[Guide] Award/Phoenix BIOS Modding

[mjd79]

As i said few posts up, I had this bios before, but it’s buggy and I want to use F8 with new AHCI ROM.

[Dagal]

@mjd79
Something went wrong for me. I never had this problem before. I’ll work on it. Therefore, in order not to subject you to experiments, I chose a different method. It should be 99% working. Check it out. I updated ICHAAHCI.BIN. In order not to displace MINIT, I installed the dummy FAKE.BIN. I checked everything and everything looks good. As always, I warn you that I am not responsible for BIOS firmware.
EP43S3l.rar (379.1 KB)

[mjd79]

Thank you. I will try it tomorrow. I’m recovering the BIOS by shorting pins 1 and 6 of main BIOS if board is bricked the Dual BIOS is not always working automatically, but it works in any case s long as the content of the second BIOS is not invalid (I have F9c there)
BTW. On this board I can run most of EP43/EP45 BIOS’es from boards with 4 phase VRM OFC the problem is in CPU voltage regulation for example, so it is not useful when I want overclock CPU.

[karakarga]

@Fernando,

As I have told you, not unrelated, still I did not hear about Award bios flashing parameters, so it will remain!

[Fernando]

@karakarga

I did not hear about Award bios flashing parameters, so it will remain!

This is a thread about how to modify an Award/Phoenix BIOS and not about how to flash such BIOS.
By the way - there are no Award BIOS flashing parameters. The mainboard manufacturers offer their own BIOS flash tool.

[limurphy]

I have a question about the checksum-16 for minit module ,since we don’t change anything inside the minit module, according to you tutorial the checksum-16 of the selected area should be same , isn’t it ?

[Dagal]

You are probably not familiar with the MINIT module Answer: No. Try moving MINIT to other locations from the main location.

[mjd79]

Gygabyte GA-880GM-UD2H (rev. 1.3)

Hi,Fernando,I’m from China.I think maybe I can help u guys.I had update my mobo’s(which is a Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H rev.1.0) AHCI rom & RAID rom successfully! TOOLS U NEED:winhex,cbrom1.55(latest versions will try to fix minit automatically,which will cause trouble,so we use 1.55),cbrom198,modfix.exe As u know,mod Gigabyte’s Award bios will change the location of “meminit.bin” or “ppminit.rom” module in bios.So i read this method from bbs.bios.net.cn and the pdf.We could creat a “fake” module,…

Great tutorial about adding fake.bin to avoid minit checksum-16 problem.

[limurphy]

You are right.I have tried to follow your tutorial,I use cbrom198f ,and the checksum-16 result same as yours.Thank you.

[limurphy]

There are no problem to use your method to check MEMINITENTRYPOINT & FIXBIOS in Gigabye EP45 ,EP43 series mother board bios.I have problem when try to mod Gigabyte X58AUD3R.F8A , the offset MEMINITENTRYPOINT are shown in the fig. 2, 80 A0 EB FF ,so ,where is the location of this in the bios ? The checksum-16 for minit module is 42 41 in fig1. and it was same as offset after FIXBIOS in the fig2.

[Dagal]

MEMINITENTRYPOINT in your case, at address B0 A0 EB FF (in HxD 000BA0B0) line
(E8 EB FE FF FF CB E8 99 56 00 00 CB E8 39 42 02)
although I think it should be B0 A0 FB FF.
cbrom works slightly incorrectly with BIOS 2 megabytes

[limurphy]

Thank you for your answer.

[Dagal]

@limurphy
By the way, I opened bios X58AUD3R.F6 which is 1024 kb and MEMINITENTRYPOINT - 10 75 F3 FF.
In X58AUD3R.F7L which is 2048 kb and MEMINITENTRYPOINT - E0 9F EB FF.
I think that MEMINITENTRYPOINT in BIOS X58AUD3R.F8A is B0 A0 EB FF due to the increase in BIOS to 2048 kb

[limurphy]

@Dagal

X58AUD3R.F6

I totally agree with you. I also check the MEMINITENTRYPOINT - 10 75 F3 FF in the bios X58AUD3R.F6. The content are almost same as in BIOS X58AUD3R.F8A at the offset B0 A0 EB FF .

[Masato]

I used CBROM v1.98 to extract the RAID ROM of two Award BIOS based Gigabyte boards. One board uses the Intel X38 chipset, and the other one uses the Intel X58 chipset. But the extracted ROMs are of different size.

Chipset	RAID ROM	Size
X38	ICH9RAID.BIN	64.0 KB (65,536 bytes)
X58	RAID_OR.BIN	76.5 KB (78,336 bytes)

I tried to replace the smaller ROM of X38 with the bigger (and newer) ROM of X58.

X:\Gigabyte>CBROM.EXE x38dq6.f9j /pci RAID_OR.BIN
CBROM.EXE V1.98 [08/27/08] (C)Phoenix Technologies 2001-2008
Adding RAID_OR.BIN ......... 60.1%
Adding MEMINIT.BIN  100.0%

X:\Gigabyte>

The following files were created in the parent folder.

