Hi,

I am trying to mod the bios of my GA-Z270P-D3 motherboard. I am using the newest F8 as a base. I keep getting the error "invalid bios file" when I try to use the modded file in Q-Flash. I am on the current version of UBU 1.78.2. In the past with old versions of UBU that only used mmtool the modded bios was always accepted by my board. Does someone know what the problem could be? I have the modded mmtool 5.2.0.24 named mmtool_a5.exe in the folder with UBU.bat.

Cheers

@TheOne320 - You may need to do this - [OFFER] Gigabyte GA-Z370-Aorus Gaming 7 BIOS mod (6)
BUT, that should also have to have been applied to any previous BIOS you edited for this exact motherboard and tried to Qflash as well, otherwise there is some problem with this mod BIOS (ie bad mod) and this is why it's not accepting it.
Unless previous BIOS has 00 already set at that location, you'll have to check and see, if for example F4 BIOS has 00 set there, but F8 has 01, then mod BIOS may be OK and this is just due to new BIOS needs this bit set to 00 and older BIOS already had it set to 00

@SoniX
ASUS Rampage VI Extreme (X299) Encore Bios v0603
UEFI BIOS Updater v1.79 RC 1 - OROM replace UBU in GUID 365C62BA-05EF-4B2E-A7F7-92C1781AF4F9
Intel OROM Raid for SATA 6.2.0.1034 > v7.0.0.2008

Before & After file attached for your inspection
mmtool_a4 v5.0.0.7
mmtool_a5 v5.2.0.24

Many Thanks,
Biozzz

@Lost_N_BIOS
Thanks that worked. Maybe I was being dumb and I did the hex edit before or I was using a different mainboard.

Is UBU the tool I need to use to fix this problem, and which settings do I need to look for?


I have a an i7-8700, base speed 3.2 GHz, turbo boost 4.3 GHz (all cores; I think it is supposed to do 4.6 on a single core, but I'm not worried about that).

If I restart the machine, then run CPUID, it tells me the CPU is boosting to 4.3 GHz, as expected, and North Bridge is running at 4.0 GHz. If I watch it and do nothing, it goes down the 3.2 GHz. If I wait longer, it goes down to 0.8 GHz. Then if I open another program, it shoots right back to 4.3 GHz. Just like it is supposed to.

However, if I put the machine to sleep and then wake it up, it refuses to go into boost. Just stubbornly sits at 3.2 GHz, with north bridge at 2.9 GHz. Won't shift down 0.8 GHz, either. (But the iGPU does shift between 450 MHz and 1200 MHz.)

It also refuses to go to boost if I turn it off completely, and start it from a totally cold state. Every time. But if I restart then, it goes right into boost again.

The RAM runs at 2666 MHz in all situations.

My internet searches bring up many old pages (back to 2013, up through 2019) that say "You have a problem with your BIOS." Specifically, Intel CPUs often fail to go into boost after they've been in Sleep mode; it has something to do with SpeedShift technology, but it depends on the board. Some boards, boost always works after Sleep; every manufacturer has some boards that do not work right. The BIOS has to set a flag for the operating system to know what to do when the CPU is at each step (S0, S1, S2, S3,...).

I think that means it is really a Windows problem, as everyone who wrote about it seemed to be on Windows, as I am.

Anyway, I poked around in Device Settings in Windows, and I found the CPU Power Management settings. Those said:
S0 = D0
S1 = unspecified
S2 = unspecified
S3 = D3
S4 = D3
S5 = D3

That looks promising; I think D0 is the power state for base speed, and D3 is for boost speed. Maybe my CPU is waking up into an "unspecified" power state, so it never changes.

Maybe Windows is picking up those values from the BIOS. But the thing is, S1 and S2 are unspecified in all cases, even after I restart and I can see that the CPU has gone into boost.

So maybe Windows is also asking the BIOS "When I wake this CPU, what speedshift state is it in?" The BIOS answers S0 when it's "warm" (after a restart), but S1 or S2 when it's "cold" (after sleep or being off overnight). That puts the CPU into "unspecified" after every "cold" start, so it can't shift anymore.

