Resurrecting a super old thread here, I have the DFI LP JR P45 T2RS board, I am using 5 SSDs in a RAID 0 configuration. Totally willing to be a guinea pig for some modded BIOSs to try and get a newer version of the intel raid/ahci storage drivers if someone wants to help talk me through it.

Hi Fernando,

First thing first, should I start a new thread?

To answer your questions:

1) Currently my BIOS has RAID ROM version: 8.5.0.1030. I was able to flash the modded 8.5.0.1030 ROM that you have linked in the ROM page without problem. I also flashed the 1.20E AHCI ROM without issue.
2) I am running Windows 8.1 - Using the latest Intel Rapid Storage Drivers (13.2.4.1000)
3) I have 5x Crucial M4 256GB SSDs in a RAID 0 configuration

After making this post, I followed your (fantastic) guide and created a variety of modded BIOS files based on the DFI J245D914 BIOS file located here with a number of different RAID ROMs. With all (but one) attempts, I received the following error:

Internal error - PnP and PCI compliant BIOS not present
 

The modded 8.5.0.1030 worked fine, and although I'm not sure it made any difference (probably not?) I placed the AHCI 1.20E AHCI ROM on the custom bios, and that flashed without issue either.

After doing some googling, it seems like there are some motherboards out there that just plain don't like RAID ROMs larger than 64kB.

I did stumble across an EVGA forum post detailing a similar issue and someone troubleshooting it:

https://www.bios-mods.com/forum/Thread-Q...=25956#pid25956

Zitat

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I did a quick test by manipulating the 8.5.0.1030 RAID option ROM that is originally 64K in size to be 84K in size by padding it with FFh at the end to force it to be 84K in size (FFh has no functional impact on the ROM). In both cases I ensured that the checksum is 00h so that the option ROM remains valid. With the ROM padded, I produced two versions of it, one that states that the executable code size is 64K and the other 84K. I loaded first the 84K ROM with 64K executable code size (determined by 3rd byte in option ROM) and the option ROM loaded fine and worked fine. Then I again loaded the same ROM this time with the 3rd byte indicating that executable code size is 84K, flashed, and the option ROM would no longer work. So, to reiterate, this is the same exact code base padded to 84K in both tests, I just modified the size and the 3rd byte to indicate how much of the ROM is executable and in both cases the ROM substituted fine, flashed fine, but it only worked when I was addressing 64K, no more.

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Any input would be greatly appreciated!

Zitat von Fernando im Beitrag #4

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@ j9ac9:
Thanks for your additional informations.

Zitat von j9ac9k im Beitrag #3

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First thing first, should I start a new thread?

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I have done it already for you. If you want another thread title, you can change it by editing your start post.

Zitat

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2) I am running Windows 8.1 - Using the latest Intel Rapid Storage Drivers (13.2.4.1000)

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It was not a good idea to run the latest Intel RST(e) RAID drivers of the v13 series in combination with an absolutely outdated Intel MSM RAID ROM of the v8 series. If I were you, I would prefer the Intel RST RAID driver v11.2.0.1006 (regardless the Intel RAID ROM version you may get working).

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I will uninstall the latest Intel RST(r) drivers and install version 11.2.0.1006.

Zitat von Fernando im Beitrag #4

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@ j9ac9:

Zitat

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After making this post, I followed your (fantastic) guide and created a variety of modded BIOS files based on the DFI J245D914 BIOS file located here with a number of different RAID ROMs. With all (but one) attempts, I received the following error:

1
 

Internal error - PnP and PCI compliant BIOS not present
 

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You obviously got this message while trying to flash the modded BIOS.
Which Intel RAID ROM versions did you try to insert into the BIOS and which BIOS flash method did you choose?

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I used CBROM.exe through following your guide here to insert into the bios. In terms of flashing I booted off a USB drive and used AWDFLASH.EXE.

I tried a number of ROMs posted on the AHCI & RAID ROM Modules Thread. Specifically I tried:

9.5.0.1037, 8.8.0.1009, 8.9.0.1023, 8.9.1.1002, ... and a number of newer ones (I didn't keep as good of notes as I should have). The only ones that worked was 8.5.0.1030 "Universally TRIM modified", which is what my PC is running now.

