Razer BIOS Mods - Potential to Unlock All Hidden Options

Before we begin, a few important points.

In this guide I will specifically instruct how to enable Memory overclocking in the Razer Blade BIOS. These methods, however, are easily adapted to enable any hidden or grayed out options in the BIOS menu.

***Standard disclaimer***
Everything presented below is for informational purposes only. Carrying out any of these modifications to your computer likely has implications regarding the status and validity of your warranty. Making mistakes in your BIOS could potentially leave your device in an unusable and irreparable state (bricked). Neither I nor anyone else, other than yourself, is responsible for damages to your device. If you are uneasy or uncertain about any of the information, feel free to ask the community, and don't proceed until you have a thorough answer.

Some of the described changes can lead to extra heat which may lead to damage to your equipment, proceed with caution.

***Credit where credit is due***

Spoiler

None of the following modifications were originally conceived of, found by, or initially described by me. They are just a culmination of things I found in these forums or from googling. I will provide links to original information I used. Due to the overlapping nature of this thread and the details of those threads, some instructions will be worded similarly. I mean no disrespect by repeating other people's efforts below, just trying to provide the clarity they did in their original posts.

@David Kirchik post http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...f-your-razer-blade-w-no-pl-throttling.827919/ is a great place to start for getting the best from your Razer Blade CPU.

Those changes are a great start, but they don't quite go far enough for getting memory overclocking up and running. For that, we need to get deeper into the BIOS and change some settings via hex editing.

@NeuAscension pointed me toward this site https://lukegb.com/posts/2016-11-11-secure-boot-shenanigans/ that talks about enabling hidden BIOS options that cannot be turned on via AMIBCP

@hackness provides a couple of great tutorials for optimizing your BIOS and windows 10 settings. This thread http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...trol-of-the-i7-8750h-advanced-version.823065/ has a lot of optimization settings for the 8750h, which can still be applicable to the 9750h, but of particular use is this post about memory overclocking http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...advanced-version.823065/page-13#post-10898033

***And this is where we begin***
Have your AC adapter plugged in at all times
Do not proceed if you do not have the appropriate drivers to open your laptop. A bad MemOC may require pulling the CMOS battery to reset.

Software needed

Spoiler

1. AMIBCP (you will need to find for yourself)
2. AfuWinGuix64 5.x or higher (you will need to find for yourself)
3. EUFITool 0.21.5
4. Universal IFR Extractor
5. A hex editor. I used an online version at https://hexed.it/?hl=en

BIOS Extraction and Initial Modification

Spoiler

1. Open AFUWINGUIx64
2. Select "Save" and name your rom
3. Make a copy of the exported rom, naming it "Original_BIOS.rom". Do not Make changes to this file, this is your failsafe if you need to revert back to the original
4. Open AMIBCP
5. Select File>Open, select your BIOS.rom image
6. In the left pane, select Setup>Advanced
7. In the right pane, change "Access/Use" Column to "User" for "OverClocking Perfomance Menu"
8. In the left pane, select Setup>Advanced>OverClocking Performance
9. In the right pane, change "Access/Use" Column to "User" for:

• OverClocking Performance Menu
• OverClocking Feature
• Uncore
• Memory

10. In the left pane, select Setup>Advanced>OverClocking Performance>Memory Overclocking
11. In the right pane, change "Access/Use" to "User" for all options
12. Save the modified BIOS as "Modified_BIOS.rom"


At this point, if you were to flash the BIOS, you should have access to the "OverClocking Performance" menu and "Memory Overclocking" within that option. You would not, however be able to set a custom profile therein.

Within here, you can try setting any setting you are interested in having access to to "User" and see what it does. Any that do not work can be enable in the next steps.

