[REQUEST] Dell 7080 Micro unlock bios to support ES CPU

[singsooo]

I am honored to find this forum. I am a novice.
I am going to build a Hackintosh. I bought a Dell 7080 Micro (7080mff), and then purchased a CPU numbered qtb0. But the machine cannot be driven, the screen is black, and the bios cannot be entered. The LED flashes 2 amber and 1 white (CPU error). But the bios contains the microcode A0651 of the ES CPU. I searched a lot of information. Thanks to the experts in this forum. According to the experts, it was found that the stepping was locked. Requesting help, thank you.

Previous/Stock CPU: Intel 10th I9 10900T ES Stepping: p0

OS: Windows 11 Pro (64 bit)

Motherboard: Dell OptiPlex 7080 Micro

Latest version of BIOS from Dell official website. 1.31.0

Current BIOS Installed ：DELL 1.31.0

Problem:

Installed ES CPU, no display. Cannot enter bios. LED flashes 2 amber 1 white. Fans are spinning.

CPU：




Microcode read from BIOS：


I extracted the microcode from the motherboard that can drive this CPU from MSI.
 It is the same as my motherboard. But Dell cannot drive it. It should be the stepping 
problem mentioned by the forum experts. Because the stepping of this es cpu is p0. Thanks again:

Extracted motherboard bios:Click to download bios
Extracted motherboard bios file from Dell official website:Click to download bios
All files：Click
ME information:




CN-0KHVV7 for OptiPlex 7080 XE MFF Motherboard IPCML-RN/ZB 0KHVV7 KHVV7 Q470 LGA1200 DDR4 Mainboard

[DeathBringer]

Try to flash the oldest version of BIOS.

[singsooo]

Thank you very much. I tried version 1.0.7. But it says it cannot be downgraded. I will write it with a programmer later. The bin extracted by EXE contains many files. Is it enough for me to just flash the BIOS file?

[DeathBringer]

You need to downgrade ME-region.

[singsooo]

It seems very difficult to downgrade ME. Because the machine does not have a service mode jumper. Thank you, I will go to find information to see how to downgrade ME.
Is there any guide for downgrading ME? Thanks again.

[DeathBringer]

Use compatible version of Intel Flash Image Tool to edit dumped firmware and flash results by a hardware programmer.

[singsooo]

I found the corresponding version of Intel CSME System Tools v14.0.11-r1. The bios can be extracted. But it cannot be written. The corresponding MEInfoWin64 does not work. It prompts that Pmxdll32e.dll is not signed. The corresponding FIT can be opened normally.
My understanding is that I need to modify some settings in FIT and then export bios.bin. Write it with a hardware programmer?
Thank you

[singsooo]

Thanks for your reply. I tried it.
Because I don't know how to modify the firmware with Intel Flash Image Tool. I took 1.07bios (from Dell official) and extracted the bin file with Dell_PFS_Extract. I found a file with a size of 16mb.
Then I connected the BIOS with a test clip and extracted the 7080 bios with ch341, a total of 32mb.



Then I found that the extracted 1.07biso.bin and the bios partition shown on UEFITool were the same size. 
I used the extracted 1.07bios.BIN to overwrite the original size under HxD. 
According to the comparison, it started from 1000000 and ended. 
Then I burned this stitched bin file with CH341. Restart the computer. 
The computer entered the engineering mode. After pressing the button, 
the system can be booted, but there will be a blue screen.


Because ME is still the original version, 
I used the BIOS upgrade option in the F12 menu and used the 1.07bios.CRV file from the official website to upgrade.
 It was found to be able to run, and after restarting, it was upgraded, 
but it prompted that the Intel ME upgrade failed. Others can be written.
It prompted that the upgrade was successful, but it still had a blue screen.







I want to try whether the ES CPU can enter the bios.
I removed the existing CPU and installed the QTB0 ES CPU.
When it boots up, it still flashes 2 amber and 1 white, CPU error.
My thoughts:
1. 1.07bios still limits this CPU. So there is no way to enter the bios.
2. ME limits the CPU, resulting in failure to recognize it.

Asking for expert help, I would be very grateful.

The image bed in the theme is invalid, I reorganized the files. Put them in a folder.
Download link:Google Drive, click to download

[DeathBringer]

As I said you need to downgrade ME-region, not BIOS-region only.
BTW: I'm not a tutor.

[singsooo]

I will try to learn to use Intel Flash Image tomorrow. See if I can downgrade ME. Thank you.
I saw you mentioned in a topic that something 256 bytes in dell bios limits ES cpu usage.
So I think you are an expert.