Can I also give a shot?

Since I made for myself a little script to quickly get a dummy.bin of any size and also to change the header of the compressed bin to any name/PCI I want in a matter of seconds, I thought it will be a walk in a park with Award modding. Sadly, after adding all the updated modules in place and a dummy.bin to have the same structure (just in case), I went to finish with CBROM and got to a dead point. All I needed was to re-add rtegrom.lom (was moved to fit the bigger OROMs and dummy.bin dropped in place) and update Marvell GRAID.BIN. But CBROM 1.98 and CBROM 1.99 made changes to compressed code of EXTBIOS.BIN - quick way to get a brick. Not sure if it was CBROM or Gigabyte funky way of assembling.

So I used CBROM 1.55 to add rtegrom.lom and GRAID.BIN at the end, then a manual labour in hex to replace the other OROMs, then fix the checksum again with CBROM 1.55. I just couldn't use any higher version because it messed EXTBIOS.BIN. While this sounds simple and fast, it got me a while to compare all the steps and figure what CBROM to use and when. What I have updated:
- updated Marvell IDE-AHCI 1B4B-91A3 from 1.0.0.1003 to 1.0.0.1033. The latest is 1.0.0.1038, but needs testing, might not work with every board.
- updated Intel RAID to 11.2.0.1527 with CPL0 mod.
- updated JMicron AHCI-RAID 197B-2363 to 1.07.28. The mod from TT has 197B-2362 ID, which is just AHCI. There is also a 1.08.01, but it is possible that it was pulled off because of bugs. Also needs testing.
- updated Realtek PXE+RPL to 2.61.

What is left:
- Marvell Firmware.
- cpu000106A5_plat03_ver00000011 to cpu000106a5_plat03_ver00000019
- cpu000206C0_plat13_verFFFF0016 to cpu000206C0_plat13_verFFFF001C
cpu000206C2_plat03_ver0000000F + cpu000206C2_plat03_ver00000014 to cpu000206C2_plat03_ver00000015

The microcodes might not be needed at all, but the Marvell Firmware is a little bit tricky. I had mixed results when going after Marvell FW, so I will leave this to your choice.

@ Fernando:

M8, well, one of the experts at gigabyte support page for bios modding at tweaktown.com helped me out and made the mod with the new RAID ROM v11.2.0.1527 !!!
Just flashed the bios of my other Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD7 Rev 1.0 motheradand and it was updated to the correct and desired version at first attempt!!!

I was so excited that I just rushed here to give you the message, next I'll be setting up Win 7 on my RAID-0 array to test out the TRIM functionality and let you know how it goes!


Looking at the modded bios with cbrom, there was no need for a ghost module, and the ICHRAID.BIN is sitting at the correct order in the list!
Don't ask me how he accomplished that...but he did!

Here's the modded BIOS if you'd need it for future references:
http://forums.tweaktown.com/gigabyte/480...html#post496248

Best Regards,
-Sebatian

@lordkag:

Thank you a million times for taking the time to offer a method and directions how it might be done!
NoJuan999 at Tweaktown.com made the mod although I have no idea how!

But I'll settle up now with your directions which looks nearly the exact same result mod I got from tweaktown and will try to understand all the steps. Half the enjoyment of it is to understand how it can be done :)

Just to add...the Marvell firmware module was the exact same module I had trouble with getting right as well. When being reinserted it simply make changes to other modules for some unknown reason, so that was my result as well.

Again than you for the help m8, I know what I'll be doing all day today, lol!

There wasn't really the need for a dummy, because MEMINITENTRYPOINT is at the end of BIOS, past any modules and not movable during CBROM operations. I only added it to be absolutely safe.
NoJuan999 definitely didn't use CBROM 1.98, because it would have had the same result like we did, a writing over the compressed code of EXTBIOS.BIN. It appears he also didn't used CBROM 1.55, because the modules would have been added at the end. What he did has to replace the compressed code of the OROMs one by one, then subtract FF padding after the last module (EXTBIOS.BIN in this case) until the files size is 0x200000. The final step would have been the checksum fix, which was done either by hand or by re-inserting the last module with CBROM 1.55.

