[GUIDE] The Beginners Guide to Using a CH341A SPI Programmer/Flasher (With Pictures!)

Replay back to them and ask if they will send you full SPI image (including populated NVRAM volumes), along with your serial and UUID (they need to add/create)
MAC I can help you put in, they're talking issshhh! This goes into GbE region of the BIOS, very simple to put back, and very simple for you to fix (even now, on it's own you can do this, via software)
They may be held by some law preventing them from helping you change your MAC ID, but how they worded that is simply wrong, they make it sound like you "can't fix that"
This can be fixed many way, including "Custom BIOS" it can even be fixed directly with the software they already provide to end user in all BIOS update packages.

In simple terms, the BIOS you download from the website is what I'd call partial update and can recover a board, but really shouldn't be used like that, it should only be flashed in with certain software that knows it's a partial BIOS/update
It's missing an entire NVRAM volume usually, and the one it does have only contains 1/5th or less of the actual contents that's already in place in an onboard BIOS NVRAM volume.
Places that hold serial, UUID, MAC etc during flash are skipped/left in place by the programming software. When you use this kind of BIOS with a flash programmer like the tech did to recover, it overwrites everything and puts in only this partial BIOS upgrade info, missing the one entire NVRAM Volume, 4/5 or more of the other NVRAM volume, programs in the stock placeholders for serial/UUID/MAC (usually FF's or 00's anyway, except for MAC is often 88:88:88:88:87:88 which you've noticed.). Windows activation can sometimes be lost when this is done too, since it's often tied to serial/UUID (Along with the SLIC in the BIOS, this would still be there/contained in the update)

Sorry, I don't know about any guides on this kind of BIOS knowledge, only know what I know from experience and hacking/tearing apart BIOS to mod or unlock, recovering 1000's of boards to re-sell etc.

I can unlock any BIOS setting for you, don't stress on that!

Don't worry/wonder about what BIOS flash warning you might get, wait until you get to that road before we discuss, because it could be any number of things and we'd resolve those in any number of ways. No need to what if it, only wait and see then we solve.

That's great someone is already willing to help with a BIOS dump! Tell him thanks, and to please wait until I can get back to you after his next reply. What BIOS version is he using, ask him that.
And then you send me a copy of that version, you can upload files here for free tinyupload.com - please only include the version he's using, and maybe the one you wanted to flash back to if different, or if we end up going that route) I already have latest
Once he tells you what BIOS he's using, I will tell you a few ways he can make a BIOS dump for us, then you can zip and upload that for me too. Since he said to you "Full BIOS dump" it sounds like he probably already knows, or has a programmer etc, so may not need any advise on this.

Hopefully he will give you his UUID and serial too! Here's how he can gather that info, from within windows environment, without having to gather images of the stickers on board etc.
Run these two commands from command prompt, then select all, copy (right click may fail, may need to use control + C) then paste into txt file
wmic baseboard get product,Manufacturer,version,serialnumber
wmic csproduct get name,identifyingnumber,uuid

Would be also great if he'd run the following too, and copy/paste to text (Or images of all these outputs fine too)
Ipconfig /all


If he wont give you the details, that's silly, since it would all be in BIOS anyway, but some people are silly you know
If he wont, and I can't locate certain things, then comparing in a way your thinking of is not possible, only when you know the exact location can you then compare.
This is mainly due to you can't search a 10000000 byte file for instances of FF FF FF or 00 00 00 etc, there will be 10's of 1000's of results, so knowing location is key.
Most of the time this kind of stuff is stored in certain known locations, or within certain known BIOS modules or files etc, so I can usually find if I have a non-stock dump to compare with even if I don't know the dumps given details beforehand.

