RE: >> Resizeable BAR - I doubt it will be possible, due to it’s likely more than just module swap around and or BIOS settings addition (which you can’t simply “add” a new setting anyway)
So my answer to this would be No, not likely. It will have to be rolled out by manufacturers to be in compatible BIOS updates
@dosdaros - Are you sure you have Rev 1.0 board? Check bottom right corner of board, does it show 1.0 or 2.0?
If 2.0 then there is UEFI BIOS, if you have 1.0, and pickup flash programmer for recovery just in case brick, I will make you crossflash package to crossflash your 1.0 board to 2.0 and then you can use UEFI BIOS and NVME
Greeting
I have one question regarding bios
Is it possible to modify the bios from the Motherboard
Biostar a960d + v2
To boot m.2 ssd?
@dzonix :
Welcome to the Win-RAID Forum!
If you should mean whether it it is possible to boot off an NVMe SSD with your system after having modified the BIOS, here is my answer: It depends on the BIOS. It has to be an AMI UEFI one. Unfortunately I couldn’t it verify myself, because Biostar just offers an Installer, but not the "pure" BIOS file.
>Here< is the related guide.
Good luck!
Dieter (alias Fernando)
Yes I’ve checked that and it is rev. 1.0. Thanks for help.
any news for resizable bar on older Intel Chipsets?
You mean to say it’s neither difficult nor risky if updating an existing PCI ROM module as opposed to inserting a new one?
This is why I recommend to flash a modded BIOS only for experienced users, who know about the risks and do all necessary preparations for a possible failure of the BIOS update process (inclusive a complete backup of their data).
Should preparation include making a BIOS backup, and how do we do that?
Actual BIOS files do not contain any separate AHCI ROM module, because such BIOS module resp. Firmware is not required anymore.
Not anymore?.. since when? I thought this was an introduction to BIOS modding. You expect me to know the history before I start the introduction?
Separate from what?.. a PCI ROM? Why are you even mentioning AHCI ROM? I thought the focus of this guide was going to be on PCI ROM. Why is “Firmware” spelled with a capital letter? Is that the beginning of a new sentence or is it connected to “module resp.”? How are the listed things related to each other?
The Intel SATA AHCI Controller of the mainboard is not supported at all by the RAID ROM module.
By “not supported”, do you mean that RAID ROM is not responsible for its functionality? How is it related to AHCI ROM and PCI ROM?
That is the reason why users with an AHCI (non-RAID) system will not benefit from an update of the RAID ROM version.
So then… RAID ROM is a part of PCI ROM, and since RAID ROM is not responsible for AHCI functionality, users of motherboards that don’t have RAID functionality will not benefit from toying with PCI ROM replacement?
Not the BIOS modification itself, only the flashing procedure is risky (no matter what you have done with the BIOS).
A BIOS backup is only useful, if either the in-use BIOS has already been modified or an original BIOS is not available anymore. The most secure way is to make a dump of the complete BIOS chip content (SPI).
No, since more than 10years you may not even find any AHCI Option ROM within the BIOS of any modern mainboard. If there is no AHCI Option ROM present, there is no subject to be updated.
No. As long as you haven’t set within the BIOS the SATA mode to “RAID”, you will not benefit from any update of the RAID Option ROM, which is or may be within your in-use BIOS chip.
Hello! I understand that this is a very old guide (12 years old by now), and I read the history of the site before I signed up. I hope you don’t mind me for necromancing or nitpicking on the content. I just want to understand it better. This is my first reading material on the topic of BIOS modding.
Thank you for clarifying.
So the reason you would want to have a backup of a modified BIOS is to preserve your previous modification work?
I had a situation like that, but with a Windows tablet. No original BIOS was available for download from manufacturer, and the modifications to the original were done by the manufacturer, not by me. I have then received the original BIOS, and used it to recover from a bad flash. But things like the system serial number are now missing. It’s with this bad experience in mind that I’m asking about BIOS backup.
You mean using an external BIOS programmer like CH341A? Can we not use EFI shell to make a backup? Assuming of course the BIOS is still in a good condition.
By “modern mainboard”, do you mean UEFI based mainboard or just newer generation of BIOS based mainboard? Is “AHCI Option ROM” the same thing as “PCI ROM”?
OK. I think I understood now. The BIOS contains a “PCI ROM” and within this ROM, we have one “AHCI Option ROM” and one “RAID Option ROM”. Can you confirm please?
What I meant is, that it is always a good idea to have a definitely working BIOS (no matter, whether it is an original or a previously successfully modded one), before you flash a freshly modded BIOS.
There are several methods to get a complete backup (SPI) of the mainboard’s BIOS chip, but this is not the topic of this thread.
Yes, because “PCI ROM” is just another name for “Option ROM”, but means the same.
No, AHCI Option ROMs and RAID Option ROMs are completely different singular BIOS modules.
No, AHCI Option ROMs and RAID Option ROMs are completely different singular BIOS modules.
I think I got it now…
BIOS
├───PCI ROM: AHCI (Option) ROM
└───PCI ROM: RAID (Option) ROM
So when SATA mode is set to AHCI, it’s using AHCI Option ROM and when it’s set to RAID, it’s using RAID Option ROM? It switches between the two based on what your current settings are, right? Assuming of course that your board supports RAID.
Can you actually add RAID functionality to a board by modify the BIOS? If for example a board maker decides to produce two versions of the same board, one with RAID and one without RAID, but based on the same RAID capable Intel chipset. As a way of product segmentation perhaps? If the chipset is capable (e.g. Intel ICH9R), I don’t see why it would not be possible to “borrow” the Option ROM from the more expensive board (with RAID) and insert it in the BIOS of the less expensive board (without RAID).
