Hi all,
i recently began tinkering with my old socket a system. I’m able to mod new options into the bios, change romsips etc. I wondered if there is a possibility to update the cpu microcode. I tried to use MCExtractor v1.42 on various Nforce 2 based bios, but the extractor won’t find any microcodes. Isn’t MC Extractor able to extract these on Award 6.0PG based bios? I tried the MCE Extractor on Asus A8M32-SLI bios files and it showed the microcodes as expected. So i assume my usage of MCE is correct.
The hardware in question is Asus A7N8X, Abit NF7, DFI Lanparty Ultra B and similar boards. All Nforce 2 based and with Award 6.0PG bios.
Is there any known incompatibility or is there just no Award v6.0PG support built into MCE?
Thanks in advance!
For AWARD BIOS, you probably need to use Award BIOS Module Extractor first to get the microcode blob and then parse it with MC Extractor. Putting things back though will require the use of CBROM or whatever that tool was called. There are some AWARD related sticky BIOS guides on the BIOS Modding section of the forum.
Athlon XP for Socket A hasn’t any microcode, has it?
I was talking in general but I think some of them do have microcodes as they were K7 based.
That seems to be my problem. Here’s the output of cbrom v1.98 for the Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe 1008 Bios. cbrom doesn’t display any microcodes at the bottom and there’s no CPUCODE.BIN or NCPUCODE.bin module in the bios. I even extracted all modules and opened them one-by-one with MCE. Still no microcodes found.
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cbrom198 V1.98 [08/27/08] (C)Phoenix Technologies 2001-2008
******** c18E1008.bin BIOS component ********
No. Item-Name Original-Size Compressed-Size Original-File-Name
================================================================================
0. System BIOS 20000h(128.00K) 12BFEh(75.00K) a7n8x-e.bin
1. XGROUP CODE 0C750h(49.83K) 087D0h(33.95K) awardext.rom
2. ACPI table 046AFh(17.67K) 018A6h(6.16K) ACPITBL.BIN
3. EPA LOGO 0168Ch(5.64K) 002AAh(0.67K) AwardBmp.bmp
4. YGROUP ROM 06D70h(27.36K) 044A4h(17.16K) awardeyt.rom
5. GROUP ROM[ 0] 05A40h(22.56K) 026E6h(9.72K) _EN_CODE.BIN
6. PCI ROM[A] 0A800h(42.00K) 055B5h(21.43K) 4227.BIN
7. PCI ROM[B] 10000h(64.00K) 07593h(29.39K) NVPXES.NIC
8. PCI ROM[C] 0F800h(62.00K) 088F5h(34.24K) Marvel.BIN
9. OEM0 CODE 08B90h(34.89K) 006F9h(1.74K) BSMICODE.ROM
10. LOGO BitMap 4B30Ch(300.76K) 1A275h(104.61K) A7N8X-E0.BMP
11. Flash ROM 0A0E7h(40.23K) 057DEh(21.97K) AWDFLASH.EXE
12. VRS ROM 02280h(8.63K) 014BBh(5.18K) ANTI_VIR.BIN
Total compress code space = 5D000h(372.00K)
Total compressed code size = 5A4ECh(361.23K)
Remain compress code space = 02B14h(10.77K)
** Micro Code Information **
Update ID CPUID | Update ID CPUID | Update ID CPUID | Update ID CPUID
------------------+--------------------+--------------------+-------------------
[quote="DeathBringer, post:3, topic:34994"] Athlon XP for Socket A hasn't any microcode, has it? [/quote]
I fear that's the issue. Still i wonder why DFI stated "To include the micro codes of mobile CPUs." on their 2004/6/19 Bios for the Lanparty Ultra B and what exactly was changed.
Can't post a link to the changelog yet, seems new users are blocked from inserting link in their posts. Anyways, it's stated on lejabeach.com
Those BIOS do not seem to contain microcodes no matter what the changelog says
Thanks! I was expecting this, but still wanted to make sure it’s not me using the tools in a wrong way. So i need to find the other changes DFI may have made…