Sorry for keeping you waiting, I procastinated a bit too much during the last two weeks. At the end, this last friday I sent a mail to Supermicro asking specifically about the Graphic Settings submenu being missing in the BIOS. 45 MINUTES later got a mail saying that they reproduced it, then they delivered a BIOS fix yesterday. Tested it and it works as intended, so I can now simultaneously use the Processor IGP and Video Card again, and got my QEMU setup with VGA Passthrough working the same as previously (I was ONE ENTIRE MONTH without playing games!).
I also asked about the "full SPI image" or more details about what data could be missing if outright flashing the partial BIOS updates, but that question was ignored with the expected "we don't recommend doing so". Getting the other guy with the X10SAT to provide a full dump of his BIOS may be the only way to get mine as close as possible to factory contents, but at this moment, that is more due to obsessive-compulsive tendencies than out of any sort of necessity.


If you are still interesed in my particular case, I will later respond with more details (I got photos of the Motherboard stickers, and the entire BIOS menues, but need to wait for family to be sleeping before monopolizing the upload bandwidth). However, chances are that I pause this for a bit since everything that needs to be working is working, and since I tend to procastinate a lot when I'm out of enthusiasm or somehow satisfied, investing your time in helping me will probably be a waste since I doubt that I will realize my dream of making a X10SAT+C7Z87-OCE hybrid so that I can undervolt my Xeon.


The only thing that may have some priority is asking the X10SAT BIOS donor what he has to do to dump his BIOS, since the missing NVRAM Volumes have to be retrieved from somewhere. You misunderstood what I said about him - I was the one that asked him if he is willing to do so considering that I will have his MAC Address and Serial Number, and perhaps other internal data, and he seems to not mind doing so. However, I don't know if he knows how to dump it, so I may need to provide him the instructions. He said that he uses it in a "production server" so rarely shut it downs, and I don't recall if he uses Linux or Windows (Maybe is easier in Linux, as it can get straight info from SMBIOS Tables with the dmidecode command). Should we do a Phase 2, I suppose that we will need his full BIOS dump and I should also order the BIOS reprogrammer and the SOIC8 clamp adapter.
Can Software tools like AFUDOS make a full dump? Does Jumper position matters (For example, the ME Recovery Mode or Manufacturing Mode)? What parameters does he needs to be using? I suppose that you just need a FreeDOS booting USB Flash Drive made with Rufus then the dumping tools, right?

Hell yeah, I beat procastination once more.

Zitat von Lost_N_BIOS im Beitrag #5

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Anyone working on BIOS, especially in a professional work environment, already has it drilled into his process to backup first before doing anything, this applies to anyone for any edit to BIOS or hard drive etc, I'm sure he did that.
Now, whether he kept the file or not, or used it for anything in his process, as you mentioned that's another matter.

Obviously he didn't use it for the NVRAM or board specific details, this is usually overlooked (accidentally on purpose) because tech is either lazy and doesn't want to go through all the work to locate and transfer stuff.
Or maybe doesn't know how to do that for all type of BIOS, or simply didn't really do any of the BIOS stuff and only desoldered the BIOS and replaced with a new pre-programmed one he ordered from someone else lazy that put on stock upgrade BIOS from web download (Such as ebay seller, or other shop)

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Zitat von Lost_N_BIOS im Beitrag #5

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Graphics sub-menu could be hidden by default if you have CPU's that do not have onboard graphics, this is the norm, and if you're CPU's do not have built in graphics then it's possible that in older BIOS they forgot to set this way and then now have in the latest.
I'd need to know exactly what you mean, which exact menu and it's location etc, or at least some of the settings you know that were in there, to know which menu you need unlocked (Or I could just unlock them all, for that I need images of all pages of your BIOS, so I know what you can and can't see)

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Zitat von Lost_N_BIOS im Beitrag #5

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For BIOS images, use your camera, or try with USB plugged in before you boot and hit F12 in BIOS, if it asks you for saved image name then screenshots are working.
If you end up using camera, please set it to a low quality setting first, or resize images once you are done and then zip/rar or 7zip to send to me. I don't need 3-5MB single images, even 1MB is way too much for a single image for this purpose

