How to open Gigabyte DS3 bios?

[rtfm]

I tried modding this one but it won't open in modbin6. Anyone knows of a tool to open Gigabyte bios? Board is GA-965P-DS3
Link to bios file

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/Motherboard/BIOS_DownloadFile.aspx?FileType=BIOS&FileID=12754

Thanks

Edit: it's been resolved by Yen and guide is posted later in the thread on how to do it

[Yen]

To open and edit with cbrom1.55.
I want to tell you that the 965 series are hard ones, cause the minit module makes trouble.

After modding you may be unable to overclock.
Check request thread. I´m trying to find a solution at chinese forums.

Please post, if you are successful or you want to share infos.


Yen

[rtfm]

Thanks for replying Yen!

I have two versions of the mod I made myself. Since Gigabyte is dual bios mobo I feel adventurous enough to try them first myself. I tried static method with SLIC table and /nocompress option and acpitbl after it. Other version is the one when you have to flash 2 times and may depend on memory config. I'll let everyone know once I try it.

My thoughts on minit module:
By looking at the unmodified bios structure it seems that MINIT is the last component and by extracting acpitbl we are moving it forward. If it needs to be exactly at the right position, this becomes a problem and decomposing and putting everything back in the right order might be necessary but this would work only with double flash method. And had to be done twice! :eek:

[Yen]

Hi,

after several hours of reading badly translated news from vistafans about that issue I managed a mod. I rearranged the modules and calculated size of oem7 module, which contains SLIC. The result is that GV3 and Minit modules (sensible ones) persist at same position (exact relative offset, not the number of position).


Motherboard Manufacturer and Model: Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 (rev. 3.3)
- Bios Revision: F11
- Bios Type: Award
- Bios SLIC: ASUS
- Bios Modder: Yen
- Bios Link = http://rapidshare.com/files/35865460/motherboard_bios_ga-965p-ds3_f11_VISTA.zip.html

Since there is no fully working mod I suggest you to try. I´m also curious about your results modding by yourself.
If you want we may discuss about.
I would be pleased if you will try my mod. Since you´ve got dual bios there is no risk!!!

CU


Yen

[wolfhound]

Hi,

after several hours of reading badly translated news from vistafans about that issue I managed a mod. I rearranged the modules and calculated size of oem7 module, which contains SLIC. The result is that GV3 and Minit modules (sensible ones) persist at same position (exact relative offset, not the number of position).


Motherboard Manufacturer and Model: Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 (rev. 3.3)
- Bios Revision: F11
- Bios Type: Award
- Bios SLIC: ASUS
- Bios Modder: Yen
- Bios Link = http://rapidshare.com/files/35865460/motherboard_bios_ga-965p-ds3_f11_VISTA.zip.html

Since there is no fully working mod I suggest you to try. I´m also curious about your results modding by yourself.
If you want we may discuss about.
I would be pleased if you will try my mod. Since you´ve got dual bios there is no risk!!!

CU


Yen

Hi

Applied the BIOS and Windows still shows activation is required. Does it require a reinstall?

[wolfhound]

Don't worry it's me - I had the wrong certificate installed

[XBIOSES]

Hi

Good work Yen.

X

[Yen]

Hi

Good work Yen.

X

Thanx a lot. I´m very happy to found a solution and I´m always disposed to share knowledge!

Yen

[XBIOSES]

Thanx a lot. I´m very happy to found a solution and I´m always disposed to share knowledge!

Yen

That was a new method, for me.

;)

X

[Yen]

The original idea came of course from Zhaoliang. I only simplified his calculation of oem7 module and the rearrangement of the modules.

Yen

[hussain22]

Originally Posted by Yen
Hi,

after several hours of reading badly translated news from vistafans about that issue I managed a mod. I rearranged the modules and calculated size of oem7 module, which contains SLIC. The result is that GV3 and Minit modules (sensible ones) persist at same position (exact relative offset, not the number of position).


Motherboard Manufacturer and Model: Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 (rev. 3.3)
- Bios Revision: F11
- Bios Type: Award
- Bios SLIC: ASUS
- Bios Modder: Yen
- Bios Link = http://rapidshare.com/files/35865460...VISTA.zip.html

Since there is no fully working mod I suggest you to try. I´m also curious about your results modding by yourself.
If you want we may discuss about.
I would be pleased if you will try my mod. Since you´ve got dual bios there is no risk!!!

CU


Yen



Hi
Really it is great job
But could you post the full detailed guided to how did you mod it
Thanks for your cooperation

[rtfm]

Yen, great work! Thank you!