BIOS Binary Extraction and Interrogation

Spoiler

1. Open UEFITool
2. Select File>Open Image File
3. Select Modified_BIOS.rom
4. Select File>Search>Text Tab
5. Search for "Memory Overclocking" with unicode checked
6. In the bottom "messages box" you should see something like "Unicode test "key management' found in PE32 image..."
7. Double click this line
8. Right click the binary and select "Extract Body" and save it as "MenuBinary"
9. Open Universal IFR Extractor
10. Point it to MenuBinary.bin and select extract
11. You will not have a text file called "MenuBinary IFR.txt", open this

This text file is only a readout of the hex file so that we can interpret it. Making changes here will do nothing.

This text file contains the full outline of the BIOS menu system. Within it, you will find lines such as:

0x308C5 Form: Main, Form ID: 0x2711 {01 86 11 27 09 00}
0x308CB Suppress If: {0A 82}
0x308CD Variable 0xD39 equals 0x0 {12 06 39 0D 00 00}
0x308D3 Text: Access Level {03 08 17 00 02 00 18 00}
0x308DB End If {29 02}
0x308DD Suppress If: {0A 82}
0x308DF Variable 0xD39 equals 0x1 {12 06 39 0D 01 00}
0x308E5 Text: Access Level {03 08 17 00 02 00 19 00}
0x308ED End If {29 02}​

The left is the location within the binary, then an interpretation of the line, and the hex code for that entire line in { }.

From here we can find the information that we want to get access to options that we cannot otherwise turn on. Of note in my example, lines 0x308CB - 0X308DB say that if Variable 0xD39 equals 0x0 don't show (Suppress) the access level data. Lines 0x308DD - 0x308ED say that if Variable 0xD39 equals 0x1, don't show the access level data. When you boot into your BIOS menu, you are logged in as Administrator (on Razer Blade 15, at least) and 0x308CD is true, so suppressed. Line 0x308DF is false, and thus "Access level" is shown. The MenuBinary.bin is full of these checks, and forcing the outcomes from True to False will let them show.

You can easily spend hours making changes to this binary to get every option available, and if you want to do that, great, but here I will only give you one example so that we can enable custom profiles in the "Memory Overclocking" menu.

BIOS Binary Modification

Spoiler

1. Search your "MenuBinary IFR.txt" for "Memory overclocking"
2. Inspect the following lines to find where Custom, XMP profile 1, and XMP profile 2 are being suppressed.

Here is mine:

0x390ED Setting: Memory profile, Variable: 0xA53 {05 91 3F 14 40 14 84 27 01 00 53 0A 14 10 00 03 00}
0x390FE Option: Default profile, Value: 0x0 {09 07 41 14 30 00 00}
0x39105 Suppress If: {0A 82}
0x39107 Variable 0x3FD equals 0x0 {12 06 FD 03 00 00}
0x3910D Option: Custom profile, Value: 0x1 {09 07 44 14 00 00 01}
0x39114 End If {29 02}
0x39116 Suppress If: {0A 82}
0x39118 Variable 0xE11 equals 0x0 {12 06 11 0E 00 00}
0x3911E Option: XMP profile 1, Value: 0x2 {09 07 42 14 00 00 02}
0x39125 End If {29 02}
0x39127 Suppress If: {0A 82}
0x39129 Variable 0xE11 equals 0x0 {12 86 11 0E 00 00}
0x3912F Variable 0xE11 equals 0x1 {12 06 11 0E 01 00}
0x39135 Or {16 02}
0x39137 End {29 02}
0x39139 Option: XMP profile 2, Value: 0x3 {09 07 43 14 00 00 03}
0x39140 End If {29 02}
0x39142 End of Options {29 02}​

3. Here we have 3 lines where our options are being suppressed
4. In your favorite hex editor (I will be using an online version at https://hexed.it/?hl=en) open MenuBinary.bin
5. Navigate to the lines where the first variable is checked (in my case 0x39107). Double check that the hex at that line matches what is shown in your text file (in my case 12 06 FD 03 00 00).
6. Change the check from 0x0 to 0xF (in my case "12 06 FD 03 00 00" to "12 06 FD 03 FF 00")
7. Repeat this for each of the remaining checks
8. Export your modified binary as "MenuBinary_Mod.bin"
9. Return to UEFITool where you have the Modified_BIOS.rom open
10. Right click the binary location where "key management" was found and select "Replace Body"
11. Replace with MenuBinary_Mod.bin
12. Save the new rom as "Final_BIOS.rom"

We now have your original BIOS in which we have enabled the ability to view the overclocking menus by setting them as User access and enabled the ability to select custom and xmp profiles there within.