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Zitat von Lost_N_BIOS im Beitrag #5

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Good you have serial and MAC, UUID is often some combo of those + YY/MM or other random digits. But yes, as mentioned, I may need another dump from a working board that has not been sloppily recovered in this manner, along with it's UUID, Serial. Maybe someone on server forum would be willing to help you out with that?
I may not need it, but it would help save a lot of time digging around. I do need a proper dump from this model though, even if we can't get one with it's known details, but I can probably find that myself if you can't. For this, I don't care about UUID/Serial, but it would be good to know it as said above

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Zitat von Lost_N_BIOS im Beitrag #5

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Flash programmer is very easy to use once you use it a time or two, and will be a lifesaver for you for any future board that gets messed up like this. That is what I suggest you do.
Putting on a socketed BIOS holder to a board without through hole pins for the socket, so surface mounted (SMD) socket, will be very tough to do for someone without proper solder tools and skills (hot air/warming plate used for this, not soldering iron)
Winbond chips work, almost any chip works for these, that's what they're designed to do, people even use them to fix monitors and TV BIOS too.
Some chips need to user certain non-matching config, like W25Q64FV you need to use certain version software and different ID W25Q64BV, and W25Q128 you need to use a different software, but those are about the only two odd things I've ran into helping people and using/testing these programmers myself.

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Zitat von Lost_N_BIOS im Beitrag #5

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Replay back to them and ask if they will send you full SPI image (including populated NVRAM volumes), along with your serial and UUID (they need to add/create)

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Zitat von Lost_N_BIOS im Beitrag #5

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In simple terms, the BIOS you download from the website is what I'd call partial update and can recover a board, but really shouldn't be used like that, it should only be flashed in with certain software that knows it's a partial BIOS/update
It's missing an entire NVRAM volume usually, and the one it does have only contains 1/5th or less of the actual contents that's already in place in an onboard BIOS NVRAM volume.
Places that hold serial, UUID, MAC etc during flash are skipped/left in place by the programming software. When you use this kind of BIOS with a flash programmer like the tech did to recover, it overwrites everything and puts in only this partial BIOS upgrade info, missing the one entire NVRAM Volume, 4/5 or more of the other NVRAM volume, programs in the stock placeholders for serial/UUID/MAC (usually FF's or 00's anyway, except for MAC is often 88:88:88:88:87:88 which you've noticed.). Windows activation can sometimes be lost when this is done too, since it's often tied to serial/UUID (Along with the SLIC in the BIOS, this would still be there/contained in the update)

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Zitat von Lost_N_BIOS im Beitrag #5

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That's great someone is already willing to help with a BIOS dump! Tell him thanks, and to please wait until I can get back to you after his next reply. What BIOS version is he using, ask him that.
And then you send me a copy of that version, you can upload files here for free tinyupload.com - please only include the version he's using, and maybe the one you wanted to flash back to if different, or if we end up going that route) I already have latest
Once he tells you what BIOS he's using, I will tell you a few ways he can make a BIOS dump for us, then you can zip and upload that for me too. Since he said to you "Full BIOS dump" it sounds like he probably already knows, or has a programmer etc, so may not need any advise on this.

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Zitat von Lost_N_BIOS im Beitrag #5

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Hopefully he will give you his UUID and serial too! Here's how he can gather that info, from within windows environment, without having to gather images of the stickers on board etc.
Run these two commands from command prompt, then select all, copy (right click may fail, may need to use control + C) then paste into txt file
wmic baseboard get product,Manufacturer,version,serialnumber
wmic csproduct get name,identifyingnumber,uuid

Would be also great if he'd run the following too, and copy/paste to text (Or images of all these outputs fine too)
Ipconfig /all


If he wont give you the details, that's silly, since it would all be in BIOS anyway, but some people are silly you know
If he wont, and I can't locate certain things, then comparing in a way your thinking of is not possible, only when you know the exact location can you then compare.
This is mainly due to you can't search a 10000000 byte file for instances of FF FF FF or 00 00 00 etc, there will be 10's of 1000's of results, so knowing location is key.
Most of the time this kind of stuff is stored in certain known locations, or within certain known BIOS modules or files etc, so I can usually find if I have a non-stock dump to compare with even if I don't know the dumps given details beforehand.

