[Guide] AMI (non-UEFI) BIOS Modding

BIOS/UEFI Modding BIOS Modding Guides and Problems
21

I meant bios, how can I does the recovery process work

22

At first step you should clear the CMOS. If you should still not be able to enter the BIOS after having done that, I recommend to read >this< thread.

23

@Deccal

Have a look at this thread. If the Boot Block of your BIOS is not damaged, this procedure could fix the problem. If your PC is not equipped with a Floppy Disk Drive (which is probably the case), it’s explained that it’s possible with a USB Flash Drive as well.

24

Hello, Fernando. I’m trying to update Intel Matrix Storage Manager option ROM v8.0.0.1038, which is in my Asus P5Q3 mobo, to the latest Intel RST(e) RAID ROM v13.1.0.2126 founded here. But the problem is that it doesn’t enough space to replace it. I tried to delete OEM Logo module but the space still not enough. Which module at all can be safely removed from BIOS? In mine the following ones is in:

15 Memory Sizing
15 Memory Sizing
11 P6 Micro Code
2C User Defined or Reserved
08 Bootblock - runtime interface
FD User Defined or Reserved
30 User Defined or Reserved
FC User Defined or Reserved
0C ROMID
1B Single Link Arch BIOS
F2 User Defined or Reserved
20 PCI Option ROM
F5 User Defined or Reserved
21 Multi Language
21 Multi Language
20 PCI Option ROM
04 Setup Client
21 Multi Language
20 PCI Option ROM
0E OEM Logo
18 Display Manager
1E Reserved
19 Font Module
1A Small Logo(s)
06 SMBIOS
2B User Defined or Reserved
80 Image Information

Thanks.

25

According to my knowledge it will be useless to remove any other module - you will not win the needed space for a 120 KB sized Intel RAID ROM module.
As you can see >here<, our Forum member hanson has tried everything to get any of the up-to-date Intel RAID ROM versions inserted into the ASUS P5Q3 DeLuxe BIOS, but got a failure with all of them.
That is why I recommend to update the Intel MSM RAID ROM v8.0.0.1038 to the Intel RST RAID ROM v10.1.0.1008. Since this version has an uncompressed size of 85 KB, it will not be a problem to get it inserted into the BIOS and properly working after having flashed the modded BIOS. All later released Intel RAID ROM modules have an uncompressed size of not less than 119 KB.

26

Thank you very much, Fernando, for advice. I’ll update to v10.1.0.1008.

P.S. BTW, I have JMicron JMB36x RAID ROM modul v1.8 if you need to post it here.

27

I am always interested in new RAID ROM modules. Which is the exact version number?

28

Here it is: jmb363_1.08.01.7z. Founded it last year or even earlier. As I remember, noted that this version was removed from site because of slow external SATA performance as a result. Didn’t tested external SATA but on my previous P5B Deluxe mobos it worked well unlike most of other older versions which causes hangs recognizing HDD during POST.
P.S. Also there is P5B Deluxe ROMs updated BIOS (by me) with:
1) Intel_RST_RAID_ROM_v10.1.0.1008
2) jmb363_1.08.01
3) Marvell_LAN-ROM_DEV-4380_v6.68.1.3
…if anyone interested.

29

I think this 1.08.01 is older than 1.07.28, being just a test branch that was abandoned. Not only the year is older - 2009 vs 2010 - but there are reports about not fully working (here and here). Not even JMicron site has them anymore.

But since 1.07.28 has its bugs, I suppose it is up to user choice to test them.

30


Fernando.

I’m stuck with an Asus P5B and trying to install Windows XP x64 on it with AHCI enabled.

The problem is that no matter which F6 driver I use, I get a 0x0000007b in the text mode setup part.

I think the problem is that Asus made a mistake when they defined the onboard controller as 2822, because the chipset is ICH8 and NOT ICH8R. When setup tries to run the iaStor.sys on the wrong chip, it BSODs. This is a common problem with the P5B and its variants, and I have not yet found a way around this.

I thought about modifying the Dev ID to 2821 with MMTool, but I don’t know if this is possible.

Can you please have a look at the BIOS for me?

http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/sock…B-ASUS-2104.zip

Thanks

edit1: I just ran a low-level PCI ID util from Ultimate Boot CD, and it is showing device 2824 as well, so I wonder if I should target my F6 towards that device. The problem is that your updates F6 disk does not work. It just freezes when I use it in the XP x64 setup. If you could take a look at that I’d really appreciate it. I tried hex-editing the DEV 2822 to DEV 2821 with a hex editor. Succeeded in changing the DEV ID, but did not help.

edit 2: YES!

I got it to work by slipstreaming your universal driver onto the CD and targetting for DEV 2824 instead of 2822.

Thanks again Fernando!

