X230: 1vyrain, Windows 10 activation, and BitLocker

[mstrjon32]

Hello all--I have an X230 that, in fact, I purchased new quite a few years ago now. I've been using it daily since then, but I think the time might have come to replace the Intel Ultimate-N 6300 WiFi adapter with something a little newer. The other hope is that I can substantially improve the Bluetooth range by switching to one of these newer combo WiFi/BT adapters, and I actually went ahead and purchased the Intel AX210 with a slot adapter and antenna adapters.

Now, I understand I will need to patch the BIOS in order to use this new adapter, but I understand that applying 1vyrain might blow away the SLIC licensing information in the BIOS. I ordered this system with Windows 8 Pro with Windows 7 downgrade, and used Windows 7 until Microsoft started offering the free Windows 10 upgrade. I've reinstalled Windows 10 Pro on this system a few times since then, and each time it automatically activates with a "digital licence linked to my Microsoft account." But, I don't know if it's also relying on that SLIC information in the BIOS, or if Microsoft is doing something else to fingerprint my machine so it remains activated across a re-install. My question is, if I proceed with the 1vyrain patch, will it in fact blow away the SLIC information in the BIOS? And if so, will it affect Windows 10 activation? Do any X230 owners have first-hand experience?

My second question is I use BitLocker on my system with the TPM. I understand that 1vyrain might break TPM functionality, and it might be stuck in MFG mode. Does anyone have more detail on this? I could see how this could happen if the BIOS image is modified it might break the root of trust from the BIOS, or cause other issues. I suppose I could live without SecureBoot, but I'd like to maintain the TPM if possible for BitLocker. (I'm aware I can use BitLocker without the TPM and just with a PIN, but I'd rather have the TPM as well, if possible.)

Final question is, if I grab an image of my BIOS with a chip programmer, will that preserve the original state, SLIC information and all? Or is there something that's not-so-obvious that I might be missing?

Appreciate any first-hand information anyone has, it seems most people who are patching their BIOS are using Linux variants on their systems and I haven't been able to find too much information about doing it with Windows 10.