MSI X58A-GD65 PCB 4.3 (ERP 180) [ICH10R] Intel RST 10.5.x+ OROM MOD Help

BIOS/UEFI Modding BIOS Modding Guides and Problems
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I have 3 3TB hard drives that I’d like to get to work for extra storage (not for booting) in RAID 5 on my MSI X58A-GD65 PCB 4.3 (ERP 180) [ICH10R]. I currently have BIOS Version: VN.1 (aka Version: V23.1) BIOS Date: 3/19/2011 with Intel RST firmware 8.5.0.1030 loaded on it. This OROM is 79kb in size. I’m trying to get the newer 10.5.x+ OROMs loaded onto it (117/119kb). All attempts result in the same result (even after CMOS settings being cleared via dedicated motherboard CMOS reset button OR leaving power unplugged for 10+ minutes with CMOS battery out: when the Intel RAID firmware is supposed to be shown/loaded during post it results in a flashing cursor instead of actually loading it.

I have tried Intel_RST_RAID-ROM_v10.5.0.1034, v11.2.0.1527, and v11.6.0.1702_mod_by_CPL0_for_ICH10R. I have even tried v11.6.0.1702_mod_by_CPL0_for_ICH10R with the OEM LOGO removed to clear some space - same result.

The A7522IMS.N10 bios file that I am working with (VN.1 aka v23.1) is 4096KB in size, so from my limited knowledge this is a rather larger size non-UEFI bios so I figured this would work without a hitch - but no such luck so far (I have attached the bios to this post for those that would like to look at it or try to get it working for me, etc).

I’ve emailed MSI tech support in hopes that they have a newer N-series bios for this PCB 4.3 motherboard (PCB 4.11 uses the M-series which seems to be more active in terms of bios releases than the N-series) but I do not expect much help from them on this. I will also be calling them next week when their phone tech support is available during weekday business hours.

If anyone has any other ideas as to how to get this working I’d really appreciate it. Otherwise I might just hunt around for a cheap PCI or PCIe based 4-port RAID5 capable RAID card that supports 3TB+ size drives. Problem is I already have one 4-port raid card in my system (/w 4 x 4TB drives in RAID 5) and a wack of other PCI/PCIe cards so I have no free slots at the moment! :frowning:

Again, any help would be appreciated. This stuff is kind of fun messing around with so I don’t mind experimenting a bit if any of you have some crazy ideas for me to try :slight_smile:

A7522IMS.zip (979 KB)

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Hi,

had the same with the ASUS P5Q3 Deluxe Board of my wife’s setup. The last OROM that was accepted is the 10.1.0.1008 one. Also removing OEM picture and things like that made no different. Try the 10.1 it should work.

Regards hanson

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@ trafsta:
Welcome at Win-RAID Forum!

Yes, it is not easy to understand, that it is not possible to get a 40 KB bigger OROM module into a 4 MB sized BIOS file, but it is true: Many or maybe nearly all original X58 chipset mainboard BIOSes have limited space especially for OROM modules. As hanson already has posted, the last Intel RAID ROM version, which can be inserted successfully, is v10.1.0.1008 (uncompressed size: 85 KB).
AFAIK there is no way to enhance the available OROM space except by a complete reconstruction of the BIOS architecture, which only can be done by the mainboard manufacturer.
I am sorry, but I cannot help you in this case.

Regards
Fernando

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Thanks for the prompt replies guys. I was considering trying 10.1 as I also noticed it was just 85kb in size, however, I did not bother trying since I figured there was no way that it would allow 3TB+ size drives anyways. I’m not sure if there are any other advantages to going with it though.

I suppose I had just hoped it would work since even some MSI ICH9 motherboards accepted the newer files, and some other X58 motherboards from different manufacturers worked fine too. Such a shame! :frowning:

I’ll keep investigating a little though.

Again, thanks for your prompt replies.

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This is the response I received from MSI Tech support:

"Internal test result using 10.6 ROM had resulted in failure when we asked our R&D to try it on the PCB 4.11, in addition with the lack of Intel support to this modification. Both PCB 4.11 & 4.3 are equipped with RAID ROM 8.5 now. Finally, if your board is PCB 4.3 then you can only use BIOS ver N.xx (23.xx) series. The latest beta we have is N.22 (attached and viewable in IE only)."

I’ll try it with N.22 (I’m currently on N.10) but I’m sure it will have the same result. Worth a shot though… and I suppose that at the very least I might as well go to 10.1 just for the hell of it…