Moving a hidden menu to your main screen

Spoiler

The Razer Blade 2018 (and probably some other versions) don't have the "Overclocking and Performance" menu under the "Advanced" header, and there is no easy way to turn it on. So lets just make a new link to it in the main menu.

1. Open UEFITool
2. Select File>Open Image File
3. Select Modified_BIOS.rom/Final_BIOS.rom
4. We need to find the section titled "AMITSE"
Mine is under these sections:

and here is the section:

5. RIght click the PE32 image under AMITSE
6 Select "Export As Is"
7. Save as "AMITSE"
8 . Open AMITSE.sct in your favorite hex editor
9. Refer back to your "MenuBinary IFR.txt" file. We are looking for the highlighted section. Yours is likely the same as mine. Copy this portion of your text

10. in Your hex editor, search for this hex code in AMITSE.sct
11. You should find several references, the first one is unrelated, we are looking for the block with several in a row. As such:

This block of six references creates our main screen menu options in the BIOS. The next 4 numbers reference back to our MenuBinary IFR.txt to determine what to displayed. In my case, the first is 11 27, and if we search MenuBinary IFR.txt for "2711" we find "0x308C9 Form: Main, Form ID: 0x2711 {01 86 11 27 09 00}"

If we are lucky, such as I am, we have some empty space immediately following our last entry

12. In MenuBinaryIFR.txt find the form id for overclocking performance menu. In my case, it is 0x2794
13. In your hex editor, in the empty space following the last entry, type the meny entry exactly as the previous one, but this time the next 4 numbers will point to overclocking form id (in reverse, such that my form id - 2794 becomes 94 27)

14. Save this as AMITSE_MOD.sct
15. In UEFITool, right click the AMITSE PE32 and select "Replace as is"
16. Replace with AMITSE_MOD.sct
17. Save you modified rom.

IF YOU DO NOT HAVE EMPTY SPACE AFTER THE LAST ENTRY
Decide which menu item you like the least (likely security) and change that reference to your overclocking.

Flashing Modified BIOS

Spoiler

1. Open AFUWINGUIx64
2. Select Open and open Final_BIOS.rom
3. This should open your rom in the Setup tab and only have Main BIOS Image checked. No other options should be selected.
4. Click Flash

Congrats, you now have a modified BIOS in which you can set custom memory profiles.

Overclocking RAM

Spoiler

I refer you to this link from @hackness http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...advanced-version.823065/page-13#post-10898033

Please take caution if you decide to try any of this, you could seriously brick your expensive computer with no means of recourse.

Results of my Memory Overclocking

Spoiler

I've got my memory OC'd nicely on my RB15a mid 2019. My 2666MHz is running stably at 3200MHz and showing some great improvements. Took a couple of days of messing around with the BIOS for this system, but glad to finally have it all figured out and working correctly.

In AIDA64 benchmarks
.................Original...............MemOC'd..............Improvement
Read........34544 MB/s.........45405 MB/s...........31.4%
Write........39478 MB/s.........48871 MB/s...........23.8%
Copy.........34022 MB/s........44450 MB/s...........30.7%
Latency.....85.2 ns................57.1 ns..................33.0%

Before Mem OC:


After Mem OC:

 

Thank you so much for this guide and helping the community. I'm having trouble when I search for Key Management with unicode checked I get nothing in the message box. Would you know why?

