@Todd Sauve @outlawist @Trigun @paulmartinez @luca79rio @mrB4el @ jst68 @MeatWar

EFI ROM updates:



microcode updates:







Okay, I went back and did a manual NVMe mod via MMTool v 4.50.0.23 as per the pic shown below:



This corrected mod should fix up the memory hiccups with the previous NVMe mods and lead to the NVMe "Promised Land"

Please note post#1 with updated bios available!




Cheers and much success!

I finally got my hardware.

I got an Adata SX8200 Pro and a Yateng M.2 NVME SSD PCIe Adapter.

After some fiddling, the system is booting Windows 10 from the SX8200 Pro. However, I am getting less than 800 MB/s (read) in CrystalDiskMark.

I have already checked the driver and Windows 10 is using the Standard NVMe driver. I have put he controller in the last PCIe x16 slot (the one furthest away from the CPU).

Shouldn't I see better performance?

Any help is appreciated!

Zitat von jst68 im Beitrag #77

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I have put he controller in the last PCIe x16 slot (the one furthest away from the CPU).

Shouldn't I see better performance?

Any help is appreciated!

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@begemot Thank you! You are correct! I have made the same discovery after taking another look at the board specifications yesterday evening.

Anyhow, I am up and running. Getting around 2.8 MB/s read performance on my Windows 10 boot drive. Not bad I think.

Here is what worked for me:

1. GPT Check
- Confirm that all existing drives are GPT
- If not, convert them using a tool like Paragon Partition Manager (that's what I used for one of my drives; it's free!)

2. Install @hancor 's ROM
- Download the ROM. IMPORTANT: Make sure you are having the exact same motherboard! See first post!
- Extract ROM archive to a newly formatted USB flash drive (FAT or FAT32)
- You should end up a with a USB flash drive containing one file: Z87PL.CAP
- IMPORTANT: Connect your USB flash drive to the specially marked USB port
- Open your case and press the BIOS flash button on the motherboard. You need to hold it for a few seconds until an LED fires up. Once you release the button, the BIOS will be flashed

3. Hardware Installation
- Install NVME adapter and drive
- Important: Use PCIe slot 1 or 2. Slot 3 is only x2 mode and won't give you full performance!

4. Validate BIOS
- Check the Boot tab in your BIOS (advanced mode). It should show your new drive.
- Comment: It would be nice if there would another indicator somewhere showing that we are indeed running a different BIOS than before.

5. Install OR Migration
You have two options here. You can either way install your system from scratch or you can migrate you existing Windows 10 system disk.
IMPORTANT: I have been using Windows 10 2004 which didn't give me any trouble with recognizing the new disk for migration, but it is my understanding that 2004 includes some new functionality for NVME that wasn't there before.
a) Install
- IMPORTANT: Remove old disk before installation!
- Use a Windows 10 USB flash and install Windows to your new drive.
- Reboot

b) Migration
- IMPORTANT: Requires the new disk to be bigger than your system disk!
- Boot into Windows 10
- Locate your new disk in Disk Management
- Use a third party tool like AOMEI Backupper (free version is sufficient) to "clone" your existing system disk to the new disk.
- IMPORTANT: Use Paragon Partition Manager (or another similar tool) to move the recovery partition on your disk to the end of the disk. Then increase your system partition to use all the space your new drive has to offer.
- Shutdown and remove old disk
- Reboot
- Confirm that your new disk has the desired drive letter. IMPORTANT: It needs to match the drive letter of your old drive!

6. Validate Drive Performance
- Use a tool like Crystal Disk Mark 7 to confirm drive performance
- Done!


Hope this will help someone!

Big thank you to @hancor for creating the BIOS!

Zitat von jst68 im Beitrag #79

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3. ...
- Important: Use PCIe slot 1 or 2. Slot 3 is only x2 mode and won't give you full performance!

