Adventure: Running 8/9th gen Coffee Lake CPUs on Z170 motherboard (ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger)

[itsakjt]

Sad news lol... I was desoldering the BIOS chip for 3rd time to do my final microcode upgrade, and I a lifted the bios chip off the board i ripped some of its solder pads off. it was not melted all the way.
so now i cant resolder the bios chip back on lol.

Hello, you can try to run small jumper wires by scraping of the coating and solder the BIOS chip accordingly. Look for NorthRidgeFix YT channel for how to fix ripped pads on Playstations. You will get the idea.

Hello! I've tried to follow your guide, as I have a ASUS ROG Maximus VIII Ranger motherboard as well. I tried soldering the 102 pin, but now my PC doesn't want to start at all Can you look at the photo and maybe tell me what I did wrong and how can I fix the mistake? Should I desolder the connection? I would appreciate any help very much! View attachment 315907

Hello, the soldering appears to be correct. Remove the CPU and attempt to start the board. It should power on and stay at Q Code 00. Let me know if it does that.
Also, do you get standby power? Does it start and immrdiately shut off?

 

[Scisca]

Hello, the soldering appears to be correct. Remove the CPU and attempt to start the board. It should power on and stay at Q Code 00. Let me know if it does that.
Also, do you get standby power? Does it start and immrdiately shut off?

The CPU inside the motherboard is still the Skylake i5 6600k that has been there for years. The red LED on the board lights up, but the computer doesn't start at all when I try to turn it on. I get no standby power, no code, the LED on the case next to the power button doesn't light up. The PC doesn't even start for a moment. Nothing, just the red LED is on.

 

[itsakjt]

The CPU inside the motherboard is still the Skylake i5 6600k that has been there for years. The red LED on the board lights up, but the computer doesn't start at all when I try to turn it on. I get no standby power, no code, the LED on the case next to the power button doesn't light up. The PC doesn't even start for a moment. Nothing, just the red LED is on.

Now that I look at the photo, it does appear the upper right solder is touching the capacitor right above it. Try cleaning the entire Super IO section with some isopropyl alcohol (remove the battery before that of course). Also, could you send a photo from a different angle? Maybe right from the top without making any angles showing the entire Super IO chip with good light?
The issue does seem like the Super IO is not responding.

 

[Scisca]

Now that I look at the photo, it does appear the upper right solder is touching the capacitor right above it. Try cleaning the entire Super IO section with some isopropyl alcohol (remove the battery before that of course). Also, could you send a photo from a different angle? Maybe right from the top without making any angles showing the entire Super IO chip with good light?
The issue does seem like the Super IO is not responding.

I'll get a better camera and take a few photos.
Dang it, I've been working on it and using isopropyl alcohol without removing the battery... Is that a big deal?

 

[Scisca]

Now that I look at the photo, it does appear the upper right solder is touching the capacitor right above it. Try cleaning the entire Super IO section with some isopropyl alcohol (remove the battery before that of course). Also, could you send a photo from a different angle? Maybe right from the top without making any angles showing the entire Super IO chip with good light?
The issue does seem like the Super IO is not responding.

I did like you said. I've removed the battery, cleaned the Super IO with isopropyl alcohol and it works! I guess it's soldered well after all and resetting BIOS was all that was needed. Thank you very much! Now on to the next step of your great guide I'd like to ask you a couple more questions, excuse me if they seem silly, but I'm not an engineer and some things are a bit confusing to me.

I have purchased a QQLS CPU (supposedly the silly version of i9 9900k) and am modding the BIOS for it according to your guide, but I have no idea which microcodes to add, so I just added all the ones that showed up. I also got a modded BIOS from the vendor, but it's modded differently than you show in your guide. Should I copy the microcodes from the BIOS they've sent me? Or can I somehow find the microcodes for QQLS? Should I use the BIOS they sent me or should I modify it a bit and patch the PCIe and Sync cores parts? They also have a different ME version.
The BIOS on the left is what they've sent me, the one on the right is what I've created following you guide (with random microcodes).

I went to:

https://www.cpu-world.com/cgi-bin/CPUID.pl?CPUID=79492

and it says:

CPUID signature:

906EC

Is that the proper microcode? I see the vendor added "906EC 98", while I added "9906EC EA" does the 98/EA part change anything? Should I switch it to the version the vendor sent me?


