Altering "Whitelisted" RX 470/570 BIOS DeviceID to work on M81/91p Motherboard.

[EmTEK]

Hello all,

I recently came across like 50 Intel i5 Lenovo M81 desktop computers with IS6XM motherboards.

These systems allow for Nvidia 700, 900-series GPU upgrades however after doing some research and about a days work worth of diagnosing/re-configuring I find out that the new AMD RX series cards are white-listed blocked within the motherboard BIOS. Lucky me, I didn't know of this restriction when I purchased a small lot of RX 570's that I had planned to use on these systems to do some budget builds. I found a similar thread back in 2017 where a user needed a 270x BIOS deviceID altered to appear as a HD7000 series card (which is not whitelisted) to work on a M91P motherboard.

I've seen that the process isn't very difficult, and I understand the basis of it but I have zero expertise in such matters. I was looking to see if anyone would be able to assist me as my RX 570's are essentially paper weights at this point.
I can provide a BIOS ROM is someone offers to help.

Thanks in advance.

 

[eidairaman1]

Hello all,

I recently came across like 50 Intel i5 Lenovo M81 desktop computers with IS6XM motherboards.

These systems allow for Nvidia 700, 900-series GPU upgrades however after doing some research and about a days work worth of diagnosing/re-configuring I find out that the new AMD RX series cards are white-listed within the motherboard BIOS. Lucky me, I didn't know of this restriction when I purchased a small lot of RX 570's that I had planned to use on these systems to do some budget builds. I found a similar thread back in 2017 where a user needed a 270x BIOS deviceID altered to appear as a HD7000 series card (which is not whitelisted) to work on a M91P motherboard.

I've seen that the process isn't very difficult, and I understand the basis of it but I have zero expertise in such matters. I was looking to see if anyone would be able to assist me as my RX 570's are essentially paper weights at this point.
I can provide a BIOS ROM is someone offers to help.

Thanks in advance.

What bios version do you have on motherboard, the last 1 lenovo provided was from 2014 which is uefi.

https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/downloads/ds018245

This might help
https://www.bios-mods.com/forum/Forum-Bios-Mods-Forum

@MrGenius @R-T-B, perhaps a bios mod is due?

 

[EmTEK]

Thanks for the reply,

I flashed the BIOS to the recent 2014 update which was Ver. 9HKT58A to no avail. I’ve tried two motherboards in the hopes it was an isolated incident but it seems this issue plagues all bios versions.

 

[eidairaman1]

Thanks for the reply,

I flashed the BIOS to the recent 2014 update which was Ver. 9HKT58A to no avail. I’ve tried two motherboards in the hopes it was an isolated incident but it seems this issue plagues all bios versions.

Ok get in reach with bios-mods.com and ask for help in backing up your bios rom, modifying it to remove the gpu whitelist.

 

[Durvelle27]

Sell one of them

 

[Caring1]

Doesn't "whitelisted" mean it IS compatible?

 

[MrGenius]

I don't think there's anything I can do with this one. IIRC that only worked for the guy with the 270X because it was a rebrand of a HD 7870. So the drivers would still be compatible. When you install drivers for the card it checks what the Device ID is so it can install whatever bits it needs to for that card to work properly. It's not one size fits all. Meaning you can't just change the Device ID to whatever you want so it'll work on a particular motherboard. It has to also be pretty much the same card. So, unless an RX 470 is on the whitelist, there's not much hope of getting the Device ID swap trick to work like I did before.

Doesn't "whitelisted" mean it IS compatible?

Bingo!

 

[EmTEK]

It’s no big issue, as I have Dell Optiplex i7 systems that can take the cards with no issue. I just wanted to potentially offer a hotfix in the event a buyer wanted to add a RX series GPU. MrGenius I appreciate your input, and everything you just said makes complete sense. I’ll just have to notify buyers that the systems only work with older AMD gpus and most Nvidia cards.

 

[eidairaman1]

It’s no big issue, as I have Dell Optiplex i7 systems that can take the cards with no issue. I just wanted to potentially offer a hotfix in the event a buyer wanted to add a RX series GPU. MrGenius I appreciate your input, and everything you just said makes complete sense. I’ll just have to notify buyers that the systems only work with older AMD systems and Nvidia cards.