 

I just checked your BIOS, you are right, Key Management did not bring anything up. Search memory overclock instead

 

Yes that worked. Thanks

 

Are you able to do a CMOS reset using that guide it didn’t work for me? The hold down power button for 45 sec on boot up


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

That works for MSI laptops. For the Razer, I noticed that if you have it plugged in and make a bad memory OC, and let it boot over and over, it will after a couple boots reset the CMOS. If not, you can unplug from power brick, open the bottom, disconnect the battery, and remove the CMOS battery for 30 secs, and it will reset. Most of the time, however, it reset itself when I made a bad OC

 

Okay thanks for the info.

 

Sounds like you got the options enabled? Just optimizing now?

 

Yes been testing my ram overclock and checking if its stable. I got my ram running at 3467MHz I have the G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 32GB 2666Mhz
Before
.
After


Very pleased with my results. Thanks @ stranula

 

Looks like a nice improvement, glad you were able to get it working.

 

My option says 0x4 - what does that mean? You said it should show 0x0

0x31625 Form: Memory Overclocking Menu, Form ID: 0x2794 {01 86 94 27 CC 13}
0x3162B Suppress If: {0A 82}
0x3162D Variable 0xDD8 equals 0x4 {12 06 D8 0D 04 00}

 

"Should" is solely based on what mine had in it. I don't know what each of the "equals 0x#" options represent, I have seen 0x0, 0x1, 0x1a, 0x2, 0x3, and 0x4. But all that really matters is that for your BIOS you change it to one that enables it for you.

 

So what I'm asking is, where can I find what 0x0, 0x1, 0x1A, 0x2, 0x3, 0x4 etc etc etc means for me? (Razer Blade 15 2018)

EDIT: Referencing other options that are not hidden it seems that 0x0 means Enabled for some options and not others.

 

Just test and find out. Changing between those settings will only either make it show up or not, won't hurt anything else.

 

Seems to me its impossible to get this menu to show up because of where its situated in the BIOS file, not where it usually is under "Advanced"

 

I will look into this, I saw mention of people moving menus when I was googling all this. Which version, exactly, do you have? So that I can look at the BIOS.

 

Razer Blade 15 Early 2018, BIOS v1.08 - yes the menu needs moved back under Advanced to work, as far as I can understand.

 

So I've definitely made some theoretical progress. However, as I previously mentioned, I have no way of testing what I've found, and I definitely can't make the change and send it to you to try...too high a risk of messing up your comp. What I will do instead is point you to the information I found and someone who may be able to help you.

https://www.win-raid.com/t4232f16-S...-of-rebranded-TONGFANG-chassis-systems-6.html posts 95 and 99 will get you what you're looking for. Reach out to user lost_n_bios. I'm confident they can do this

 

Edit the file how you think it should be and I'll take a look by A/B comparing it to what I've got here.

The BIOS download is here: http://drivers.razersupport.com//index.php?_m=downloads&_a=downloadfile&downloaditemid=3322

 

Kind of expected more of a reply over on the WinRAID forums ...

EDIT: Even with all the "Suppress If:"'s removed in the "Overclocking Performance Menu" and "Memory Overclocking" sections I can't get this menu to appear - not sure what I'm missing here.

 

I've looked more into it, and here is my thought. We can change the main menu so that Chipset or Security tabs redirect to the over clocking menu. It is a very simple edit to make, but I have no idea if it will actually do it or not. I'm going to try in my BIOS first, and I will let you know if I have any success.

 

Well that went much better than anticipated...I didn't even have to redirect, I just added a new menu option straight to it.

I'll write this up shortly.

 

OP updated with how to add overclocking to the main menu. Let me know if you have any questions.

 

So now we can undervolte the cpu directly from bios, have also access to c state on off?

I feel there is something missing on overclocking menu... When I’m not wrong there’re more option on my old Blade 14 there.

 

Thank you! Awesome work!

 

You should be able to get access to everything. As far as more overclocking options, there are a lot more. For some reason my blade doesn't let me access advanced options with my Intel NVME drive in.