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@Lost_N_BIOS
Mind you help me to resume this? Albeit chances are that I don't do it unless I can get my hands on the reprogrammer (eBay prices are cheap but I need to get a license of sorts to import stuff even at a personal level, then wait like 2 months for a free shipping from China, or purchasing it locally, but there is too much markup for my tastes), I still want to leave the path clear. I just need you to tell me if it is possible to get a full BIOS dump using Software only tools so that I can forward that to the guy with the X10SAT so that I have a proper BIOS to compare.
I find it weird that there isn't a sticky or something with info about how to do Software Flash ROM dumps, or maybe there is but I missed it. Or a reprogrammer is mandatory?

@zir_blazer - Ohh wow that is a wall larger than my replies, and I'm behind now too, sorry!

Great they sent you a fixed BIOS finally. I knew their answer to you would be useless or they'd ignore, you asking them about a full BIOS instead of an update, since it's out of the norm for standard customer to need.
However, you could tell them exactly what you did, and they may reply with proper complete BIOS, send them your serials, sticker images etc and tell then you had a bad flash and recovered the board/BIOS using the partial online BIOS and would like a complete BIOS with fully populated NVRAM volumes.
If your email finds a friendly tech they will help, it's easy for them to do this.

To dump entire BIOS, I personally would suggest using FPT, there is DOS, EFI and Windows versions for your system. You need Intel ME System Tools package V9.1 from here
Intel Management Engine: Drivers, Firmware & System Tools

Once downloaded, inside you will find Flash Programming Tool folder, and inside that the EFI/DOS/Win32/64 folders. In windows it must be ran from Admin CMD Prompt, to do that select that Win32/64 folder, hold shift and press right click, choose open command window here (Not power shell).
At the command prompt type the following command to dump entire BIOS >> FPTw.exe -d bios.bin

To use the DOS version, make a DOS Bootable USB and copy all the contents from DOS folder to root of USB, then run this to dump BIOS >> FPT.exe -d bios.bin

For you to be able to dump entire BIOS, yes, put the ME or service jumper on (ME will be disabled then, so fans may ramp up, other stuff may not work etc).
With that jumper on, you may also be able to dump entire BIOS with AFU from DOS or Windows or Universal BIOS backup Toolkit (Windows only, either of those may dump it without jumper in place too

Sounds like they are good team, but his wife/secretary as you mentioned sounds like a pain. You should tell her next time BIOS does not compute math very well after it corrupts itself, and BIOS can corrupt itself any time on startup or shut down, and even more so during a stock BIOS update as well.
While numbers and coding is involved, Math is really not utilized in that way for any of this, funny to hear she said "Mathematically" like "Big words mean I'm correct"

Yes, if you need fully unlocked BIOS, or system ID numbers fixed etc, package all the board images into a zip for me later and I can do for you.

That review was probably pre-production or ES Sample board, so it had socketed BIOS for them to easier reflash or fix during the reviews, this is normal with early board reviews.

For W25Q128FV and CH341A programmer, I have tested a few times and you need to use ASProgrammer software instead of usual CH341A software
Bricked Asus Z170-AR

NVRAM volumes contains MANY MANY things, sometimes yes this includes system specific details such as serial or MAC ID etc, but usually it's only copied to there, along with settings for MANY other things, windows keys/SLIC, lots of things and sorry no I really can't describe it better.
I could show you stock BIOS single NVRAM volume vs populated dual NVRAM volume from a system dump, but you'd need to open the BIOS Files and look for yourself in UEFITool, it's not something you can show in images because there's too much to scroll down past (Except in stock, which is only a few entries in a single volume)
This is not the normal location of system specific details but they sometimes are copied there, those details are usually in other BIOS modules not in NVRAM, in padding files or other known locations in other areas of the BIOS.

