Acer Laptop with Phoenix BIOS: BIOS MOD Request

Thanks for replay!
I checked in the the Everest Motherboard section and from the report is confirmed the SLIC 2.1 version.
So if I upgraded the CPU with a VT capable one I'd have the VTx menu in the bios?
The other reason why I flashed the bios is to find the option for the Sata Ahci menu.
I want to upgrade the Hard Disk with an SSD drive and the Ahci is a needed bios feature for the trim support (I'm on windows 7).
In the everset motherboard report I can't find any Ahci reference.
Is it not a supported sata mode for my motherboard?

 

This is the modified BIOS image for Dell Studio XPS 1647. It is based on BIOS A10. In Advanced section, you should see CPU Control Sub-Menu. Under it, you should see various sub-menus such as CPU Control Sub-Menu, PCH Control Sub-Menu, etc. (Yeah, you should see CPU Control Sub-Menu twice) The TDP Limit menu can be found under CPU Control Sub-Menu (the second one). If I'm not mistaken it is a Free Form type. Meaning, you may need to enter in numerical or hex value.
####################################################
(UPDATE 19 FEBRUARY 2011)
New modified BIOS: Dell Studio XPS 1647 A10 MOD_FIXED.rar
(MD5: ED70A87925E3335376EC79164C594FDB)
FIXED:-
- Remove "Item Specific Help" box in Advanced section.
(With original BIOS, the "Item Specific Help" box is not available in Advanced section. So this fix follow original BIOS.)
- Remove help text from Virtualization, SpeedStep & USB Emulation menu since the help text is too long (not wrap properly).

Use at your own risk!
####################################################

Studio XPS 1647_A10 TDP MOD.rar
Comparison between original & modified BIOS. This show that only TEMPLAT00.ROM is changed. TEMPLAT00.ROM is a module for BIOS Setup Menu.

Please take a picture of the unlocked BIOS menu, especially under CPU Control Sub-Menu. I want to see the TDP Limit menu.
What you need to do are:-
1) Flash the modified BIOS image
2) Change the TDP Limit to support i7 quad core processor
3) Boot into windows (to test the changes doesn't cause any problem)
4) Shutdown
5) Put i7 quad core processor & boot
If my theory correct, your 1647 should be able to boot with i7 quad core processor.

Please make sure your notebook can recover corrupted BIOS with CRISIS disk before flashing BIOS with this modified BIOS image. I will not responsible for any problem. Good luck.

 

Yes, it should.

SATA AHCI mode is not supported by your notebook BIOS.

 

As reported on this doc ICH7 controller my chipset mobo (ICH7M) support the ahci.
And as far as I understood from this doc the ahci mode is the only mode supported from ICH7M chipset (but I might be wrong).
What do you mean when you say that is not supported by my notebook bios:

• The chipset is ahci capable but I can't set this mode because of bios restriction (and maybe It can be solved with some other mod type)

• The ahci mode can't be set regardless of any bios mod

Is it possible that the ahci mode is the default (hidden) sata mode and I have only to load the msahci.sys driver in windows 7?

There's a way to understand what sata mode is set in the bios?

Thanks again for your help.

 

I already have a recovery disk made. I will give this a shot... RIGHT NOW!!

 

This is modified BIOS image for Acer Aspire 5542G. It is based on BIOS v1.09.
Aspire 5542G BIOS_1.09 MOD.rar

Please make sure your notebook can recover corrupted BIOS with CRISIS disk before flashing BIOS with this modified BIOS image. I will not responsible for any problem. Good luck.

 

Yes, ICH7M chipset does support SATA AHCI mode. However, your notebook BIOS doesn't support it. Usually, not all features supported by chipset will be implemented by manufacturer.

SATA support two modes, IDE & AHCI mode. If AHCI is not enabled by the motherboard and chipset, SATA controllers typically operate in "IDE emulation" mode.

 

So it's a motherboard/bios restriction.
Thanks for help.

 

Welp, my flash drive happens to be MIA. Will this work just as well from a bootable DOS CD?

 

Yes, it should work with bootable DOS CD too.

 

I should have been more specific, sorry. I meant, will the crisis recovery disk work from a CD assuming something goes wrong and I need to use it.

 

CRISIS disk only work with one type of media. I means, on my Dell Studio 1557, CRISIS disk only work with USB flash drive & it won't work with CD or floppy disk. While on my Acer Aspire 9420, CRISIS disk only work with floppy disk & it won't work with USB flash drive or CD. Boot Block only support very basic operation of the notebook.

