Finally I found you guys :) BIOS Mod for MSI P55-GD65 needed

Hi there!

Do you know that feeling, when you just cannot (or better don’t want to) believe that there’s no solution for an issue? Here I am, I think you can help me.

The Mainboard: MSI P55-GD65 v.1.0
Link: http://www.msi.com/support/mb/P55GD65.html#down-bios

The OS: Win7 Ultimate 64bit SP1

The problem:
Never touch a running system.
That’s good and true until that very moment, when you realize that one of those old 1.5TB HDDs that was part of a RAID1 array dies.
No big deal, isn’t it?

The real problem is that I bought some new 3TB HDDs to replace the 2 old ones. AND HERE WE GO… 746GB

I don’t know how many people had that problem before. After some googling I started to update the MoBo’s BIOS (that was ugly, because you’re only able to flash that BIOS using an old really ooold USB stick)
The BIOS changelog was saying it solved the 2.2TB issue. Fine! That will work for me.

There’s a third HDD that was not supposed to be put in a RAID Array. That works fine and is known properly in Windows.
BUT if I hit the CTRL+I Keys to put the two 3TB HDDs into a RAID1 array I still have the 746GB Problem. That’s kind of annoying.

I’d like to integrate a newer Intel RAID ROM module to that latest BIOS (named .1.B), so that the 3TB HDDs are known by it properly.
I started reading this thread [Guide] AMI (non-UEFI) BIOS Modding
and got stuck when it came to load the ROM file. My BIOS Ends wit “.1B” or older Versions with “.190”.
Even after renaming the files to “.ROM” the MMTools are unable to load the files

Can somebody help me, please?
And hey, how can I find out what version of the Intel RAID ROM fits best for me?

Thank you
Regards
Frank

@ MMorheus:
Welcome at Win-RAID Forum!

The BIOS seems to be an AMI one, but it cannot be opened as it is with the MMTool.
You probably have to split the BIOS file and to do the modification with just one part of it.
Since I don’t have much experience with this sort of BIOS files, I hope, that someone else will help you.

You can only find it out yourself by trying different Intel RAID ROM versions, but I recommend to insert the Intel RST RAID ROM v11.2.0.1527.

Regards
Fernando

Hi!
Thanks for the quick response.
What exactly do you mean when you say that I have to split the file.
What tools are needed to do so?
Thanks again

I am not very familiar with BIOS files like yours. According to my knowledge your 4 MB sized BIOS has to be split into a 2 MB pieces (1 piece with the Intel Management Engine region, the other with all the "normal" BIOS modules).

Additionally the BIOS modder needs a Hex Editor to find out, where the BIOS file has to e split. Then the 2 MB BIOS file can be opened and modified by the AMI MMTool.

@ MMorheus:

You can find a guide about how to do it >here<
To make it easier for you, I have already split the BIOS. The “real” BIOS, which can be opened with the AMI MMTool and modified by you, is attached.

A7583IMS.rar (1.24 MB)


You’re the greatest!

I’ll Keep you up to date with my noobish progress. I hope it works. I really do hope so.

The most important thing is, that the remerged BIOS has exactly the same size and the same checksum-8 as the original one.
If you are uncertain, post your modded BIOS part and I will add it to the other part.

Hi Fernando!

Will the 3TB HDDs definitely be recognized as the full 3TB HDDs?

I’m asking because my first attempt didn’t solve the Problem.
I’ll try again with an older Intel ROM Version and I’ll post some screenshots.

I found this at Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Matrix_RAID



What do you think? Still worth a try? The Mainboard has a Seies 5 Controller, right?
Correct me if I’m wrong.

Thanks for all your help

Yes, if your mainboard BIOS contains an Intel RAID ROM v10.5.x.xxxx or higher.

Please explain, which Intel RAID ROM version you did insert into the BIOS and which result you got after having flashed this modified BIOS.

Yes, and it should not be a problem to get a BIOS successfully flashed and working after having inserted any Intel RST RAID ROM v10.5.x.xxxx or higher (e.g. v11.2.0.1527). Natively your BIOS contains the Intel MSM RAID ROM v8.9.0.1023.