Second Hand Librem 15 v3 - Question

Librem
1

Dear Community, I‘m about to buy a second hand Librem 15 version 3.

The seller said that he has previously installed Windows on the machine. Now he reinstalled PureOS. He said the installation was done by another person (a professional). Thus, he can‘t tell me if the Bios was changed to install Windows.

Now my question: Is it possible to install Windows on the Librem 15 without changing the Bios? Or do I have to assume that the Bios was changed?

Furthermore, is it possible to reflash the Bios (Coreboot, Libreboot) to get a better feeling that it was not modified in a bad (spying) way?

I‘ll replace the hard disk, but is it risky to buy a second hand Librem because the seller might has installed malware in the Bios or somewhere on hardware level?

Sorry for my bad english and thank you in advance

Edit: One more question, is there a possibility to check if Intel ME is still disabled / neutered when I have received the machine?

2

So, I can’t really answer your question about installing windows without changing the bios. It doesn’t matter because the bios can be flashed. Purism provides a script the automates the whole process. it will download the latest build for the firmware, compile it on your machine, and then flash it to the bios.

I think you’ll be ok if you just reflash the bios.

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3

Thank you, I just edited my initial post:

Edit: One more question, is there a possibility to check if Intel ME is still disabled / neutered when I have received the machine?

Maybe you could answer that as well

Thank you very much

4

Yes, see here: https://puri.sm/projects/coreboot/.

Yes, see the above link.

5

Thank you so much

Where can I find the serial number? Is it written on the case or somewhere?

6

It is on a sticker on the laptop but it does wear off. You can get it via software too but I forget how off the top of my head.

7

When you reflash your Coreboot, it shows the serial number and asks if you want to keep it after reflashing.

8

Simply use Purism’s coreboot utility script to reflash the latest coreboot firmware, reboot, and then verify the ME state:

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