 

I have uploaded new BIOS image (R3) for Acer Aspire 8942G at post #804. If their is no control which can prevent it from visible, you should see it in advanced/unlocked parent menu ( CPU Control Sub-Menu - the first one), below/after Thermal Configuration.

 

Ok. will try it in a minute.

 

Yes it is . Bus speed override - under Overclocking Features,
Flex VID override - under CPU VID Support

Both of them are Enabled by default - need to see if playing with values, change anything.
Thanks again - you really keep me interested .
Maybe one day we will be able to play with video bios too.

 

Unfortunately, I changed Bus Speed Override from default 0 value to10.
I checked in Windows with CPUz and Prime 95 and nothing seem to change.
I will take some pictures and post them for you.

 

I posted here few pictures. Enlighten me how to change values for TDP and TDC in case I upgrade to I7 Extreme CPU. You could see default values in one of the pictures.
http://rapidshare.com/files/426944435/bios_r3.rar

 

@seaman,

About the Bus Speed Override, try increase it by 1% first & see whether the changes does take effect or not. 10% ( Ah - in hexadecimal) is too high I think & maybe because of built-in safety measure kicked-in it fall back to default. EDIT: I think you set it to 10h = 16%. It is too high.

Does the default value for Flex Vid Override is 20h (32 in decimal = 1.1V)? Look like the higher the value in hex, the lower the voltage. Be careful with this menu. For test you can try increased the value (for lowering the voltage). Useful for "undervolting" I think.

I can't see the Item Specific Help for TDC Limit & TDP Limit to figure out what value you should put. Can you post the picture for these two? I believe the default limit already covered the i7 quad core max TDP requirement. This is because the Aspire 8942G notebook with i7 quad core processor also use the same BIOS.

 

from memory, if i'm not wrong, max value is 777F
i will reboot and check in bios.also i will increase bus override by 1

 

OK. Don't forget to take pictures of TDP & TDC limit screen. See you after 7 hours.

 

TDC and TDP range 0h-7FFFh.
Bus Override increased by 1(%) - options are not in hex. nothing changes.
Vid - I don't have any sofware wich could show me CPU voltage.

 

It's done! I've got good news and bad news....

The good news: The flash image worked properly, the computer properly booted, and I now have an extra BIOS menu labeled "CPU Control Sub-Menu."

The bad news: I wasn't able to find anything labeled "TDP Limit" or even anything that had TDP in it. The closest I was able to come was a menu option labeled "Processor Power Limit."

I took pictures of the new menu and its sub menu and I'll attach them to this post.

 

There should be a description in the help area at TDP & TDC limit. Can you see it? Picture please.

You enter it in decimal value? I believe it should be in hexadecimal value - 1h = 1%. Even after increasing it, Bus Speed stay at 133MHz? Try increase it to 2%, 3% (increment by 1) up to 5%.

 

Enable Extreme Edition & you will see TDP Limit menu.

 

Description for TDP and TDC is about the range in wich they can be modified. I mentioned values above. I'll get you pictures, but let me end some huge installation in VMWare.
Bus Override is in hex - you are right. I increased it by 1h and 3h - FSB stay at 133Mhz, though.

 

Here is image - same help for TDC limit

 

Changing BIOS settings, like you did with the integrated GPU option, won't brick your notebook. With original BIOS, these unloacked menu/options are not visible but their settings is loaded to CMOS whenever you turn ON your notebook. The different with modified BIOS image is now you can see these unlocked menu/options. There is possibility that when you changed the settings of the unlocked menu/options, your notebook will be unbootable. Yes, it will look like your notebook bricked. Fortunately, it is not. What you need to do is disconnect CMOS/RTC battery to reset CMOS. Look like the integrated GPU is not implemented by manufacturer. Even if you can see the integrated GPU on the motherboard, it doesn't mean it is implemented by manufacturer. Usually integrated GPU is sub-component of the north bridge chipset. I'm guessing that your notebook have nvidia chipset, right? Anyway, if you're afraid, don't change anything that you don't understand & also if there are options for changing CPU voltage (VID), don't touch or change it, unless you know what you are doing.

Hmmm...sorry, no idea. Try load default BIOS settings.

It should flashes the same ROM memory as the original BIOS. Did you use /bbl switch when flashing it? Do not use /bbl switch. We don't want to touch BIOS Boot Block.

Playing with BIOS, including using modified BIOS image, is not for fainthearted people. You should already know the risk involved when requesting modified BIOS image.

 

1B8h = 440 (in decimal). Maybe 44W? We can confirm this later when firesyde424 report back (Dell Studio XPS 1647) about his TDP Limit value.

