Teo

If someone is interested on how to unlock the hidden menus on Bios 1.07.09RTR6 from XMG I have found a way and it does work but it can be a bit laborious and risky. Be aware that this Bios modification can Brick your laptop or if wrongly modifying your Bios can cause malfunction. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK ⚠️ I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE OF ANY DAMAGE CAUSE ON THE MOD OF YOUR BIOS AND LAPTOP. You must have already some knowledge on how to Backup, Edit and Flash Bios, otherwise I advice not to try. Left all the steps on a PDF file. XMG_1.07.09RTR6_UNLOCK_STEPS.pdf NEEDED TOOLS • FPTW64 (is has to be a version compatible for Intel ME v15) • UEFITOOLS 0.28.0 (capable to replace any REGIONS, Volume, sections, VSS etc) • HxD Editor or any good Hexadecimal Editor.

@kela-slk hello sorry that I couldn’t reply any sooner, I have been very busy these days. yes the hidden_menu_unlocked program only works for 1.07.08 Bios below and except XMG Bioses. As it was already mentioned on this forum, I also have tried and it doesn’t work. About the unlocked XMG bios, it might be a bit hard to elaborate or create a guide. I myself wanted to create an executable file to flash the Bios on the necessary regions to unlock the menus. But I couldnt, I couldn’t get the tools to do so and I am not an expert on programming. If you know how to make dumps, extract and edit BIOS regions, volumes or PE32 regions with Uefitools and some Hexidecimal editors then maybe you can find where to edit those letters to unlock your Bios. I had checked the Bios update prior flashing if all the regions were populated before the laptop was on and I couldn’t find those strings that needs to be modified. Some regions were blank. So to unlock your Bios you need to create a full dump of your own Bios with FPTW. I can’t just share my Bios, it might not work. I could try to help you but is all at your own risk.

@MaxxD Hello sorry I have been really busy these days. Good job making the laptop work with an alternative power source. 👍🏻 Now that you guys have mentioned about the copper IHS from Aliexpress to be a bit worse than the original IHS things makes sense. If I am not wrong My CPU originally had like around 40C during iddle time and after deliding went up to 50c but when running with the water cooler dropped down to 29c on iddle. So the copper IHS from Aliexpress is not that good at all. 🤨😕 one day I will have to swap the IHS to try. Sadly the original IHS got some scratches when removing, maybe it will be fine if sanded. Thanks for the updates.

@MaxxD Nice 😊👍🏻

@MaxxD hi i don’t think it is necessary, my laptop has been working without the XMG EC 1.07.04RT1. (I have been using the original 1.07.04 that my laptop came with) I have been looking for the details of what’s new on the EC update, what are the benefits but couldn’t find any details. at the end I did flashed but I don’t see any difference. I just feel that maybe is a bit slower or is Just my impression. Or is because here where I am is summer and is pretty hot, so I can’t keep lower temperatures and high clocks. I don’t think it’s necessary unless we can see what are those new changes, if they are essential in any way. (Note: maybe it will work well now with the Control Center, I haven’t install it back yet, you know that the EC controls most of the hardware area and components, so before the fans were acting strangely, the CPU overclock program was not opening and so on. I haven’t tested if Control Center will work better with EC 1.07.04RT1)

@MaxxD hi I am using the KBC/EC 1.07.04 can be seen on some of the pictures I have posted. I hope it works for you.

@MaxxD sorry just to clarify. the XMG is more stable compare to other version Bios I got installed before, I got more crashes on the original BIOS (Origin AEON17 model) that came just by running benchmarks. If you do some overclock and mess around with the clocks or voltages, obviously you will get some crashes or shutdown that is normal, you have to find the right settings and it will run fine. Just try the Bios, you can always downgrade the BIOS with same Bios Update provided by your vendor. Origin doesn’t have anymore BIOS updates so I used the Clevo one. Origin 1.07.09rtr to Style Note 1.07.08 I Even went lower to 1.07.07 then I went back Style Note 1.07.08 to XMG 1.07.09rtr Then modified the XMG 1.07.09rtr Bios file and unlocked, flashed with FPTW64 and running well with all menus unlocked. Lucky the regions aren’t locked. You can make full dump with FPTW64 (I was just testing if it was possible to downgrade BIOSes with the updates *.exe)