Second thing. Aptio V doesn't want to start on my PC. It just doesn't run. Is there any other way I can extract the keys on my motherboard and place them in the new BIOS?

Thank you very much for your guide and your help! Your video has truely been a blessing, I hope I'll manage to get that QQLS running thanks to your help!

 

[itsakjt]

I did like you said. I've removed the battery, cleaned the Super IO with isopropyl alcohol and it works! I guess it's soldered well after all and resetting BIOS was all that was needed. Thank you very much! Now on to the next step of your great guide I'd like to ask you a couple more questions, excuse me if they seem silly, but I'm not an engineer and some things are a bit confusing to me.

I have purchased a QQLS CPU (supposedly the silly version of i9 9900k) and am modding the BIOS for it according to your guide, but I have no idea which microcodes to add, so I just added all the ones that showed up. I also got a modded BIOS from the vendor, but it's modded differently than you show in your guide. Should I copy the microcodes from the BIOS they've sent me? Or can I somehow find the microcodes for QQLS? Should I use the BIOS they sent me or should I modify it a bit and patch the PCIe and Sync cores parts? They also have a different ME version.
The BIOS on the left is what they've sent me, the one on the right is what I've created following you guide (with random microcodes).View attachment 316364
I went to:

https://www.cpu-world.com/cgi-bin/CPUID.pl?CPUID=79492

and it says:

CPUID signature:

906EC

Is that the proper microcode? I see the vendor added "906EC 98", while I added "9906EC EA" does the 98/EA part change anything? Should I switch it to the version the vendor sent me?


Second thing. Aptio V doesn't want to start on my PC. It just doesn't run. Is there any other way I can extract the keys on my motherboard and place them in the new BIOS?

Thank you very much for your guide and your help! Your video has truely been a blessing, I hope I'll manage to get that QQLS running thanks to your help!

Hello there,

Glad to know your board is working now. The Super IO area is very sensitive and even some residual solder flux can be enough to prevent it from starting.

With that noted, the BIOS they have sent you will definitely work. To make sure, I would apply the PCIe patch and sync all cores patch and also update all the microcodes.

You can try modding the BIOS yourself. The version EA is newer than 98 and hence is recommended with respect to security enhancements. I am using the latest FA with my 906ED i7 9th gen CPUs and performance is amazing.

One thing to note is the BIOS they sent you has Intel Management Engine disabled. I recommend keeping it enabled (like you did yourself) and check if the QQLS CPU works.

If it does not, select the corporate cut version and toggle it to disabled.

 

[aviatori]

Hello again.
So I received my QQLS with bios chip. Installed both. PC started with third try.
CPU voltage was little bit high, around 1.35mv. I lowered it to 1.15mv. So far PC works stabile. Temps before was more then 80 degrees, but now is around 70.
About ram. started at 2133mhz. without any problem raised to 2400; 2600 was max, with 1.35v, but it was unstable. for now I have no time to play with timings on 2600 and I leave it on 2400mhz.
CPU has boost 4.4mhz and scores you can see on picture. CPU are in stock, without manual overclocking and almost all parameters are in default/auto.

I'm very happy with result and thanks to all who helped me with this. Without this thread I wouldn't find this CPU.

 

[WalterWhite68]

HI, Aptio V doesn't want to start on my PC. Is there any other way I can extract the keys on my motherboard and place them in the new BIOS? The program starts then my PC freezes, reset required.
Tanks for replying.

 

[bn880]

Hello, can I ask here about a related board/issue?
I have an ASUS Maximus IX Formula (M9F), and just installed a 9900KS in it. Actually did that with flashback (BIOS chip pinmod)
Bios 1501 modded with Coffetime and personal info added. ME was left enabled (11.7). I did replace VBIOS and GOP sections to newest.
I haven't isolated any pins, as the 2 I checked for this board were not even connected.
Did the CPU present Pin mod as well.

All good except:

1. IGPU is not working
2. Post takes a long time.

What's the general issue with iGPU not working with these mods/hacks? Anything I can troubleshoot?

Thanks!

 

[itsakjt]

Hello, can I ask here about a related board/issue?
I have an ASUS Maximus IX Formula (M9F), and just installed a 9900KS in it. Actually did that with flashback (BIOS chip pinmod)
Bios 1501 modded with Coffetime and personal info added. ME was left enabled (11.7). I did replace VBIOS and GOP sections to newest.
I haven't isolated any pins, as the 2 I checked for this board were not even connected.
Did the CPU present Pin mod as well.

