Thanks for the reply.

I have played a little with the modules.
While HOLE4 gets extracted on the size that you get in CBROM info ,HOLE5 doesn t.

So every time i am extracting "HOLE5" ,the second AGESA module ,the biggest from both ,it always gets smaller.
In the BIOS CBROM shows it around 200K while the extracted stuff is lower ,20-40K.
Something seems wrong here.
Ignoring this i have extracted from the AMD780 chipset based board the AGESA modules and replaced them into the beta FGf..
They both get replaced ,but the HOLE5 stays small a extracted ,it seems that HOLE5 it s not extracted completely or if it s compressed at extraction it stays like this.

So practically successfully I can replace only HOLE4 :(

After each insertion a message from CBROM says "<filename> doesn t compress" i presume it s normal?!

Zitat von Fernando

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What do you mean with "SATA modules"? The PCI ROM modules like the Intel RAID ROM can be replaced without any additional modification. They should be just renamed according the name, which is shown by the CBROM overview (command: cbrom <biosname.xyz> /D).

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It was exactly what i meant to say with the SATA modules :).I have done exactly as instructed.

Thanks again for the feedback.

Here we can see the HOLE5 before and after replacement.The module was 40K before insertion.

I think i have accidentally did something here :)

I took the hex editor and opened the DONOR 78LTUB34.F4 (the AMD 780 chipset based board bios)
Then i took the HOLE4 files that seem to extract properly and opened it in another page
Then opened the HOLE5 strange file as a space to copy stuff on it.

Once i had all opened i have started searching for the modules.

No wonder that at the very beginning of the donor BIOS file there seems to be the HOLE4 ,same letter and codes as in the HOLE4 CBROM extracted :)

Then took the cursor scrolled down untill the FFFFFF started to appear.
Then after the FFFFFFFF guess what ,another AGESA stuff and CPU Names took the first line and underlined it until the FFFFFFF showed up pasted it over the HOLE5 page replacing all in there.
Saved the thing and voila the resulted file has 297K as the CBROM shows for the HOLE5 :)
Could it be that i have extracted exactly what i needed ?! :)


HOLE4 and HOLE5 would be the files to insert in the FGf BIOS.

Can anyone check if what i did is correct ?!

Thanks Fernando ,i ll wait for results.

I tried to insert the file ,but definitely , even if it s the right content , it needs some more info inserted to be considered as a module.
Tried to insert it to see what happens (It s fun :) ) CBROM popped up a message and refused (as i was expecting in fact ,real hex experience is needed ). :)

I have made 2 screenshots with the HOLE 4 modules from the FGf(my board beta BIOS) and the donor one ,the AMD 78x chipset based one ,from Hex Editor.

Remember HOLE4 is the module that gets extracted and inserted properly.

There is a path there ,is this path an internal one or it s the path from the machine the BIOS engineer worked from ?!
If it s an internal BIOS path does it mean it needs to be corrected somewhere ,in the modules themselves or somewhere else so the BIOS loads them ?!

This is the beta FGf 890GPA-UD3H 2.1 ,HOLE4


This is the F4 from the AMD 780 board ,HOLE4

Zitat von Fernando im Beitrag #20

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Zitat von Jumbix im Beitrag #19

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Tried to insert it to see what happens (It s fun :) ) CBROM popped up a message and refused

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Did you check the "Read only" option in the "Properties" of the ncpucode.bin file you tried to insert (see "Step 2" of the guide I gave you the link)?

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Thanks for the feedback.I understand ,it seems the CPU modules are really a mess in this BIOS-es ,maybe to make people buy newer boards :)

I have the impression that this incomplete extraction might be a CBROM limitation.All day i have extracted from many other AM3+ Gigabyte BIOS-es the HOLE files ,and always the last 2 ,HOLE5 and HOLE6 were incomplete ,comparing the extracted size with the one shown by CBROM info ,much smaller always.

It also seems that CBROM has also a limitation regarding BIOS images bigger than 2 megs.

