Showing posts with label Aptio. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Aptio. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 12, 2021

How to Change Hidden UEFI BIOS Settings (Settings that are not shown in BIOS Setup) - using AMI SCE Utility for AMI Aptio*-based UEFI BIOS

Note: The following procedure is applicable only to motherboards with AMI Aptio*-based UEFI BIOS. It was tested successfully on a MSI Z390-A PRO (MS-7B98) motherboard running the latest BIOS version as of this writing (7B98v1C). Please don't modify BIOS settings if you don't know what those particular settings do as it might cause your PC to no longer boot, thus requiring you to perform a CMOS reset (which might also not fix the problem if you changed the default setting as well!).

Some motherboard OEMs decide to hide certain settings from being shown in BIOS setup. If you need to change any of these settings, the following steps should help you to accomplish this.

  1. Download "AMI BIOS ROM Utilities Collection 2020" from http://bit.ly/BIOSUtils.
  2. Extract its contents and find the latest version of the AMI SCE Utility under the "AMI SCE All Versions 2020" folder. As of this writing, 5.03.1115 is the latest version currently available.
  3. Open an elevated Command Prompt window and "cd" to the 32-bit or 64-bit SCEWIN folder (use the correct version for your system).
  4. Run SCEWIN.exe /O /S BIOSSettings.txt (for 32-bit systems) or SCEWIN_64.exe /O /S BIOSSettings.txt (for 64-bit systems). You should get the following output (Note: The warning may or may not appear; this does not indicate an actual error if it indicates "Script file exported successfully."):
  5. Open the exported file "BIOSSettings.txt". You should see something like the following:
  6. For the purposes of this procedure, we will disable the "ACPI Wake Alarm" device (HW ID: *ACPI000E or ACPI\ACPI000E or ACPI\VEN_ACPI&DEV_000E) as an example since it is not supported in Windows 7. This device is enumerated in Device Manager as follows:
  7. Locate the "System Time and Alarm Source" option by using the "Find" option in your text editor. Move the "*" to the desired option. Optionally, change the default option by copying the desired option next to the "=" sign for "BIOS Default".
  8. BEFORE: 
  9. AFTER: 
  10. Once you are finished making changes, save the changes you made.
  11. Run SCEWIN.exe /I /S BIOSSettings.txt (for 32-bit systems) or SCEWIN_64.exe /I /S BIOSSettings.txt (for 64-bit systems). You should get the following output (Note: You may ignore the warnings that appear if it indicates "Script file imported successfully."):
  12. Restart your computer for the changes to take effect.
  13. For this example, the "ACPI Wake Alarm" device disappeared from Device Manager upon reboot:


DISCLAIMER:

*Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.

DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY

YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT THE ABOVE PROCEDURE (THE "PROCEDURE") IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. ALL WARRANTIES, CONDITIONS, REPRESENTATIONS, INDEMNITIES AND GUARANTEES WITH RESPECT TO THE PROCEDURE, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARISING BY LAW, CUSTOM, PRIOR ORAL OR WRITTEN STATEMENTS BY HHSOFT OR OTHERWISE (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, SATISFACTORY QUALITY, FITNESS FOR PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT) ARE HEREBY OVERRIDDEN, EXCLUDED AND DISCLAIMED.

DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL HHSOFT, ITS LICENSORS OR ITS OR THEIR RELATED COMPANIES BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY DIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, INDIRECT OR SPECIAL, PUNITIVE OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES RESULTING FROM YOUR USE OF THE PROCEDURE AS SPECIFIED ABOVE, WHETHER FORESEEABLE OR UNFORESEEABLE, BASED ON YOUR CLAIMS OR THE CLAIMS OF ANY THIRD PARTY, WHETHER BASED ON THIS AGREEMENT, ANY COMMITMENT PERFORMED OR UNDERTAKEN UNDER ON OR IN CONNECTION WITH THIS AGREEMENT OR OTHERWISE.

Friday, April 10, 2020

American Megatrends (AMI) UEFI BIOS [Aptio] Recovery: Recover Bricked PC With No Floppy Disk Drive Showing Nothing On Screen While Powered On

American Megatrends (AMI) UEFI BIOS [Aptio] Recovery: Recover Bricked PC With No Floppy Disk Drive Showing Nothing On Screen While Powered On:

NOTE: This guide is for UEFI AMI Aptio BIOS only. For UEFI BIOS (AMI Aptio), the recovery BIOS file name is not necessarily AMIBOOT.ROM. You will need to use the steps below to determine the correct filename for your system.