I am not at all familiar with Linux, so I can't say what the command I gave you are similar to in Linux, but as you can see from the commands what data it's to gather so any way he knows to get that info would be fine equivalent.
The info itself is critical, so I can locate in his BIOS dump this data's locations, so I can put yours back into the proper locations. And yes, the other one is just to get LAN MAC ID. So yes, it does not matter how he gets it, but it's mission critical
Or he can give you images of all the stickers on the board, which I assume will be much more difficult, and UUID often is not in same format so not always helpful

It must be your IP or something? I've uploaded 100MB+ files to TinyUpload? They do have their days though, sometimes I have to do certain things to download from there myself, but upload is generally OK unless they're having issues.
Feel free to use any other site to get all that into one zip if you want.

License to mail order a $2 programmer from China? Do you live in N. Korea? If yes, order from N. Korea then

Yes, it may be possible to dump entire BIOS with software, and on that same path you may be able to flash entre BIOS via software too (if your ME/Service jumpers work properly)

There is no guide on dumping BIOS, too many methods, too many random limitations between brands, BIOS series, softwares used etc.
There's no one size fit's all except using a programmer, and for that there is many guides, which of course all differ too because of programmers used, software used, methods used, boards, BIOS's etc

Apologies again for the late reply on this, I'm so far behind I don't know if I'll ever catch up again.
If you still want fixed BIOS with your board details, NVRAM populated etc, I need new current BIOS dump from you, one from your buddy, and board details in full from both of you, preferably put all this in a rar or 7zip for me as a single archive so I can keep track of it all at once.

Zitat von Lost_N_BIOS im Beitrag #9

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For you to be able to dump entire BIOS, yes, put the ME or service jumper on (ME will be disabled then, so fans may ramp up, other stuff may not work etc).
With that jumper on, you may also be able to dump entire BIOS with AFU from DOS or Windows or Universal BIOS backup Toolkit (Windows only, either of those may dump it without jumper in place too

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Zitat von Lost_N_BIOS im Beitrag #9

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Sounds like they are good team, but his wife/secretary as you mentioned sounds like a pain. You should tell her next time BIOS does not compute math very well after it corrupts itself, and BIOS can corrupt itself any time on startup or shut down, and even more so during a stock BIOS update as well.
While numbers and coding is involved, Math is really not utilized in that way for any of this, funny to hear she said "Mathematically" like "Big words mean I'm correct"

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Zitat von Lost_N_BIOS im Beitrag #9

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I am not at all familiar with Linux, so I can't say what the command I gave you are similar to in Linux, but as you can see from the commands what data it's to gather so any way he knows to get that info would be fine equivalent.
The info itself is critical, so I can locate in his BIOS dump this data's locations, so I can put yours back into the proper locations. And yes, the other one is just to get LAN MAC ID. So yes, it does not matter how he gets it, but it's mission critical
Or he can give you images of all the stickers on the board, which I assume will be much more difficult, and UUID often is not in same format so not always helpful

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Zitat von Lost_N_BIOS im Beitrag #9

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License to mail order a $2 programmer from China? Do you live in N. Korea? If yes, order from N. Korea then

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Zitat von Lost_N_BIOS im Beitrag #9

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Yes, it may be possible to dump entire BIOS with software, and on that same path you may be able to flash entre BIOS via software too (if your ME/Service jumpers work properly)

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Zitat von Lost_N_BIOS im Beitrag #9

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If you still want fixed BIOS with your board details, NVRAM populated etc, I need new current BIOS dump from you, one from your buddy, and board details in full from both of you, preferably put all this in a rar or 7zip for me as a single archive so I can keep track of it all at once.

