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Thanks for making a thread @st1cky now I can keep track of what's going on, although I'm still lost where we was in PM, maybe I can dig around in there and find out discussions, but I'd rather not.

Please send me new clear image of the sticker on the LED panel, it's too blurry to read - and stop blocking out required info, how can anyone help you correct board details if you block out half the data?
I have the one not edited, but it's same blurry one you linked here too. So please take a new one, do not edit out the details, otherwise no point in having this thread
Also, missing sticker images from SATA ports, if any, side of 24 pin if any, top/bottom sides of PCI/PCIE Slots too (On the actual slots) There may not be any, but look on all of these things I mentioned, maybe some of what you sent is from these, but I can't tell due to you cropped it off too much?
*Edit - I checked some reviews, I think maybe you got them all


So you copied in two NVRAM volumes from other user dump, and windows still activated? And your serial still shows up in software and stuff correctly? Is your Ethernet LAN working right now? << Never mind, I assume so, I see you have your MAC ID in there now
Intel ME cannot be taken from Asus webpage and inserted into BIOS, so this may be causing some of your audio issues right now, if the scratches you mentioned aren't part of the problem. You need to transfer settings from dumped BIOS or ME from this board into the stock unconfigured ME, did you do that?

The provided image is too blurry to see how bad the scratches are, and too much flash used as well (take in well lit area instead of using flash) And full images of the board are needed, so you can see what is what, where those traces come from etc.
What is on the front of the board directly on opposite of the scratches, is that left side below I/O area, if yes then very likely this is part of the audio trace areas.

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It's OK about the other image, not needed (LED one I mean). And sorry, I didn't even notice the image labels until you mentioned! I think I've got it all sorted out now, need to double check tonight.
Meantime, how well do you know this other person with other board? Do you think they would they flash to same BIOS you are on? Because both areas where this info goes, differs in your BIOS vs theirs (1301 BIOS you are using, their BIOS 1009)
If you know him well enough, and he will flash to 1301, as for another dump. No images needed from him now, I pulled out one of my boards from the pile and dumped BIOS sticker etc and have it sorted out now.

Your BIOS already has correct yy/mm attached to the serial in the correct location, at least it looks valid and is in both locations. (1704), although that matches your friends dump too, so probably inserted or left in place during your FD44 session
This doesn't matter, YY/MM I mean, unless you plan to RMA ever, and if you do there is no way to correctly know this original YY/MM unless you at any time dumped or backed up BIOS in the past and still have that file (Same for original UUID, this can only be regenerated as a new random value + MAC
I will show you all info on how this is created, which images = what, where it goes in BIOS etc tonight when I have time to wrap this all up.

ME FW from Asus page is meant to be used with ME FW Update tool, if you did not use that to apply/update the ME, then it may be not programmed correctly, I'll have to grab it from Asus page and check or just fix/update in the BIOS I send you back.
Your ME is older than his ME, and he's on much older BIOS, so at least he updated ME FW Hopefully he will update BIOS now to 1301 and send you new dump too so I can confirm some things.

Again, no need for new images from you or your friend, so no need to break down your system again either. For checking on the scratches for you, feel free to go ahead whenever you have time (or wait until we fix/redo ME and are sure it's not that, then you can recheck scratches, but if it's bad nothing you can do)

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You reflashing to 1009 wont help, since your BIOS is messed up and you've edited it anyway, I need to see his on 1301

Yes, I know what you mean about ME FW, and yes you can export from one BIOS (same board model only) and replace into another, but you mentioned downloading from Asus and replacing.
Did you mean you extracted the ME FW from Asus BIOS download? Or did you download ME FW Update package as a separate thing from Asus?
Often Asus only give partial BIOS update, without ME, and half the BIOS missing, in their online BIOS download packages, that's why I assumed you grabbed some ME FW update package, not a BIOS with ME FW in it already.
Once you confirm what exactly you did, then I can answer more directly.

He probably updated ME FW due to security concerns, which is why he should also update BIOS too (tell him that )

Due to your scratches, and this other board short, sounds like you need to be more careful putting boards into your case so you don't short or scratch on the mounting posts (or glue washers to them so nothing can get scratched up)

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Yes, you erase and then check to be sure chip is blank before you write anything with CH341A, so yes, completely erased.
If you extract ME FW from a BIOS for this exact board, and put into another BIOS, that is OK generally. If you download "ME FW Update" package from Asus, that is not OK to insert into BIOS, this kind of ME FW only UPD for use with ME FW Update tool.
Some (read MANY) BIOS from Asus are only BIOS region, others that are more complete BIOS, still are not ideal/proper to program to a board with flash programmer or FPT (or you loose all your board details, NVRAM etc, hence this thread). These "semi-complete" BIOS will usually make a board functional, yes.