All good except:

1. IGPU is not working
2. Post takes a long time.

What's the general issue with iGPU not working with these mods/hacks? Anything I can troubleshoot?

Thanks!

iGPU not working is almost always related to ME and VBIOS/GOP. The long POST time can further indicate issue with ME.
Did you use the latest BIOS image for modding?

Also, the M9F should be cross compatible with the M10F BIOS (with ME downgraded to 11.7.0.1229 or 11.7.0.1261) so you can give that a shot as well. I think someone specifically made a BIOS for that which was posted in LTT forums or Tom's Hardware (don't remember exactly).

 

[bn880]

iGPU not working is almost always related to ME and VBIOS/GOP. The long POST time can further indicate issue with ME.
Did you use the latest BIOS image for modding?

Also, the M9F should be cross compatible with the M10F BIOS (with ME downgraded to 11.7.0.1229 or 11.7.0.1261) so you can give that a shot as well. I think someone specifically made a BIOS for that which was posted in LTT forums or Tom's Hardware (don't remember exactly).

So after initial flashing to the modded bios the mobo did a lot of reboots trying to get DRAM trained, and now when I checked the long delay in POST is due to DRAM again (DRAM light on, means it's stuck there). The other LEDs progress very quickly to the POST. This was not at all an issue on a 7700k previously, running same XMP profile for DRAM and same voltage.

I did use the latest BIOS for this mobo, 1501 and then just used Coffeetime to patch and insert personal data.

Not sure what else I could do with ME VBIOS/GOP, here is what I used:

I believe I did NOT even click replace for the ME rom region, as I didn't want to disable it. I'm not sure however if this is the culprit. EDIT: I confirmed, I did NOT swap ME region in Coffeetime, just left it as is and enabled.
In the BIOS the ME version is shown as 0.0.0.0. (I assume I probably shouldn't use the ASUS provided MEUpdateTool from end of 2017)
Edit2: I would guess failing to replace the ME at all (whether consumer or not, and whether enabled or not) is the cause of iGPU not working here?

 

[itsakjt]

So after initial flashing to the modded bios the mobo did a lot of reboots trying to get DRAM trained, and now when I checked the long delay in POST is due to DRAM again (DRAM light on, means it's stuck there). The other LEDs progress very quickly to the POST. This was not at all an issue on a 7700k previously, running same XMP profile for DRAM and same voltage.

I did use the latest BIOS for this mobo, 1501 and then just used Coffeetime to patch and insert personal data.

Not sure what else I could do with ME VBIOS/GOP, here is what I used:
View attachment 322364
View attachment 322365

I believe I did NOT even click replace for the ME rom region, as I didn't want to disable it. I'm not sure however if this is the culprit. EDIT: I confirmed, I did NOT swap ME region in Coffeetime, just left it as is and enabled.
In the BIOS the ME version is shown as 0.0.0.0. (I assume I probably shouldn't use the ASUS provided MEUpdateTool from end of 2017)
Edit2: I would guess failing to replace the ME at all (whether consumer or not, and whether enabled or not) is the cause of iGPU not working here?

VBIOS and GOP do look good. I would suspect the ME for sure.
The fact that your BIOS shows ME version as 0.0.0.0 further confirms it. Everything from RAM training to iGPU functionality and even fan control can depend on it.

Do you have a BIOS programmer that you can use to have low level access and flash the BIOS that way?

I believe you are using the USB BIOS flashback with the resistor mod and Creative.rom as the file name?

And yes, using the MEUpdateTool from ASUS is a bad idea as it will bump up the ME version to 11.8.x which will prevent the system to boot with Coffee Lake CPUs.

 

[bn880]

VBIOS and GOP do look good. I would suspect the ME for sure.
The fact that your BIOS shows ME version as 0.0.0.0 further confirms it. Everything from RAM training to iGPU functionality and even fan control can depend on it.

Do you have a BIOS programmer that you can use to have low level access and flash the BIOS that way?

I believe you are using the USB BIOS flashback with the resistor mod and Creative.rom as the file name?