I took some BIOS that i ve used with the crap 970A-UD3 (that i bought and sold some time ago) and opened them in HexEditor ,strangely enough half of the image was filled from the start of the BIOS file till the middle with "FFFF FFFF" and so on.
Removing those made the file 2megs from the original 4megs.It seems that in this board Gigabyte put bigger RAM chips that in my board for nothing.:)

Before removing that dummy data i could NOT see in this BIOS-es the 2 AGESA modules(this can be seen in one of the pictures from the first page as well the one for the 99FXA BIOS opened with CBROM) ,after the removal CBROM was seeing them.
There were 6 HOLE modules as in the other older smaller BIOS files :)

Anyway i wonder how can we identify in the HEX Editor the begining of a module and the end of it. ?!

Maybe using this approach i can replace them inside the BIOS file.
Or there can be that in the middle of the module to have another one ,thus the incomplete extractions of the HOLE5(the one i ma interested in along HOLE4) and HOLE6.
HOLE6 is something not related to AGESA/CPU code in any way ,so it can stay in there no problem.:)

Hello again.

My FX 6300 CPU has finally arrived and even though it fits the socket :) (as expected) the system does not initialize ,black screen ,fans working, with no beeps as in not initializing the CPU (which i have expected as well :) )

So users of Gigabyte 890GPA-UD3H v2.1 of the board be aware that the FX CPU does fit.Also the 890GX chipset is able to work with this CPU-s ,Gigabyte made possible that even 2006 Nvidia Nforce chips to run FX chips ,but for markting sake they must have black sockets. :)
The small BIOS chip of 8megs is enough to get the job done.


Now i realy have to start and try my luck ,nothing to loose ,the board has dual BIOS ,i can force it to kick in and copy from the back-up ,if needed, the original BIOS.Also the board is under warranty at the reseller so no biggy.


I have investigated a little on the web what is what with this modules.
Opened the 890GPA-UD3H v2.1 FGf beta BIOS and started looking at it in HexEditor4.

Stumbled upon a thread on a BIOS moders forum.There i could see that there are 2 kinds of modules ,compressed and non compressed.
The non compressed are used to initailize the system practically and into this cathegory we also have the 2 modules i am interested in HOLE4 and HOLE5.
The compressed ones are starting with lh5 and some bites prior.They finish with a dot.

I then took a look at the BIOS itself and identified every module in there one by one.
The compressed ones seem to be in the lower half of the BIOS file ,as it s opened in the HeXEditor ,the ones that i need are in the other half from the begining to the middle.


Like i said HOLE4 can be extracted (from any BIOS i ve tried) via CBROM.I have also extracted it manually with succes as i was able to rename it and add it with CBROM into the BIOS with no problems.

HOLE5 on the other hand is not fully extracted with CBROM ,but it can be extracted manually via HexEditor.The non-compressed modules can be extracted via Hex Editor they say..

I have managed to identify the modules HOLE5 properly and cut it more exactly from within DONOR BIOS and transforming it into a file .It is at the dimensions that CBROM sees it in the DONOR BIOS (but it s incapable to extract it fully).

Making the HOLE5 module using the HexEditor is nice ,but CBROM refuses to add it with a message : "Hole Structure information of BIOS file doesn't match".Adding it manually i am not sure it will be properly taken unless something is modified in the BIOS strings.

Google-ing the message led me to this forum again ,to this thread ,see post 2 in there -> Guide: Enhanced BIOS Modding of Award BIOSes :)

It seems that in this scenario HOLE2 was to be replaced.
So having in mind this thread it means that i would need to edit that HOLE fields as well so the decompressor to avoid my modification.

The question is what are the byte holes in this area ,the bytes for them and which are the ones that need correction for HOLE5 ,as it seems there is a need for space.
The new updated HOLE 5 (cut from the DONOR BIOS) is bigger ,around 290K opposed to the original outdated one (from the FGf beta BIOS) that has around 270K by CBROM info.

So having the right space there should alow me to insert via CBROM or manually succesfully the module t osee what happens.

So is anyone able to identify the HOLE 4 and HOLE 5 in there and their coresponding page bits that should be changed to alow a 300K module.See picture attached for details.

This are the modules i have manually extracted from the DONOR BIOS ,AGESA 1500 modules ,that should alow FX Vishera CPU-s to be used :


This is the picture with the HOLE registers that need to be tweaked ,there should be 5 of them (Holes) in my FGf BIOS :


Sorry for re-posting the BIOS related files ,but to be clear even for new readers regarding the files used as the thread has grown in size and it s hard to follow.