Another version of this guide is available for non-UEFI AMI BIOS here.

You will need:

1. USB flash drive (preferably an older one with <= 4 GB capacity and with access indicator light)
2. BIOS ROM file from your device manufacturer
3. Working computer to prepare recovery flash drive
4. AndyP's PhoenixTool - This tool requires you to install Microsoft .NET Framework 4.7 or newer beforehand. You can download a copy of Version 2.73 at DataFileHost | Mega.nz. (SHA1 hash: 203FDE92728B501BDAFA19D26EDBED57E3ED7B4C). Find more details regarding this tool here: http://bit.ly/PhoenixTool.

Important Note: Please back up all files on the USB flash drive you will be using to recover the BIOS. All files will be erased when you format the flash drive.
There are multiple guides on the internet that step you through recovering the BIOS on an AMI-based PC. However, most of them only have detailed steps for recovering from a floppy disk or CD, and are mostly outdated. For instance, bricked all-in-one PCs typically will not issue any beep codes or beep during BIOS recovery.

There are several important things you should be aware of when using a USB flash drive for BIOS recovery:
1. This may not work at all on your bricked PC if its BIOS does not contain a boot block or it is corrupted/overwritten, or if it does not support USB flash drive recovery.
2. Your USB drive must be connected to one of the ports on the PC, not via a USB hub. Some PCs require you to connect the USB drive to a specific USB port - you may have to try each one and find out.
3. A USB flash drive with an access indicator light is recommended. Often, a bricked computer will not show anything on screen while the BIOS recovery is happening. The light on the USB will tell you whether the BIOS recovery is occurring.

Steps to follow:

1. Prepare the USB flash drive. First, format the drive as FAT16 (as FAT32 will not always work) using this guide (if your drive capacity is 4 GB or less, you don't have to resize the partition and can proceed straight to formatting as FAT16 - this is a different option from FAT32). All data on the USB drive will be erased.
2. Extract and copy the BIOS ROM file to the root of the USB flash drive from the device manufacturer's support page.
3. Download and run AndyP's PhoenixTool (run PhoenixTool.exe). Open the BIOS ROM file in the tool. Then, wait for the tool to process the file. Eventually, it will tell you the recovery filename. Rename the file to the name given by the tool (you may have to show all file extensions in Folder Options). (Note: If the tool gave you multiple filenames, make several copies of the BIOS ROM file and rename each copy to each of the filenames).
4. Make sure the bricked PC is plugged in and powered off. Insert the USB flash drive into one of the USB ports.
5. Attach a USB or PS/2 keyboard to the PC. PS/2 keyboard is preferred as it will be recognized sooner by the BIOS.
6. Press and hold the CTRL and HOME keys on the keyboard as you press the power button on the PC.
7. Keep holding down these keys until the USB drive indicator light has started flashing for several seconds (or for at least 5 seconds if your USB drive has no indicator light).
8. Wait up to 3 minutes. The computer will program the BIOS chip and automatically restart once recovery is complete. You may hear beeps while the BIOS is being recovered, but this is not always the case. For larger BIOS ROM images, the recovery process will take longer. Note: Your computer may not necessarily restart automatically at the end of the recovery process. If so, wait 15 minutes before restarting the computer yourself.
9. The computer will restart automatically and start up if recovery is successful.

Troubleshooting:

- Did you format the USB drive as FAT16?
- Did you try different ports on the computer?
- Did you try older USB drives?
- Is your USB drive USB 2.0 and older?
- Did you clear the CMOS on the computer by unplugging the computer, removing the CMOS battery and pressing power button for 5 seconds?
- Did you disconnect all other peripherals and drives?
- Is your monitor working properly?
- Did you download the correct version BIOS from your manufacturer?
- Did you extract the BIOS ROM file only and rename it correctly (showed all file extensions to be sure)?

Did you find the above guide useful? If so, share it with your friends. Comments on how to improve the guide are welcome below.

Sources (for ISO-9660 CD/Floppy Disk BIOS recovery methods and methods for recovering other brand BIOSes):

https://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/support/faq_content.php?S_ID=392
https://forum-en.msi.com/faq/article/how-to-recover-the-bios
https://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f15/bad-bios-checksum-need-hpbios-rom-62613.html