@thatubuntuguy AHHH!!! Yes, sorry, I uploaded the file when I typed out that reply, I must have forgot to drop link before I hit reply Sorry about that, re-uloading now
http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?fil...843422185764364

Hey,
Just got round to flashing the first ChipOnly2SetAMIT.bin,
It's bricked again -_-, but no problem because I have my flasher. I'm too busy to reflash it using the programmer and try the other two but I'll do that as soon as I can.
Does it not like modded bioses or something?

Thanks for your help

What!! Does this little stick have Boot Guard enabled somehow? There is no PCH, so not sure if that can be done in BIOS only?
Do not try the other two, they are modified on top of the first one. Yes, something is going on here, I double checked all mods before I packaged up for you, and this set shouldn't have bricked at all as it's a very simple edit being done here.
Odd, you'd think some cheap Chinese clone stick wouldn't have any security measures or something like that blocking a BIOS edit. You are flashing how I mentioned, exactly, correct? And no errors during that process?

Maybe it's the addition of a menu entry itself, how I mentioned there may be issues adding two, maybe there is issue adding this one too?
How we can test that is you recover, then instead of me adding, I swap chipset for other menu like boot or security (just for now, for testing purposes, you pick)
If we then find this works and adding a single menu is the issue here, I will try to sort it out how I mentioned I'd have to try and do when we wanted to add two.
Or, we can try something else a bit more simpler as a test edit, like update a microcode, or change a setting default or something like that, so we can see if any edit in general = brick.

What actually occurs here when it bricks, anything on screen, does it stay running or shut down? Also, is the symptoms this time exact same as last time?
This stick uses an eMMC doesn't it? If yes, we ran into BIOS related issue on another stick or device recently, where user removed the eMMC and then could not boot into BIOS at all, so some part of the BIOS is on eMMC sometimes and maybe this is causing issue in some way here too?

Hi @Lost_N_BIOS,
I just recovered it a few minutes ago, booted up just fine as usual with the stock bios into windows 10. The symptoms are the exact same as last time it bricked and I didn't have a flasher to recover it, it turns on and just does nothing. Nothing on the screen, usb devices don't receive power etc...
This little stick does have an eMMC, I can do a quick disk check to see if there's potentially a hidden partition or something containing the suspicious data.
I used fptw.exe as you instructed, there were no errors apart from that PDR region which you've already said is nothing to worry about. There's one thing though, there's a WINDOWS and WINDOWS64 folder in the Intel Flash utilities which is saved on the compute stick. Should I use WINDOWS fptw.exe or WINDOWS64 fptw64.exe? Shouldn't really make a difference should it?
I don't know what Boot Guard is, but I can check to see if its enabled... but it seems I must use linux to download some script unless you know another way that can be done within windows itself.
I'm happy to try simpler edits if you think that's the next step we should take. You can replace security with chipset - security is basically useless it's just secure boot and admin password and I can try flashing that.
Could it potentially be fptw acting up? Perhaps I could try flashing the rom using my ch341a and see if it boots? Idk I have no idea what I'm doing lmao

Thanks for your support I really appreciate it

Thanks for the info. Use FPTw as mentioned

Boot guard is an Intel ME FW/PCH thing, since no PCH here I suspect it can't be enabled and I think I already checked. But, how you can confirm is from MEInfo folder found in the system tools, run this command and show me bottom of the report (in image, not text)>> MEInfoWin.exe -verbose

No, don't try anything more with programmer, the less you use that the better, and those cheap clips only get so many uses before they wear out and can't grab the chip properly.

I will make you simple mod BIOS tonight so we can test if edit in general is breaking something, maybe change a setting or update a microcode or something like that. I have to run now, so can't get to this until tonight.

You're welcome! Sorry this is proving to be a much bigger pain than I originally suggested it would be.


* Edit - @thatubuntuguy - Sorry for delay! Here, please test and see if bricks or not, this is just update of both ucodes.
http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?fil...594993956656682

Hi @Lost_N_BIOS
Tried that ucode bios, bricked again. Same symptoms as before. Something's definitely off here.
Where should I download the MEInfoWin as this is not present in the TXE system tools that I have.
Maybe there is some bootguard or something that checks the bios against a checksum that it expects and if there's a mismatch it won't start.

---------------------

@Lost_N_BIOS ,
Recovered again, I'm getting really good at applying the clip onto the chip, I got it first try this time lol
Booted back up as normal, everything is okay for now.
What should the next steps be now?

