ASRock Z370/Z390 Taichi (and some others, actively modding!) Firmware with Intel Management Engine Disabled

[R-T-B]

The Z370 Professional Gaming i7 is now also on BIOS 3.20 - and, after my last post about the instant flash behaviour, there is now another feature, that didn't work anymore:
i am no longer able to edit "hidden" menu entries within the BIOS with AMBCP! As soon as i try to save my modifications, i got an error and the BIOSfile has 0kb in size. Didn't find a workaround yet.

Weird. There are a few versions of AMIBCP available. I'll try opening an entry with all of them just to see if one of them works, and let you know

Update for 3.20. Worked for me straight from 3.10... which was unexpected. Lmk how it works for you.

 

[Mork_vom_Ork]

i tried it with AMIBCP 5.2 and 5.01
but getting the same error when trying to save the changes and BIOS file will be 0kb size after that.
Haven't installed v3.20 yet. Still on 3.10 - but extracted Microcodes from 3.20 into v3.10 with UEFItool.

EDIT#1:
just tried to modify Z370TAICHI Bios v3.20 with AMIBCP: no errors, modifications could be successfully saved. So it must be something with the ProGaming_i7 BIOS v3.20

EDIT#2:
tried with v3.20 BIOS downloaded from japanese FTP Server - and this time AMIBCP is able to modify the file w/o any error. YES

 

[R-T-B]

Just in case anyone missed the automerge above, I updated my ME scrubbed Taichi Firmware for 3.20. For me at least, my mod flashed with no tricks. YMMV, report if you can please. Available at http://glacialsoftware.net/FIRMWARE/

 

[Shou Miko]

Just in case anyone missed the automerge above, I updated my ME scrubbed Taichi Firmware for 3.20. For me at least, my mod flashed with no tricks. YMMV, report if you can please. Available at http://glacialsoftware.net/FIRMWARE/

Nice I am gonna try this out in the weekend I think

*EDIT* Nice bios works so far my 8086k is back up running at 5ghz on all cores I just had to downgrade to P3.10 from my current P3.20 bios and then install your No ME bios

Thanks a lot R-T-B you are the Frog

 

[R-T-B]

Nice I am gonna try this out in the weekend I think

*EDIT* Nice bios works so far my 8086k is back up running at 5ghz on all cores I just had to downgrade to P3.10 from my current P3.20 bios and then install your No ME bios

Thanks a lot R-T-B you are the Frog

Thanks. You are actually the first user to report success, other than myself. Kudos.

 

[Shou Miko]

Thanks. You are actually the first user to report success, other than myself. Kudos.

Nice

 

[rugabunda]

Is it safe to assume this mod will work on the Z390 Taichi? Given it is future compatible with the i9 series, I will consider buying this board only if I can get rid of Intel ME with a simple flash.

 

[R-T-B]

Is it safe to assume this mod will work on the Z390 Taichi? Given it is future compatible with the i9 series, I will consider buying this board only if I can get rid of Intel ME with a simple flash.

I'd need to mod the z390 seperately. Different bios needs a different mod. That said it should not be impossible. I will look into it this week.

 

[Anomander43]

@R-T-B , I'm on 1.80 currently with my taichi z370. How do I proceed now? Upgrade to 3.10 using the official bios and then use yours Z37TC320_NOME?
Also is there an easy way to save my current bios settings or do I have to remember/write them down and then re-enter them?
And lastly, how likely is this bios upgrade to affect my current overclock (it's @5ghz though I guess that shouldn't matter)?
Thanks in advance!

 

[Shou Miko]

@R-T-B , I'm on 1.80 currently with my taichi z370. How do I proceed now? Upgrade to 3.10 using the official bios and then use yours Z37TC320_NOME?
Also is there an easy way to save my current bios settings or do I have to remember/write them down and then re-enter them?
And lastly, how likely is this bios upgrade to affect my current overclock (it's @5ghz though I guess that shouldn't matter)?
Thanks in advance!

You should be able to upgrade directly to @R-T-B's modded bios since you are on a older one, just put it on a USB stick and flash that's how I did it with previous bios updates from ASRock.

But to get @R-T-B's modded bios I had to flash back to bios P3.10 and then flash bios P3.20 but I was already running bios P3.20.

