Guide: Running CoffeeLake/Refresh CPUs on Sky\KabyLake motherboards.

[mrgto87]

I've a problem with my Z270x-Designare.

 

I've isolate all pins, but both with connected pins and without MB don't start.

 

Red led on CPU led and power off.

 

Where i'm in error?

 

i've flash mod bios with AMI tools and it seems to be good
my motherboard has 2 bios 

i need to flash both of them?

[bigkkid72]

Hey guys, just wanted to say thanks to everyone that has done work on this project and wanted to share my success story.
Took the punt and went with a i9-9900KF in my ROG Maximus VIII Gene motherboard.
Did the SKTOCC mod to the motherboard so that I didn't have to put copper tape on the bottom of my chip and tested the socket pins to find I didn't have to do any pin isolations. So with the socket occupied mod done on the board, it was a case of mod the bios and drop the chip in. Got a lovely stable 5.1Ghz all core OC with minimal fuss. Stoked with the results! Rather large step up from the 6700K that I was running.
 

Spoiler

 

[honeyz]

(cross-posting from the win-raid forums)

Hi all,

 

I'm trying to modify my MSI Z170A gaming pro M7 to run with an i9 9900KS. I don't yet have the new CPU in hand; I'm just trying to flash modified BIOS. I've used coffee time 0.99 to modify the latest BIOS (7976v1L). Using the GUI I changed the Intel ME version from 11.8.50.3399 (Enabled) to 11.8.77.3364 (Disabled). All other fields were set so that they'd display as green.

 

First I tried flashing with the motherboard's flashback utility (a feature similar to that on ASUS boards). Everything seemed to boot okay, but the BIOS interface still displays the ME version as 11.8.50.3399. I tried again using FPT with the same result.

 

Is checking the ME version a valid way to determine whether the BIOS mod was successful? Is there another way besides testing the new CPU?

 

If I've missed a step or done something wrong, please let me know. Thanks a lot.
 

[honeyz]

Spoiler

On 3/26/2022 at 8:44 PM, honeyz said:

(cross-posting from the win-raid forums)

Hi all,

 

I'm trying to modify my MSI Z170A gaming pro M7 to run with an i9 9900KS. I don't yet have the new CPU in hand; I'm just trying to flash modified BIOS. I've used coffee time 0.99 to modify the latest BIOS (7976v1L). Using the GUI I changed the Intel ME version from 11.8.50.3399 (Enabled) to 11.8.77.3364 (Disabled). All other fields were set so that they'd display as green.

 

First I tried flashing with the motherboard's flashback utility (a feature similar to that on ASUS boards). Everything seemed to boot okay, but the BIOS interface still displays the ME version as 11.8.50.3399. I tried again using FPT with the same result.

 

Is checking the ME version a valid way to determine whether the BIOS mod was successful? Is there another way besides testing the new CPU?

 

If I've missed a step or done something wrong, please let me know. Thanks a lot.
 

 

Update: I think I must have been re-flashing the original manufacturer BIOS via the motherboard USB flashback. I de-soldered the BIOS chip (it is in fact the MX25L12873F near the flashback button) and soldered on a replacement that I had flashed with the modified BIOS out-of-circuit. The system wouldn't boot at first, but after some debugging it turned out I just needed to re-seat the RAM. I now have a Z170 mobo working with an i9-9900KS and plan to upgrade to 128GB RAM.

[1van]

@honeyz MSI does not require using a programmer to flash the BIOS, it can be done via FPT, or via flashback. I'm writing it for any other MSI owners who might think that soldering will be necessary (no, it is not).

 

9900KS does not require disabling the ME, you just selected wrong version (it has to be 11.7.0.xx) the one that you've used is too new, and won't work if you enable it.

[see you next friday]

I wish to mod my Gigabyte H110 D3A Rev. 1.0 without modding the CPU. I instead wish to short the socket occupied pin but I am unable to find it on the ITE IT8628E SuperIO. Am I looking in the completely wrong place? Has anyone had any luck with this?

[hackalova]

Hello all,

I'm trying to make an intel i7 9700 (non-k non-f R0) work on an Asus z170 Pro Gaming Aura. Previous CPU was Intel i5 6600K. I've been on it for more than two days now.

 

Bios flashing has been easy, chip (GD25B128CPIG) is not soldered, I flashed it using Raspberry SPI interface and flashrom software.

Pinmod has been made by soldering Nuvoton NCT6793D SKT_OCC pin to ground, and isolation of 2 cpu pins has been done.

 

Modded bios can boot i5 6600K, but when trying 9700, I only get cpu fan, then ONE red CPU_LED flash then immediate shutdown.

Before pinmod there was no start at all, so I assume it is playing its role.

I've tried multiple combinations of ME versions + "Activated/Deactivated" option from CoffeeTime, but no change.

@GeorgettaCZ & @mrgto87 have reported similar issue. Has anyone found a solution ?

