BK-1264NP-4L BIOS and other mods

[mcaptur]

Anyone can point me to a firmware update for this device https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004302428997.html (n100 version)

BK-1264NP-4L V1.2 board

It works ok but not getting high clock speeds seems to only boost to 2.4ghz - cpu temperature ~52

 

[m8kbv]

I join the request for a bios for this PC. I uploaded a supposedly good bios, unfortunately the computer no longer turns on.

 

[blunden]

I assume you asked the seller for the latest BIOS update?

 

[m8kbv]

The seller does not want to share the bios (I do not know why)

 

[blunden]

The seller does not want to share the bios (I do not know why)

Weird. I wonder if these are manufactured by WooYi or if they are actually rebranded CWWK units. Might be worth investigating if you haven't already.

 

[m8kbv]

A friend "thys" from this forum provided me with the entire fullbios.bin, thanks to the CH341a programmer I saved my computer.
Now admittedly, on startup it does 3x beep through the buzzer and the first start is slow (1 minute), but it works.
Incorrect MEregion?

 

[mcaptur]

anyone hasa n updated bios i can try?

 

[johny_mnemonic]

A friend "thys" from this forum provided me with the entire fullbios.bin, thanks to the CH341a programmer I saved my computer.
Now admittedly, on startup it does 3x beep through the buzzer and the first start is slow (1 minute), but it works.
Incorrect MEregion?

Would you share a guide how to recover from bad BIOS flash and also the BIOS which you flashed to recover your unit?
I also got one this unit but a bit newer. The printing on the board says v1.3 and in the BIOS there is even v1.5.
I would try to find a way how to do the backup of BIOS and than I would like to experiment with editing the BIOS or finding some already unlocked BIOS for it (have seen someone here in the forum sharing one).

 

[m8kbv]

my bios v1.4:

BK12V014

MediaFire is a simple to use free service that lets you put all your photos, documents, music, and video in a single place so you can access them anywhere and share them everywhere.

www.mediafire.com

bios v1.5: (My computer boots up for a minute, nvme, sata, ethernet don't work..)

fulldump.bin

drive.google.com

to download the bios from a working computer:

https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/cwwk-topton-nxxx-quad-nic-router.39685/page-75#post-405132

will you share your bios as you rip?

To upload the bios when the computer does not turn on, you need to buy a BIOS memory programmer.

https://pl.aliexpress.com/item/4001279170901.html?src=google&src=google&albch=shopping&acnt=272-267-0231&slnk=&plac=&mtctp=&albbt=Google_7_shopping&gclsrc=aw.ds&albagn=888888&ds_e_adid=&ds_e_matchtype=&ds_e_device=c&ds_e_network=x&ds_e_product_group_id=&ds_e_product_id=pl4001279170901&ds_e_product_merchant_id=107664450&ds_e_product_country=PL&ds_e_product_language=pl&ds_e_product_channel=online&ds_e_product_store_id=&ds_url_v=2&albcp=20695301718&albag=&isSmbAutoCall=false&needSmbHouyi=false&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIrqam_P2nhAMVj5doCR18UgpfEAQYASABEgKnNPD_BwE&aff_fcid=3f14e3b29e424c7eaec2c35981023191-1707815895361-02912-UneMJZVf&aff_fsk=UneMJZVf&aff_platform=aaf&sk=UneMJZVf&aff_trace_key=3f14e3b29e424c7eaec2c35981023191-1707815895361-02912-UneMJZVf&terminal_id=1d176f7910134b7bb445bb549347168e&afSmartRedirect=y

please note that the bios downloaded from the computer must be approximately 16MB (if it is 10MB, it will only be partially downloaded)

 

[johny_mnemonic]

My computer boots up for a minute, nvme, sata, ethernet don't work...

Isn't your issue caused by the fact that you do not have a backup from the exact board you have (BK-1264NP-4L V1.2 board)?
I saw (finally went though whole 90+ pages of that forum thread) you used as a recovery the dump from the board @thys has (BIOS: Project Version BK-1264NP Ver 1.5) which probably means he has the same board as me = BK-1264NP-4L V1.3.

I will definitely do a bios and probably also a full dump before trying one of the modded BIOSes @thys created.
Or maybe if @thys would be so kind and share a guide, I would mod my own BIOS dump to limit the possibility of bricking my toy;-)

@mcaptur what about renaming this thread to something more generic like "BK-1264NP-4L BIOS and other mods" and move the discussion related to this unit from that huge thread about CWWK units? The unit we have (mine says G30W-N100-226) doesn't seems to be even manufactured by CWWK (at least judging by the BIOS and board name).