@MaxxD That’s crazy, you have a lot of experiences and worked on a manufacture? I see so now this laptop is a complex machine, I hope you can fix your laptop after all the problems you have faced. I know is not so pleasant to have something that have a lot of problems or issues but I guess you learn a lot, get a lot of experiences, what works what doesn’t. Yeah the XMG Bios version has been more stable to me, when I was doing some benchmarks and tweak a bit the Overcloaking configurations it use crash or just simply shut down by itself, for some reason they do recommend it on this forum. All the best.

@MaxxD Hello again, You are welcome, I am also learning, I am new at this stuff. I see. yeah I can see that some problems can resurface on this laptop and hasnt been refined well, if there is 2 main power rail is perhaps to properly control 2 power brick (Is just my guess) if your friend have the diagrams or schematics of that laptop it might explain that or it should had. I am using the BIOS from XMG for that reason, they said they have fixed many issues related to EC chip and memory if I am not wrong. You can go back and forward with bios updates if they don’t perform as you expect. Mine is an Origin model I found many random crashes on 1.07.08 versión so I switched to XMG 1.07.09RTR and it seems more stable. If your voltage is not stable then there must be a faulty power controller or already some bad coils. Hard thing is to know what is failing, something is no delivering proper power. Or could be some bad setup in the bios related to memory clock. Yeah -SM model many people said is better in many ways. I am a bit of a technician (still learning) is like a hobby, not afraid to break it, I fix stuff and laptops are a new area to try. I tried to get the best of the line but I mean on potential not stability. And I prefer socketed CPU and GPU, I don’t like the soldered ones on the board, I am learning to solder those things but I cannot tell yet if I am doing well yet. Plus you can’t get 100% good spares, mostly fakes one or dying ones, even microchips, have to get things straight from manufacture or buy second hand laptops for spare only. sorry for expanding too much, I hope you can find the solution. greetings.

@MaxxD Hi. I still have mine running fine. Did some benchmarks and my own watercooler running fine without issues, and finally on XMG 1.07.09 I did unlock the BIOS. i once installed the Control Center is terrible still, I think I did install the latest version but has bugs. Such as overclock app doesn’t not open (it did once only) and stays on high clock cooking it self, performs terrible, and also the fans controller app is bad, suddenly starts spinning like crazy and only stops if you open it select manual and back again to automatic. Control Center (sorry I don’t remember what version I had but ov6 up) is terrible. So without it there you can set it up for not thermal throttle and limits. I just use throttlestop. I Even put it all to max not limits and ran fine scoring 15,456 on cinebench, I am still testing more, I barely had it couple of months ago. I don’t think that score is the best but yet still decent for a standard overclock. The thing I haven’t done is to change the XMP profile, that’s why I was tweaking to get the BIOS unlocked. I think this laptop runs fine, just need proper seating pads and thermal paste, right cooler, the right apps, right setup and I think it does fine.

@oduska hello If you haven’t bought any fans, you can search on EBay perhaps, I think they do sell it per unit. Or here on Aliexpress, a single fan or both. I just found this on AliExpress: 4,670円 | X170SM CPU GPU FAN For CLEVO X17SN X170 X17SM X170SM-G X7200 X170KM-G BS5812HS-U4P BS6812MS-U4N DC 12V 0.55A https://a.aliexpress.com/_oEwLOIK

@giltheone Hello. sorry for the long text, I thought I could help you out to get confident on updating your Bios but you already know all this. I understand now the situation on your current space. That makes things complicated. I sent you a link with the dump. It could be a bit different just on the configuration or settings that was saved on, I just backed it up as soon as it did arrive before installing the CPU, GPU, SSD and memories. By the way, the EC chip version and ME are the same on both BIOS updates. XMG BIOS MENU (the logo will change when you update the BIOS) all the best.

