Asrock Extreme9 X79 NVME ME uCode Mod Request

Show me images of the PCI Subsystem settings, and ALL the bifurcation settings in IOH menu, then we can tell who’s BIOS you are using. Please resize to 800px wide and zip them all up, thanks
You need to remove everything else, and allow yourself to properly test the BIOS and or all slots, so you can rule out any issues or restrictions caused by yourself trying to leave stuff in place. Then after you figure things out you can sort it all out.
Surely one root port does not cover three PCIE slots??

NVME must be clean/RAW for best chance of working and being seen at boot screen, otherwise initialize as GPT and then carry on.
Yes, I remember the Z9 board, still waiting on your feedback there Please test the BIOS I sent you so we can confirm. Then if that fails, I will make follow up with hard disabled and then you can test that.

@BlazingJ
Nope no hardware raid NVME support for X79 so you cant install windows on it :frowning:
I’m using 2 250gb SATA SSD’s in iRST RAID 0 for windows and apps. And 2 500GB NVME currently striped by windows for projects and games.
I haven’t migrated yet but my plan is to put windows and apps on one NVME and the rest on the other NVME and retire the SATA drives.
Unless you just want to be able to copy huge files real quick over 40 GBit networks or from one RAID to the other RAID, best real world performance considering random IO would probably not be using any form of RAID, especially done by windows because of CPU overhead.
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@paranoid_android
If the schematic in the Anandtech Asus p9x79e-ws review is accurate only the 4th PCI slot would work in x4x4 since the rest is PLX multiplexed. Depending on the model of your adapter to top 2 or the bottom 2 NVME slots should be populated to correspond to the correct PCIE lanes.
If all else fails the least headache imho would be to forgo bifurcation sell that quad NVME adapter and get those single NVME adapters then stick em in separate PCIE slots.

@JackSted
The initial goal was to make use of Slot #4 as ×4×4.
The connectors on the the quad M.2 card(s) which would match are #1 and #2.
Those are visibliy wired to the first and second 4-lane section of the quad card’s PCIe connector.

Last option for bifurcation use would be to get a twin M.2 card (i.e. that one from Supermicro) and see if that works.
Currently I’m using the sole M2 SSD mounted to a single M.2-to-PCIe ×4-adaptor card.
If all else fails, well, then I’d have to waste one of the remaining PLX’ed slots for a second M.2 SSD.
Would have been more comfortable to populate PCIe Slot #4 with two SSDs though, so I’d have some room left for expansion cards.

One option is still left then: use of a tiwn PCIe ×4 slot Riser Card.
There is a guy who desings several kinds of those and sells them on ebay (professionally manufactured).
On of those risers, plus some PCIe riser cables plus some sort of frame to fix two M.2 adaptors… that is something left to try.

The unused quad M.2 card might join the other one, in a PCIe ×16 Slot of the Z9 board.
I’d be able to use eight M.2 SSDs that way…


[OT: Do you have some sort of guide of how you got that E5-1680v2 OC’d and running stable? I’m planning to get one of those. /OT]

@paranoid_android
Dual NVME risers still require bifurcation support so that would not help you. A card like the HighPoint SSD7101A-1 should work since it has PLX on board.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ax620z-JKEk Seems to have the correct settings to OC to 4.4, You need a triple rad AiO, I cannot recommend going faster without custom water cooling. At that point I would actually recommend getting an AMD x570 (Aorus Pro supports 4x4x4x4 bifurcation) board with a ryzen 3800x for a 15-30% faster CPU on air cooling.

@JackSted , I had a similar solution with PLX on baord in use and it caused all Systems (2×X79, 1×C602) to freeze when trying to write to attached ssds.
Plus, it does cost way more than a riser card.
That’s the main reason I want the bifurcation to work.
Sure dual risers require it to work as well as quad risers do, that’s what my efforts are all about.
The C602 features bifurcation, the X79 is sort of the same silicon, so It’d have to work somehow?
Asus 2nd level tech support confirmed that bifurcation is technically possible for C602 as well X79 systems, and that they activate it on demand in custom bioses for corporate business clients.
Or, maybe: Does bifurcation work when using Xeons only, instead of i7 CPUs?

About the CPU: I just want to add the 1680v2 to one of my X79 systems to get four more threads (and 3rd lvl cache) while keeping the clock speed.
So it would be enough for me if the 1680v2 ran at, say, 4.2GHz allcore turbo.
It’s about maxing out what is currently present, and those are two X79 and one C602 platforms.

