AMI Bios Modding Guide for Desktop & Mobile Chipset

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Freakezoit
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AMI Bios Modding Guide for Desktop & Mobile Chipset

Postby Freakezoit » Thu 8. Nov 2018, 09:29

Hi guys ,

lets start with an Bios modding Guide for Ami based Intel chipsets (desktop & Mobile) from SB up to Coffee Lake-R.

I want that guide as easy as possible even for beginner`s !

What that Guide apply`s to :

I. Changing Microcode to non Spectre & Meltdown fix or an older one with unlocked functions ( example: mobile locked cpu`s)
II. Unlocking Hidden and missing bios options , better control for OC or Debug and so on.

Benefits :
Using newest Bios but faster & older Microcode, like i did for my z370 pro4 bios 3.10 but with micro code from bios 1.10.
Support for new i9 9900k but without Spectre & Meltdown fix for better Performance.
Also by unlocking the bios i got functions like Cache ratio , Avx , and alot more Also really interessting Memory Training options :o , 4th mem timing . All which are not available before.

First of all , i allready tested this by myself on HM67 (Clevo p170hm , msi gt780dx) , QM67 and z370 but it will work from Sandy bridge up till newest gen i9 with AMi bios only. If i find an good Award tool then i will add that too.

What you need is : UBU, AMI MMtool , AMI BCP , Intel Flash tool (that one wich fits your chipset / Me) .

Tools :
UBU 1.69
AMI BCP 5.02 Newer Bios!
AMI BCP 4.55 Older Bios!
AMI MMTOOL 5.02 Patched

Intel (CS)ME System Tools with Intel Flash Tool :

CSME 12.X
300 & C240 Chipsets
CSME 11.X
100,200,Z370,H310C,X299,C400,C620
ME 10.0
8 - Series Chipsets
ME 9.5
8 - Series Chipsets
ME 9.0-9.1
8/9/X99/C220/C610 Chipsets
ME 8
6/7/X79/C600/C210 Chipsets
ME 7
6/X79/C600 Chipsets

Part I

Step 1 : Preparing

1. Choose the Bios you want your board running with.
2. Then make sure that from that version you are actually using to the bios you want there is no ME upgrade.
3. If there is one ME upgrade then normal bios update to the version you want is Necessary. Otherwise you could get issues which are unwanted (That is Necessary if you don`t want to brink anything!) It could Work but i wouldn`t do it that way.
If there is no ME upgrade then go for Step 2!

Step 2 : Microcode - how to know which one is available

1. Using UBU
For that you will need UBU , also for removing security check!
(doesn`t allways work, thats why we will use Intel Flash programing tool not AFU! AFU can`t flash an modded bios it will fail by Security check if there is one integrated within the bios Capsule or Hidden in bios ! )

Unpack UBU where you want , then start UBU.BAT , it will ask for an bios pick one with latest cpu support or one which got meltdown fix added which would be easier to start with.

Image
After init press a Key .

Image
Now press 7 for microcode menu .

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Next you will see the Microcode list within the bios .

Sidenote : Microcodes are 6EA , 6EB and 6EC on Coffee Lake (A= i5 and i7 8xxx / B=i3 and Pentium & Celeron 8xxx - G5xxx - G4xxx / C=i5 and i7 9xxx :!:

Image
Now press s to see the available micro codes and enter the cpu id , example 000906EA

Image

It will show you an list with codes i marked the one that is the one with meltdown fix for my i7 8700 , all below that are without that fix .
Version is that whats interessting for us in that list. (it is coded in HEX). So 70 means 112 DEC , 6E is 110 and 6A 106
and the oldest one is 5C wich is 92 DEC.
Which means between 112 and 92 where 20 changes done by intel .
Now write down wich one you want i choosed 6A for me as 5C is too old (to many changes wich can be bad as they fix also bug`s you want to avoid). Close UBU


Sidenote : You can also update or change microcode within UBU - Microcode tab if option - Microcode Update is Available.

Choose Update Microcode , then you get an list of Available microcodes choose the one you want like here i took 1 and it will update your microcode to that you choosed.

If you do it like that way you can skip step 3 - 5 and go on with step 6!

Image Image Image



Step 3 :MMTOOL

Changing Microcode within Bios file :

1. Open MMTOOL 5.x it should look like that :

Image

2. Load image - first the newest one !

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3. Go for CPU patch Tab.