And yes, using the MEUpdateTool from ASUS is a bad idea as it will bump up the ME version to 11.8.x which will prevent the system to boot with Coffee Lake CPUs.

Yep have a programmer and this board has the JSPI header, however I think the issue was not even the flashback, just the rom/bin as you pointed out.

Yes, resistor mod and creative.rom, that in itself worked very well.

On the MEupdateTool, I do wonder about that, released 2017 for Driver version 11.7.0.1040 but anything is possible if it hooks up to the web.
I will update here once I have time to flash it with a fixed ME section, it may be a week or two. Thanks for your suggestions/insight.

 

[bn880]

Yep have a programmer and this board has the JSPI header, however I think the issue was not even the flashback, just the rom/bin as you pointed out.

Yes, resistor mod and creative.rom, that in itself worked very well.

On the MEupdateTool, I do wonder about that, released 2017 for Driver version 11.7.0.1040 but anything is possible if it hooks up to the web.
I will update here once I have time to flash it with a fixed ME section, it may be a week or two. Thanks for your suggestions/insight.

Ok finished the job, once the ME section was updated (to the default/enabled as posted above in pics) in Coffeetime and then flashed via flashback, ME version showed up, post is much faster to get through DRAM and IGPU does work.

So all good.

Thanks for your help.

 

[BobbyBoyGaming]

Hello, you can try to run small jumper wires by scraping of the coating and solder the BIOS chip accordingly. Look for NorthRidgeFix YT channel for how to fix ripped pads on Playstations. You will get the idea.

Hello, the soldering appears to be correct. Remove the CPU and attempt to start the board. It should power on and stay at Q Code 00. Let me know if it does that.
Also, do you get standby power? Does it start and immrdiately shut off?

Hello again, It has been a long time. But that repair is actually quite difficult given the board's layout and my lack of experience. However, found a relatively cheap one online and bought the same board again. I kept the one with ripped pads as a backup.

I was able to update everything; microcodes, ME, and I was finally able to achieve real 9900K performance. I installed another cooler I had with a better fan. But I think the main problem was not thermal throttling as I initially suspected. I think there was also a current-settings issue.
I set load-line Calibration to "level 2" and set all current settings to their maximum values by entering "9999" (which sets it to 255, 4096, 128 respectively). However, I lowered my Tj Max from default of 105C to 90C.
Other settings I had during this test:
Fans set to = "Performance" (Very Noisy)
Multi-Core Enhancement = Enabled
All-Core Multiplier = 47 (9900K is 50)
Ring-to-Core offset = Disabled
CPU Voltage = Positive Offset Mode automatic
CPU Load-Line Calibration = Level 2

Without even having to set the boost clocks to 50 I already reached the 9900K performance with an Air Cooler. The RAM was not overclocked in this testing, and it was running at 2133 MT/s

 

[90Ninety]

is it completely necessary to get the UUID and SN from the bios dump ?

I have a few Skylake boards I tried running Aptio V5 Afuwin within windows, using different boards , I get the same error with every board I tried , I even tried running it on AMD board same error

 

[itsakjt]

is it completely necessary to get the UUID and SN from the bios dump ?

I have a few Skylake boards I tried running Aptio V5 Afuwin within windows, using different boards , I get the same error with every board I tried , I even tried running it on AMD board same error
View attachment 332005

The fact that most motherboards will not allow flashing within Windows, I would recommend to pull out the BIOS chip and then taking a dump with the programmer followed by modding that BIOS file.
Alternatively, you can use the appropriate version of Intel Flash Programming Tool and take a dump using

FPTw64.exe -d <biosfilename.rom>

Before doing that, it is a good practice to update the motherboard BIOS to latest version to make sure you are modding the latest version as well.

For your question, yes UUID especially and SN are important to make sure Windows maps the license to your motherboard.
The UUID is shared with MS servers and is actually what allows the system to auto activate when it detects Internet connectivity provided it was activated before and signed in to a MS account.

 

[90Ninety]

The fact that most motherboards will not allow flashing within Windows, I would recommend to pull out the BIOS chip and then taking a dump with the programmer followed by modding that BIOS file.
Alternatively, you can use the appropriate version of Intel Flash Programming Tool and take a dump using

FPTw64.exe -d <biosfilename.rom>

Before doing that, it is a good practice to update the motherboard BIOS to latest version to make sure you are modding the latest version as well.