I'd also like to know how you did it and I'm sure many other Gigabyte users who like to learn how to mod their own bios. I looked into your moded bios and there is whole new oem7 part (oems.bin) with asus slic table on top but what is the rest of the code in it?

I see that you added oem7 in, found slic offset, used that adress (plus fff00000) as an address for slic inside acpitable. (as in static method)

Did you change anything else in some other place? If you have link to Chinese guide that would be helpful, too.

Thanks!

[Yen]

Hi,

sorry for that late reply. My new modding method is based on super static and on the idea to keep bios structure as original as possible. Therefore you have to note the size of original compressed Acpitable and build SLIC with THE SAME COMPRESSED SIZE.

If you want to do it 100% you have to replace acpi table position with new module called oem7 (SLIC+random code to fill).

All offsets of modules will retain. Therefore you have to extract and release the modules from behind to the front. After acpi table is extracted and released, you have to rebuild. Beginn with oem7 (same position as acpi table now and fill reversed order untill all modules are inserted again. Keep the order! Modify acpi table as usual and insert it at last position.

Why all that act?
Cbrom got no replace option, some new bioses are sensible, you must retain order and compressed size of modules. Result: The relative offset of the modules retain, too!!

Problems: Reinsert epa logo!

As you can see I have done it to retain minit and gv3 modules offset, not paid attention to the others. Result it worked (I was too lazy to bring up oem7 to acpitables' original position) MAYBE THIS CAUSES S3 SLEEP ISSUE!!! Better not that lazy

At this example you will see that the newer bioses are even more sensible:
http://forums.mydigitallife.info/showpost.php?p=3444&postcount=2862

Check the whole story, then you´ll understand. The original idea is from Zhaoliang, I just changed what to calculate (original compressed size of Acpimodule) and development. IMO the better way:)


Yen

[rtfm]

Yen, thanks for reply! I kind of figured out what you did analyzing your modified bios. I was not sure what was the code after slic inside oem7 and you answered that it was just random code! It did look random to me, too :rolleyes: but I was not sure...

Is there a way to calculate the size of oem7 before compression or was it just trial and error? The difference is 36 bytes exactly! Coincidence or...?
As far as epa logo goes, cbrom does not like that Gigabyte calls it *.bmp. If you change extension to *.epa it will accept it. Gigabyte people must have used some other tool than cbrom to put it in there :eek:

Like you said, only relative position of GV3 and MINIT was important so putting oem7 in front of them to keep them at the same relative offset seems to be the main thing!

Great work!! :)

[Yen]

...............As far as epa logo goes, cbrom does not like that Gigabyte calls it *.bmp. If you change extension to *.epa it will accept it. Gigabyte people must have used some other tool than cbrom to put it in there :eek:


Thanks for that information..Yes you have completely understood!!

Yen

[rtfm]

Based on Yen's information I have put together a detailed guide for successful Gigabyte bios mod. All tools that you might need are inside except Everest.

http://www.pirateshare.net/?id=12771495

I hope you will find it useful! :o

Big thanks goes to Yen, Chinese boards, and google translators!! :D

[Yen]

Resume from S3 sleep doesn't work; system hangs after resume from sleep. Same problem with Yen's mod.
Your old mod for the F11 bios using mod method 1 works.

Anyone confirm that issue at my mod? He was referring to F12, but I modded f12 just right now. So I´m asking me, if he meant my F11.

Important: If sombody has this S3 issue, try to clear CMOS and load setup defaults. Make a clean install of Vista and check if that issue is gone and report.

Anyway I have modified F12 version:

Motherboard Manufacturer and Model: Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 (rev. 3.3)
- Bios Revision: F12
- Bios Type: Award
- Bios SLIC: ASUS
- Bios Modder: Yen
- Bios Link = http://rapidshare.com/files/37739799/motherboard_bios_ga-965p-ds3_f12_Vista2.rar.html

MOD1: Order of modules rearranged (oem7 at 3)!
MOD2: ISA method



Please try and report, especially S3 sleep mode!!!
Yen

[timis]

Thank you all for your insight. Yen or rtfm I have a question that perhaps you can clarify

I'm trying to mod a F9 revision of ga-965g-ds3 using the guide downloaded from http://www.giga-byte.com.tw/Support/Motherboard/BIOS_DownloadFile.aspx?FileType=BIOS&FileID=12831.

The reason I'm doing this myself is because I have troubles overclocking when I use a pre-modded bios from the other thread.