Image

There you see 3 entries as example , important is the Microcode id (last 2 digits are the update rev.) and Update rev.
as example we want to change the one for i3`s which is entry no1 with ID 026EB8E it is 8E which is pretty new and with fix.

4. Now we load an old bios mostly the first released one .

Image

There are only 2 entries because of lacking i9 support. Now mark the same Id as before, Under patch options extract should be marked.
Under Patchfile set an path to save that microcode and then mark the one and press apply.

now click browse , and the file should be there as example i named it test and size is 92Kb.

Image

5. Integrate it into the new bios

Load new bios and go for Cpu patch tab then under patch options set insert patch data.
Then under Vol. no. set an number as example i choosed 4 (depends of the amount of entry you have +1 should work)
set the path under patch file then press apply.

Image

It then should look like that :

Image

now we see the microcode as No.4 but we got 2 of them and only one is needed.
So wee will be deleting that one with fix which is No. 1 in our example , go for patch options and set delete then select no. 1 and press apply.

And finally it should look like that !
Image

Last step will be press save image and if it says something with security check Ignore that and go on.
Bios now has the old microcode within we can go on with Modding (unlocking) or Flashing that bios.
If you want to unlock some options within the bios go for Part II otherwise go for 6. Bios flashing

6. Bios flashing.

Here we need the matching Intel (CS)ME System Tools for your ME and chipset other ones won`t work!!
Extract them , we need only the flash programming tool folder. Now within it there are 4 folders :

Image

intressting are only DOS ( if you want to flash it there ) or win32 / win64 i took the Win64 folder copy it to C:\ ( as example)
after that copy the bios to that folder and open CMD with admin rights. go for that folder

and enter fptw64.exe -bios -f yourbios as example like that :

Image

Press enter and wait until flash is finished !! ( DON`T DO THAT WITH YOUR RIG OVERCLOCKED !!!)

After that reboot , everything should be Fine if you followed the Guide (As allways do at own Risk!!)
Check Microcode Under Cpu settings it should show that old one as example the one we choosed which was 5E (906EB 5E)

Now be happy with meltdown And spectre fix free bios , and have fun with Overclocking and higher scores :D

Part II

Will start in a few days!!

Comming soon... (uploading tools and writing also screens for that How to)
Maybe if i got spare time and silence (when my kids sleep) i will do an video of the complete how to!

Additional info for Coffee lake R i7 and i9 : hardware protection for the L1 Terminal Fault and Meltdown V3 vulnerabilities has been added, but the other vulnerabilities still require software and microcode protection.
* Speculative side channel variant Spectre V2 (Branch Target Injection) = Microcode + Software :D

* Speculative side channel variant Meltdown V3 (Rogue Data Cache Load) = Hardware

* Speculative side channel variant Meltdown V3a (Rogue System Register Read) = Microcode

* Speculative side channel variant V4 (Speculative Store Bypass) = Microcode + Software :D

* Speculative side channel variant L1 Terminal Fault = Hardware



That means Meltdown also Spectre v2 fix could
be avoided by older Microcode - Now i need to know which one is without it. Oldest i could find was 84 . I will investigate that later



Warning !!!
Be Sure you know what you are doing, any mistake can brick your bios and Board . Using that How to at own Risk!!!

If you got questions then Call me via Skype or Facebook - Freakezoit. I will answer all questions asap. (but reallife is allways in foreground) ;)
Last edited by Freakezoit on Tue 13. Nov 2018, 09:57, edited 8 times in total.
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User avatar
websmile
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Joined: Wed 9. Mar 2016, 20:55
Location: Berlin

Re: AMI Bios Modding Guide for Desktop & Mobile Chipset

Postby websmile » Thu 8. Nov 2018, 18:07

Very impressive work, I am really stunned by how deep you wnt into this - thanks for the work and for sharing :)

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joe_cool
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Re: AMI Bios Modding Guide for Desktop & Mobile Chipset

Postby joe_cool » Thu 8. Nov 2018, 22:01

Great work bro, thx for sharing !! ;)

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Freakezoit
Posts: 14
Joined: Thu 10. Mar 2016, 02:47
Location: Berlin
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Re: AMI Bios Modding Guide for Desktop & Mobile Chipset

Postby Freakezoit » Fri 30. Nov 2018, 09:54

Been a bit busy atm , so part II takes some days longer but no worry it will come ;)
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