Hi I've got a VAIO SV-E 1712 C5E that I have unlocked bios . There is a SecureFlashDxe module in the bios that will display you " H20 Secure Flash - Invalid firmware image " when trying to flash with Insyde tool your modded Bios; but this is not an RSA signed bios as encountered on other platform. First, I suggest you to backup your Bios region with Intel FPT from windows or a dos shell. To do so, you will have to make a USB bootable Flash disk with only that file on the root, AND, you 'll have to change the boot mode in the bios from UEFI to legacy prior to boot a DOS Usb disk Using the command Code: fpt -bios -d YourBiosDump.bin This will be helpfull if you brick the laptop, and of course to work on a copy of it. You should get a 6656kb file instead of the 9680 kb R0160D6.bin extracted from sony bios executable. Open it with PhoenixTools 2.14 and mod it (note the recovery file name that would be same as mine with R0160D6 bios Z40X64.FD - displayed Z40X64.f? by the tool but never mind ) Then simply use the recovery process to flash that modded bin from DOS renamed in the recovery filename. In this case, there is no screen or warning before flashing begin, the bios settings here are not important. 1/Let the battery plugged 2/ Remove the ac cord 3/ Press FN+ESC keys and while holding them, plug AC cord, wait just 1-2 seconds and press the power button 4/ Keep the keys for 3 seconds 5/ release FN+ESC 6/ deep breath, it should take 65 seconds to flash and sutdown automatically 7/ Power it ;-p But be aware that this flashing process don't check anything, if you flash a 4kb size with the recovery name, it will work, the flashing will take 65 s and you will be screwed as the recovery will not be working anymore as the bios would have been erased. I have bricked it 6 times because of one strange USB stick or maybe a corrupted copy , even the original dump give me a loop on boot with DVD drive initialization ... So be sure to dump it twice and keep an unmodded one if you have only one PC.
Then if you want to flash securely with FPT, you must change your descriptor settings. For that the only trick for now is to connect the pin 1 with the pin 5 of the ALC 269 chip located near to the USB3 port and the line/mic. I've done it, it works ;-p
Yes you can rename the R0160D6.bin file into Z40X64.fd and flash it in recovery process, I've done it. The VAIO secure flash key is in the end of the file , and behond EEPROM ( not flashed , just checked on regular flash ) Anyway dump your actual bios in case... Don't understand when you say "By PhoenixTool a "9.45 MB (9,911,688 bytes)" was issued large file" I have opened the original R0160D6.bin with phoenix tools as is.... But maybe it is related on your SLIC mod when saving ? I still use the provided windows 8, I feel it better and it start really quicker than 7, that's why i'm not aware of the slic mod .
[HS] Can't post pictures of my board or link because I'm under the 20 post here, but the ALC HDA chip pin 5 (HDA_SDO ) is sampled by the HM76 chipset. So normally it is Low, but if it is set to "high" externally, then the HSFSTS descriptor registers are overriden, and the ME is in debug mode. Then I were able to flash my descriptor from locked to unlocked on ME region (R/W) Bios region (W) Got it from somewhere I can't post the link ( <20 post ) Read the Intel 7 series PCH datasheet (bootstraps section) Or maybe you were kidding me ??? ;-) [/HS]
@ Kassiopaia Also something interesting maybe, on the VAIO SVE1711 series, the bios to upgrade from seven to windows 8 is different... (They were sold with windows 7) Check the bios on those boards, they don't have a secure flash module in it .... but don't know if the mainboard is the same, for sure it is based on HM76 also, but for other chip ...
By flashing in recovery mode the dump of your bios region I had suggested you to do with FPT before any mod ... Try also to reformat your USB stick in fat32 and put a non-corrupted bios Z40X64.fd ... I was once messing with brick each time, even with an original unmoded dump that worked before ... Formatting resolved the problem.
Now are still a rescue way, where the emergency recovery method no longer works? The problem is the emerency method will no more working, the file is okay, but the flash will no starting (I see no more activity on the USB FlashDrive- Stick).
I don't know what did you flash ... hope this is the original bios file ? Try to open the file that have bricked the laptop with phoenix tools and check the name of the reciovery file. I have flashed a modded R0160D6.bin extracted from the update from sony site, got a brick and recover with the dump I've done before that with FPT did you did that ? If the name is wrong, the flashing will be unsuccessfull.... did your laptop shutdown automatically , and after how many seconds ?
At the first flash with emergency recovery mode method with a no modding bios I have see the activity of the stick (blinking) and the notebook automaticly reboot - all okay (only the individual informations like UUID, serial, service tag was loose). The notebooks works. After flashing the renamed bios.mod (*.bin to *.fd) reboot the notebook not self, I wait a long time and push power / hard shutdown. And now, black screen and only power led, I can't start emergency recovery mode method again, it will not working. I think the bios now is "death", the rescue way was closed with a wrong file. Sorry for my bad english.
The thing is that when the mod is wrong (uuid lost, tag lost.. ) it's better to put the laptop in its original state and restart the work ... you didn't dump for safety as i suggested ...
i-m on the same situation i done the R0170D5 bios for SE1512W1ESI on Phoenix Tools Dynamic mode and when i try to flash it with InsideFlash says Firmware Image Error