AHCI & RAID Option ROM Modules

BIOS/UEFI Modding BIOS modules (PCI ROM, EFI and others)
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II. AHCI/RAID ROM modules from other Vendors:

A. AMD AHCI/RAID ROM modules

General remarks:
Contrary to other chipset manufacturers AMD is offering separate and absolutely self-contained PCI ROM modules for AHCI and RAID systems. This has the consequence, that users with an AMD chipset system will only have to update one of the related PCI ROM types (AHCI or RAID) and not both of them, if they want to get the best possible performance for their system. This is a big relief for AMD users, who have set the SATA Controller to “AHCI” mode, because the update of the AMD RAID ROM modules with their associated MISC.BIN files is much more complicated than the replacement of the AMD AHCI ROM module.

a) AMD AHCI ROM modules:

Download links:

b) AMD RAID ROM modules:

Depending on the Southbridge and the RAID features of the AMD chipset mainboard you can find within its BIOS 2 different AMD RAID ROM modules:

  1. AMD RAID ROM for the DeviceID 4392 with a size of 58 KB (for older AMD RAID Controller without RAID5 support) and
  2. AMD RAID ROM for the DeviceID 4393 with a size of 64 KB (for newer AMD RAID Controllers with RAID5 support)

For unknown reasons some AMD chipset mainboard BIOSes contain both AMD ROM modules (for DEV_4392 and for DEV_4393), although only one of them will be used.
For a proper function both AMD RAID ROM modules (for DEV_4392 and DEV_4393) need a separate BIOS module named MISC.BIN. So if you want to update one of the AMD RAID modules, you have to update the related MISC.BIN too. The MISC.BIN modules are not easy to find, because they are just normal modules and no PCI ROM ones shown with a Vendor and Device ID. In an UEFI AMI BIOS you will find them in the module with the GUID Code starting with “9BD5C81D” and ending either with the letters “FC” (for DEV_4392/7802 Controllers) or “FD” (for DEV_4393/7803 Controllers). Within a non-UEFI AMI BIOS you will find the MISC.BIN file within any of the “User Designed or Reserved” modules. Users with an Award/Phoenix BIOS should search within the “HOLE2” section for a file named UI750.BIN. If you are unsure regarding the correct file, extract the modules uncompressed, open them with a Hex Editor and search for the text string “MISC.SIG”. All misc.bin files have that text code fragment.
Important:

  • Before you are going to insert a new AMD RAID ROM and MISC.BIN module into the BIOS of your mainboard, I recommend to extract the AMD RAID ROM, which is within the originl BIOS, to open the module with a hex editor and to check the DeviceID (4392 or 4393). As you can read >here<, an AMD RAID Controller with the DeviceID 4393 may require an AMD RAID ROM and MISC.BIN, which have been designed for DEV_4392 AMD RAID Controllers. The DeviceID of the on board AMD RAID Controller can be checked by opening the “Storage Controllers” section of the Device Manager (right click onto the Controller > “Properties” > “Details” > “Property” > “HardwareIDs”).
  • The MISC.BIN file, which is needed for an UEFI BIOS, is a little bit bigger than the MISC.BIN file, which is designed for a non-UEFI BIOS. Reason: The UEFI BIOS requires some additional hex code data as “Header”.
  • To make it as easy as possible for you, I am offering here MISC.BIN files for non-UEFI BIOSes and UEFI BIOSes.

Download links:

  1. For older AMD RAID Controllers:

  2. For newer AMD RAID Controllers: (thanks to kgbab for the source files)

  3. For the latest AMD RAID Controllers: (thanks to kgbab for the source files)

Note: Since the success of an update with these AMD RAID ROM and MISC.BIN modules can not be guaranteed, any feedback from users is much appreciated.

B. ASMedia AHCI ROM modules

ASMedia 106x (SATA3) AHCI ROM modules:

Download links:

All listed ROM modules are suitable for the ASMedia 106x AHCI Controllers DEV_0611 and DEV_0612. Credits go to SoniX for the v0.954 module and to lordkag for the v0.97 module.

Remarks:

  1. It is possible to successfully insert the ASMedia AHCI ROM module even into a BIOS, where no such ROM module is present. I have done it with my ASUS Z77-V and it worked! Since I have flashed the BIOS containing the added ASM 106x AHCI ROM v0.954 I get a popup verification while booting, that the ASM 106x AHCI Controller has been successfully initialized.
  2. Until now I couldn’t find any separate ASMedia 106x Firmware Pack.

