Hej Guys,

I try to modify a ASUS B85M-E mainboard, but it is not possible for me to do this. It is the known problem with the .CAP BIOS file I think. After one day trying without success to modify this mainboard I have no more ideas how to fix it. Is there someone who was able to successfully solve this problem or who can help me with the BIOS for the mainboard above mentioned? Big, big thanks in advance :)

1. EDIT/ADDENDUM:
I have alreay crashed one of my both ASUS B85M-E mainboards by using a faulty BIOS file... damn! Now I triedy every possible method to solve this problem without any success, I don't know what to do now... If someone can help me or modify the BIOS file for the ASUS B85M-E mainboard (I want to use a Kingston A2000 SSD) I will pay/donate for your work!

2. ADDITIONAL INFORMATIONS:
- Mainboard Typ: ASUS B85M-E (exactely this I can ready on the PCB)
- Link to latest stock BIOS: https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LG...E-ASUS-3602.zip

Thank you very much for your help, Christoph

Edit by Fernando: Thread title customized

@poex - Thanks for making a thread so I can more easily help you with this
Please do step #1-2 of below spoiler, but do not send me file at #1 yet, I do not need and you will delete after step #2. We'll make a new #1 file, after we bypass lock/error you get at #2, then you will send me that instead.
You will need V9.1 ME System tools package, if you are already using 3602 BIOS

@Lost_N_BIOS Ok, but I have one question to your instruction above. At first I need to install a Windows 10 OS on any type of hard drive to this PC/mainboard? Only if this is done, I have to start with your instruction? Thank you very much.

@poex - You can use any windows, but you have to install ME drivers before you can use FPT.
And, FPT MUST be ran from Admin CMD Prompt, if you are using Win10 here is registry fix to add Open CMD here as Admin, reboot after install - http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?fil...134606820377175
OR, if you do not use windows, you can use DOS if you want, boot to DOS on USB, then follow same instructions but use FPT.exe in command instead of FPTw.exe.
Make bootable DOS, then copy ALL contents of DOS folder to root of USB, then proceed.

hello I have the same motherboard and a SSD m2 evo 970 plus, could you get the bios modified so that the mainboard detects it?

Hallo,

Well, I have the same board with latest bios, NO MODS SO FAR! When I used my AXAGON PCEM2-S adapter with the classic M.2 m-key 500GB ADATA XPG SX8200 NVMe SSD in the grey pcie slot, I was then able to boot from UEFI USB Windows 10 installer, install Windows on the XPG SSD and boot straight away from it! Good!

This only confirms what I was hoping for, that the bios contains “some” NVMe boot drivers already, directly from Asus. I used CSM enabled settings with UEFI as first boot option for both the storage and other devices

But here comes the stranger part! Since the bios is DIP8 packaged and literally plug'n'play, easy to pull out and push back from the bed, I made a dump instantly to see… And to my surprise, there are no such common files like INIT13, nvmexpress dxe, nvme_mms dxe or anything else like that at all! What shall I be looking for?

Now, when I use my Chinese oem Apple SSD-to-PCIE adapter https://www.ebay.com/itm/303873719425 together with a 500GB Apple SSD which is a Samsung PM981a SSD in fact, the Windows installer says the operational system can’t be installed on that drive. In fact, it proceeds with installing Windows but after the first restart, it just don’t boot from the SSD…
At this point I must say that this exact Apple SSD in this exact SSD-to-PCIE adapter I used to use in a different PC/board with modded bios. I injected “Samsung m2 dxe” driver and then successfully installed and booted Windows from the Apple SSD!

Could this mean that:
a) it is possible that some vendors' NVMe DXE drivers are missing in the bios which makes the board “incompatible” with this Apple SSD of mine?
b) if I inject the same “Samsung m2 dxe” into the correct place of the B85M-E dump, then the SSD might work?
c) question is, where is the correct place? Which GUID?

I will post the dump later as I am now typing on my iPad with no access to my files.

Any idea or suggestion would be appreciated!

George

Something is not right here... till now...from my knowledge, only a PCIe NVMe ssd with an embedded NVMe controller like the 950 PRO can do the job in an unsupported NVMe motherboard and no bios mod needed.
Also confusing is the CSM enable OS installation that you did... as a PURE NVMe/GPT/x64 system environment is a MUST

The behavior of the Apple PM981a is normal on an unsupported NVMe motherboard
Instead of the Samsung m2 DXE you can use the NvmExpressDxe in Fernando's guide
The correct place for the insertion of the modules is described in the same guide

[HowTo] Get full NVMe support for all Systems with an AMI UEFI BIOS

…and it seems like your knowledge is far over and in front of mine! Okay, but the problem is that once I succeeded to install Windows 10 and boot it, with the Samsung m2 dxe in bios I also tried a different dxe driver, including the one you pointed out. But then the OS wouldn’t boot. And I was not able to install the OS neither. So it seems that those particular Apple branded Samsung SSDs don’t work with any other dxe than the Samsung m2 dxe.

I also have an Asus AX88M board with AMD Kaveri CPU. The same situation. After I learned the way to inject the NVMe dxe drivers into the bios on the Chinese board I focused on this AX88M board that I have in my HTPC. Again, the init13, nvmemmc, nvmexpress and the Samsung m2 dxe drivers worked for me and another 128GB Apple SSD is there as a bootable OS drive. I tried a different nvme dxe driver and I ended up with non bootable SSD in pcie adapter. I mean, I saw the warning in the Windows installer regarding the drive not being able to boot the OS from. Though it let me finish the installation it did not boot from the drive. Soon as I replaced the common nvme dxe driver with the Samsung m2 file, all went nicely and smoothly again.

So as my combination of Apple SSD and Windows based PC is so unique and unusual, it makes me believe that this the only dxe driver compatible with the SSD.

I will give it a try again over the upcoming weekend and will post the results.

Regards

George