A question @Anomander43 why not flash bios P3.20? it contains cpu microcode updates and the ability to turn off red led for which bios is active when the system is running like the post LED does automatically which can also be changed in the bios.

 

[Anomander43]

@puma99dk| , so you mean to directly use R-T-B's 3.20 bios and don't go to 3.10?

Sorry, I didn't get that part, can you please clarify? Do you mean just upse the original Asrock 3.20?

A question @Anomander43 why not flash bios P3.20? it contains cpu microcode updates and the ability to turn off red led for which bios is active when the system is running like the post LED does automatically which can also be changed in the bios.

 

[Shou Miko]

@puma99dk| , so you mean to directly use R-T-B's 3.20 bios and don't go to 3.10?

Sorry, I didn't get that part, can you please clarify? Do you mean just upse the original Asrock 3.20?

I own a Z370 Taichi myself and for that reason I signed up at ASRock's own forum because I had some questions and things regarding a few issues I had when I got the board.

I am asking you @Anomander43 is there a specific reason you are asking about bios P3.10 and not going with newest bios P3.20?

Because in the beta bios P3.11 requested by Chingus on ASRock's forum they introduced "Add Dual Bios LED option" under Chipset configuration page in bios so you can turn the red led light off. Link: http://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=9430&PID=54960&title=z370-taichi#54960

This is still available in bios P3.20 which I found is awesome and useful plus this version got updated cpu microcodes from Intel for newer cpus.
Link: https://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z370 Taichi/index.asp#BIOS

 

[Anomander43]

I own a Z370 Taichi myself and for that reason I signed up at ASRock's own forum because I had some questions and things regarding a few issues I had when I got the board.

I am asking you @Anomander43 is there a specific reason you are asking about bios P3.10 and not going with newest bios P3.20?

Because in the beta bios P3.11 requested by Chingus on ASRock's forum they introduced "Add Dual Bios LED option" under Chipset configuration page in bios so you can turn the red led light off. Link: http://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=9430&PID=54960&title=z370-taichi#54960

This is still available in bios P3.20 which I found is awesome and useful plus this version got updated cpu microcodes from Intel for newer cpus.
Link: https://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z370 Taichi/index.asp#BIOS
View attachment 109253

Ah, no. I was asking about 3.10, because I wasn't sure if I can go from my 1.80 directly to R-T-B's 3.20. And after reading you did it successfully from 3.10, although you downgraded, it just sounded like something that's tested and working
I wasn't aiming for any specific features of 3.10, although doesn't every new version including all of the features of the previous ones, so I was just thinking of using 3.10 as a stepping stone for 3.20.
Thank you very much for the answers!

 

[Shou Miko]

Ah, no. I was asking about 3.10, because I wasn't sure if I can go from my 1.80 directly to R-T-B's 3.20. And after reading you did it successfully from 3.10, although you downgraded, it just sounded like something that's tested and working
I wasn't aiming for any specific features of 3.10, although doesn't every new version including all of the features of the previous ones, so I was just thinking of using 3.10 as a stepping stone for 3.20.
Thank you very much for the answers!

Your welcome, I just try to help and there shouldn't be a issue upgrade from 1.80 to P3.20 the company where I purchased my Z370 Taichi upgraded the bios on my board from P1.20 directly to P3.10 without any issues so u should be fine with P3.20.

Only thing you can't do is reflash the same bios it just doesn't flash it.

 

[Anomander43]

any advice on keeping bios settings or is there no easy way? or if it can affect the overclock potential?

 

[R-T-B]

any advice on keeping bios settings or is there no easy way? or if it can affect the overclock potential?

It will not affect OCing potential... it may even improve it since the coprocessor on the die is doing less.

In my experience settings just get reset unfortunately.

 

[Anomander43]

Okay, finally found time to do it. I'm on R-T-B's 3.20 now. Everything seems normal and stable. I re-entered my previous bios settings and saved the config to hard drive since it's a new option available in the UEFI. Might test changing previous bios settings to see if I can optimize and get any performance improvement from the new version.
Thanks @R-T-B for the work and for sharing it with us!

Has anyone uninstalled the KB4100347 now that the bios is patched? Some people say it improved performance if you uninstall it and that it's not needed with latest bios.

