Asrock P55 Deluxe3

BIOS/UEFI Modding BIOS modules (PCI ROM, EFI and others)
1

Hello,

I am trying to update the latest BIOS for this board but I have a few questions. I just picked up this board on ebay to replace an old gigabyte that gave up the ghost. I would like to use the Marvel controller since it has the extra PCI lanes from the PLX bridge and SATA6 support for my Samsung 830.

1. Intel RAID
-BIOS 1.70 has Intel OROM RAID 9.5.0.1037, I replaced it with 12.7.0.1936 with TRIM mod
-Does it make sense to update to this version from 9.5? or should I go with latest 11.x?

2. Marvel AHCI/RAID
-Can’t find the OROM in the BIOS file, it only has Intel RAID, Realtek LOM, and Intel VGA (Strange as this doesn’t have any onboard gfx outputs for Clarkdale)
-Also the procedure to update Marvel does not seem straight forward. Is it replace the option ROM, boot into option ROM and there is going to be a option to update firmware?

I have attached the file. Any comments would be appreciated. This site has me wanting to update all my old motherboards just for the sake of it. Can’t wait to hit them all. I am sure I will be asking plenty more questions.

http://66.226.78.21/downloadsite/bios/11…e3(1.70)DOS.zip

2

@ Trinergy:
Welcome at Win-RAID Forum!

Please give me the exact mainboard name or attach the actual BIOS file. I am not able to extract the EXE file you have linked.
EDIT: I got it already by downloading the Flash Instant BIOS version.

Regards
Fernando

3

It depends on what you want to do with this mainboard.
If you want to create an Intel RAID0 array with SSDs as members, I recommend to update the Intel RAID ROM to v11.6.0.1702 mod for P55.
For all other usage options I would insert the Intel RAID ROM v11.2.0.1527.

You are right - there is no Marvell RAID OROM within the BIOS v1.70 for your ASRock mainboard. So there is nothing to update regarding the Marvell SATA Controller.

4

Thanks for checking on it. I just used 7-zip to open the EXE. Glad you were able to find it. Yeah I actually liked the option to do RAID0 on these older boards with TRIM but didn’t know which one to use as there were 3 or 4 different sets where you or someone modded them for P55. So I just went for the latest and greatest.

Do you think this means I can’t boot from Marvel if the OROM is not there? If so could I just replace the GFX BIOS with the Marvel one?

Sorry for the million questions.

5

Why do you think, that you will not be able to boot off any drive, which is connected with a Marvell SATA port? I think, that it will work.
The only thing, which probably will not work without a Marvell RAID OROM, is the creation and the management of a Marvell RAID array.

No, you will not be able to get the Marvell OROM working by just inserting it, because the System BIOS doesn’t know anything about the existence of the Marvell OROM.

6

I thought it wouldn’t work because a BIOS is not present. My old VIA 6421A PCI card can’t boot because it doesn’t have a BIOS. Never tried booting off of my sabertooth 990FX R2 asmedia so I don’t have any other frame of reference. But that’s cool if it can boot off the Marvell without a BIOS. Have to wait till Tuesday to find out.

7

Why do you think, that you will not be able to boot off any drive, which is connected with a Marvell SATA port? I thin, that it will work.
The only thing, which probably will not work without a Marvell RAID OROM, is the creation and the management of a Marvell RAID array.

No, you will not be able to get the Marvell OROM working by just inserting it, because the System BIOS doesn’t know anything about the existence of the Marvell OROM.




Well it looks like the Intel OROM doesn’t work but the Realtek does. Intel OROM just gives me a blinking cursor when set to RAID mode. This was with 11.6 modified. Will try 11.2 unmodded. 11.2 didn’t work going to try the highest 10.8 now.

8

10.1.0.08 Seems to be the highest I can go.

I have attached a working 10.1 and a 10.5 if you want to examine them.

9

This will only work, if your mainboard has an on-board Marvell SATA Controller, which is supported by the mainboard BIOS.

This indicates, that your ASRock P55 Deluxe3 BIOS has an OROM size problem (not enough space wiithin the OROM section).
What you may try to do is to use the REMOVE/INSERT option instead of the simplier REPLACE operation. This is the way to go:
1. Rename the original BIOS to P55DX_2.ROM.
2. Open it with the MMTool v3.26.
3. Remove the original Intel RAID ROM module.
2. Save the BIOS.
3. Insert the TRIM for P55 modded Intel RAID ROM v11.6.0.1702.
4. Save the modded BIOS.
5. Rename it.

I don’t see any attached file.

10

Thanks. I will try that. I wonder why the attach file function didn’t work. I will try again if your suggestions fails.

11

This will only work, if your mainboard has an on-board Marvell SATA Controller, which is supported by the mainboard BIOS.

This indicates, that your ASRock P55 Deluxe3 BIOS has an OROM size problem (not enough space wiithin the OROM section).
What you may try to do is to use the REMOVE/INSERT option instead of the simplier REPLACE operation. This is the way to go:
1. Rename the original BIOS to P55DX_2.ROM.
2. Open it with the MMTool v3.26.
3. Remove the original Intel RAID ROM module.
2. Save the BIOS.
3. Insert the TRIM for P55 modded Intel RAID ROM v11.6.0.1702.
4. Save the modded BIOS.
5. Rename it.

I don’t see any attached file.



Fernando - looks like there are lot of parameters to enter when inserting an Option ROM. I couldn’t find an article on how to insert. Do I not have to fill any of that information? I tried without it but I didn’t see the new one. I did see that an id "80" was created at the end of the BIOS. Thanks.

12

You are right - the insertion of a PCI OROM module into a non-UEFI AMI BIOS is too complicated and risky.
So there are only 2 options left for you:

  • a) Stick with the Intel RAID ROM v10.1.0.1008. It is newer and probably better than the original OROM of the v9 series. Only disadvantage: TRIM in RAID0 is not supported.
  • b) Ask ASRock for a new BIOS with an Intel RAID ROM v11.x.x.xxxx. Once you got it, you will be able to update the OROM to the TRIM modded v11.6.0.1702.

I am sorry, that I cannot offer you more help.

Regards
Fernando

13

You are right - the insertion of a PCI OROM module into a non-UEFI AMI BIOS is too complicated and risky.
So there are only 2 options left for you:

  • a) Stick with the Intel RAID ROM v10.1.0.1008. It is newer and probably better than the original OROM of the v9 series. Only disadvantage: TRIM in RAID0 is not supported.
  • b) Ask ASRock for a new BIOS with an Intel RAID ROM v11.x.x.xxxx. Once you got it, you will be able to update the OROM to the TRIM modded v11.6.0.1702.

I am sorry, that I cannot offer you more help.

Regards
Fernando


No worries. You have been a tremendous help and resource. I have learned more from you here than any other resource. I will try contacting ASRock. For me more importantly is the PWM CPU Fan control is terrible on this thing. It doesn’t change at all no matter what the settings. EEk.