• bios.rom
• bios2.rom
• FILE_BUF2.BIN
• tempMemI.bin
• original.tmp

Although the original BIOS file has been modified, this looks like a failed replacement! Correct? So is it true that you can’t replace a smaller ROM with a bigger ROM? Then how do you proceed? Give up and do something more useful and less frustrating?..

[Masato]

@Fernando

What is the sense of your last off-topic picture?

You mean the CBROM syntax and command line reference? I wanted to expand a little on this guide by adding a few examples of my own. Sadly I hit a roadblock.

If you want to know more about the usage of the CBROM tool, you should look into the start post of >this< thread.

Sorry, I didn’t see your comment before I posted. Is this Gigabyte guide created because Gigabyte boards need special procedures? I know you mentioned that some of them may require version 1.55 of CBROM. Coincidentally, I also picked an X58 board, just like in your guide. I will look into that guide.

[Fernando]

@Masato
I have moved your latest posts into this much better matching thread.
By reading the start post of this thread you may get answers to some of your questions.
Here are some notes:

1. The size of an Option ROM module depends on its version. Older mainboards may prefer an older Option ROM version, whereas newer mainboard should get a newer (later compiled) Option ROM version.
2. The BIOS contains compressed parts. This way it is possible to get a bigger size module inserted without increasing the size of the complete BIOS. A stronger compression compensates the size increase of a certain module.

[Masato]

@Fernando

Before you start with the BIOS modding procedure, it is strongle recommended to read carefully the separately published chapter “BIOS Modding: Introduction and Preparations”

Edit suggestion: Before you start with the BIOS modding procedure, it is strongly recommended to carefully read the separately published chapter “BIOS Modding: Introduction and Preparations”

@Fernando

Execute the following command (without the angular brackets, but with the complete name of the mainboard BIOS file, using capital or small letters doesn’t matter)

Edit suggestion: Execute the following command (without the angle brackets, but with the complete name of the mainboard BIOS file, using uppercase or lowercase letters)

@Fernando

If the BIOS file and the CBROM tool are matching, you now will see the content of the mainboard BIOS and even the names of the currently inserted RAID ROM module (e.g. ICHARAID.BIN).

Question: By “matchinig” you mean if the CBROM version is compatible with the BIOS file so that it can read it? I know you mentioned in the introduction that the Award BIOS of some Gigabyte boards require CBROM version 1.55 while others will work with version 1.98.

@Fernando

By the way: If you want to replace it by another RAID ROM version, you should customize the name of your prepared RAID ROM file. Only PCI ROM files with the exact similar name will be completely replaced.

Edit suggestion: Only PCI ROM files with the exact same name will be completely replaced.

Question: So if file name of the original PCI ROM that I want to replace is ICH9RAID.BIN, and I have a RAID_OR.BIN file with a newer firmware version, then I should rename RAID_OR.BIN to ICH9RAID.BIN, before I try to replace the original?

@Fernando

If you should be able to open the BIOS by using the above mentioned CBROM command, but cannot see the complete list of the included modules (incl. the PCI ROM ones), you may find >here< a guide about how to show (and to modify) the related BIOS components.

Question: How will I know if I’m seeing a complete list or not?

@Fernando

Now you just have to edit the shown letter of the desired PCI ROM module (example: B) and then to hit “Enter”.

Edit suggestion: Now you just have to type the shown letter of the desired PCI ROM module (example: B) and then hit “Enter”.

@Fernando

After having done it, you usually will see the name and the version of the PCI ROM module on the top right side of the Editor window

Edit suggestion: After having done that, you will usually see the name and the version of the PCI ROM module on the top right side of the Editor window

@Fernando

This picture shows, that the extracted PCI ROM module has been the Intel MSM RAID ROM v8.0.0.1038, when I have done the tests for this guide.

Edit suggestion: This picture shows that the extracted PCI ROM module was the Intel MSM RAID ROM v8.0.0.1038, when I made the examples for this guide.

@Fernando

The only difference is, that you have to replace the word “PCI” within the EXTRACT command by the short name of the related module you see on the left side of the BIOS structure overview

Edit suggestion: The only difference is, that you have to replace the word “PCI” by the short name of the related module you see on the left side of the BIOS structure overview

@Fernando

HTINIT, 2PE32

Question: Where is this? I don’t see it in the screenshot.

@Fernando

Even the modules of the different “HOLES” can be extracted this way.

Question: How or where do we see these holes?

[Fernando]

I like Forum members, who really want to know, what they are doing, but my advice for you is: Please read the available information, which are offered within this Forum, before you ask questions.
On the other hand you should consider, that I have written all my guides more than ten years ago. Within the last decade there were not only severe changes regarding the BIOS structure and modding options, but a change of my age as well (I am now 80 years old).

[Masato]

I’m sorry, I don’t mean to give you a hard time. I’m not even half your age and I feel burned out. I’m all too curious, and too much of a perfectionist. It’s not a healthy combination. So I will take your advice. Maybe at a later time I can turn what I have learned into a guide of my own. Thank you for staying active and sharing your knowledge and experience.