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Would anyone still be interested in progressing this (a year later)?

I ran in to this thread whilst figuring out what to do with my next BIOS upgrade on an X10SAT.

I had a similar problem to OP back in 2015: a dead motherboard in my case following a failed BIOS upgrade. I was just out of warranty, and Supermicro essentially told me to get stuffed and buy a new board; not even an offer of repairing for payment. At the time I solved it by flashing a new flash chip with the latest available BIOS (3.0) and living with the fact that it was a bit broken (no Intel graphics with off-board, 88:88:88:88:87:88 MAC etc.). My board is a very early one and has a test-socketed Winbond SPI chip, so replacing the chip was fairly easy.

The thing that might be useful: I have a complete dump of the original (although corrupted) chip, which might help work out the locations of the board-specific data. I'm happy to provide that, or to search through it myself if someone can point me to what to look for.

Zitat von surjeon im Beitrag #11

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Would anyone still be interested in progressing this (a year later)?

I ran in to this thread whilst figuring out what to do with my next BIOS upgrade on an X10SAT.

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Zitat von surjeon im Beitrag #11

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I had a similar problem to OP back in 2015: a dead motherboard in my case following a failed BIOS upgrade. I was just out of warranty, and Supermicro essentially told me to get stuffed and buy a new board; not even an offer of repairing for payment. At the time I solved it by flashing a new flash chip with the latest available BIOS (3.0) and living with the fact that it was a bit broken (no Intel graphics with off-board, 88:88:88:88:87:88 MAC etc.). My board is a very early one and has a test-socketed Winbond SPI chip, so replacing the chip was fairly easy.

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Zitat von surjeon im Beitrag #11

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The thing that might be useful: I have a complete dump of the original (although corrupted) chip, which might help work out the locations of the board-specific data. I'm happy to provide that, or to search through it myself if someone can point me to what to look for.

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@surjeon
In pure DOS, directly use eeupdate to write MAC address in the format of eeupdate / NIC = [A] / Mac = [B], where A is a number, which indicates which network card MAC is written to, because notebook basically includes wired network card and wireless network card.

Enter the command “eeupdate”, and the interface will display all Intel network card information of the current device

Generally, wired network card is 1 by default, and wireless network card is 2 by default. B is the MAC address of the 12 bit network card, which can be found on the back of the machine.

If we want to write the address of 00 50 8D D7 26 68 to the MAC of the wired network card, and run it under pure DOS: eeupdate / NIC = 1 / Mac = 00508dd72668, just press enter. After normal writing, the following information will be prompted:

MAC Is stored in GbE region here, easily dumped and corrected via Intel FPT (FPTw.exe -gbe -d gbe.bin >> Edit in mac at 0h in place of 88:88:88:87:88 >> Write it back >> FPTw.exe -gbe -f gbe.bin)
You need to use FPT from V9 ME System tools package at C.2 section here - Intel Management Engine: Drivers, Firmware & System Tools

FPT MUST be ran from Admin CMD prompt (not Admin account, that does not matter). To do that, Select that folder that contains the FPTw.exe, hold shift and press right click, choose open command window here (Not power shell).
At the command prompt type the commands you want to use ^^

If you are stuck on Win10 and cannot easily get command prompt, and method I mentioned above does not work for you, here is some links that should help
Or, copy all contents from the Flash Programming Tool \ DOS folder to the root of a USB Bootable disk and do the dump from DOS (FPT.exe -bios -d biosreg.bin)
https://www.windowscentral.com/how-add-c...creators-update
https://www.windowscentral.com/add-open-...menu-windows-10
https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/open-...ator-privileges

Or here is simply registry edit that adds "Open command window here as Administrator" to the right click menu
Double-click to install, reboot after install may be required
http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?fil...134606820377175