Hi!
This is my first post here and it had to be a request
I am trying to unlock the hidden settings in the advanced tab of AMI Aptio bios. In my case, I could access the advanced tab in the bios. But except for a few options such as virtualization, etc, I don't see any other advanced options. I tried following instructions in some of the forum posts and so far, this is what I could achieve.
-Saved the bios file using AMIBIOS Aptio firmware update Utility
-Used MMTool (ver 4.5) to extract setup module
-Extracted setup module using Universal IFR tool
After taking a look at the IFR file, I checked the offset where the advanced tab began. There, I could see some settings such as clock speed, AHCI, etc in unscrambled format. Since I am not good at hex editing, I am not able to do anything with the values. Could someone help me with unlocking those settings?
Machine : Asus X550JX (
https://www.asus.com/Notebooks/X550JX)
Bios : AMI Aptio X550JX.204
Bios version : 204
I have attached the .rom file along with the extracted setup and the IFR files. Kindly take a look. Thanks
After a bit of searching, I came across AMIBCP. The tool was a god send! Using the tool, I was able to unlock most, if not all the hidden settings in Advanced, Security and Chipset tabs. I was able to flash the edited bios without any problems using Afuwin64. But when I check the bios, I don't see the Chipset tab. I had set everything to "user" in "Access" column of AMIBCP. Does this take some old school hex editing? If so, could someone help?
Edit: In the setup module I extracted, I was able to identify the hex value that enables Chipset tab. I edited the value and save it using HXD. Now when I try to replace the original setup module with the modified one, I am getting the error message "Invalid ffs file". Any ideas?
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
will this work for my aptio American megatrends bios uefi?
i want t add some options to my cyberpower fangbook 3 one of them being switch FN function.
So you went from making a request to solving your own answer. Could you make a step by step video of the process it took for you to get a successfully unlocked bios? I'm sure it will help a lot of people who wouldn't even know where to begin in doing something like this.
Is this an Aptio V or IV bios?
(07-17-2016, 07:35 PM)RuRa Wrote: [ -> ] (01-23-2016, 01:53 PM)(b)ios Wrote: [ -> ]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
Friend,
Thank you very much for your amazing job!
I flashed your advanced driver but it asks for a password to edit settings. Do you know this password?
Best regards,
RuRa
For the 'safest' bios file, you've set up a password for entering the bios setting. What is the password?