For your question, yes UUID especially and SN are important to make sure Windows maps the license to your motherboard.
The UUID is shared with MS servers and is actually what allows the system to auto activate when it detects Internet connectivity provided it was activated before and signed in to a MS account.

I tried a few different versions of AfuwinGui (V 4 & 5) from the AMI website , none of them worked , Strangely only one version ( - AFUWINGUIx64 5.12.03.2045) from this link here here would work on all AMI motherboards I tested thus far m including X570, Z170 and Z270 Motherboards

 

[90Ninety]

Is there an alternative for FD44Editor , this is for ASUS only

Looking for something for Gigabyte and MSI motherboards

 

[itsakjt]

Is there an alternative for FD44Editor , this is for ASUS only

Looking for something for Gigabyte and MSI motherboards



View attachment 332492

You can use CoffeeTime to edit the board data.
There are some tools that can be used after the BIOS is flashed to the board like AMI DMI Tool but that is out of topic for this thread.

 

[90Ninety]

You can use CoffeeTime to edit the board data.
There are some tools that can be used after the BIOS is flashed to the board like AMI DMI Tool but that is out of topic for this thread.

The thread mentions UUID and SN backup for Asus boards .. The process will be different for MSI and Gigabyte boards ( Possibly asrock?)

I wondered how else these can be extracted . the command :wmic CsProduct Get UUID returns a code

..

There is a serial number on the motherboard sticker , will this suffice?

 

[itsakjt]

The thread mentions UUID and SN backup for Asus boards .. The process will be different for MSI and Gigabyte boards ( Possibly asrock?)

I wondered how else these can be extracted . the command :wmic CsProduct Get UUID returns a code
View attachment 332501 ..

There is a serial number on the motherboard sticker , will this suffice?

Yes the process will be different. If you take a dump of the BIOS that is already there and open that with CoffeeTime, you will get the serial no, UUID and MAC address in CoffeeTime itself.

Now if you want to mod a fresh BIOS file downloaded from the website for that specific board, you can open that with CoffeeTime again and under board data, you can edit the values.

As far as I know, FD44 only works with ASUS boards and other brand boards will work with CoffeeTime itself or might have other tools that I am not aware of.

 

[90Ninety]

Yes the process will be different. If you take a dump of the BIOS that is already there and open that with CoffeeTime, you will get the serial no, UUID and MAC address in CoffeeTime itself.

Now if you want to mod a fresh BIOS file downloaded from the website for that specific board, you can open that with CoffeeTime again and under board data, you can edit the values.

As far as I know, FD44 only works with ASUS boards and other brand boards will work with CoffeeTime itself or might have other tools that I am not aware of.

OK Good idea but , for whatever reason Coffeetime 0.99 gives an error when opening the dumped BIOS

I tried re-dumping with Afudos and Afuwin .. Same problem :/

I have attached the BIOS dump for reference

I extracted the Gigabyte Bios ( Z170X Gaming 5 ) using the @bios app from Gigabyte, then opened the Img with coffeetime , however the SN and UUID is empty

Seems this board does not want to play ball

 

[itsakjt]

OK Good idea but , for whatever reason Coffeetime 0.99 gives an error when opening the dumped BIOS

I tried re-dumping with Afudos and Afuwin .. Same problem :/
View attachment 332536



I have attached the BIOS dump for reference

I extracted the Gigabyte Bios ( Z170X Gaming 5 ) using the @bios app from Gigabyte, then opened the Img with coffeetime , however the SN and UUID is empty

Seems this board does not want to play ball

Hello there,

For proper extraction of the BIOS including the FD data which contains stuff like the SN and UUID, you need to use a programmer or use Intel Flash Programming Tool (FPT) as already stated before.
Other tools cannot access those regions as they are protected and hence there is some anomaly in the BIOS file you are getting.

 

[90Ninety]

Hello there,

For proper extraction of the BIOS including the FD data which contains stuff like the SN and UUID, you need to use a programmer or use Intel Flash Programming Tool (FPT) as already stated before.
Other tools cannot access those regions as they are protected and hence there is some anomaly in the BIOS file you are getting.

Tried that ..Still no dice ' Error 201: FPTW64 cannot be run on current platform'

I do have a CH314 Programmer but , I am unsure if this would make a backup that includes UUID and SN