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Zitat von jst68 im Beitrag #79

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4. ...
- Comment: It would be nice if there would another indicator somewhere showing that we are indeed running a different BIOS than before.

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@begemot

Zitat

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Just look at the microcode in the BIOS. It will change to 28 if the firmware is successful.

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Yes, that's possible, but I was hoping for something easier to spot. Like showing the BIOS version number with an "N" in the end, for example.

Zitat von jst68 im Beitrag #81

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Like showing the BIOS version number with an "N" in the end, for example.

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@begemot @jst68 - It's possible, and on a basic level, yes it's that simple.
But this is not ideal to do such mod for no real reason, several modules need edited because it depends on where/how you look at the BIOS version as to which will be used/shown to user.

Zitat von Lost_N_BIOS im Beitrag #83

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It's possible

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@begemot - The edit is not done on the BIOS as a whole with hex editor, you have to extract the modules that contain this value and edit, then reinsert and rebuild BIOS.
I will do this for someone if they need, but they need to tell me where they are wanting to see this changed at (ie in BIOS, in CPU-z, etc). I checked, and in this BIOS, two modules need edited as noted below
1. 177B2C74-9674-45F4-AAEB-43F5506AE0FE = AsusPostMessage = What you see at POST Screen, and possibly what you see in BIOS as BIOS version
2. DAF4BF89-CE71-4917-B522-C89D32FBC59F = SMBIOSStaticData = What you see in CPU-z, and or may also be what you see in BIOS as BIOS version.

For me, this is more a question of concept: Since BIOS 2103 has been modified, it simply isn't BIOS 2103 anymore. As such, there should be an easily visible way for people who don't have a good technical understanding (or the skill to look up the micro code in the BIOS). It also avoids confusion. I mean the flashing process doesn't provide any visible updates beyond the LED on the motherboard. So, you might believe that you have patched to the latest version because it "worked last time", but for whatever it didn't and you might be still on an older release... So, it is a mix of user friendliness, clarity and convenience for me.

Anyhow, I get the point that it takes more work. It's just a suggestion and I am already grateful that somebody has spent some time to give some extra life to our old motherboards.

@Lost_N_BIOS

In perfect harmony with feng shui, the date must also be changed.
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Zitat von jst68 im Beitrag #86

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As such, there should be an easily visible way for people who don't have a good technical understanding (or the skill to look up the micro code in the BIOS).

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@jsr68 - Well, it's pretty simple, you download a mod BIOS, keep it in a mod BIOS folder, and then when you flash it you know it's mod BIOS
People that use mod BIOS rarely if ever use stock BIOS, so if you're here and using this BIOS, you already know you are using mod BIOS
And when you flash it in and reboot, you know it's in there seems simple to me

If BIOS update fails, you'll either have brick, or you'll see USB Flashback NOT working, so you'd know there was an issue.

@begemot - Same/similar usually, but I did not check right now.
Current in-use microcode can also be seen with HWINFO64 too - I can't believe CPU-z does not show this already!

Zitat von Lost_N_BIOS im Beitrag #88

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I can't believe CPU-z does not show this already!

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@Lost_N_BIOS
I agree with your statement that I do know that I am running a modded BIOS because I ended up checking the micro code to confirm. However, I wouldn't know for sure if it is the latest version without a version number or date. In theory, I could look at the most recently installed file...

@begemot
Capturing the change date would be a big improvement in my book. I need to check out Aida64!


In general, I agree that most people coming here might know how to manually look up this information, but if the date can be edited easily it would certainly make the modded BIOS more visible as a custom BIOS. Also wondering about people who are less capable. I mean I spent a few days and sorted things out for myself. Then I posted a summary of steps with the hope that some people with less skills can save some time. I guess I am always trying to make things easier and more approachable. And, to be honest, I felt more comfortable using a BIOS made by someone else because that eliminated the step of having to learn complex tools that wrongly used could potentially brick my motherboard.