On a side note which is not that much related, but still - when my PC has to restart because for example when updating the bios or when I "save and exit" from the bios and has changed the settings, it just shuts down and I have to plug out my power supply cable, wait for 15-20sec and the plug it back and hit the power button. Any idea what could be causing this. This is ever since I build the setup, so about a year ago. Power supply is the Seasonic Prime Titanium 750w, board is as you know z370 taichi and CPU is 8700k @ 5ghz, although it acts the same regardless if it's clocked or not. RAM if it matters is g.skill trident z @4ghz.
So this behavior is a bit annoying when I want to test clock and stability which is one of the reasons I haven't exactly tested absolute best values, but have satisfied with something working and okish.

 

[R-T-B]

Power supply is the Seasonic Prime Titanium 750w,

Same PSU as me. That is odd indeed and I do not get that behavior. I know Seasonic warranty is good though if push comes to shove.

 

[Anomander43]

Yep, my setup is very similar to yours. Do you think you can share me your bios settings? I'm not that familiar with what option does what and looks like you know what your doing so may be I can optimize something when compare it to mine.

Btw, I spoke too soon. A game I am playing (Furi), I had capped at 150fps before and it was staying at that number for most of it and rarely dropping to 140ish. Now it can't get above 133-135 and usually stays in the 115-130 range. So seems like the bios update did impact my performance after all.

 

[Shou Miko]

Yep, my setup is very similar to yours. Do you think you can share me your bios settings? I'm not that familiar with what option does what and looks like you know what your doing so may be I can optimize something when compare it to mine.

Btw, I spoke too soon. A game I am playing (Furi), I had capped at 150fps before and it was staying at that number for most of it and rarely dropping to 140ish. Now it can't get above 133-135 and usually stays in the 115-130 range. So seems like the bios update did impact my performance after all.

I flashed this when I was playing Shadow of the Tomb Raider and I didn't experience any fps drops or anything maybe you got a update for the game or drivers update?

Uninstalling KB4100347 you can try but it will be integrated in next build or season update so you can't remove it.

 

[Anomander43]

Nah, all drivers and games are up to date. I've removed KB4100347, but it didn't make any difference so I installed it back.

 

[R-T-B]

Btw, I spoke too soon. A game I am playing (Furi), I had capped at 150fps before and it was staying at that number for most of it and rarely dropping to 140ish. Now it can't get above 133-135 and usually stays in the 115-130 range. So seems like the bios update did impact my performance after all.

Really? Interesting. First report I've had of it.

Should be completely revertable if need be, BTW.

My settings are a rather agressive voltage, but I'd be happy to exchange some key points. Basically I use the highest vdroop correction (forget what they call that) is what I find most helpful. ASrock's lower ones are way too conservative.

 

[R-T-B]

After investigating, you may find the bios update is more to blame than my changes.

You should be able to flash plain 3.20 to validate. The 3.20 update's microcode is known to favor security over perfotmance for Spectre bugs.

You should be able to flash between modded/normal 3.20 freely. 1.80 is the latest with no spectre changes...

 

[Anomander43]

Yes, I saw some people who have tested that 3.10 (example) and above are decreasing performance and that's why I asked before I took the upgrade, but I had in mind this could happen so I'm fine with it. I tested some more and it looks like the impact differs in different games, which is expected because there are so many factors nowadays which could affect performance. In some it's just barely noticable and in others it's more in the 17-20%, which isn't small. I think I'll go back to 1.80. Do you know if I can directly use yours "Z37TC180_NOME.zip 05-Sep-2018 01:04 11417930" ?
I'm thinking since everyone (Windows, Intel, AMD, Nvidia) released patches on one level or another for specter and meltdown, I might be fine with staying at bios 1.80. Not sure who'd like to attack me anyway.
I'll write an update when I go back to 1.80 just to confirm if performance is back to the previous state.

Still I would be very thankful if you find the time to check my bios settings which I sent you on personal. Of course no pressure here, whenever you have the time.
Thanks for taking the time to look into my problem and answering them!

 

[R-T-B]

Do you know if I can directly use yours "Z37TC180_NOME.zip 05-

Yes. You'll still need to avoid spectre related Windows updates though for full performance long term.

Sorry about taking so long with the PM. Been really crazy this week...