C. JMicron RAID ROM modules

Unfortunately JMicron hasn’t published any new SATA/RAID ROM modules for their JMB36x SATA Controllers since several years (look >here<). Nevertheless I offer here the latest unofficial JMicron SATA RAID modules.

JMicron JMB36x RAID ROM modules:

Download links:

Note: Both offered JMicron RAID ROM modules have been designed for the JMB36x SATA Controller DEV_2363, but may be usable with other JMicron SATA Controllers from DEV_2360 up to DEV_2369 as well (after having customized the DeviceID entry by using a Hex Editor). For further informations please look >here<.

D. Marvell AHCI/RAID ROM modules

a) Marvell 61xx (SATA2) RAID ROM modules:

Although the Marvell 61xx RAID Controllers are outdated since several years and not supported by Marvell anymore, I am offering the latest OROM modules here for interested users.

Download links:

  • >Marvell 61xx RAID ROM v1.1.0.L75 for DEV_6121< (>MIRROR<)
    Note: This Marvell 61xx RAID ROM module has an uncompressed size of 21 KB and is unmodified usable with DEV_6121 Marvell 61xx RAID Controllers. After a customization of the DeviceID hex code it will work with other Marvell 61xx RAID Controllers as well. Thanks to Station-Drivers for the source file.
  • >Marvell 61xx RAID ROM v1.2.0.36 for DEV_6145< (>MIRROR<)
    Note: This is the latest Marvell 61xx RAID ROM module, uncompressed size: 90 KB, unmodified usable with DEV_6145 Marvell 61xx RAID Controllers. After a customization of the DeviceID hex code it will work with other Marvell 61xx RAID Controllers as well. Thanks to Station-Drivers for the source file.

b) Marvell 91xx (SATA3) AHCI/RAID ROM modules:

Download links:

General remarks:
An update of the Marvell 91xx AHCI/RAID ROM module may only be useful for systems with a Marvell 91xx chip, which offers full RAID support (Marvell 91xx RAID mode option has to be available in the BIOS).
Compatibility:
According to the hex code this actual Marvell 91xx ROM version should support the following DeviceIDs: 9023, 9028, 90A3, 90A8, 9110, 9111, 9120, 9122, 9123, 9125, 9128, 9130, 9171, 9172, 9179, 917A, 9181, 9182, 918A, 9189, 9190, 9191, 91A0 and 91A2.
Attention: Nevertheless it is necessary to open the ROM module with a hex editor and to look into the 3rd line (offset 20) for the correct Marvell AHCI Controller DeviceID of the mainboard. If the system has a DEV_9120 Controller, the hex code has to be “4B 1B 20 91”, whereas DEV_9123 needs an “4B 1B 23 91” entry. Other DeviceIDs need a similar alteration of the related hex code pairs. If the Marvell ROM update with this version should fail, the user may have to take another version, which is more specific regarding the DeviceID of the onboard Marvell 91xx SATA Controller.

Here are some special Marvell 91xx AHCI/RAID ROM modules:

Here are the latest complete Marvell 91xx AHCI/RAID ROM modules (incl. Firmware/BIOS and Bootloader):

Important remarks:

  • a) Update of all Non-UEFI and some UEFI BIOSes:
    For a correct function of the Marvell 91xx SATA 6G Controller there are at least 3 different modules needed within the BIOS:

    1. the Marvell 91xx AHCI/RAID ROM module
    2. the Marvell 91xx firmware and
    3. the Marvell 91xx bootloader

    Some actual AMI UEFI BIOSes have within the CSMCORE file an AIO Marvell 91xx AHCI/RAID ROM module, which contains all 3 components (the uncompressed ROM size is much bigger than 100 KB), but usually the mainboard BIOSes do contain the Marvell 91xx Firmware and the Marvell 91xx Bootloader as separate modules.
    If the mainboard BIOS contains these 3 components separately, all of them have to be updated, if the user wants to replace the Marvell 91xx AHCI ROM by a newer version. Usually this should be done by executing the Marvell 91xx firmware tool, which is part of the complete Marvell 91xx Firmware Pack (the actual version 2.2.0.1125b can be downloaded from >here<).
    Unfortunately some mainboard BIOSes do not allow to replace the Marvell 91xx BIOS ROM module by running the firmware installer. Users with such mainboard may have to do it with the appropriate BIOS tool.