Just as a notice:
- he used an Intel RAID OROM that wasn't checksum fixed, like Fernando is offering. Not important if you don't get any error message during POST.
- he used an older Realtek OROM 2.58. Not important if you don't use PXE Boot.
- he used an older Marvell Firmware 2.2.0.1125 with Autoload 2.0.0.0611 and BIOS 1.0.0.1033. The latest is FW 2.3.0.1007 with Autoload 2.0.0.061D and BIOS 1.0.0.1038. But this latest one might have compatibility issues with IDE ports, so I count this as not important.
- he didn't updated GRAID.BIN from 1.0.0.1003 to 1.0.0.1033 or 1.0.0.1038, which is the Marvell RAID OROM. I know it is a little confusing, but Marvell is using one OROM as RAID module and the other as BIOS in Firmware.

@lordkag & @Fernando:

Thank you for the clearing that up.

Yeah I actually noticed afterwards as well that the Marvell fw was an older rev. I don't mind that at all since I will only be using them for regular HDD use so no worries there.
Also I never use PXE Boot so the Realtek OROM 2.58 works fine for me really.
The only checksum "quiery" I got was during the flashing process. Although I usually get that when using Q-flash. It has no side effects during POST after BIOS has been successfully flashed, so I felt confident to let that one go.

I suspect that he must have used the core from the already modded F9D BIOS from here:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/ji8c74...UD7_mod_F9D.zip

This seems to have the same specs for other OROM versions being used in the new mod which you mentioned, but the Intel RAID ROM module has been remodded to the Universally modded v11.2.0.1527 one which Fernando offers. Otherwise it seems to have the same specs and OROM versions of that F9D BIOS image (specs found here: http://forums.tweaktown.com/gigabyte/480...ified-bios.html):

Intel SATA AHCI 1.20E
Realtek LAN 2.45 to 2.58
JMicron ROM 1.07.28
Marvell BIOS Version 1.0.0.1033 / Firmware 2.2.0.1125


But is GRAID.ROM the Marvell OROM??
I thought it was the Gigabyte's JMicron RAID Controller onboard...my mobo has 6 x ICH Intel SATA2 ports, 2 x Marvell 1928 SATA3 ports, and 2 x Gigabyte SATA2 ports which from what I understand uses JMicron controller. So I thought GRAID was Gigabyte's JMicron controller RAID ROM...but I'm certainly wrong :)

Anyways, TRIM-Check gives a positive test result for TRIM with my RAID-0 array on Intel SATA2 ports, and the speeds are fairly good. I have submitted some benchmark pics in this post.

The there are a couple of things that I'm kinda puzzled over...

1. Samsung Magician Software which is supposed to handle my Samsung 850 Pro 1TB SSDs doesn't even recognize my Samsung SSDs at all and simply is blind to my RAID-0 array. :(
2. I have overall good speeds when benchmarking (even though the sequential Read/Write could have been better as Intel SATA2 ports cap at 700 MB/s but I'm satisfied with what I get here)...although, I don't understand why my 4K Read speed is so crappy?? I would have expected at least triple that speed....
3. I have tried to do all the necessary optimizations for my SSD, although I just remembered that I forgot to disable superfetch and prefetch but not sure they would have such impact on the 4K Read speed being so low.
4. I have installed IRST v11.2.0.1006 Win x64 WHQL but I can not find a "performance" tab in the Console Software anywhere to disable the Link Power Management (LPM).

GRAID.bin is Marvell RAID OROM, jmb10706.bin is JMicron AHCI/RAID OROM and M9123FW speaks for itself.

Anyway, I use this post more as an excuse to post new things. Since I got tired of doing this Award stuff by hand, I wrote something to ease the work.



This is for your BIOS, truncated to fit the page.





Everything is mostly done, but I need to test "upd" command, because it is done with the hardest case in mind: updating with dummy.bin. This is how it should look if your BIOS would have needed a dummy.bin, which no version of CBROM would fix.



Also attached the tables for comparison. The mod file only needs rtegrom.lom re-added with CBROM, which will also fix the checksum. I am working on adding the "hdr" and "ext" part to AMI non-Aptio, but I need to reverse the format. Half way there.