If I wanted to settle to a completely different system, I’d wait a while and go for something like the TRx4 platform later…

@Lost_N_BIOS

So i dug a bit deeper and found something interesting. It’s is the Asrock Z170 Extreme7+ and how you natively make a raid with NVME in the bios.
Since the Asrock x79 Extreme9 also has IRS (3.0 don’t know wich version the Z170 uses) and a marvell raid controller(build in), i was wondering if you can look around in the bios if there is such a hidden option as the Z170, see pictures of the Z170.

I couldn’t check what options there are, because i am building a watercooling loop. Hopefully tomorrow if i all the missing stuff gets delivered it can boot up again and then make soms SS of the same menu’s.

1.jpg

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@BlazingJ - Those modern boards use a MUCH newer RST modules in the BIOS, and they are made to be able to do this and work with NVME etc, this is not possible on X79
Marvell ports/controller would not be used for anything we’re discussing here

@Lost_N_BIOS

Is it possible to update the RST Module in the Bios, even if the mobo lacks the hardware to create the PCIE-NVME Raid.

Reading the post before with JEN, the ME FW update/mod bricked her bios. Is the current modded bios (that works for me)up to date? Like the marvell controllers, RST, microupdate and the other stuff. I don’t know what kind of modules the bios consist of that can be updatet.

Hi @Lost_N_BIOS

Hope it’s not too much trouble, but do you have that NVME enabled bios for this board available? The links seem dead :frowning:

I’m currently running the 4.00 bios so I presume Jens final file would be the correct one? I don’t specifically need the Bifurcation feature.

Lost_N_BIOS is been away since the beginning of the year, do the mod yourself, address it to a specific user still active in this thread, that can share it or post a request.

@MeatWar

Ah, I did not know - the forum does not allow me to see how long ago people posted.

@BlazingJ do you have the modded BIOS for this card still?

Hi @Lost_N_BIOS ,
Could I get a copy of the nvme modded bios if you still have it? Asrock extreme 9 x79
Wanting to get m.2 boot on my board
Thanks in advance

I need the xeon 1680 v2 support with other xeon and the NVME for the x79 Asrock extreme 9, I am stuck on the official bios p4.0. I believe that this modded BIOS has been made before. please share the file! :pray:

thanks!

Use UBU to update the mcodes and follow Fernando’s guide to add NVMe support

[HowTo] Get full NVMe Support for all Systems with an AMI UEFI BIOS - Special Topics / NVMe Support for old Systems - Win-Raid Forum (level1techs.com)

[Tool Guide+News] “UEFI BIOS Updater” (UBU) - BIOS/UEFI Modding / BIOS Modding Guides and Problems - Win-Raid Forum (level1techs.com)

[Guide] How to flash a modded AMI UEFI BIOS - BIOS/UEFI Modding / BIOS Modding Guides and Problems - Win-Raid Forum (level1techs.com)

thanks for your reply!!. I will have a look!

As a modified bios was made and tested before. it will be easier to use already-made bios instead of taking risks to brick the motherboard.

Sure… only thing is, that most users get what they want and bail out…
The former user Lost, one of the most active gurus of the forum…past, is no longer an active member.
You’re seeing users from 2019/2020/2021…you’re about to enter in 2023…lol

all the download links are dead. this forum should host files directly for other poping newbies. this will save time and post…

This is a forum not a bios mod shop and users have the rigth to share it or not, or to share its own links.
Get to work…and learn or wait for a “saint”, cheers

I added microcode including xeon 1680v2 cpuid 306E4 for the 4.0 BIOS asrock extreme 9,

I did not tested yet. if someone could check the file made via UBU it will be helpful.
mod_bios 8.00 MB (8,388,608 bytes)

not sure if Security Flash Check has been removed…

for the NVNE support, I am lost by myself…

if my motherboard is bricked, how to rescue?

thanks

You didnt added the 306E4, those were already present in the bios, there were updated by UBU and the process is done by the tool, theres nothing that to check.
This is mod world, users should be prepared for it and their risks.

Perform a backup with the Intel FPT tool from ME8 package: fpt -d spi.bin and fpt -bios -d bios_reg.bin
Intel (Converged Security) Management Engine: Drivers, Firmware and Tools (2-15) - Special Topics / Intel Management Engine - Win-Raid Forum (level1techs.com)

Usually the M-Flash is the method for mod files
[Guide] How to flash a modded AMI UEFI BIOS - BIOS/UEFI Modding / BIOS Modding Guides and Problems - Win-Raid Forum (level1techs.com)

Last resource for bios recovery, besides the ASRock Crashless BIOS…if it works, is the use of an SPI programmer like the the CH341A, the SPI chip is socked and can be removed to program.