 

This does make sense since you mentioned earlier that your notebook PLL chip doesn't support FSB changing/overclocking. What about the Clock Chip I saw in the unlocked BIOS menu? Does it offer overclocking feature? (it contain Clock Chip words which probably referring to PLL chip?)

 

Sorry i didn't mean to use the term bricked i new it wasn't bricked 'cos it was still booting just without the screen its was just the GPU setting in the bios and no i didn't use /bbl i would never use that other wise no recovery with crysis.

im just suprised i forget to clear the CMOS battery first.

i use /x /s /mode=3.

its a ATI uses 785gx chipset. which i think have powerxpress (multiplex) capabilities (switches to IGP when on battery). im only speculating.
maybe this model was going to utilise powerXpress but didn't function 100% and just released the system without it.

im gonna google around for a few days and see if there actually are similar models close to my spec/chipset and manufacterer date (possibly the timeline series) date and see if they do have powerXpress and i might come back with a request
otherwise like you said which im near certain the manufacturer set it to be overiden/locked with the ati 4570. i would make sense that it may be locked on the hardware side of things because the acer5542 (ati 4200HD - IGP version) and mine acer 5542g (ati 4570 - ddr3 512Mb) use the same identical BIOS, i even tried it out on my machine just to humor me.
im sure you can understand why im curious to this extent when the cost to the manufacturer of leaving a GPU on a system being useless. sure the chip isnt expensive but when producing thousands of systems your looking at 20x thousands of dollars if not more.

I really do appreciate ur work.

 

Hey all,

I've been reading the threads in this forum with great interest since I realised by VGN-N11H has the ICH7-M and is therefore capable of AHCI.
I've tried the symcmos method a couple of times but without knowing which values to change I have had no luck.

Can anyone help me out? I'd be extremely grateful.

Thanks,

Matt

 

TDP/TDC limits will only be available to unlocked processors, you might check with the throttlestop thread to see which processors support programmable TDP/TDC or check with HWinfo32 if it's supported by your CPU. The value is in 1/8ths so 0x1B8 = 440/8 =55W. Do likewise for the current.

If the clock generator is TME locked, which is quite normal for many laptops, BIOS will not be able to change bus speed by programmable registers in the generator chip.

The flex VID sounds very interesting and could be very nice if it worked.

 

Thanks for make it clear. So this value is ok in case I upgrade to i7 Extreme.
Could you sugest a software wich can monitor core voltage on i5 CPU ?

 

I understand the confusion. Bricked notebook also can be powered ON but with blank screen. I know your notebook not bricked because it only happen after you change the integrated GPU setting in BIOS.

Base on my search, the 785gx chipset is a motherboard chipset (north bridge chipset). Meaning it provide support such as Memory support (integrated DDR2 memory controller), HyperTransport technology, ATI PowerPlay & many more. Not to forget the Integrated ATI Radeon HD 4200 graphics is built in the chipset (sub-component). 785gx chipset core function is to support overall system functionality. So, whether the manufacturer use discrete GPU on their Aspire 5542 series notebook or not, they still need to use 785gx chipset.

 

Thank you for sharing this information. What information I need to look for in HWinfo32 program? My asus notebook have clock generator with TME unlocked. (I believe so because it have PLL chip which supported by SetFSB & there is at least one user who owned this notebook successfully increased the bus speed from 133Mhz to 160MHz.)

 

Right in the Central Processor section.
For me says:
Programmabe TDC/TDP Limits: Supported, Disabled

 

Same on my asus:-
Programmabe TDC/TDP Limits: Supported, Disabled
This means our processor TDP limit is locked.

 

yeah, The north bridge chipset does support powerXpress(switch PCIe - IGP) or HCF (hyper crossfire of the two GPU's).
I had a snoop around this bios settings,
I opened up all the ports from 2 to 10 and set to auto, also set the UNIT ID clumping to PCIe & GFX, just so it would detect both/and/or. nothing. only PCIe
Special Features (powerXpress or HCF only option is 'disabled'.. drawing to a conclusion here no support
and earlier forcing IGP only, gave black screen.

When i think back months ago when i wanted to be able to dump my VGA bios GPU-Z, ATI tray tools atiflash were all unsupported. when i use atiflash in commandline could only see the dev and vender id and checksum was 0x00.
so the manufacturer have really blocked the VGA.

ho hum

I still appreciate what you have done for me Thanks

 

AFAIK the default TDP/TDC values come with the processor. The BIOS offers a means to change that default where changing is supported. So the value will have no effect until you enable it.