Thanks a lot

 

 

[1van]

@hackalova Hello. I suggest you check if that i7-9700 works on another board first, than check the CPU insulation again, and check the BIOS mod too, again according to the guide. Did you add the necessary microcodes? No need to disable the ME for the 9700, but you have to use the correct version. It's been a long time since I did these mods, so refer to the guide.

[hackalova]

On 11/13/2022 at 7:48 AM, 1van said:

@hackalova Hello. I suggest you check if that i7-9700 works on another board first, than check the CPU insulation again, and check the BIOS mod too, again according to the guide. Did you add the necessary microcodes? No need to disable the ME for the 9700, but you have to use the correct version. It's been a long time since I did these mods, so refer to the guide.

Hello, thank you for your answer! (sorry I just saw it)
I got it to work, and I'm not sure how. Given the time I already had spent, I rebuilt the PC as soon as it started working and did not conduct further testing.

To be honest, I got into this adventure because I did not notice the CPU was not compatible with the chipset. I had only checked the socket (LGA1151).
During this journey I was a bit worried by 2 things :

• CPU was second hand and cheap, I had no MB to test it. So no idea if it was working or not.
• I never saw my motherboard, Asus z170 Pro Gaming Aura, in the post relating a successful mod.

So here is the configuration I used, hoping it benefits other owner of this board.

DISCLAIMER : I think this config can be improved, to enable more things. But since I had what was needed to 

• As you can see I disabled Intel ME. Because first time CPU worked, windows was not bootable, I got following error :

Quote

(A7) Me FW Downgrade 0001 Request MeSpiLock Failed

B1InitializeLibrary failed 0xc0000001

• I also booted with old cpu/old bios chip and uninstalled IntelME in windows. I think it was the cause for the error
• I left only the 1 microcode needed
• No 128Gb of ram, etc...

I'm not saying you HAVE to use this config, but it is the one that worked for me.

Thank you again to the community for the help in the journey.

[agentlupus]

Hi, 
I have a MSI B150M Mortar Motherboard (as name suggests with B150 chipset, this motherboard has a C236 equivalent which looks same)
I'd like to run Xeon E3-1240v5 on it (yes I have ext gpu as this processor does not have iGPU).
I was able to successfully dump whole FW, imetool shows that ME area is r/w access. 
I read somewhere about successful Xeon run with this chipset with disabling only ME.

I mainly want to run Xeon as I can get one much much cheaper than i7-6700/i7-7700.

I do not see SPI interface on this board nor flashback support, so
EDIT: I found JSPI1 by the battery
I'd like to ask for advice before modding/flashing:

• IME version for consumer B150 board in newest BIOS release is 11.8.50.3399 corporate, whilst in C236 version is same, but consumer.
  Below image for my B150 board
  Spoiler

  

  
  And below for C236 version:
  Spoiler

  

  
  
  As I can see the microcodes are same, the IME version differs (and chipset but AFAIK series 100/C230 should work same?)
• Which IME version should I use to run mentioned Xeon on this board? Is 11.0.0.1168 Consumer Full best one? Or should it be other version? OFC I know that I should set ME to disabled too, but I'm unsure about version.
• Has anybody flashed this motherboard with an ext programmer? 

Regards,
Karol

[1van]

@hackalova pls put images under spoiler (eye icon). Btw I'd try to unlock "FD locks" and see if it'll avoid the boot message that you were getting. I'm 100% sure that i7-9700 does not require disabling the ME, so the culprit is somewhere else.

 

@agentlupus pls put images under spoiler (eye icon).

Xeon E3-1240v5 is Skylake so you'll only need to disable the ME (people say the version did not matter) and probably apply the "MSI Abnormal ME warning" fix in the "Extras" tab. As for the flashing, MSI boards do not require a programmer, flashing it via AFU software will work, see item 5.5 of the guide.

 

However if the modded BIOS fails you could still need a JSPI programmer to "unbrick" the board. The JSPI pinout for MSI is shown in the guide as well (item 5.6 of the guide). I haven't used such Xeon CPUs myself and I won't be able to check the BIOS for you.

 

[agentlupus]

@1van Thanks. I just wanted to make sure as there is not much information on the Internet about running Xeons on B150 chip.
Edited post to hide images.
I've maganed to successfully flash image with disabled ME and disabled warning. It flashed flawlessly via fptw64 and board booted. I had programmer  recommended in the guide as a backup.
Installed this E3-1240v5 Xeon and it booted. So far works nicely with all installed systems (w10/hackintosh/linux).
So simply disabling ME did the trick on the newest BIOS for this mobo.
Did this due to used E3-1240v5 costs about 40% price of used i7-6700. 
Images to prove:

Spoiler

Spoiler

Thank you again.
Regards, 
Karol

[JeKnYan]

Strix H270F Gaming. Board works fine with a 6600K, but when a B0 CPU (9100T) installed, board lights up, meaning it recognises a CPU is in the socket.

However when i turn it on, the CPU fan spins for a second then turns off.

