<< Solved >> How to reset System Information back to default mobo values

[trboteg]

I have a bad RAM module and in order to get a warranty replacement, I have to perform a memory test with memtest86. The problem is, my system information shows all the hackintosh stuff and that's not going to fly with Corsair. How do I revert my System Information back to the default ASUS values?

Tbh I haven't booted into mac in over two years and I've forgotten what a lot of the terminology is. I used Clover Configurator to set these values. As you can see, I used Unibeast (multibeast+clover) to install OSX - I'm looking to remove all remnants of it and start over fresh once I get my memory issue resolved! I'm not sure how to get this info back to default values.

I'm not sure if this info is coming from EFI or what. I can see the values in the registry, but before I start messing with those values I'd like to know where they are coming from, otherwise I suspect they will come right back.

 

[c-o-pr]

Consider bypassing the concern of hackintosh:

Make an Ubuntu Live flash drive and boot that into GRUB and choose memtest86
- Hold Shift as the flash drive boots to get into GRUB

According to lore I just read, the log will be saved to the EFI/BOOT folder of the flash drive.

How do I run memtest86+?

If I encounter a situation where I suspect my machine's RAM might be going bad, I might need to launch memtest86+ to check it. How can I do this using Ubuntu? Are there different methods for launch...

askubuntu.com

 

[trboteg]

Thanks. I don't know how that applies. I'll explain a little more.

Memtest86 is run by booting straight to a USB. The program does not run in Windows. I wonder how memtest86 is getting the info if it is using its own bootloader.

Windows is my only drive installed. When I boot my pc it boots straight to Windows with no other bootloader loading. To the best of my knowledge I don’t have any other bootloader installed on the Windows drive. However, it’s possible the EFI was modified. When I boot the pc, it boots straight into Windows from POST. There is no indication of Clover. Power on, POST, Windows. That’s it.
If I power on the PC and press F12 at POST to choose which drive to boot from, it boots just as if I didn’t press F12 and choose my windows drive.

I’ve cleared CMOS and reflashed the BIOS to no avail.

I downloaded memtest86 and used the included software to reformat the usb drive and write the bootable to it. All this was done in Windows. I’m wondering if memtest86 grabs the SMBIOS info from windows System Info and stores it. Otherwise the SMBIOS info is written somewhere outside of a drive.

I've disconnected all drives from the system (except the memtest86 USB) and Memtest86 still shows Apple SMBIOS with no drives connected. CMOS was cleared after removing all drives too. I booted into OS X for the first time in three years. Opened clover and mounted windows EFI and guess what… no Clover file! Nothing related to clover on the disk at all. - EFI, Recovery, and main partitions are all free of clover as far as I could tell.

The SMBIOS info that’s displayed in windows is different than the info in OSX. Windows displays my original SMBIOS information when I first set up hackintosh. SMBIOS is written somewhere on the windows drive.

I also just remembered that I used to dual boot windows and OS X on the same drive. EFI files had to be copied and pasted from Clover to windows EFI. My head hurts. Do I just rebuild the windows EFI and cross my fingers?

I've been out of the game for a few years and can't remember everything exactly. Any help is appreciated.

 

[trboteg]

Well I created the Ubuntu usb and ran memtest86. Guess what?! It shows the Apple SMBIOS info!! See bottom of picture.

I had disconnected all drives and cleared CMOS.

Did I overwrite the baseboard info somehow??

Side note: Memtest86+ in Ubuntu doesn’t support UEFI so I had to boot in bios to be able to run memtest86.

 

[c-o-pr]

Try a full BIOS reset by pulling the CMOS battery or using the board's reset jumper.

 

[etorix]

5.01? That's a very old version. Get the latest, it runs fine from UEFI.

MemTest86 - Official Site of the x86 Memory Testing Tool

MemTest86 is the original self booting memory testing software for x86 and ARM computers. Supporting both BIOS and UEFI, with options to boot from USB.

www.memtest86.com

Memtest86 is run by booting straight to a USB. The program does not run in Windows. I wonder how memtest86 is getting the info if it is using its own bootloader.

Beside writing the .img file to a USB drive, mount it and look into it. MemTest is an EFI application and runs as the bootloader.

BOOTAA64, BOOTIA32 and BOOTX64 are MemTest for ARMv7, 32-bit x86 and AMD-64 (modern x86) architectures.

 

[trboteg]

I’ve

Try a full BIOS reset by pulling the CMOS battery or using the board's reset jumper.

That’s what I’ve been doing, using the jumper. Power off, short the cmos reset pins with jumper for 10 seconds, remove jumper, restore power. On reboot it takes me to bios and says it’s been reset and I need to either load optimized defaults or enter bios. I’ve done both options to no avail.

I have removed the battery and unplugged power. I will leave it like this all day while at work and see what happens.

 

[trboteg]

5.01? That's a very old version. Get the latest, it runs fine from UEFI.

MemTest86 - Official Site of the x86 Memory Testing Tool

MemTest86 is the original self booting memory testing software for x86 and ARM computers. Supporting both BIOS and UEFI, with options to boot from USB.

www.memtest86.com

Beside writing the .img file to a USB drive, mount it and look into it. MemTest is an EFI application and runs as the bootloader.
View attachment 545182
BOOTAA64, BOOTIA32 and BOOTX64 are MemTest for ARMv7, 32-bit x86 and AMD-64 (modern x86) architectures.

that old version is the version that is included with Ubuntu. I was already using the newest version that I downloaded and created a bootable USB with but you told me to create a Ubuntu drive so that is what I did. Should I boot into the Ubuntu live, download mem test and create a bootable from within Ubuntu, the same way that I did in Windows OS? I’m not sure how that would be different from the way that I did it within windows.

 

[c-o-pr]

I’ve

That’s what I’ve been doing, using the jumper. Power off, short the cmos reset pins with jumper for 10 seconds, remove jumper, restore power. On reboot it takes me to bios and says it’s been reset and I need to either load optimized defaults or enter bios. I’ve done both options to no avail.

I have removed the battery and unplugged power. I will leave it like this all day while at work and see what happens.

Is maybe chain-loading going on where a Clover EFI loader is in the loop?

I have seen Linux installer muck with EFI loaders on attached drive that was never indicated as target to the installer, which is quite a unnerving surprise. Windows installer also has some "intelligence" regarding multi-boot co-existence, so maybe there's Clover config at play which you wouldn't expect?

I'm just waving my arms here, to remove all drives except the linux Live drive.

It could be the board has received persistent config written into special store via DMTF (Distributed Mgmt) sorts of capabilities... I'm not savvy on this stuff such as Intel Mgmt Engine.

A Clover expert is needed

 

[trboteg]

Yeah that’s the crazy thing - all drives are removed except the Ubuntu usb. And memtest86 is still pulling in Apple SMBIOS info. I’ll boot into Ubuntu later and see what it has to show. If it shows in Ubuntu then the board has something modified.

It may not have been clover that did that, as I’ve hacked this rig multiple times over the years, even before clover was a thing.