ASUS ZenBook UX480F : need help with cleaning the ME region of my BIOS dump

[mkdj]

Dear all,
I have a ASUS ZenBook UX480F with the following symptoms:

When pressing power button, power led lights up, but no image on screen, fan not spinning. Caps lock not responding. Laptop is charging fine however.
No short circuits detected.
Measures made: laptop is taking approximately 700mA when on. 3.3V, 5V and other lower voltages are present.

I suspect it is a BIOS issue. So I decided to try to clean the ME region. I followed the guide on win-raid, and I believe I have done everything correctly. My problem is: when I open the outimage.bin in ME Analyzer, it says that it is Extracted, and not Region, Extracted as it should be. Is it normal, or did I do something not correctly? This is my first experience editing BIOS files.

I would appreciate if someone could take time to explain the issue, so that I can learn. But I would also appreciate if you can send me the BIOS dump with clean ME.

A snapshot of my BIOS dump in ME Analyzer:


After having cleaned the ME region following the winraid guide. I used the file named 12.0.37.1429_CON_LP_C_PRD_RGN.


I have also attached my BIOS dump, if it can help.

Regards,
mkdj

[peste]

Don't post pictures unless asked...
post S/N, full name and model, motherboard model, etc.

[mkdj]

Thank you peste for your answer, and sorry about pictures, I didn't know.

S/N of laptop is KBN0CV09N337466
Full name and model is ASUS UX480FD

I did not plan to remove the motherboard to get access to the motherboard model, is this mandatory in this case? If so, can you let me know why (in order for me to gain knowledge)?

Regards,
mkdj

[peste]

Thank you peste for your answer, and sorry about pictures, I didn't know.

S/N of laptop is KBN0CV09N337466
Full name and model is ASUS UX480FD

I did not plan to remove the motherboard to get access to the motherboard model, is this mandatory in this case? If so, can you let me know why (in order for me to gain knowledge)?

Regards,
mkdj

depending on the motherboard model we will send you the bios..also post the picture here, with a white square (QR code), inscribed on the motherboard ...

[m1ch43lzm]

when I open the outimage.bin in ME Analyzer, it says that it is Extracted, and not Region, Extracted as it should be. Is it normal, or did I do something not correctly? This is my first experience editing BIOS files.

The screenshot in the winraid guide is on an older version of MEAnalyzer, it's always Type │Extracted on a BIOS dump, what you want to check is File System State │Configured
Initialized = extracted from a working board
Configured = "Clean", it will become Initialized after successful first boot

If you dump the BIOS after first boot, it should show Initialized on MEAnalyzer

Thank you peste for your answer, and sorry about pictures, I didn't know.

S/N of laptop is KBN0CV09N337466
Full name and model is ASUS UX480FD

I did not plan to remove the motherboard to get access to the motherboard model, is this mandatory in this case? If so, can you let me know why (in order for me to gain knowledge)?

Regards,
mkdj

There's a barcode sticker on this board, like this:
https://www.badcaps.net/filedata/fetch?id=2254754

From your BIOS dump and S/N on ASUS website it's UX450FDX, ASUS always does this, where the BIOS type doesn't always match the laptop model or board number in the silkscreen, but the correct BIOS type is always on a barcode or QR sticker on the motherboard
Try, clean ME + BIOS 313 + DMI inserted

UX450FDX
S/N KBN0CV09N337466

[mkdj]

Dear m1ch43lzm,

Thank you for your explanation and the BIOS file. I flashed the file you produced, re-soldered the chip, and the laptop booted up. Can you tell me what you did exactly to produce this file? I haven't tried the file I produced with FIT, as I did not want to re-solder and de-solder the chip again in case it did not work. I directly used the file you gave me.

---

Anyway, I was really happy: I managed to get access to the BIOS.

But then I noticed that the laptop froze, in the BIOS. I also saw some thin green horizontal lines flashing at some point. I turned the laptop off, and it booted again, but not instantly, only after 10 seconds. I was on the BIOS again. I turned the laptop off, inserted a Linux Mint USB stick, and turned the laptop on: I saw the GRUB menu, but when I chose Linux Mint the screen stayed black (with backlight on).

I turned it off, and now I can't get it to boot. I have the same symptoms as before flashing the BIOS: screen stays black, laptop taking 700mA, voltages are present.

Is it possible that the BIOS got corrupted one more time during the few minutes I used the laptop?

If not, I wonder if this was really a BIOS issue in the first place. Could it be possible that the fact that I heated the board to re-solder the chip made the laptop work? And that now that the board is cool, it doesn't work anymore?

Regards,
mkdj

[mkdj]

Hi guys,

I got my answer: it was clearly not a BIOS issue, but an onboard RAM issue. When I apply pressure on the RAM chips before pressing the power button, laptop boots up. So I tried to reflow the RAM chip, and made things worse. But that is another story

To stay on topic (and it may interest others), I still would like to know what you have done to produce the BIOS file. Can you tell me more?

Regards,
mkdj

[m1ch43lzm]

Can you tell me what you did exactly to produce this file?

I used FIT 12.0.40.1434 and the ME region update contained in the BIOS update from ASUS
To get the ME region, open the BIOS with UEFI tool, expand AMI Aptio Capsule -> UEFI Image, in the last GUID expand until you get LzmaCompressed or LzmaCustomCompress or something like that (I'm not at my PC right now, don't remember the exact name), right click -> Body hex view, if you see FPT, then it's the ME region update
Right click, Extract Body, save, open with FIT, it will decompose and you will get "ME Sub Partition.bin" on a folder with the file name you saved the ME update
Close FIT, open FIT again and follow the winraid guide, use the ME Sub Partition.bin you got on the previous steps instead of the one from the repository

For the BIOS region there's this guide: https://www.badcaps.net/forum/troubl...t-by-razor_amd
After you trim the first 000-7FF you have to cut that to the length of the BIOS region, yours is 0x700000, check with UEFITool

But then I noticed that the laptop froze, in the BIOS. I also saw some thin green horizontal lines flashing at some point.
....
If not, I wonder if this was really a BIOS issue in the first place. Could it be possible that the fact that I heated the board to re-solder the chip made the laptop work? And that now that the board is cool, it doesn't work anymore?

Maybe faulty onboard RAM or a cracked solder ball in the area, heat or pressure may have made it work temporarily (i don't know if you removed the motherboard or not when soldering the BIOS chip)
EDIT: just saw your last reply, that confirms it, maybe You need to remove and reball the RAM