Yes, that is what I suspected, some boot guard maybe, or maybe some checksum I'm not seeing.
Sorry, I forgot this was TXE ME, you'll need to run >> TXEInfoWin.exe -verbose
From the TXEInfo folder

Hey @Lost_N_BIOS,
I'm going to delete Windows shortly because I'm replacing it with KDE Neon. I managed to get the wifi and bluetooth working by copying the relevant nvram files into the firmware folder.
Just to check, I ran flashrom in the internal mode on kde neon with no operation just to get info. It gave a warning: SPI Configuration Lockdown activated.
What does that mean? Could that be relevant to our problem? I ran a bios backup dump and I got an 8mb image instead of the 4mb image that fptw gave me. Should I upload that here or would the original 8mb fixed image you provided me with suffice for your needs?
I'll boot back into windows and run the TXEInfo program and post the output of that. I would quite like to delete windows so if you have anything more that you need me to run with regards to information tools then let me know.

Output of TXEinfo tool @Lost_N_BIOS
https://pastebin.com/20LfnJNc
Hope this helps

Sorry, I don't know, I'm not familar with Linux or flashrom, you'll have to google around and see if you can find what that actually means. Yes, could totally be the cause of the problems, if something outside the BIOS is holding a lock mechanism or check signature etc.
Aside from that, in general it sounds like maybe flashrom is telling you it can't "reflash" the BIOS, but your use of a programmer overrides any type of BIOS flash lock prevention, so if that's all it is then no it would not be related.
From a quick google look, I think it's the latter above, like BIOS Lock/SMI lock/FPRR/PRR lock (stop you from flashing, not something we have issue with)
I already have full 8MB dump BIOS from you I've been using as base, no need for any others.

No, nothing else I wanted to check in windows, and if we happen to need later, hopefully there is DOS version if it comes to that

@Lost_N_BIOS ,
I have another potential clue.
Whenever I remove the power to the stick, i.e unplug the micro usb cable it seems to "reset" itself. I shall outline this "reset" procedure.
- Boot after power loss, takes about 10 seconds for bios screen to appear. Shuts down.
- Press power button, starts up again. bios screen appears within 2-3 seconds as normal, then reboots and the blue led changes to red for a few seconds
- Red led turns blue and boots into windows.
Now here's the interesting part. Before I installed linux it'd just go into windows boot manager, whatever. But now, when it does this, "neon" uefi entry for grub bootloader straight up disappears from bios and it boots straight to windows??! What is going on here??!! I doubly regret damaging the cmos battery pad now...
I had to boot with my live usb and repair grub myself before it appeared again in the bios. Why would I need to do this? What could have caused that?
How could this chinese compute stick clone end up being so weird and complicated?
Oh, and wifi is broken in windows, doesn't appear in device manager AT ALL but works perfectly in linux now, what?!

Sorry, I don't know what's going on above, except it sounds like you do not have a saved CMOS anymore due to damaged battery pads, so BIOS reset anytime power is removed (to fail safe settings likely, so always enter BIOS, load defaults, reboot to BIOS, make any UEFI/SATA changes you need, then boot to OS)
Additionally, sorry, as mentioned I don't know anything about Linux or grub, other than I know how to boot to a "Grub" type thing to make BIOS settings changes (and that is all I know about using that)
The Wifi issue? Makes no sense, other than driver or something messed up in that windows install, make a new one?

I just noticed your post above with the TXEinfo, thanks. I need to see image of that (just the end of the report), not text, and I don't think you ran the command I wanted (if so, OK) >> TXEInfowin.exe -verbose

@Lost_N_BIOS ,
I did run the command specified, I'll attach an image of the report shortly.
I meant the OS entry had completely disappeared from the bootloader, which doesn't seem to be grub specific in any way. It's like the bios overwrites the bootloader sectors on the EMMC with the windows bootloader for some reason erasing grub in its entirety. Either way somehow the bios is interfering with the EMMC so maybe your theory of some bios information residing on the EMMC may be correct. There should be no reason that a CMOS reset erases/overwrites anything on the EMMC as far as I'm concerned.

What should the next steps for bios modification be?


Edit: Image attached in this post

Run it from CMD line, show me image of end of the report (make sure you add -verbose to end of command)

Sorry, I don't know anything about bootloaders, or grub boot loaders, or editing BCD other than with EasyBCD, so I can't really comment or advise about bootloader OS entries.
I do know windows bootloader will overwrite grub if you install it second, so maybe something like that is what you are seeing, it's common issue people have with trying to setup dual boot.

Not sure on BIOS, still waiting to see the end of a txeinfowin -verbose report ran from CMD line not in text copy/paste.