Waiting for suggestions :)

This guide is really great Guide: Enhanced BIOS Modding of Award BIOSes
SummoneR guide opened my mind.

I have finally successfully changed the HOLE4 and HOLE5 modules in the 890GPA-UD3H FGf beta BIOS ,from AGESA0075 to AGESA1500 .
BIOS files are in the upper post linked :)

What i did was :

1.Extracted the HOLE4 module with CBROM ,for a clean result ,from the DONOR BIOS

2.Extracted the HOLE5 module manually with HexEditor 4 ,based on the dimensions stated by CBROM and obvious boundries .
Both this modules start with a dollar sign and named AMD on the right of the hex editor.

3.Compared the *HOLE* sections in both BIOS files opened (DONOR and the FGf beta) in Hex Editor ,trying to identify as in SummoneR thread what could be the meaning of those binary..
The software has a nice search function.

4.Corrected the max dimension of HOLE5 in the 890GPA-UD3H FGf beta BIOS (the one that will be used and installed maybe)
I had to change the value from 45 to 50 as in the donor BIOS ,nothing else changed.Saved the BIOS file.
As it looks in original FGf :

As it is in the DONOR BIOS ,


First group must be HOLE4 ,the 94 ,second group must be HOLE5 95 and the value was changed for it from 45 to 50 as in the donor so it fits.As it worked after modification it must be correct. :)

5.Started insertion with CBROM
-first HOLE4 module with the name AGESA20.B1(as in CBROM info for the FGf)
-second HOLE5 with the name AGESA30.B2 (as in CBROM right column)

6 Reopened the BIOS with CBROM command /D and all other modules seem to be in place.


A note would be that the NCPUCODE harvested could NOT be inserted and it s no biggy as the (NON-moded) FGf BIOS runs just fine for 2 days already with my Phenom 2 X975 BE ,in spite of the FGf empty section for this module.

I will have now to install the new BIOS Monday ,i will report the results after i install again the FX 6300.

If it works it s a wonder :)

If it will not work i ll move on and buy a new AM3+ mobo ,no problem.

I have flashed the modded BIOS ,but it s NOT working.
This is the file -> removed as it s useless

As in the previous CBROM picture we can see that the BIOS looks good in there ,but that s it.

Tried to flash with Q-Flash and it popped up a message "Invalid BIOS Image"

Then went into Windows and flashed thru @BIOS.It did it ,but at restart BIOS did not initialize the video (LCD monitor led was flashing as in stand-by) and when i ve pressed the button to turn it off a beep was heard.
At the next PC start from power button the Recovery BIOS procedure kicked in with Invalid Checksum or something and the mobo flashed from the backup the FF version.

Previously to flash i ve had FGf original (which was working ok) on the main and FF on the backup.

Practically my modded BIOS was not even initialized i think.

Any hints ?!


EDIT:

It seems that CBROM is not to be trusted.

First of all I opened again the resulted BIOS and HOLE 4 module seems to be a little shorter or something in the BIOS ,as pasting in HEX Editor over ,i mean the HOLE4 module content (extracted previously from DONOR) ,messes up the lines.

So some bytes got lost while CBROM replaced the HOLE5 ,HOLE4 being the first inserted with CBROM (as stated in the previous post) ,HOLE5 being second. Also the offsets of HOLE3 are wrong it starts differently ,CBROM is extracting the HOLE 3 differently from the FGf original and from the modded one .
So no wonder it didn t take it.

I have to re-seat the modules in the BIOS so they are where it should.

Fernando do you happen to know what this line refers too ?!



There seems to be some overlaping taking place.

I have added manually the modules copy/paste over in HexEditor ,started from scratch.
I was able to set back the start of HOLE5 ,after i pasted the HOLE4 ,but after i ve copy/pasted HOLE5 over into the BIOS the module end moved lower than it should and overlaps with this line of code in the picture.

This overlaping could be solved by proper correction for the offset somewhere.

Is there a trick to full CBROM into making this stuff instead.

If by inserting them with the CBROM in this order HOLE4 and then HOLE5 i get issues with HOLE3 start ,but not with the line in this picture how can i insert this modules so they stay where they should ,so adjustment happen towards the start/up of the file as the FF dummy has enough space taken to loose from between the non compressed modules.

Should i reinsert all HOLES in a specific order ,starting from HOLE5 or ?!