Modding and upgrading an ASUS P5E-VM DO bios

Hello,

I’m soon getting an ASUS P5E-VM DO motherboard and so far i’m already looking to mod and upgrade the BIOS to the latest version (0902).

This motherboard seems to be a bit special, Q35 (Bearlake) and ICH9DO chipsets, so i assume it also comes with an Intel ME 3 AMT so i’m probably going to upgrade it too (updating it to 3.2.60.1060). The bios ROM on this motherboard is quite big to be this old, 4MB size!!.

If you read on the BIOS download page you can see the next:

*Please set service mode Jumper to 2-3 during Bios update and unplug Memory from DIMM Slot A1, remember to set back the service mode Jumper to 1-2 after Bios update and plug Memory Back to DIMM Slot A1 or you will receive an error message.

This is the first time i face that kind of requeriments to update a BIOS, so i start looking at the motherboard manual about that jumper but i can’t find anything, so i google about it and i get to this thread and this starts to bother me a lot…
Someone with the exact same motherboard reports the error Me is in recovery state after only updating the BIOS and apparently he followed the steps about the DIMM slot and most important setting the service mode jumper (btw i actually found where the jumper is located looking at images of the motherboard on google, it is just next to the southbridge cooler). Don’t know if he really screwed on the process like not setting the jumper back before the first reboot / turning on the computer after the flash, if that was the case, i don’t know what is the deal with that jumper, seems it affects the ME firmware so even if i update the bios just fine and later i plan to update the ME firmware this seems to be a bit risky?.

Now i want to talk about the BIOS itself, it comes with 4 OROMS:

OROM1: Intel RAID for SATA v7.5.0.1017 (64Kb size) (8086:2822)

Do you think an Intel RST RAID ROM will work on this motherboard or should i stick to MSM ROMs?, so far i tried modding with 11.6.0.1702 which is much bigger than the original 64Kb one and i can save the bios without the size error BUT i guess after the flash, when the computer boots and needs to decompress it to load i will get the typical error message about not enough space to load the rom.
So this one will be trial and error?. 11.6.0.1702 → 10.1.0.1008 → 8.9.1.1002 → 8.5.0.1030

OROM2: Intel Boot Agent GE v1.2.60 (8086:10BD)

Don’t think i will get any benefit since i won’t ever be using PXE so i won’t bother.

OROM3: VGA Rom Intel Q33/Q35/G33 build number 1471 (8086:29C2)

I got a 1653 VGA Rom, so while i’m at it i will just update this one although if i’m going to use a dedicated graphic card.

OROM4: JMicron PCIE-to-SATAII/IDE RAID Controller BIOS v1.06.70 (197B:2368)

Not bothering since it is just the IDE devices controller and i won’t be using any or maybe a DVD reader.


So any recommendations, ideas or whatever will be welcome.

Also, after i’ve done something i will keep posting here just to report the results.

@quetzalin :
I have moved your post into this Sub-Forum, because you obviously haven’t yet the modded BIOS.

I am not sure about that, but since your future mainboard has an Intel Q35 chipset and does fully support the Intel Rapid Storage Technology, there seems to be a good chance to get an Intel RST RAID ROM working with it.
As first step I recommend to update the current Intel MSM RAID ROM v7 series to the Intel RST RAID ROM v10.1.0.1008, which is the last one with a very small size.
If you should succeed and your RAID array should run fine with the Intel RST ROM/driver combo v10.1.0.1008, you may even try to get the Intel RST RAID ROM v11.2.0.1527 inserted and to update the Intel RAID driver to v11.2.0.1006.

Regarding the relationship between flashing a modded BIOS and the message "ME is in recovery state" you should write a separate post within the Subforum "Special: Intel Management Engine". Our Intel ME expert plutomaniac knows much more about this topic than me.

Good luck!

I was finally able to flash my modded bioses and i succeeded with the next:

Intel OROM updated to v10.1.0.1008 with TRIM support
Intel Boot Agent updated to v1.5.43
Intel VGA Rom updated to v1653
JMicron PCIE-to-SATAII/IDE RAID Controller updated to v1.08.0

And just for the record, the download link for the modded BIOS (based on the official version 0902) in case someone needs/wants it is >here<.

Intel OROM v11.2.0.1527 didn’t work, the computer gets stuck with a blank screen when it was supposed to load the OROM, no errors or anything.