That's my theory.


Is UBU the tool that would help me change those settings in the BIOS? Does anyone know which modules or settings I should change?

Thank you!

Zitat von Lost_N_BIOS im Beitrag #1072

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@hancor - thanks for the unintended tip here! I checked your BIOS, and do not see CBS/PBS in AMITSE either, nor in the BIOS generally as a menu/settings thing, but I see bifurcation options like you mention @ Advanced >> Onboard Devices Config. I assume this is what you were referring to, correct?
If yes, these are also in aGeoM's BIOS at same location, need to see if they are hidden from view there or not, if they are then I can unhide easily
If these are not what you mean, please show me image of your BIOS so I can see where you see these and how they look etc - Thanks!

@KedarWolf - MSI BIOS is such a pain sometimes, nice to see that he could add for you like that, in that manner, and at that exact location (need to learn how!)

@aGeoM - For now, below is my related findings as I looked through your BIOS and AMITSE, but due to above I think I will pause until you show me image of your BIOS @ Advanced >> Onboard Devices Config page (if you cannot see this submenu let me know)
In block list / block list area (AMITSE #1 BODY >> 0x181BB0h)

4A 10 59 7B 0D C0 58 41 87 FF F0 4D 63 96 A9 15 10 27 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - Main
4A 10 59 7B 0D C0 58 41 87 FF F0 4D 63 96 A9 15 17 27 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - Chipset
4A 10 59 7B 0D C0 58 41 87 FF F0 4D 63 96 A9 15 1C 27 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - Security
4A 10 59 7B 0D C0 58 41 87 FF F0 4D 63 96 A9 15 1B 27 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - Exit
55 C8 1B 94 7E BF CB 4F 88 2F 7A EA D1 5C 9D 47 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ? ^^ All above, known/expected to be here
2E CF 39 5E 12 67 AB 45 84 C4 35 D3 C6 A3 68 6D = 668706B2-BCFC-4AD4-A185-75E79F3FE169 / NVMe controller and Drive information

71 99 03 93 45 85 04 4B B4 5E 32 EB 83 26 04 0E = C74F06D2-ED92-489B-879C-C0E428A22167 / RAIDXpert2 Configuration Utility
0C C2 2F F2 F4 8C EB 45 8E 06 AD 4E 50 B9 5D D3 = ?

Both of the above could possibly be CBS/PBS, unsure, or links to them maybe? Or, CBS/PBS simply removed from AMITSE in this BIOS, so instead of 00/FF them out like previous edit method, you'd have to add them in at an allowed and or visible list instead.
I found three CBS modules in this BIOS too. I see no CBS (E3 35 45 B0 04 30 46 49 9E B7 14 94 28 98 30 53) in AMITSE, so it's not about adding CBS/PBS here then, unless it's referenced in some other way in AMITSE than we previously know.

Anyway, at the above menu location which I ask you to see image of, you have bifurcation options there, so if that is your main goal for PBS visible access, then we can make this visible for you instead
Never mind, well still show me this, but I just realized there is not bifurcation setting there only options to set lane width or RAID mode per slot I need to see what Hancor see's in his BIOS, maybe then I can do something here.
I don't work a lot with AMD BIOS, but I do work often with AMI BIOS, so I can manipulate AMI BIOS fairly well, but CBS/PBS is often tricky for me due to how it's implemented into the menu (ie I mainly knew the method you linked for this)

@ket may be able to better help you find a way to make PBS visible in your Asus ROG-STRIX-X570-E-GAMING BIOS ?

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@TheOne320 - Nice to see you got it now! Yes, probably different board, or if same then they didn't have this set in older BIOS but do now.

@Dnatwork - This is a BIOS/ME FW bug, or your ME FW is messed up, check to be sure you can see ME FW version in BIOS or with HWFINO64. If you see proper version #, not 0.0.0.0 or N/A then it's likely OK and just BIOS or ME FW version bug, sleep/resume bugs are notorious.

