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    ASUS X55A - restore serial numbers

    I have an ASUS X55A that suffered a bios corruption when i manually changed a bios parameter (enable-disable internal pointing device) and then prompted it to "save and exit".

    I've bought a ch341a programmer, retrieved the dump of the corrupted bios, erased the chip and flashed a working .rom (version v413).
    The laptop booted and i was able to update the bios to the last available version (v417), which i dumped once again.

    I now have these files:
    1. original corrupted bios (v417, i believe)
    2. working bios v413
    3. working bios v417

    Using AMIBCP, I see that file 2 and 3 have generic serial numbers, and i guess they also have generic mac address etc. File 1 crashes AMIBCP. All the files can be open with UEFITools but i can't understand a damn, i'm a newbie. The laptop didn't come with a windows license: i used one of my w7-w8 ones, that got later upgrade to w10.

    Now the questions are:
    a. Will the use of generic serials invalidate my license upgrade?
    b. Is it possible to copy serial numbers and other identification codes from file 1 to file 3?
    c. If yes, how can i do that?
    Last edited by io00; 05-18-2019, 07:38 AM.

    #2
    Re: ASUS X55A - restore serial numbers

    there is windows product code in the original bios, search for it and replace data in new bios dump

    Comment


      #3
      Re: ASUS X55A - restore serial numbers

      Originally posted by ktmmotocross View Post
      there is windows product code in the original bios, search for it and replace data in new bios dump
      Can you suggest a program to inspect the original corrupted bios? amibcp4.53 crashes when i try to open it (it doesn't crash with the other dumps, though)
      Thanks

      Comment


        #4
        Re: ASUS X55A - restore serial numbers

        hex editor or better filealyzer

        Comment


          #5
          Re: ASUS X55A - restore serial numbers

          There are few information avalaible about this procedure.
          read #9
          https://winraid.level1techs.com/t/ho...ios-dump/32592

          If you have the old bios, I suggest to make a ME clean and try if it solve the problem.
          https://winraid.level1techs.com/t/gu...lization/31277
          Last edited by SMDFlea; 05-07-2023, 07:07 AM. Reason: edited winraid links

          Comment


            #6
            Re: ASUS X55A - restore serial numbers

            Thanks for the links. I've already read a lot on that site.
            Using the hex editor in notepad++ i was able to manually recover the block containing the serial number of the machine, along with other interesting strings (maybe UUID and MAC address?). I've already transferred them in the working .rom, and tomorrow morning I'm going to flash the chip once again. However, amibcp doesn't seem to pick the serial up on the modified rom...

            Ill' keep the thread updated if the solution is found
            Last edited by SMDFlea; 05-07-2023, 07:07 AM.

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              #7
              Re: ASUS X55A - restore serial numbers

              The DMI area is 2FE50 - 301DF ,(UUID 301B8 - 301C7) Win key area is 33000 - 330FF

              As already suggested by @jasko_jacker its better to just try cleaning the ME area first,it saves a lot of time if its the only thing wrong with the bios,and keeps all the DMI info.
              All donations to badcaps are welcome, click on this link to donate. Thanks to all supporters

              Comment


                #8
                Re: ASUS X55A - restore serial numbers

                Originally posted by SMDFlea View Post
                The DMI area is 2FE50 - 301DF ,(UUID 301B8 - 301C7) Win key area is 33000 - 330FF

                As already suggested by @jasko_jacker its better to just try cleaning the ME area first,it saves a lot of time if its the only thing wrong with the bios,and keeps all the DMI info.
                unfortunately, the flash image tool can't load the bricked bios due to corruption...so i cannot perform an ME clean as far as i know.
                However, the info you gave me on the DMI area is quite interesting: does it mean that copying the sectors from 2FE50 to 301DF (included) from the bricked bios to the functional one *might* give me a functioning bios with serials, mac and UUID? (as i already stated in the opening post, win key area is not of main interest)

                Thanks
                Last edited by io00; 05-18-2019, 05:18 PM.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Re: ASUS X55A - restore serial numbers

                  Status update:
                  -found a region on the bricked bios with relevant serial numbers (it was different from that suggested by SMDFlea, however)
                  -pasted it on the generic bios
                  - machine serial number and uuid are now showing up in windows

                  The only thing missing in windows is the lan mac address. i have found two strings in the bricked bios with the mac address and i have copy-pasted them, but apparently they are not enough

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Re: ASUS X55A - restore serial numbers

                    ok i think i got this. the offset of the mac address should be 1000h. I don't know why but in the bricked dump it was 88 88 88 88 87 88, as in the generic .rom. I forced it to my mac (hex, retrieved from a label inside the chassis) and flashed. Now it is showing properly in windows.
                    At this stage:

                    - serial number -> ok!
                    - uuid -> ok!? (it looks fancy, 00000011-0000-0000-0000-MacAddress, but i have seen other asus laptop with similar uuid on the internet, so it might be)
                    - mac address -> ok!

                    i'm sure there are other sn that should be carried over (like chassis, motherboard etc) and i might have already copied them swapping blocks from a rom to another.
                    However, having sorted out the three mentioned above, am i enough "good to go" or should i do something else?

                    Thanks!

                    edit: the mac address on the label is in the form "aabbccddeeff gghh". should i also force the 4 digits following the main 12 in the bios?
                    Last edited by io00; 05-19-2019, 08:49 AM.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Re: ASUS X55A - restore serial numbers

                      Just made a tool to retrieve the Windows serial key from dumps...

                      http://www.wcn.it/BIOSdump2license.zip

                      and this is a video about that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpMWw4WFhaU

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Re: ASUS X55A - restore serial numbers

                        Please don't hijack threads, and MEInject can already do it. (even though it's not a great tool for ME region cleaning)
                        OpenBoardView — https://github.com/OpenBoardView/OpenBoardView

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Re: ASUS X55A - restore serial numbers

                          Originally posted by Bartoloni View Post
                          Just made a tool to retrieve the Windows serial key from dumps...

                          http://www.wcn.it/BIOSdump2license.zip

                          and this is a video about that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpMWw4WFhaU
                          amazing tool. how about write SN to bios dump?

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Re: ASUS X55A - restore serial numbers

                            Use HxD tool to insert DMI info.

                            Comment

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