[REQUEST] Asus A550JK & K550JK & X550JK BIOS Unlock

[shong57]

Whelp, same thing happened once again. The dreaded data verify mismatch error. Looks like you're right about the fact of the bios chip being faulty. But if you have time to check, I would appreciate it so much. Even if it might not work in the end.

Also, how risky is it to do the rewrite commands without a programmer?

[Lost_N_BIOS]

Well, as long as you don't reboot, -rewrite should be safe since if you get error you can write in the stock dump again which contains whatever matches up with where it's not letting you erase or write to, but I can't guarantee it. I would wait, don't use until you have a programmer just in case.

Let me redo this mod for you once more, using a different tool, in case that's possibly the issue. But as I mentioned, your FPT dumps were very different, when they should be same exact for few dates/times/checksums, so something is going on there.

If BIOS is going bad, then programmer wont help either, you'll need a new chip.

Try this, see if you get same error - https://www.sendspace.com/file/4llkg7

[shong57]

As always, the same data verify mismatch error still pops in. But I don't think the bios chip is faulty though, since the shop wouldn't be able to rewrite the bios to unbrick it at the first place if it does. 

Anyway, since it seemed like all efforts has been a fail so far. I want you to at least look at the 15 second POST issue, it's been annoying me for some time. I remember you said it's possibly broken ME FW.

[Lost_N_BIOS]

They could have done the same you are doing now, putting in stock BIOS region which matches up with whatever bytes are not erasing and rewriting, which could be done with or without programmer.

You did already disable BIOS Lock via grub again correct, since getting the board back from repair? This should give you different error if not, but I didn't think to ask until now, if you'd already disabled that again yet or not.

We cannot address the ME FW issue until you can re-write the BIOS region, or you have a programmer. You can confirm if this is any part of that issue though. Check BIOS main page, do you see ME FW version shown, if yes does it show an actual version number or only N/A or 0.0.0.0? If you cannot see ME FW info on BIOS main page then download HWINFO64 and on the large window on left side, expand motherboard and find ME area, inside that find the ME Firmware version and see if it shows actual number or only N/A or 0.0.0.0

[shong57]

Well, looks like the ME version section is gone after I checked on both bios and hwinfo. So yeah, I guess they really broke the ME FW flashing the bios back.

Also, I'll try disabling bios lock once more. And yes, I did unlock it again when I got the laptop back.

[Lost_N_BIOS]

BIOS lock would need disabled anytime you flash in a backed up BIOS region that was stock (since it's locked in stock)
I checked BIOS, this BIOS isn't setup to display ME FW info, sorry for not looking before.

You should see it in windows with HWINFO64 though, once ME drivers are installed (or a yellow bang on it failing at Device manager). It was working before, that's the only way you could have used FPT in windows previously, so yes, sounds like they messed it up when redoing the BIOS, hopefully not in a super lazy way (erase chip fully, write in stock BIOS region only from Asus) - you need a programmer to confirm if they did this, so you can dump entire chip at once (unless Universal BIOS Backup Toolkit will dump it all at once)

[shong57]

Hmn, well, so do I need to use the universal bios toolkit and try using it to dump the bios? Also, the ME is gone from hwinfo, I remember there was one before.

Oh and, almost forgot, I don't think they put the same bios, because I told them it was a bad bios update, so they simply just flashed the older version bios thinking the cause was that. Also, there's a big change in latest bios, which is to support the soldered ram of the laptop. Older ones doesn't. I still don't think the bios chip is faulty after thinking about it though. I should've let you know about this earlier, my bad.

[Lost_N_BIOS]

Yes, you can try, so we can see outcome. If ME Region totally gone from HWINFO then they really screwed up the BIOS recovery and just wrote in the "upgrade" BIOS from Asus online download (Totally do not know what they are doing!)

None of what you mentioned changed my thoughts on the BIOS chip, but what you mention about what they did makes me wonder if they even replaced the chip. Since they're clueless and lazy, I bet they left it there, programmed in other BIOS and charged you for a replacement BIOS which was never done (just software programming incorrectly that took them 2 minutes)

ME region missing may by why all this is failing in DOS too, I'm not sure, I've never encountered such a bad situation. I say stop all things now, order programmer and SOIC8 test clip cable and wait for delivery, then we can fix all if your chip does not have any faulty bytes on it.

[shong57]

Oh okay then, so I think I have something to say about why I need a programmer to my dad. A little upset to know that they're charging me a lot for nothing but only to break my laptop more. The price I paid for a "fix" was 4x-5x the price of the programmer with test clip itself. Thank you for putting a lot of efforts on getting me accomplished on my goal of getting unlocked bios to work though!

Anyway, I got a dump from universal bios backup toolkit. Here's the link to the file.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1VsgF2V...MZaR6I5Hfi

[Lost_N_BIOS]

Yes and if you would have purchased that first you would have never had to have someone repair/mess it up worse It's cheaper than he pays for lunch most days I'm sure, tell him he can do it Plus, once you have that, you'll be able to save any future board or laptop from bad BIOS flash too, or make it simple to put on mod BIOS any time you want, so it will pay for itself many times over as time goes on.

Thanks for dump, I was correct, they simply erased the chip and programmed in stock BIOS "Upgrade" from Asus download, BIOS in incomplete and incorrect. It will make the system run doing things that way though, and that is usually most users goal, they only find out about other issues later after leaving. Does your onboard Ethernet work? I assume not since GbE region also missing.

I'll assume the fans sounds much louder/always running full speed too, correct? This usually happens with ME FW is corrupted or disabled, never seen what happens when it's removed totally but I assume the same should happen.

Let's confirm to be 100% sure all this is missing, in DOS or EFI wherever you have setup for FPT, run the following commands and send me any created files in a zip. If errors, as expected with first three, move onto next
FPT.exe -desc -d fd.bin
FPT.exe -me -d me.bin
FPT.exe -gbe -d gbe.bin
FPT.exe -d SPI.bin