    Here are the latest 3 module files, which can be flashed into an AMI non-UEFI mainboard BIOS with the MMTool by replacing the old ones:

    1. the MV91xx Bootloader module (in non-UEFI AMI BiOSes usually to find within the GUI line ID E6, the actual version 1.0.1.0002b kann be downloaded from >here<, uncompressed size: 51 KB, unchanged usable with DEV_9123, credits go to ZioGTS for the file).
      Important: For a proper function the Marvell Bootloader (=E6) module must contain the correct DeviceID of the on-board Marvell AHCI Controller (as the ROM module itself). That is why the Bootloader module has to be customized before being used for an update. Open it with a hex editor and search for the hex code “4B 1B”. It should be there 2 times. Then replace the 2 hex code pairs just behind the “4B 1B” by the correct DeviceID hex codes. Examples: The correct hex code for a Marvell Controller with the DeviceID 9120 has to be “4B 1B 20 91”, whereas a DEV_9123 Controller needs “4B 1B 23 91”.
    2. the MV91xx Firmware module (in non-UEFI AMI BIOSes usually to find within the GUI line ID E7, the actual version 2.2.0.1125b can be downloaded from >here<, uncompressed size: 200 KB, credits go to ZioGTS for the file)
    3. the MV91xx AHCI ROM module itself (non-UEFI AMI BIOS: it is in one of ID20 lines, the download link to the actual version 1.0.0.1033 is above)

    b) Update of an AMI UEFI BIOS:
    Many AMI UEFI BIOSes just contain 1 single Marvell 91xx PCI ROM module. It includes everything, which is needed for a proper function of the Marvell 91xx AHCI/RAID Controller. This module is situated within the BIOS file named CSMCORE and can easily been updated with the Aptio UEFI MMTool. The download link to the actual complete module containing the Marvell 91xx AHCI/RAID ROM and the additional Marvell 91xx BIOS is above.

c) Marvell 92xx (SATA3) AHCI/RAID ROM modules:

Download links:

  • >Marvell 92xx AHCI/RAID ROM v1.0.0.1027 (DeviceID not yet determined)< (>MIRROR<)
    Note: This is the currently latest Marvell 92xx AHCI/RAID ROM version, uncompressed size: 33 KB. This module will support - after a customization of the hex code - a lot of different Marvell 92xx AHCI/RAID Controllers (for details look into the attached text file named Mrvl92xx.txt. The customization of the Option ROM module can easily be done by using the tool named SetDevID.exe and following >this< guide. The SetDevID tool is attached to this post. Thanks to SoniX for the file.

  • >Marvell 92xx AHCI/RAID ROM v1.0.0.1015 incl. Firmware v2.3.0.1050+Bootloader v21001005< (>MIRROR<)
    Note: This package contains the newest All-In-One module for Marvell 92xx AHCI/RAID Controller, uncompressed size: 316 KB. Alternatively it can be flashed by running the installer named GO.BAT. Thanks to Pacman for the package. For details look >here<.
    Compatibility: According to the hex code this actual Marvell 92xx ROM/Bootloader/Firmware Set is designed for DEV_9230, but may support the following DeviceIDs as well: 9215, 9220, 922A, 9225, 9230, 923A, 9235 and 9236.

E. NVIDIA MediaShield RAID ROM modules

RAID ROM modules for all nForce chipsets:

Download links:

Important remark:
Users with an nForce3/4 chipset system will only be able to successfully flash a BIOS containing any of these nVRAID ROM modules, if they have made sure, that the correct DeviceID of the related NVIDIA nForce SATA RAID Controller is within the hex code of the nVRAID ROM module. The details are layed down >here<.

Closing words:

  1. Any feedback is much appreciated, but please don’t bother me with personal requests via PN or eMail.
  2. Please post your problems, questions or suggestions regarding the AHCI and RAID ROM modules into this thread.
  3. As I stated above, I would be very grateful, if you would post the link to other interesting or newer AHCI/RAID ROM modules.

Good luck with the use of the linked AHCI/RAID ROM modules!
Fernando

SetDevID.rar (44.2 KB)

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