Anyone with a 2018 blade try this yet? Curious to know if this solved it

 

EDIT: Yes this guide makes the options available on an RB15 2018!

 

What did you try to change? That's just part of the process. I had to CMOS pull numerous times while dialing in my overclocks.

 

Derp, I forgot the 133 is doubled ...

 

Interesting to note - in your guide you mention Form ID - 2794 which only shows the Memory section of the Overclocking Performance Menu, changing the ID to 278D (8D 27 in binary) unlocks the whole menu for me.



EDIT: Strangely enough none of my RAM timings show up in the BIOS menu so that makes it a little hard mode to know what to dial in ... do you know how to fix this?

 

Yeah, the form id will be specific for each BIOS.

Do you have all of the options set to User in AMIBCP? What does your memory overclocking menu look like? You can also try going through and changing all the suppress ifs and gray ifs to 0x01 within the memory overclocking section.

 

If I can see the whole menu does that not mean nothing is supressed? The timings aren't populating, they all show as 0, even the Default/XMP shows as 0000000.

EDIT: Using stock RB15 2018 RAM btw.

 

Can you select custom for the profile? If so, just try go into hwinfo64, get all the info for your timings, set them under a custom profile, then make a small change that won't make a crash, and see if it sticks

 

Hmm yes, I selected "Custom Profile" and pushed the multiplier up to 11 (from 10) and now HWINFO shows this, Command Rate 1T is really bad/slow though right? Or is it the other way around?

 

From what I am reading, 1T is preferable to 2T, but the difference between the two is essentially negligible. Changing the Memory Ratio clearly worked, so now you need to work on tightening up timings and finding the best Memory ratio that you can. Adding a +125 uncore will help make it all more stable. Use the memory bench marking tools in HWInfo on the default settings, then each subsequent custom profile you work on. You should see progression with each change.

 

Should it be added on a BIOS level or in Throttlestop "System Agent"?

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...advanced-version.823065/page-13#post-10898033
Refer to chapter 3 and below.

You will need to set the uncore to +125 in both ThrottleStop and BIOS. Set it in ThrottleStop first, then in BIOS.

 

Gotcha, last question: should we be aiming for more MHz or lower timings?

 

@stranula could you please take a look to my bios, have a rb15 1070 maxq and dont know how to show up the memory overclocking. Bios is here : https://netshare.me/index.php/s/KMwByoya1ldNUOo

 

Higher MHz, then lower timings.

The instructions in the first post should work for you too.

 

Hmm, this chart would imply otherwise - I can get my RAM to 3466 but not below CL20, which makes no sense if I can get 3000mhz down to CL17 which is technically better!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1rqnHgPrG059fpOjArpc_nFSDVG1dsjw6y3o9ujf4hro/edit#gid=0

 

Run the HWInfo memory benchmarks at each setting, whichever gives the better results, go with that.

 

Excellent work unlocking all the options anyways, this thing is a beast now!

 

deleted

 

@stranula do you think it be possible to use this same method to edit the EC firmware files to potenitally gain access to the fan controllers and GPU TDP?

 

I have absolutely no idea. Hadn't considered it at all, but I guess this is what I'll be reading about the next few hours...We will see where this leads.

 

@stranula any progress?

 

i just did the mod and was able to go into the overclock menu in bios and was able to modify but seems like when i increased the trefi to the maximum, my latency went down and overall was the same. how can i modify so that it overclocks and how do i check the speed? i been just using memory mark test to see if it improved.

 

No, I made no headway with this. There may be something there, but I couldn't figure it out

To overclock you want to change your memory ratio. It is likely set to 10 by default and will multiply by the memory clock. If your default memory speed is 2666MHz, that speed is determined by 133MHz (memory clock) * 10 (memory ratio) * 2 (dual channel). HWInfo64 has so nice memory benchmark tools to check actual differences in performance for each change.