Need help unlocking X550JX Aptio bios

[treboR2Robert]

After spending the whole day trying to unlock my bios, I finally have a fully unlocked bios! Every setting in the advanced and chipset tab are editable in the bios now Thanks to all those nicely put down guides and AMI's well developed tools, I learnt a lot about bios and option roms as well. 

In case if any of you are wondering how I did it, here it is.

-Extract the bios file from the system using AfuWin64
-Use AMIBCP tool to change locked/hidden settings's status to "User"
-Save the work as .rom file
-Using MMTool, extract the file name, "setup"
-Use Universal IFR extractor to look for the menu order (the initial order was 01 01 00 01 01 01) in the setup file you just extracted.
-Open the saved rom file in Phoenix SLI mod tool
-Go to "structure view" option and find the guid, "setup"
-Extract the "PE32 image section" under "compressed section"
-In order to enable the Chipset tab, use hex editor (I used HxD) to edit the extracted file by searching for the sequence (01 01 00 01 01 01) and changing it to (01 01 01 01 01 01). Save the file.
-Replace "PE32" image section under "setup" with the edited file.
-Save the rom file
-Use AfuWin64 to flash the bios file

NB: In the previous post, I mentioned about getting "Invalid ffs file" error when trying to add the hex edited file to the rom using MMTools. The reason seems to be associated with incorrect checksum. This problem was automatically taken care of by the Phoenix SLI mod tool.

If anyone wants the edited file, I have attached them along with this post.
Warning: I take no responsibility if the bios breaks/burns your system! You take sole responsibility. These mods are meant for Asus x550jx (ver. 204) only. Installing it on any other bios versions may result in a hard brick!

There are 2 files in the archive. I have included the original unmodified bios file as well.

X550JX_Untouched - Original unmodified bios file
Safest - Has all the tabs unlocked but with settings in default state. This means some settings are either not displayed or greyed out.
Advanced - Everything except for boot options and security settings are unlocked and editable. Be careful when fiddling it as you might permanently put your system to sleep :/

The mods may close this thread now

Just saying thank you. This guide helped me unlock the chipset tab in my N56JR bios.

Thanks again

[FrozenLord]

In case if any of you are wondering how I did it, here it is.

-Extract the bios file from the system using AfuWin64
-Use AMIBCP tool to change locked/hidden settings's status to "User"
-Save the work as .rom file
-Using MMTool, extract the file name, "setup"
-Use Universal IFR extractor to look for the menu order (the initial order was 01 01 00 01 01 01) in the setup file you just extracted.

Hey there, thanks for sharing your process and the untouched as well as the original BIOS.
I am currently trying to replicate your steps, but am stuck at the last step in the quote.
Could you please explain how you managed to find that value?
My extracted IFR of your BIOSes does not seem to contain these values: (01 01 00 01 01 01) nor (01 01 01 01 01 01)
In hopes of gaining some insights, I did a Hex comparison of the untouched BIOS against the safest BIOS, which shows that there are only to bits different, making it appear very simple and elegant
And yet I am stumped, as I have no clue how to find the values to edit.
Comparing the extracted IFRs of both BIOSes shows them to be identical, which leads me to believe that I am looking at this whole structure from the wrong angle.
Could you please elaborate?

Thank you very much for your time


UPDATE:
After some more experimenting, my assumption is as follows:
At the very top of the IFR extract (of the uploaded BIOs in this thread), there is the name and order of the menu items given:
Form Sets
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Offset: Title:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
0x3A182 Main (0x6 from string package 0x0)
0x4A367 Advanced (0x23 from string package 0x0)
0x51DAF Chipset (0x25 from string package 0x0)
0x5B71A Boot (0x27 from string package 0x0)
0x5C4D6 Security (0x42 from string package 0x0)
0x5D6DA Save & Exit (0x54 from string package 0x0)

Presumably, the way forward is to assume a 00 for a hidden option and a 01 for a shown option, and create an array from that.
E.g. if for the order above, if everything is showing in BIOS except for Chipset, the sequence would be 01 01 00 01 01 01. (so a 00 in the 3rd position, as Chipset is the 3rd option)
Searching for this sequence in the BIOS gives exactly one hit and changing the 00 (= hidden) in the sequence to 01 (= shown) seems to unhide the menu.

[BDMaster]

Yes friend, this is called "Magic String" , now we will write some old memories ...

https://forums.mydigitallife.net/threads...ock.54523/

The Magic String is found often before this pattern (GUID) ee 2e 20 71 53 5f d9 40 ab 3d 9e 0c 26 d9 66 57 , so it's better
to extract the modules "as is" and find that pattern or use UEFI Tool directly to find it

So your example is right , look into EFI IFR txt to see the FormID present into your bios, then compare IFR and Bios Menu Tabs visible and
you'll find the sequence :

0x3A182 Main (0x6 from string package 0x0)-----------> 01 Bios Visible
0x4A367 Advanced (0x23 from string package 0x0)----> 01 Bios Visible
0x51DAF Chipset (0x25 from string package 0x0)-------> 00 Bios Hidden
0x5B71A Boot (0x27 from string package 0x0)-----------> 01 Bios Visible
0x5C4D6 Security (0x42 from string package 0x0)-------> 01 Bios Visible
0x5D6DA Save & Exit (0x54 from string package 0x0)---> 01 Bios Visible

01 01 00 01 01 01 then change to 01 01 01 01 01 01 ... that's all
But to perform better use AMIBCP tool to set from Default to USER all ID you need ...
Regards

[Mr.Hunt]

Hello Guys!

Could you please tell me what a software "-Open the saved rom file in Phoenix SLI mod tool"

I did not understand. I want to change picture on start notebook, but when i change by software ChangeLogo for AMI Aptio 5, and upload to notebook i have error when start pc on bios. As i understand it's checksum error. When i try to change by mmtools i have error "invalid ffs file". So how i can change?