Anyways, the guide is great but there is one area that I can't figure out: Step 4 asks you to add 4 bytes before FXCP in ACPITBL.bin and then copy and paste from slic.bin from offset A to 17. Does the paste operation not overwrite the 4 bytes and everything else?

[Yen]

Thank you all for your insight. Yen or rtfm I have a question that perhaps you can clarify

I'm trying to mod a F9 revision of ga-965g-ds3 using the guide downloaded from http://www.giga-byte.com.tw/Support/Motherboard/BIOS_DownloadFile.aspx?FileType=BIOS&FileID=12831.

The reason I'm doing this myself is because I have troubles overclocking when I use a pre-modded bios from the other thread.

Anyways, the guide is great but there is one area that I can't figure out: Step 4 asks you to add 4 bytes before FXCP in ACPITBL.bin and then copy and paste from slic.bin from offset A to 17. Does the paste operation not overwrite the 4 bytes and everything else?

:confused:
No only bytes at offset A to 17!!!

GBT GBTUACPI overwrite with e.g. _ASUS_Notebook (OEM ID and OEM table ID)

The new inserted 00 00 00 00 (before FXCP) have to be edited with calculated reversed address.

Yen

[rtfm]

Thank you all for your insight. Yen or rtfm I have a question that perhaps you can clarify

I'm trying to mod a F9 revision of ga-965g-ds3 using the guide downloaded from http://www.giga-byte.com.tw/Support/Motherboard/BIOS_DownloadFile.aspx?FileType=BIOS&FileID=12831.

The reason I'm doing this myself is because I have troubles overclocking when I use a pre-modded bios from the other thread.

Anyways, the guide is great but there is one area that I can't figure out: Step 4 asks you to add 4 bytes before FXCP in ACPITBL.bin and then copy and paste from slic.bin from offset A to 17. Does the paste operation not overwrite the 4 bytes and everything else?

Timis,

FXCP is initially at offset 34 inside acpitbl.bin. After you insert 4 bytes, it is at offset 38. You are pasting into bytes A to 17. This can not overwrite something at position 38! You don't have to copy the whole slic.bin, just bytes A-17 (inclusive)! I hope all is clear now! :)

Edit: Oh, and here is link to modified and improved guide, thanks to Yen's new input regarding possible XSDT table presence in some bioses.

http://www.pirateshare.net/?id=12931578

[timis]

Right - thank you Yen and especially rtfm. I must be losing it - for some reason I thought FXCP was inside the offset I was overwriting, not at offset 34.

However I ran into one somewhat weird situation, not sure there is a solution to this but it's worth mentioning. I had to pad oems.bin to ensure that in it's compressed form it is equal in size to original ACPITBL.bin. After i insert oems.bin back into the bios, I'm unable to locate the string 'SLIC' (I know it's there because I can clearly see it before I insert it, or if I extract it) So the compression mucks up some of the ASCII stuff.

[Yen]

I figured out: Best to mod those bioses is this:

Download the IASUS.bin module data and insert it into bios:


Cbrom youroriginalbios.bin /ISA IASUS.BIN

Ready!!! Mod will work with no issues. No S3 resumme and NO overclocking issue:) :) :)

No need to use hexeditor.

Sounds good:D. Is good! Already confirmed by Evil Monkey.

Never thought that that code will work here.

Anyway, rtfm, your manual is great and needed generally for modding Award bioses.


http://rapidshare.com/files/38000904/IASUS.BIN.html

Yen

[rtfm]

Right - thank you Yen and especially rtfm. I must be losing it - for some reason I thought FXCP was inside the offset I was overwriting, not at offset 34.

However I ran into one somewhat weird situation, not sure there is a solution to this but it's worth mentioning. I had to pad oems.bin to ensure that in it's compressed form it is equal in size to original ACPITBL.bin. After i insert oems.bin back into the bios, I'm unable to locate the string 'SLIC' (I know it's there because I can clearly see it before I insert it, or if I extract it) So the compression mucks up some of the ASCII stuff.

Timis, make sure you pad it on the bottom, not the top. Insertion should not screw up slic text. Make sure when you search that SCII checkbox is ticked. Did you follow instructions carefully? :confused:

One more idea:
Try searching for oems.bin, module name never gets screwed up. slic text should be close to it if you pasted it in there over those zeros!

[rtfm]

Since pirate share closed, I'm reposting my guide for those still interested

http://rapidshare.com/files/38364845/rtfm_Guide_Giga_v1.1.zip.html

;)

[mikea128]

will this guide work for other non-gigabyte boards?