So I installed the older RST drivers ...wow, what a difference.


Version 13.2.4.1000


Version 11.2.0.1006

Oh well, figured I would volunteer to be a guinea pig should another go be made for more drastic bios altercations/modifications. I suppose nothing to do but keep a lookout on newer ROMs in case one happens to be 64kB?

Zitat von Fernando im Beitrag #9

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Zitat von j9ac9k im Beitrag #8

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I suppose nothing to do but keep a lookout on newer ROMs in case one happens to be 64kB?

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It is useless to wait for a new 64bit sized Intel RAID ROM unless you believe in miracles.
Be happy, that you got TRIM in RAID0 support with your old P45 system!

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@j9ac9k

There could be something to get bigger OROMs loaded. But why risk your board for it?

1. The first option is to set the Intel controller to RAID, disable any Lan Boot/Lan PXE option, remove the AHCI OROM with "cbrom biosname /isa release" and update the Intel RAID with 11.2.0.1527 TRIM modded. Your BIOS has no other OROMs than AHCI and RAID, so by removing AHCI you can squeeze the RAID OROM in the 128KB default space for all OROMs. The get past this limitation the BIOS has to allocate space for each PCI ROM in the extended memory block, which some older BIOS might not be able to handle bigger sized OROMs.

The problem with this method is that I don't know how your board will react when there is no AHCI or RAID working. Your only method of reverting the BIOS would be to use a bootable USB containing the flasher and stock BIOS file. But again, don't know if it would be that easy.

2. The second method is to inject PMM calls into OROM, by requesting the needed space without normal BIOS allocation. This is quite dangerous because you must do appropriate memory mapping. I'm just reading about this stuff and I'm not fluent about assembly. This guide describes how to and an implementation can be found in iPXE source code.

Well, I hate to speculate but I can boot in IDE mode which should ignore the lack of AHCI... (make sure I can boot to USB while in IDE mode, etc etc).

Method #2 seems beyond my scope of skill, if I had another bios chip I could pop in should things go wrong, I would consider attempting it...

I suppose to really have a good idea if this is worthwhile, I should try and get an idea for what kind of performance benefits I would be looking at when upgrading to 11.2.0.1527 TRIM modded ROM.

Zitat von lordkag im Beitrag #11

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@j9ac9k

There could be something to get bigger OROMs loaded. But why risk your board for it?

1. The first option is to set the Intel controller to RAID, disable any Lan Boot/Lan PXE option, remove the AHCI OROM with "cbrom biosname /isa release" and update the Intel RAID with 11.2.0.1527 TRIM modded. Your BIOS has no other OROMs than AHCI and RAID, so by removing AHCI you can squeeze the RAID OROM in the 128KB default space for all OROMs. The get past this limitation the BIOS has to allocate space for each PCI ROM in the extended memory block, which some older BIOS might not be able to handle bigger sized OROMs.

The problem with this method is that I don't know how your board will react when there is no AHCI or RAID working. Your only method of reverting the BIOS would be to use a bootable USB containing the flasher and stock BIOS file. But again, don't know if it would be that easy.

2. The second method is to inject PMM calls into OROM, by requesting the needed space without normal BIOS allocation. This is quite dangerous because you must do appropriate memory mapping. I'm just reading about this stuff and I'm not fluent about assembly. This guide describes how to and an implementation can be found in iPXE source code.

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Zitat von Fernando im Beitrag #13

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Zitat von j9ac9k im Beitrag #12

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I suppose to really have a good idea if this is worthwhile, I should try and get an idea for what kind of performance benefits I would be looking at when upgrading to 11.2.0.1527 TRIM modded ROM.

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The benefit of an update to the Intel RST RAID ROM v11.2.0.1527 would be, that both RAID components (driver and ROM) belong to the exact same development branch. This will give you the best possible RAID0 performance and stability.
Please consider, that your currently working Intel RAID ROM belongs to another Intel RAID technology (MSM) than the RAID driver (RST) you are running now.

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