EFI-X™ Dongle Autopsy [Update]

As promised here are some new infos and highres photos of the EFI-X™ dongle. If you ever wondered what's inside the EFI-X™, here you will find some answers.

I could find out which microcontroller is used for the EFI-X™. It was not that difficult. Searching for a microcontroller:

1. with a 64-Pin TQFP package
2. and USB support
3. an oscillator connected to pins 5 & 6
4. USB D-/D+ connected to pins 44 & 45

... gaves me very quickly a Cortex™ M3 from STMicroelectronics. A test with a spectrum analyser ruled out, that the microcontroller runs very likely at 72Mhz. Got a peak at 8Mhz (the resonator frequency), a small peak at 36Mhz, a strong peak at 72Mhz and another small peak at 108Mhz (72+36). So the microcontroller must be a STM32F103Rx. To figure out the exact model one must connect a JTAG debugger. The pads to do so are there. The EFI-X™ V1.0 has no ESD Protection for the USB data lines D+/D- and a simple 3.3V DC/DC converter.

The closed EFI-X™ Dongle:


EFI-X™ PCB Frontside still sealed:


EFI-X™ PCB Backside still sealed:


EFI-X™ opening the case:


EFI-X™ case opened and PCB:


EFI-X™ clean PCB with some explanations:

More info in the old post here.

EFI-X™ Module Autopsy

After I got my EFI-X™ back, I thought to sell it in eBay. I don't need it anymore. The Chameleon solution works better and I have the choice and the possibility to fix all issues by myself.

I was so curious about what's inside this "holy" EFI-X™ module, that I decided to open it. OK, I will loose some money, but my curiosity was greater :-)))

Open the module was not that difficult as I thought. Got this done without any visible trace on the enclosing. The front and the backside of the PCB was potted with some black plastic sealing. But I could remove the "protection" quite easy with a chemical treatment.

Here are the Photos. For the time being only in low resolution.

EFI-X™ Frontside still with protection:


EFI-X™ Backside still with protection:


EFI-X™ Frontside disassembled:


EFI-X™ Backside disassembled:


Very first analysis: The EFI-X™ module is made of nothing special at all. The module uses only one USB-port. The second USB-port of the mainboard connector is unused and not connected (See the backside photos). There are a microcontroller (64pin TQFP package, maybe it's a CPLD/FPGA), a 8 MHz ceramic resonator, a 5V to 3.3V DC-DC converter and a flash memory (presumably 256MB). The PCB seems to be a 4 layer. The whole thing, inclusive PCB, case, cable and packaging should be cost less than 10 dollars, I guess.

As you can see, ASEM had removed the description/partnumber of the microcontroller and the flash memory with a Laser. I will find out to which pins the oscillator and the USB is connected. This is like a fingerprint to discover which microcontroller they are using.

Update: New infos and better photos here.

5.) Alternative EFI-X™ related forum

Looking for an alternative to the official EFI-X™ support forum? ... ok, then have look at this one:

http://www.efixusers.com/