@lordkag :
That lookes really good! I would like to give that a try if you don't mind :)
Will report how it goes and if every goes smoothly I'll put up some scores here to compare to the other ROM version from Gigabyte Tweaktown as well :)

@Fernando:
I did try the Performance option m8, but still the same crappy 4K Read speed. The rest looks fairly good. Very strange that an isolated 4K Read score shows up pretty bad when other parameters looks fairly good...do you happen to have any other ideas as to why that might be?
Also, I tried only one of the SSDs without RAID. Although the other parameters subsequently and rationally became lower, the 4K Read score basically was essentially the same (only marginally lower) with one SSD non-RAID as in with 2 SSDs in RAID-0. I have submitted a picture.

Zitat von Bittornado im Beitrag #40

---

@lordkag :
That lookes really good! I would like to give that a try if you don't mind :)
Will report how it goes and if every goes smoothly I'll put up some scores here to compare to the other ROM version from Gigabyte Tweaktown as well :)

@Fernando:
I did try the Performance option m8, but still the same crappy 4K Read speed. The rest looks fairly good. Very strange that an isolated 4K Read score shows up pretty bad when other parameters looks fairly good...do you happen to have any other ideas as to why that might be?
Also, I tried only one of the SSDs without RAID. Although the other parameters subsequently and rationally became lower, the 4K Read score basically was essentially the same (only marginally lower) with one SSD non-RAID as in with 2 SSDs in RAID-0. I have submitted a picture.

---

@lordkag:

Hello old friend :)
Long time no see!

Well I still have that old Gigabyte board (GA-X58A-UD7) in use.
Unfortunately lost my old modded BIOSes...

I was wondering, except for the Marvell FW which from what I understood was not properly updated in this BIOS mod which you kindly worked on, does everything else work as it should?

Despite the non updated Marvell FW, is this modded BIOS itself ready to be put in use and I can update my BIOS without any risks for a brick?

BTW, hi Fernando, nice to be back here again :)

EDIT by Fernando: Unneeded fully quoted post replaced by directly addressing (to save space)

Thank you Fernando for editing my post, you're absolutely correct. There was no need for the extra quoted text. Sorry m8 ;)

@Fernando,

My friend, would it be possible for me to ask you for a favor?

Could you be so kind to just take a look at this BIOS file and please let me know whether the TRIM for RAID0 procedure in the Intel RST(e) module in this file, is made with CPL0's old method, which gave some negative issues with the Marvell ports, or it's made with his new method and safe to use?


And also, do you happen to know if lordkag's BIOS mod in his post above is safe and working as it is right now, to be tested on a live machine?


Oh, and one last question if I may...
My conclusion from your recommendations from different guidelines given at your site is that, for my X58 Chipset/ICH10R/RAID system, I should:

1. Use Intel RST(e) v11.7.4.1001 as my AHCI driver, see here:
Which are the "best" Intel AHCI/RAID drivers?

2. Use either Intel RST v11.2.0.1006 or Intel RST(e) v11.7.4.1001 as my matching RAID driver, see here:
Which are the "best" Intel AHCI/RAID drivers?

3. You recommend that for older systems, it's best to pick Intel RST RAID ROM v11.2.0.1527 version, which is a matching RAID ROM for the Intel RST v11.2.0.1006 driver. See here:
AHCI & RAID ROM Modules

But if I want to go with Intel RST(e) v11.7.4.1001 as my RAID driver, then would you recommend Intel RST RAID ROM v11.6.0.1702 (I will be using the "Universally TRIM modified" Intel RST(e) RAID ROM v11.6.0.1702 with TRIM in RAID0 support variant) as the best matching RAID ROM version for the Intel RST(e) v11.7.4.1001 RAID driver?

Intel X58 chipset systems received a EFI compatibility update which is already in the latest BIOS version, it is not however a full UEFI BIOS interface, but it offers some EFI functions, for instance setting up your boot devices with GPT-EFI instead of MBR-BIOS and being able to use +3TB HDD/SSD. So if possible I would like to be able to use RST(e) instead of RST for my RAID ROM, IF that would be difference between the EFI and non-EFI functionality in BIOS.


Again thank you so much in advance m8 :)