@giltheone Hello Thank you for the comment, I see you have been struggling a little bit, before I do any update on the Bios I always have a plan B, I do a full dump of the BIOS with a EEPROM PROGRAMMER, I only forgot the EC chip, I didn’t check if is a programmable chip or not or if is embedded onto the BIOS itself, I haven’t touched any further on this BIOS, but I did once on a ALIENWARE 17 R1 (Ami BIOS too on asus Laptops) which has the same H02 Bios (Insyde), they were separated the BIOS and EC chip. I always dump my BIOS directly from the chip, I am not good making dumps from FTPW64 or any other 3rd application, sometimes they are not so easy to operate or not available to the public or not even compatible, so for safer and faster backup I dump it directly from the chip, it has always worked for me so far. (I got the clamp and many other tools to help me connect directly, is very cheap) in this case I had to solder it directly. By the way I did update the BIOS of my laptop from XMG vendor using their files, it has been a while ago, I think you got to make a bootable drive. All the files are there, I think they haven’t take down yet. So going back to each BIOS update from different brands, I can’t tell you 100% how each of them does it, but I know that (correct me if I am wrong) EFI files must be a part of the BIOS, is not the whole BIOS, so just the necessary bits are replaced and like in the Alienware website they say you can upgrade or downgrade your BIOS at will (I don’t know how is it for AEON17X Laptops on their website if you can revert any updates). Like one time I wanted to update my ALIENWARE and I couldn't update it through the application because of some WINDOWS or UEFI protection so I took some tools like EFI64 or AMITOOL or one of those and search what files were different in each section of the BIOS and just replaced it directly with a HEXEditor, there is a Insyde tool, I used to check from there the EFI files what content or section were been replaced and recreated my on updated dump and then later reprogrammed the whole BIOS onto the chip if didnt work I could just flash back the original dump. I think XMG BIOS are actually a full BIOS, is not just an update. I really have to check again in my laptop as I have heard they have changed the BIOS structure. So I think you just can’t use your vendors laptop BIOS update and just revert to the original BIOS you had before. That’s why is important you keep that Bios dump you have managed to back up. I do have the whole dump of my Laptop from ORIGIN if you want to check it out or keep a copy. BIOS: 1.07.08.OBTOPC KBC/EC: 1.07.04 ME FW: 15.0.23.1706. Now I think the ME is within the BIOS. KBC/EC is separate from the BIOS, in some certain laptops they are within the BIOS. I can tell you that so far XMG bios is pretty stable, when I started doing some overclocking or doing some heavy stuff with the original Bios I had a couple of crashes and shutdowns, I heard from some other comments that is a problem ralated to EC sensors that weren’t well programmed, so I guess XMG team fixed those issues and who knows who others already did it, but I haven’t check it out. I hope you can find your answer, I am sorry I can can’t explain well enough all the technical and programming stuff. All the Best.

Hello everyone Just a new update, I free the CPU from its limitations to test how good it was the new modified watercooling, I guess is not throttling at anything but I think it didn't change much. Feels something is holding it back or is just my imagination. There is not thermal limits. - Undervolted -90.8 mV - SPEED Shift EPP= 0 - C states= disable - Prohot= disable - Clock mod= 100% - Turbo Time = Max - PL1 = 1029w - PL2 = 1029 w - Turbo Ratios Limit = Max out - Overclock = Check - Ring Down Bin = check >>>>??? Under this settings I got 15456 points on cinebench with temps ranging between 85c~ to 95c Max. Drew 200watts max.

CLEVO X-170KM-G WATERCOOLER MOD PART-2 (Sorry for the misspelling and not so orderly arranged pictures) (First score on Cinebench with the single watercooler pipe) (some tweaking still learning how to use this software, Intel XTU had a lot bugs and issues, was not friendly) (On the process, joints were to thick) (best option, hard way) (Welding with silver rod and torch, took a while to get it right) (Not painted, assembled ready to go) (copper shim added 30x30, thickness: 0.5mm on GPU, this solved the gap) (Superposition Benchmark 1080 Extreme test, good temps) [Please know that everything was done in a controlled environment to avoid self harm. ]