I think I fully understand the meaning of this now. It’s a bit difficult to unpack. But it’s a message to those that want to attempt to replace their PCI ROM (Option ROM) of a newer generation of board that doesn’t have the AHCI logic/firmware stored in a separate AHCI ROM in the BIOS, in hope of updating the ROM version. It’s a warning so that they don’t do this exercise in vain and be disappointed. Correct?
But I wonder where this logic/firmware has been moved in newer boards?..
So this is basically saying that all that remains as a separate PCI ROM (Option ROM) that can be extracted and replaced in newer boards is the RAID ROM. Correct? This also touches on my question above, about AHCI vs. RAID capable boards. In other words, anyone who has an AHCI board that doesn’t support RAID will only be disappointed when they update the RAID ROM and realize they didn’t get any benefit? Of course, if their chipset is not RAID capable, then there’s no point in doing this (and they haven’t done their homework).
CBROM V1.98 Syntax and Command Line reference
CBROM.EXE V1.98 [08/27/08] (C)Phoenix Technologies 2001-2008
Syntax:
CBROM.EXE InputFile [/other] [8000:0] [RomFile|Release|Extract]
CBROM.EXE InputFile [/D|logo|vga....] [RomFile|Release|Extract][checksum]
InputFile : System BIOS to be added with Option ROMs
/D : For display all combined ROMs informations in BIOS
/epa|epa1-7 : Add EPA LOGO BitMap to System BIOS
/logo|logo1-7: Add OEM LOGO BitMap to System BIOS
/osb_logo|osb_logo1-7: Add OSB LOGO BitMap to System BIOS
/osb_bmp|osb_bmp1-7: Add OSB CPU BitMap to System BIOS
/oem0-7 : Add special OEM ROM to System BIOS
/err : Return error code after executed
/btvga : Add VGA ROM to Boot Rom Block Area.
/isa : Add ISA BIOS ROM to System BIOS.(/isa Filename [xxxx:0]) /vga, /logo, /pci, /awdflash, /cpucode, /epa, /acpitbl, /vsa, /hpm
/hpc, /fnt0 - 5, /ros, /nnoprom, /mib, /group0-5, /NoCompress
/jpeg|jpeg1-3: Add JPEG LOGO to System BIOS
/gif0-3 : Add GIF LOGO to System BIOS
/rpb : Add RPB ROM to System BIOS
/ver : Add version table of source code to System BIOS
/jpeg_eng : Add JPEG engine to System BIOS
/nc_cpucode : Add non-compress cpu code
/srom0-4 : Add software ROM
/setup0-1 : Add setup ROM
/biosf0-9 : Add BIOS feature ROM
/GV3 : Add GV3 ROM
/CALS : Calculate ROM Compress size but not add ROM in BIN file
/efi0-9 : Add EFI feature ROM
/minit : Add Intel memory module
/NVMM : Add nVIDIA memory module
/mpdrv : Add TPM MP driver
/madrv : Add TPM MA driver
/tcgsmi : Add TCG 32 bit smi code
/flshcode : Add flash part code
/SLPKey : Add SLP 2.0 Public Key
/SLPMarker : Add SLP 2.0 Marker
/NVPMU : Add PMU ROM
/BTMEM : Add memsizing module in bootblock
/HOLE0-7 : Add option ROM in hole
/htinit : Add AMD HT init module
/1pe32 : Add type 1 PE32 module in mainblock
/1pe32b : Add type 1 PE32 module in bootblock
/2pe32 : Add type 2 PE32 module in mainblock
/2pe32b : Add type 2 PE32 module in bootblock
/3pe32 : Add type 3 PE32 module in mainblock
/3pe32b : Add type 3 PE32 module in bootblock
/4pe32 : Add type 4 PE32 module in mainblock
/4pe32b : Add type 4 PE32 module in bootblock
/ACPIModule : Add ACPI module, such as SSDT module.
/SMI32 : Add 32-bit SMI module.
/SMIAP : Add application SMI module.
RomFile : File name of option ROM to add-in
noreserve : No reserve system color for BMP logo
Release : Release option ROM in current system BIOS
Extract : Extract option ROM to File in current system BIOS
checksum : Add checksum for Hole0~7 module at end of the hole.
/BOI UseDHCP Server_IP Static_IP Net_Mask Gate_Way DNS UseProxy
Proxy_IP ProxyPort: Setting Boot On Internet parameters.
/BOI : Show the Boot On Internet parameters.
Example 1 for setting the BOI parameters:
cbrom /boi 1 134.122.168.184 134.122.106.113 255.255.255.0
134.122.106.5 134.122.101.90 0 134.122.106.105 32896
Example 2 for setting the BOI parameters:
cbrom /boi 1, 134.122.168.184, , , , 134.122.101.90 0, ,32896
Example 3 for show the BOI parameters:
cbrom /boi
/TopHole:address : Add a module at fixed address.
Example: cbrom /TopHole:FFFD0000 xxx.bin
/osb_logo_gui|osb_logo1-7_gui: Add GUI OSB LOGO BitMap to System BIOS
/osb_bmp_gui|osb_bmp1-7_gui: Add GUI OSB CPU BitMap to System BIOS
/tseg0-3 : Add TSEG0~3.bin to ROM
<<< Examples >>>
CBROM.EXE 6a69s000.bin /D
CBROM.EXE 6a69s000.bin /VGA filename
CBROM.EXE 6a69s000.bin /VGA filename /ERR