Acer Aspire V7 582PG

[Ethos]

I found something in BIOS settings it might be interesting ?
It is about ME writable ?

[felipejfc]

I have this on my bios too, but turning ir on didnt made me writable... Only way is using the external programmer...

[Tipharet]

Sorry about the delay in response; the flash was unsuccessful due to bios write protection

[felipejfc]

In that case you need same tools as ethos

[djk314]

Hello, i'm new and i have an Acer v7 582pg, the problem is what i read here, the protected bios that can't be reflash without this special tool.
Is it possible that all laptops have the same problem or only some ?
I tried 2.26 from regular Acer and now my laptop is unstable, sometimes it don't boot, how can i revert ? (Acer software don't want)
What file from this thread can be used with fn+esc key to flash ? (fpt, bin ?)
Is it possible to brick the laptop with a bad flash ?
Thank's for all.

[felipejfc]

Yes you can brick with bad flash.

file for recovery is

https://hostr.co/5DM3mruoNwjb

but ethos could not flash it... but you can try

[vilgus]

Hello,

I have bought ACER Aspire V7-582PG notebook today and noticed that BIOS functionality is really limited And Win8 OS is terrible by the way. And pre-installed utilities are useless. I'd like to unlock BIOS features and install clean Win8.1 from an installation DVD.

My BIOS version was 2.20 so I updated it to the official 2.25. And I noticed that the size of file ZRQ.fd in %tmp% folder (original 2.25 BIOS firmware binary) is different from the size of the unlocked/modified ZRQ.fd you created and proposed to download in the very first posts. I assume that filesizes should match but they are different 4 vs 4.5 Mb?!

May be the original file you used was wrong? And it was the reason why @Ethos didn't succeed in updating BIOS? Can you please doublecheck it. Here is a URL to download the official ZRQ.fd 2.25 BIOS firmware that I found in %tmp% folder after I updated my BIOS to 2.25:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/itjt7m

Here is the result of running BACKUP_TEST_ALL.exe utility. Sorry, *.bin files contain Product Key - I replaced it with 00000-00000-00000-00000-00000 in both files in WinHex editor. I assume the product key is not important anyway. Here is the URL:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/e2ojve

Can you please create a modified BIOS ZRQ.fd based on the official 2.25 firmware I provided and information in result.7z archive. Thank you in advance!

[vilgus]

@felipejfc, @Ethos did you get/read the last post? Thanks. Can you please mod the provided BIOS firwmare?

[vilgus]

I have found one big and essential issue with this notebook - probably it is a problem of BIOS limitation of the original firmware (some features locked), may be something else. This notebook is being sold with SSD cache disk installed. The essential point is that it is NOT USED BY THE WIN8 OS AT ALL - it is not installed/configured properly. You can check it in the system resources monitor - 0% activity no matter what you do.

Out of box my notebook disk controller was configured as AHCI in BIOS. Intel claims that in order for SSD caching (Intel Smart Response Technology) to function, BIOS disk controller settings much be RAID. Moreover IntelRST utility was not installed at all on the original Win8 (only controller drivers). So, there was no way at all to configure SSD caching. As soon as you change AHCI/RAID settings in BIOS you must reinstall your OS (as far as I know).

BUT. Even when I installed clean Win8.1 with latest drivers in RAID controller mode I was not able to setup SSD caching. The corresponding menu was just missing in IntelRST utility. Moreover, when the latest IntelRST driver was installed, SSD disk (KINGSTON) suddenly disappeared from the system. Something is really wrong either with BIOS or with Intel drivers or with both.

When I was considering which notebook to buy, SSD caching was #2 important feature (after IPS display).

[vilgus]

Is there any way to enable ATA security password for (caching) SSD drive (in the unlocked/moded BIOS)? Does it work if the controller is in AHCI or RAID mode?

If HDD is software-encrypted then Intel Rapid Start Technology complains about a security leak (hybernation partition on an SSD caching drive is not allowed to be software-encrypted as far as I know). Storing non-encrypted memory dump on an SDD breaks security indeed. Intel recommends to enable ATA security password in BIOS. Original V7-582PG BIOS lacks this functionality because most menues are hidden. The question is whether unlocked/moded BIOS allows to manage ATA security?!