[Yen]

Yes, ISA mod and oem7 are methods with good success rate at Award bioses. Oem7 module method is for Award bioses only!!!

Yen

[mikea128]

Yes, ISA mod and oem7 are methods with good success rate at Award bioses. Oem7 module method is for Award bioses only!!!

Yen
is there a link or guide that describes the different methods of modding? pros and cons, etc.

[Yen]

No, some methods are spread over the forum. Finally it depends on each bios if it works or not.

[31337]

I see rtfm_Guide_Giga_v1.1

Question exist.

"5)Perform following commands to release all modules after LOGObitmap."
This part

There is no anything after logobitmap, pass ??? How to do?

Or

When Minit exist after logobitmap and GV3 before logobitmap, how to do??

[shawnmos]

Anyone confirm that issue at my mod? He was referring to F12, but I modded f12 just right now. So I´m asking me, if he meant my F11.

Important: If sombody has this S3 issue, try to clear CMOS and load setup defaults. Make a clean install of Vista and check if that issue is gone and report.

Anyway I have modified F12 version:

Motherboard Manufacturer and Model: Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 (rev. 3.3)
- Bios Revision: F12
- Bios Type: Award
- Bios SLIC: ASUS
- Bios Modder: Yen
- Bios Link = http://rapidshare.com/files/37739799/motherboard_bios_ga-965p-ds3_f12_Vista2.rar.html

MOD1: Order of modules rearranged (oem7 at 3)!
MOD2: ISA method



Please try and report, especially S3 sleep mode!!!
Yen

Hi I was wondering which mod to use. Mod 1 or mod 2? Thanks.

[Yen]

Hi I was wondering which mod to use. Mod 1 or mod 2? Thanks.

Use mod2, definitely! Mod1 causes a S3 resume issue.


Yen

[tommiy]

MOD2 has problem in that after sleep visata shows as unregistered

[rootp]

Hi guys

I am following Guide to modifying your Gigabyte bios to have OEM SLIC table so you can activate Vista.(http://rapidshare.com/files/38364845/rtfm_Guide_Giga_v1.1.zip.html)

But I do not have oems_empty.bin

anyone can share this file with me?

Thank you so much.

[Mr Been]

Hello everybody,

In the Bios Modification Guide -"Guide to modifying your Gigabyte BIOS v1.1.pdf"-
under point 2) you are told to -"Open OEMS_EMPTY.BIN in hex editor.
Select first 175h bytes which are currently zero, then paste (CTRL+V) over"-

What kind of BIN-file is this "OEMS_EMPTY.BIN"?? Is it an empty SLIC.BIN file
with only 00 00 00 ...., but it seems to be greater than 175h, because you are
told to -"Select the first 175h bytes which are currently zero"-

Is there perhaps anybody who might tell me how I can manufacture this file myself
or where I can download it??

Thank you in advance

[tommiy]

could try this isa rom file for a GA board as well

http://rapidshare.com/files/97882804/ISA-GA_SP1.BIN.html

moves slic to before ACPI table start cause sp1 overwrites it if its at the end. works well on friends DS3 rev 3.3

[yanu]

tommiy,

Would you be willing to mod this for Dell SLIC instead of ASUS? I don't trust my hex editing skills.

Thanks!

[petar]

I have a quoestion about moding AWARD bioses using the metod of extracting, releasing and reordering the modules.
That is I came in to a bios that does not have a FXCP inside the ACPITBL.BIN, instead it has FACS.
There was a mod done by Fzeven, and I can see that he didnt aded any adres before FACS, instead he added a whole SLIC table pointer and later added a SLIC inside the ACPITBL.BIN.
He also changed the RSDT.
Now my question is where to add the SLIC ?

Here is an exemple of the original ACPITBL.BIN and the modded ACPITBL.BIN that Fzeven did and the one that I need modded:
http://rapidshare.com/files/123019238/ACPITBL.rar

Edit. Later I've noticed that he had replaced MCFG with SLIC.
I think I figured it out, but I'm not shure where the MCFG ends up and how long it is.
I think that it would be nice to add this metod by replacing the MCFG with SLIC to the GB guide.

[ttxx]

is there anyone who have the complete rtfm Guide-package with included files and so on?

The links in this thread that are still working only contains the PDF-guide and not the bin-files and so on..

I'm figuring that my GA-MA790GP-DS4H BIOS needs this kind of mod method and I was hoping to try it out..