Hello,

Thanks. Ok, so I did the following:
With SPI clamp I re-uploaded the original 'bricked' firmware I originally sent you and tried to boot again.

It worked fine, entered BIOS menu and made changes. So now I was at version 1.07 with serial numbers and all other original info in there. Now even more proof firmware reacts somehow to EFI partition on eMMC/SSD.

I upgraded to latest BIOS version from Acer (V1.09) through SapporoGL.fd file on USB drive and pressing FN+ESC.

Now this is also working , i can access BIOS menu and Boot menu. Through the menu I can see it effectively updated to v1.09 and kept serial numbers. I booted to linux and all is looking ok.

Next I would like to unlock the bios so I can tweak any setting. I did the following procedure:

1- Went to UEFI bios menu, selected to disable Network boot.
2- turn off laptop, hooked SPI clamp, downloaded contents of SPI chip into a file.
3- Turned on laptop, went to bios menu, enabled Network boot again.
4- Turned off laptop, download contents of SPI chip and put in another file.

If we look at the difference between the two files we can learn exactly location where changes are stored, can't we? There is only one setting difference in between both working images.
In one of your earlier messages you mentioned there were many locations for NVRAM and was difficult to know where to change. I uploaded both files here:
http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?fil...625110358593263

Do you think you can unlock the bios with this info? Or guide me to how to do it? Thanks

Great success there

Yes, that way may be able to tell us which area the default settings applied comes from (setup, NVRAM etc), at least for that one setting you changed (usually this would be same for others too, but not always)
I'll check those files and let you know what I find. As for "unlocking BIOS" this is not same as changing BIOS settings defaults, and none of this helps with any of that.
It's been a while since I looked at this BIOS with menu unlocking in mind, and you were never able to get into it before, so I don't have BIOS images for this. I need images of each BIOS page you can see now, and please put them in a zip, thanks.

I checked, and setup is not changed, applied changes are set in NVRAM/VSS2 padding file, and these are what is used to apply your changes
Network Boot:, VarStoreInfo (VarOffset/VarName): 0x6F << At NVRAM, VarStore: 0x1234 (Name: SystemConfig) - Below is a small snippet of the SystemConfig/Setup NVRAM area, ending in the byte that holds the setting valyue for network boot.
03 FF 00 00 00 01 01 01 00 00 00 02 00 01 01 01 << Last byte = Enabled (in your "Enabled" BIOS x2 / NONE in your "Disabled" BIOS)
03 FF 00 00 00 01 01 01 00 00 00 02 00 01 01 00 << Last byte = Disabled (in your "Enabled" BIOS x3 / And x3 in your "Disabled" BIOS)

I cannot see where to generally unlock this BIOS menu, images may help but I doubt it.
For a full menu unlock you may need to ask at BIOS-mods forum and provide a programmer dump (let them know it's programmer dump in advance too, so they don't tell you that you need programmer first)

I can however, change any settings you need changed

Hi, Ok, I see. I was too optimistic I thought maybe changing a byte would bring up all the advanced settings.

Thanks again for your help.

@mdq10 - Yes, there may be 2, 4, or 6 bytes etc you can change to reveal the hidden menus, but I can't find them "for sure" in this BIOS (I'm not too good at Insyde BIOS menu unlocks)
You're welcome. If you want to flash through a bunch of bricked BIOS, to find the right edit, then maybe I can get them revealed for you, but that's far from ideal with a cheap BIOS clip and programmer, better suited to a socketed BIOS or a $20 clip and really not ideal there either.
Someone at BIOS-mods can unlock it for you easily though, they are Pro Insyde BIOS modders there, someone like dudu2002 or @genius239 (he's here, maybe he can help on this one?)

let's say it this way... modding on newer thinkpads i can be done. :)