Sell the boards as nvidia only or junk them

 

[Regeneration]

Sounds like you are a part of a business. I suggest sending a legal threat to Lenovo.

https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/solutions/pd013522#cert

Demand a firmware update compatible with the listed "Industry Standards" and without vendor blacklist.

Claim that it crippled productivity in your organization and caused severe financial damages.

 

[EmTEK]

I own a Asset Recovery business that purchases decommissioned IT equipment. What works gets restored, resold. What doesn't, gets sold for parts. The gaming sector isn't a huge part of my business but I like having those options available if necessary because I do get those requests occasionally. I'll end up just pushing these as-is with advisory about AMD GPU compatibility and reserve the Optiplex systems for such needs. Somewhat disappointed with Lenovo for using such tactics.

 

[eidairaman1]

I own a Asset Recovery business that purchases decommissioned IT equipment. What works gets restored, resold. What doesn't, gets sold for parts. The gaming sector isn't a huge part of my business but I like having those options available if necessary because I do get those requests occasionally. I'll end up just pushing these as-is with advisory about AMD GPU compatibility and reserve the Optiplex systems for such needs. Somewhat disappointed with Lenovo for using such tactics.

Its more like nvidia paying these companies

 

[Durvelle27]

I own a Asset Recovery business that purchases decommissioned IT equipment. What works gets restored, resold. What doesn't, gets sold for parts. The gaming sector isn't a huge part of my business but I like having those options available if necessary because I do get those requests occasionally. I'll end up just pushing these as-is with advisory about AMD GPU compatibility and reserve the Optiplex systems for such needs. Somewhat disappointed with Lenovo for using such tactics.

Where do you sell the PCs

 

[EmTEK]

Large lots of 100+ sold on TradeLoop, PCexporters, Charter Schools, and local/regional trade partners that export/resale. Mismatched lots less than 100 in quantity get sold locally, ebay, or disassembled and sold off for parts.

 

[Durvelle27]

Large lots of 100+ sold on TradeLoop, PCexporters, Charter Schools, and local/regional trade partners that export/resale. Mismatched lots less than 100 in quantity get sold locally, ebay, or disassembled and sold off for parts.

I’ll keep my eye out

 

[eidairaman1]

@Mr.Scottanyway of modding these OEM bios files?

 

[Athem92]

Hello everyone,today i was able to boot up my lenovo m81(is6xm rev 1.0 mobo) with rx 470,i tried the gpu mod but it didnt worked,so i modified some settings in bios, you need two things:

1.the newest version of the bios https://support.lenovo.com/my/en/downloads/ds018245 (i used the exe version)

2. AMIBCP_455070_Patched

in the description you will find the program



-open the amipcb,click on file,open,locate the newest bios rom(usually is in C:\SWTOOLS)

-under Setup configuration go to advanced,pci subsystem settings change to user


- change the Pci bus driver version to User


-save the file

-update the bios with the tool downloaded from lenovo

-restart

-enter the bios,go to advanced it should automatically appear the pci subsystem setting

in this menu you will find the PCI Rom priority change to legacy


With this i was able to boot.

 

[Caring1]

Hello everyone,today i was able to boot up my lenovo m81(is6xm rev 1.0 mobo) with rx 470,i tried the gpu mod but it didnt worked,so i modified some settings in bios, you need two things:

1.the newest version of the bios https://support.lenovo.com/my/en/downloads/ds018245 (i used the exe version)

2. AMIBCP_455070_Patched https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YJatZk-icHeHVZS-aNt6cOJ9SgAmdbm7/

Your second link appears to have been cut short.

 

[Athem92]

I updated the link

 

[Cioho]

Hello everyone,today i was able to boot up my lenovo m81(is6xm rev 1.0 mobo) with rx 470,i tried the gpu mod but it didnt worked,so i modified some settings in bios, you need two things:

1.the newest version of the bios https://support.lenovo.com/my/en/downloads/ds018245 (i used the exe version)

2. AMIBCP_455070_Patched

in the description you will find the program



-open the amipcb,click on file,open,locate the newest bios rom(usually is in C:\SWTOOLS)

-under Setup configuration go to advanced,pci subsystem settings change to user
View attachment 169469

- change the Pci bus driver version to User
View attachment 169470

-save the file

-update the bios with the tool downloaded from lenovo

-restart

-enter the bios,go to advanced it should automatically appear the pci subsystem setting
View attachment 169468
in this menu you will find the PCI Rom priority change to legacy
View attachment 169467

With this i was able to boot.