 

[m8kbv]

i have BK-1264NP-4L V1.2
The computer is already working with me, after uploading this bios: BK12V014 (V 1.4)
I think board version vs bios version may not go hand in hand (e.g. in my case, board v1.2 and bios v1.4)

 

[johny_mnemonic]

So you have it finally back in working condition with nvme, ethernet, etc.? Good to hear

Yep, board and bios doesn't match. @thys and few other people including me reported board 1.3 and bios 1.5.

BTW: The link you shared for getting the bios from working computer leads to a post by @thys where he describes how to flash his modded bios. Nothing about creating a dump/backup of what is already there. Wrong link?

 

[m8kbv]

fulldump.bin <---is a Fullbios ripped from user thys from his computer that causes the computer to boot a minute and on it does not work in my nvme, sata, ethernet.

BK12V014 <--- is a bios directly from the manufacturer (from one of the users of this forum). On this bios the computer works fine for me.

 

[johny_mnemonic]

yep, got it.
I just wanted to dump my own bios and preferably also fulldump to make sure I can recover in case something goes wrong.
With these boxes there is no guarantee I really have the same board as thys...

 

[johny_mnemonic]

@thys according to your post I should have identical board and BIOS version, but when I did dumps it doesn't match and the differences are pretty substantial.

I even did a reset of the BIOS to defaults to make sure there are no changes but check my files to see the differences. Here is a fulldump and here is bios_v1.5.

Would you please share the guide how to modify the BIOS? I think it should be safer then flashing yours even though my board looks like yours and my BIOS screen is identical to what you posted.

 

[jatesh]

@thys according to your post I should have identical board and BIOS version, but when I did dumps it doesn't match and the differences are pretty substantial.

I even did a reset of the BIOS to defaults to make sure there are no changes but check my files to see the differences. Here is a fulldump and here is bios_v1.5.

Would you please share the guide how to modify the BIOS? I think it should be safer then flashing yours even though my board looks like yours and my BIOS screen is identical to what you posted.

I have the same version, can you explain how to take bios dump? Are you having any specific issues with your unit? Mine is stuck at 402 MHZ in pfsense and in Windows it does boost higher but under load it falls back close to 1 GHz or less. Even the benchmark scores are very low.

 

[johny_mnemonic]

I have used the iso for flashing the BIOS to cwwk units (link is in the post by @thys). Once you flash it to USB, you need to remove the bios file (CW-N100-V2-5M2-230927.bin) and the 1.nsh file and modify the startup script to not try to execute 1.nsh script, so you basically ends up with a EFI shell boot drive with an Intel BIOS flasher tool (fpt.EFI).
Then you can use that flasher tool to do whatever you want with the ROM/BIOS.
I am not at home now, writing this from memory, so definitely do not blindly copy it!!!
For full dump:

FPT.efi -D fulldump.bin

For BIOS dump:

FPT.efi -BIOS -D bios_dump.bin

Also in case you have a SSD connected, the EFI shell will most probably start with that SSD selected (fs0), at least it does for me. But the flasher tool is on your USB (fs1 if you only have one drive in the unit), so you need to first switch to your USB drive and go to EFI folder before you can use the flasher.

 

[johny_mnemonic]

Are you having any specific issues with your unit?

So far I have only installed Proxmox and tried to optimise the power consumption. That's why I am trying to chase better BIOS as with that limited one we have, the power consumption is pretty high => high temps as well.
With some optimizations from here I managed to go from 15W to 12W and idle temps in Proxmox were around 50˚C for CPU and 60˚C for SSD. Better BIOS should allow way better results

When I executed stress-ng the temps went to around 60˚C for CPU and as the box heated, the SSD temp also slowly climbed up. I thing that I saw CPU frequencies bouncing byond 2GHz, but I am not certain about that. I was mainly focused on power draw, not performance, as the unit will be running 24/7 with OPNsense, HomeAssistant and few other stuff for which it should have plenty performance even if it doesn't boost high.
Will definitely check it later but I would suspect PFsense being the source of trouble in your case. BSD is not that great with handling new HW, which is why some people are running PF/OPNsense in Proxmox even if the box is dedicated firewall.

 

[m8kbv]

what power supplies do you have? I changed it to delta 60W, I don't trust the one supplied in the set.

 

[johny_mnemonic]

I got Delta 48W (12V/4A) with mine, so unless it is fake, I don't think I have a reason to swap it.