@ket - We took that to another thread here - [REQUEST] ASUS STRIX X570-E - AMD PBS Menu for Zen/Zen+ Gens
I already know where PBS is located, x2 in this BIOS, but no luck using any known methods as of yet.
He wanted bifurcation in there, that is not same as what's offered in main BIOS, but towards end I noticed what he wanted wouldn't work anyway due to slot design/limitations, so kind moot point, but it would still be nice to enable.

Zitat von Lost_N_BIOS im Beitrag #1147

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@ket - We took that to another thread here - [REQUEST] ASUS STRIX X570-E - AMD PBS Menu for Zen/Zen+ Gens
I already know where PBS is located, x2 in this BIOS, but no luck using any known methods as of yet.
He wanted bifurcation in there, that is not same as what's offered in main BIOS, but towards end I noticed what he wanted wouldn't work anyway due to slot design/limitations, so kind moot point, but it would still be nice to enable.

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@Lost_N_BIOS Thanks! My ME FW shows up as 11.6.0.1126. So, I guess that means there is no setting or module I can change to fix this problem.

Also, that means it’s not the BIOS but the firmware, which is written by intel, which explains why it has never been fixed and affects all manufacturers but not all boards. It must be that sometimes a board maker changes the code or settings slightly For some other reason, and they fix this thing by accident.

@ket - In this case, it's not the board, it's the CPU type, Zen2 can see PBS on this board, but not other lesser/older CPU\
The BIOS is split into two sections per CPU type too, so it may be exactly as you mentioned, or it may be something differs in the other BIOS image for the lesser CPU's, and that is what I was trying to sort to enable but no luck.

@Dnatwork - This can be any number of things, even drivers. Test a clean windows install on another drive with no drivers installed and see if it works then or still an issue. If it's still an issue there, best you can do is try older BIOS or ask Manufacturer to look into current BIOS bug.
You can also try newer ME FW, but then you can't easily go back. You didn't say what board you have, but if you are using Coffee mod BIOS, you can't use 11.8 ME FW, but you can use 11.7.0.1229. If you are not using coffee mod BIOS, best to update ME FW to latest 11.8 version.
Nothing mentioned here yet means it's the BIOS, or the ME FW, or neither of those, it can be any number of things that you may figure out eventually, you may never be able to confirm what the issue is.
Sometimes it's even a driver, you cannot tell yet without lots more testing in various directions. This does not affect all boards or manufacturers etc, just sometimes there is issues with certain BIOS, or certain ME FW (when it is one of these)

You should also google around about your exact model and Sleep/resume issues, this may be common complaint for your model.

Also, we only checked extreme basic method to see if your ME FW was corrupted or not, if you want to see if there is some issue with the ME FW you need to download ME System tools package V11 (here in section "C") and run these two command from MEINFO folder
>> MEINFOwin.exe -verbose
>> MEINFOwin.exe -fwsts
And then show the output of both of those to plutomaniac, probably best to make a new thread specific to this and ask in Title >> plutomaniac please check.

@Lost_N_BIOS

Thanks again!

I have an ASRock H110M-STX with the coffee lake mod. I had to downgrade the ME from 11.8 to 11.6 two years ago to make the i7-8700 work. It’s their DeskMini model, very small and very uncommon. I can’t even find many posts about it on the ASRock forums. They apparently selected parts from existing boards based on whether they would fit on a tiny board. It seems that most people who bought this model were not interested in high performance; they tend to put In Pentium chips that barely even need a CPU cooler so they can have a silent machine.

I will look at the options you mentioned, but clearly there’s no guarantee I will ever be able to fix it. I will have to treat this as something that I poke at rather than a crash project. I need this PC for work every day, so I can change settings here and there and swap OS drives, but I can’t leave it disassembled.

In any case, the problem is just annoying (locked at 3.2 GHz is not terrible), and I know how to get around it if I really need turbo boost for some reason (reboot and don’t let it sleep).

Thank you!

Does someone know how to get the newest ME Firmware for my bios into the bios file or prevent the bios file from overwriting my ME firmware when I flash my modded bios? I flashed my ME firmware and then loaded my modded bios with updated microcode and it reset my ME firmware again :-(.

@Fernando, Sorry I know I got the order wrong. Do you know why UBU does not support ME firmware?