Cannot get a POST.

BIOS has been flashed fine, correct ME and microcodes.

B0 doesnt need a pinmod, wanted to test this out as I have parts to tinker with

What am I doing wrong? any help would be appreciated

[bastige]

On 12/16/2020 at 6:43 PM, Orof said:

Hello dear forum members!

It has been a long time (6.5 years) since I installed Xeon processors on the LGA771 boards that work to this day.

Today I upgraded the 6700K I had so far to the 9900K on the Z170 board (which is not officially supported). 

 

Note that there are some updates (due to the update of CoffeTime software to version 0.92) and additional distinctions that I discovered during the attempts to install the processor. Each motherboard requires a different installation, but for the sake of clarification to the guide here I will mention the highlights for Gigabyte boards

1. First download the BIOS files and the Coffetime 0.92 software as shown in the manual, along with the FlashProgrammingTool (FPT) software. Place them in folders on drive C.

2. Prepare the BIOS using the software with administrator privileges, as shown in the following image:

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Note that both the ME and the VBIOS + GOP must be updated so that they can work with the processors (as well as the appropriate microcodes, and make sure it is saved!). In the EXTRA label I added a memory expansion to 128 GB. Also important - in MAC1 add the MAC address of your Intel network card and keep the number for yourself (can be found in the network card properties)

3. If your operating system is installed on NVMe, and the NVME is in MBR format and not GPT - you will need to convert it to GPT before executing the mode, using RECOVERY mode with MBR2GPT command:

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3. Excellent, you have the BIOS, the SSD drive in the appropriate format and you are ready to flash the bios. Before that please make sure you have a backup BIOS (before flashing) on an flash disk if you need to back up to the previous BIOS (as I did). Now comes the step of using FPT to flash the BIOS (in other boards the way may be different, like using Programmer). It is important not to disconnect the computer from the power supply at this stage otherwise the BIOS will be Corrupted. Once the flash is complete, you are ready to install the CPU.

Shut down the computer via FPT only using the fptw64 -greset command, and before the computer turns on after the restart turn it off and do not let it turn on. Disconnect it from the power supply and remove the battery.

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5. Before installing the CPU, you will need to cover some of its pins according to the board (Gigabyte covers the most), and connect some of them (depending on the board):

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Here is the mod I made using stickers from  kind seller of Aliexpress who also brought tweezers:

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6. Install the processor on the board. Put the cooler on for a moment and make sure the board goes up (if you can, I used the board's number bulbs to make sure it goes up) before you put everything together (if it does not go up you may not have flashed/customizes the BIOS properly, or you may not have put the microcodes properly). If it comes up, turn it off and reassemble the computer.

7. Make sure the cooler is seated properly and turn on the computer, enter the BIOS

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8. Great, you're almost done! In my case the CPU was at too high a voltage (1.4VCORE) which put a load on the VRM and they also crash. This is of course not normal and the VCORE should be lower. In the BIOS use Adaptive Vcore and download at least 0.07-0.1V (in my case, play with it to see that the CPU does not get too much voltage) and check the stability. Monitor the temperature of the VRM and CPU using HWinfo. my board VRM temps do not exceed 70c under full load, the the CPU is cool as well.

9. Congratulations!

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PS - My old Mugen 2 (which still cooled the Q9300) cools this processor well (better than 6700K! Thanks to the fact that the processor is soldered to IHS as opposed to 6700K) and is silent. I get higher and more stable frames with the computer, my brother can encode movies at 2x higher speed, and I can be with a quiet mind for a few more years until I have to upgrade. The computer is stable after I have fixed the voltages. Was very enjoyable and worth it! Just make sure you have a board with VRM good enough for that and be prepared for the complexity of the process.

Too bad Intel did not let us just install the CPU in a normal way (because as you can see, it works great), but for that there is Modding

I would be happy to assist with any question / request!

Regards,

Or Cohen

 

Hi, for step #3, can you (or anyone) confirm why an MBR partition wouldn't work, is it just Gigabyte specific?  Would an MBR continue to work with an i9- 9900K and ASUS Maximum Formula IX?

[bastige]

Crazy question:  Trying to get 9900KS running on ASUS Maximus Formula IX  (Z270  M9F).     Is it ok to leave the consumer ME and leave Intel ME enabled in Coffetime?  Or is it necessary to disable ME?

[bastige]

So answered my own questions: No need to convert MBR to GPT on NVME boot disk for using i9 CPU at least in an M9F.

 

ME can be left enabled for 9900KS on M9F (consumer version)

 

Everything worked except posting takes long, and Internal GPU isn't working it seems. (despite updating the necessary sections in CT 0.99)

All done with Flashback, just made sure to first FB the latest BIOS normally  (M9F.cap)  then later did the BIOS chip pin mod, and FB with creative.rom made with CT 0.99.  Great, as the chinesium CH341A v1.7 programmer i have is DOA, so happy that it wasn't required in the end.