$250 BOUNTY: Intel Compute Stick BIOS mod needed

[ssybesma]

Does the video show the device taken apart with heatsink removed?  Ohh, image, thanks!

Yes, that is SOIC8 BIOS, you'll need CH341A ($2.60 on ebay) + SOIC8 Test clip cable ($3.50 on ebay)
Or, you can find these similar at other places like Newegg and Amazon etc that may be closer to you or ship faster for more $$

I did notice in some cases Intel used Winbond CMOS and some others I could not identify the brand.


So there are slight differences among them but I wouldn't expect anything major.

Alright, well if nobody else offers me to ship this to them to do it, then I'll get those and some plastic pry tools to crack one of these open.

If the clip fits snugly over the 4 legs on each side of the CMOS, I can run the software to dump the BIOS.

I hope you don't mind me asking but those are kinda cheap...I am not short on cash or brains, but if I had my druthers I'd get a better quality setup.

If money weren't much of an object, which BIOS dumping/programming kit would you get that includes everything?

Steve

[DeathBringer]

Are you sure that you need to modify this BIOS?
Did you tried to solve your problem by other methods?

[ssybesma]

Are you sure that you need to modify this BIOS?

Hello Deathbringer,

Yes, because on the Intel Compute Sticks, there is no provision in the BIOS menu for Legacy BIOS/CSM.

They're all locked down on UEFI.  Hence, came my idea...

The first generation of those was particularly poor on resources (8GB eMMC storage and 1GB RAM) and naturally flopped in the marketplace because they stuck Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 64-bit on there, which basically sucked up all the storage space once you ran Ubuntu updates. I started getting low disk space errors within two hours of powering it on.

Made it very unusable.  Because of this problem, Intel had many thousands of these unsold and it's easy to find them still in shrink wrap.

However, I bought mine knowing what I was getting into...they're only $30 a piece with free shipping from the guy on Ebay.

The original idea I had for these was to put a smaller version of Linux on a bunch of these and use them to search for Mersenne Primes, which I will be doing regardless.  Last night I got Trisquel Mini on the first one I opened and it's running great..much slimmer than what was on there and it's searching for Mersenne Primes as we speak. I got a few apps I like to use on there and I'm happy with it.

Along the way I thought "Geez, if I could have a Legacy BIOS on these, I could run an older version of Windows or DOS and have plenty of resources for apps and games that I still have from back in the day.  Would make a perfect vehicle to run a much less resource intensive OS.


Anyhow...I'm happy to pay someone who can see if a CSM can be unlocked or perhaps a module added to it if it's missing.

I looked at the *.BIO file I downloaded from Intel using UEFITool and legacy appears in quite a few places.

As I understand it, you cannot directly work with a *.BIO file, so the BIOS has to be dumped with a kit that involves putting a clip over the CMOS leads.

I guess doing that gives you the raw ROM/CAP(sule) files that you can work with.

I might try to do the dump myself, but would rather have someone else who has done it many times.

These sticks are so cheap I can just ship one to someone and not really care what happens to it, long as I get a BIOS back that has Legacy Boot.

Steve Sybesma

[DeathBringer]

1. Take USB stick and format to FAT32
2. Create directory structure EFI\Boot
3. Download and unzip bootx64.7z
4. Put BOOTX64.EFI to Boot directory.
5. Boot from this USB stick
6. Run command: setup_var 0x0
7. Make and post a photo of the screen.

[ssybesma]

OK, thanks...

I already have a stick setup with the 64-bit EFI shell.

I created that so I could see what the Intel Integrator Toolkit app did.

The internal EFI shell in this thing is only 32-bit and could not run that Toolkit app from Intel.

I'll run the command next time I bring this down and send you the picture.

I guess I have to upload to Imgur and give you a link...usually get scolded trying to post pictures.

Steve

[ssybesma]

The photo attached was under the 500kB limit.

Had to use flash because without it all the text was blurred.

Let me know what the result means and what to do next.

Thanks!

Steve

[DeathBringer]

So you can boot from any 64-bit UEFI bootable device.
And you can install Windows 7 64 bit.

[ssybesma]

So you can boot from any 64-bit UEFI bootable device.
And you can install Windows 7 64 bit.

Sure, but that's not Legacy Boot though.

I was hoping to install Windows XP, or Windows 98 SE even better since that contains DOS.

I have a ton of old games and apps which I still enjoy every now and then that won't run under Windows 7.

You can think of what I'm trying to do is rescue the platform to play those games and use those apps on.

Starting next year, Intel has completely abandoned Legacy BIOS.

Nobody will make machines which have that in them.

Sure there are free VM clients like VirtualBox and VMware Workstation Player, there's DOSBox, etc... but it's just not the same.

Steve

[DeathBringer]

OK. You try to disable UEFI Boot:
setup_var 0xC9 0x0

[ssybesma]

OK. You try to disable UEFI Boot:
setup_var 0xC9 0x0

Well if I do that, what is left to replace it?

I think I should try to enable something so that I don't have a bricked machine that won't boot to anything.

Granted, these are nearly expendible at $30 apiece, but still.

Do you see what I mean?

The Intel Compute Sticks either don't have the CSM module or else if they do have it, it's disabled/hidden.

So what would the command be to re-enable the CSM?

If that's do-able, you're a hero!!!

You know a lot more than I do in general about this subject.

Just that I've been tinkering with this particular device a lot the past week and have learned some about them.

The latest BIOS *.BIO file for what it's worth is here:

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/downloa...duct=86613

You can look at it with UEFITool and see the word Legacy appears all over the place, but not sure if that's anything meaningful.

I don't so much want to disable UEFI just yet until I can prove I can enable Legacy BIOS.

Steve