31

It’s fine, that you succeeded at least.
You obviously had mixed something before:

  1. DEV_2822 is the DeviceID of the "Intel Desktop Express SATA RAID Controller" and has nothing to do with your your system as long as you are running it in AHCI mode.
  2. The correct DeviceID of your on-board "Intel(R) ICH8 SATA AHCI Controller" is DEV_2824 and not supported by any original Intel AHCI driver. That is why you had to load/slipstream a modded variant of the Intel AHCI driver.
  3. Your problem was an AHCI driver and not a BIOS related one. So it had nothing to do with the topic of this thread, because the Intel RAID ROM version of your mainboard BIOS was/is irrelevant (not used at all), since your on-board Intel SATA Controller has been set to "AHCI" mode.

Enjoy your Windows XP x64 running in AHCI mode with your Intel ICH8 Chipset system!
Fernando

32


I did try your drivers in the beginning, but like I said, it doesn’t work with F6 in Windows setup. I can see it trying to display the box, because in the corner of the screen there appears the ascii symbol of a box corner, but the system just freezes. This may have something to do with the size of the description entries for the controllers. Maybe I’ll perform an experiment and trim the INFs and see if setup will display it then.


Yes, you’re quite right now that I think about it. I checked all the INFs from all the different versions I downloaded, and DEV_2824 isn’t there. Why is that? Was this an oversight on Intel’s part?

edit: (Let me answer my own question with an answer you gave to me a few months ago)



So P5B is ICH8, not ICH8R. Intel never intended for it to be used for AHCI, that’s why they never released a driver, eventhough Asus implemented "AHCI" in the BIOS. Do you know if TRIM works with ICH8 as it does with ICH8R/ICH8-M as long as I’m using OROM 1.20E?


Yes, you’re right, my problem had nothing to do with the BIOS in the end, but the reason why I posted it here is because MMTOOL was showing VEN_8086 DEV_2822:



On a side topic, I’ve got a P5B-VM SE with ICH8 but no AHCI option (Checked the BIOS with MMTOOL, the OROM isn’t even there. Checked AMIBCP, there’s no hidden option either). Do you have any advice about possibly implementing AHCI into the BIOS? If you’re interested, here’s a link:

http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/sock…SUS-SE-1101.zip

33

That is why I recommend to integrate the driver by using a tool like nLite.

TRIM doesn’t work at all with Windows XP and Vista, because both Operating Systems do not support this feature.

No, only the mainboard manufacturer would have been able to add AHCI support to an ICH8 chipset mainboard.

34


Right, Win7 and up… But does ICH8 support it properly? I’ve seen conflicting reports, so I wonder if OROM 1.20E has something to do with it. Is it possible to use later OROMs with ICH8? Like OROM from ICH9/ICH10?


Right… So this is low-level BIOS programming we’re talking about… I would be tempted to try a BIOS from a variant of the P5B-VM SE, but it looks like the variants are shrinks of the P5B design, while the SE is a completely new design, so that would likely brick the board.

35

AFAIK TRIM works with all Intel chipsets, when the OS is Win7 or newer, the SATA mode is "AHCI" and the driver is either the generic MS AHCI or an Intel RST driver.

3 x "No!"

36

According to this Intel document, only ICH7 AHCI and up:

http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/imsm/sb/CS-022304.htm

37

Ok, older Intel Chipsets are not supported by any Intel RST driver.

38

Fernando,

Thank you for posting all these guides and tutorials - I already learned a lot! However, I am currently stuck with the following problem:
I want to insert the ASMedia 106x AHCI ROM v0.954 module into the bios of my current mainboard (Asrock 980DE3/U3S3). I have downloaded the bios, the AHCI rom module and the MMTool. I can successfully open the bios with the tool but now I am stuck and dont know how to proceed. Can you help me?
In case you want to have a look at the bios yourself, I got it from here: http://66.226.78.22/downloadsite/bios/AM…S3(1.60)ROM.zip and the rom module from your other thread.

Best,

greeny

39

@ greeny18:
Welcome at Win-RAID Forum!

This is what you should do:

  1. Rename the BIOS file to 980DEUS1.ROM.
  2. Open it by using the AMI MMTool v3.26.
  3. Go to the line, where the ASMedia Option ROM is listed, and highlight it.
  4. Click the tab "Replace" and navigate to the folder, where the ASMedia ROM file named 1b21-0612_v0954.bin is stored.
    Now the MMTool window should look like this:

    Replacement ASMedia AHCI ROM.png
    Replacement ASMedia AHCI ROM.png606×509 12.8 KB

  5. Hit the "Replace" button.
  6. Save the modified BIOS.
  7. Rename the BIOS file to the original name.
  8. Flash the BIOS.

Good luck!
Dieter (alias Fernando)
40

Hey,

worked like a charm - thanks a lot! I was hoping that this would improve the performance of my SSD that I had connected to the Sata3 port of this controller - sadly it didnt. Is there any other firmware version or driver that might help to get better performance (I have tested the SSD in another computer and got way better results so I strongly believe that it is the controllers fault). Sorry for the slightly offtopic question.

Thanks again!