View attachment 169471

I had the same issue,trying to run rx r470 with a lenovo thinkcentre m71e this time arround, i used the same tool you used but instead of modifying the gpu deviceid i disabled from mobo BIOS non-compliance devices all togheter. I set north bridge to user then set disable non-compliance devices to user and disabled for both failsafe and optimal

 

[Speedcat5]

Hi @Cioho and @Athem92. Thank you for your posts, I was so hopeful when I found this thread. Unfortunately I tried both suggestions but I could not get either to work. I am trying to get a Sapphire RX 570 4g to work on my M91p. The steps looked to work fine in that I mod the BIOS settings and flash, and they appear set as desired in the BIOS screen, its just that it doesn't work. Could there be an additional step or something else you may have done to get it working? I tried both your suggestions separately and together. My card has been plugged in the whole time in addition to being powered by a 6 pin PCIE connector. The light on the card comes up with or without the 6 pin pcie connector so I know it is getting power from the board at least. I also boot into Windows to check the device manager but it does not pick up in there either. I am also on the latest BIOS version. Any suggestions? Thank you!

 

[Cioho]

@Speedcat5 what I noticed later on my testing, i didn't pay that much importance when writing the previous comment, is that when i tried to come back to the original rx470 bios, from a bios with the deviceid changed, even thought i had "Detect Non-Compliance Devices" disabled, the card wasn't being picked up by the board, so for my case the combination was modifying the bios deviceid with a 7870 and having "Detect Non-Compliance Devices" disabled. This is the 7870 deviceid 0x6818. For this one you will have to run atiwinflash in cmd mode with -f -p 0 "bios name".rom. If that is not working either i would sugest downgrading your card to a rx470 and try again with deviceid mod. Always do back-ups of your original BIOS. Hope this helps!

 

[Speedcat5]

@Cioho thank you for the quick response! Unfortunately, I don't have a PC which can run the card to be able to change the GPU bios deviceID. I did however discover that I may not have been sufficiently powering the card. When purchased second hand, I was advised to run it either off the 6 pin or 8 pin (I ran it off the 6pin) but reading elsewhere it looks like I need to run it at least off the 8pin. I am purchasing an 8 pin PSU adapter to see if that helps. Otherwise, I was also using the Aus BIOS (being in Australia) not the USA bios, not sure if that matters but ill give the USA BIOS a go if the 8 pin doesn't work. Failing that, I found someone who sells second-hand mobos for cheap. Thanks heaps for the advice though, if I happen to come across someones PC I can use to flash the GPU bios, ill be sure to try that! Ill also update this thread if I have any luck with the current mobo.

 

[Speedcat5]

@Cioho I got the 8 pin power adapter but it still did not work having it set to "Detect Non-Compliance Devices" disabled. However, after setting PCI Rom priority to legacy, as suggested by @Athem92 it worked! Stick that in ya pipe, Lenovo (GPU whitelist, really?) So happy I didn't need to mod the graphics card or more importantly, buy a different mobo! Its been a long time since I've tinkered like this and its nice to see there is still a strong community of supportive modders thought I'd also share this pic...can only fit a low profile card into an M91P...Not if my hack saw has anything to say about it!

Thanks again everyone for the help.

 

[charlesesteban]

Hello everyone,today i was able to boot up my lenovo m81(is6xm rev 1.0 mobo) with rx 470,i tried the gpu mod but it didnt worked,so i modified some settings in bios, you need two things:

1.the newest version of the bios https://support.lenovo.com/my/en/downloads/ds018245 (i used the exe version)

2. AMIBCP_455070_Patched

in the description you will find the program



-open the amipcb,click on file,open,locate the newest bios rom(usually is in C:\SWTOOLS)

-under Setup configuration go to advanced,pci subsystem settings change to user
View attachment 169469

- change the Pci bus driver version to User
View attachment 169470

-save the file

-update the bios with the tool downloaded from lenovo

-restart

-enter the bios,go to advanced it should automatically appear the pci subsystem setting
View attachment 169468
in this menu you will find the PCI Rom priority change to legacy
View attachment 169467

With this i was able to boot.

View attachment 169471

Thanks man! It worked and saved me a lot of trouble for my gf's christmas present. Bless