Monitoring Vcore will depend if you notebook has a suitable Super I/O for monitoring voltages, a lot of notebooks don't. Again HWinfo32 may help to detect if an SIO exists and what voltages are present. I don't know how the VID override is supposed to work but if you have no way of measuring Vcore then perhaps a not so nice way of checking it would be by lowering it in small steps to the point that the CPU fails at load. Of course it may not do anything in which case it will not fail at all.

Supported is good. Disabled means just that AFAIK and not locked. Did you try to change the value in BIOS and maybe enable processor power limit? I think you should be able to confirm it's changeable by using throttlestop to change it if nothing seems to be happening BIOS side.

Similar with base clock you could try setFSB. If setFSB works there shouldn't be any reason for the BIOS not to work unless it doesn't have the supporting firmware for the options. I don't know about Phoenix but Insyde have quite a few hidden options that still don't work after un-hiding them. If you know your clock generator and can find the datasheet for it you could also check if the TME bit is set using the register diagnosis in setFSB.

 

My asus notebook use AMI BIOS. EFI BIOS with classic boot menu. I'm not familiar with AMI BIOS, especially EFI BIOS to unlock hidden menu. Like you said, the only way right now is using throttlestop. However, I haven't tested it yet since I don't see any benefit from it with current CPU. It is very unlikely for me to upgrade the CPU though.

The person who successfully overclock Bus Speed on the same asus notebook is nice enough to share how he do it. I haven't tried it though but it is nice to know that TME is unlocked & it can increase the Bus Speed from 133MHz to 160MHz, at least.

On Phoenix BIOS, hidden menu/options does work. The only reason it doesn't work is because such function is not supported on hardware level. Usually, even after the hidden menu/options has been unhidden/unlocked, if such function is not supported, that menu/option will not visible to user.

 

Phoenix sounds like how it should be. Some of these EFI BIOSes seem like they're made from a generic BIOS which has bits added and cut here and there but not really cleaned up that well. Hopefully it'll get better as it becomes mainstream.

I think it should be easy enough to see what hidden options are <s>available</s> hidden with your Asus AMI EFI BIOS. Safely enabling them though would be something else.

BTW I forgot to mention TDP/TDC level can be checked with HWinfo32 if anyone is curious.

 

I have this exact same value for both of the exact same entries in my BIOS. It works out to 440 assuming it's a hex value. I'm thinking you might be right on. 440 = 44.0 ?

If that's the case, it might explain a lot since the Core i7 I am trying to install has a TDP of 45.0 watts which, assuming my Hex isn't as rusty as I think it is, should work out to "1C2"

I did play around with the value in that menu without saving them. I can't enter a value with the keypad. I can, however, increase or decrease the value.

EDIT: After posting this I read a later post in this thread that had a different explanation saying that the 1B8h code was equal to 440 /8 or 55 watts. If that is the case, then all I'd need to do is enable the "Extreme" setting in my BIOS and then, assuming the TDP limit is what is preventing my system from accepting the Core i7, it should then allow me to install and boot with the new CPU.

 

440 is actually in decimal. Please read this post. If TDP limit = 1B8h (in hexadecimal), it equal to 440 in decimal. To convert to Watt, 440/8 = 55W. Which means it already cover i7 quad core max TDP.

 

Well, in any case, it didn't matter. With Extreme Edition support enabled, I installed the Core i7, got exactly the same result as before. Swapped back to my i5, changed the value to a higher one, swapped back to the i7, same result.

I finally swapped back to the i5 and set the value to the max listed in the tips section which was 7FFF. Swapped back to the i7, no change. Still getting the exact same result as before.

I swapped the i5 back into my laptop and reset the TDP and TDC values back to "1B8" which is where it is now.

 

The TDP setting is for overriding the default setting and not to disable the CPU. For that MSID is used, however AFAIK there shouldn't be a difference going to i7 from a standard i5 but maybe it's worth checking.

 

So something else is preventing the laptop from loading with an i7 installed?

 

What is stopping your laptop is still a mystery that is waiting to be solved.

As far as preventing booting with a processor that it higher powered than the laptop was designed for this is down to the MSID bits that are read on the VID lines at power up by the CPU. AFAIK the i7 7xx and 8xx power ID's should be the same as the standard i5 but I don't know for sure.

 

Thus my frustration at not being able to perform the upgrade, especially when Dell tells me that the upgrade can be done but I have to pay $120 for one of their technicians to do it. I've actually considered doing just that since Newegg doesn't accept CPU returns and I'll probably lose at least $100 of what I bought it for by selling it on ebay.

 

IMHO I wouldn't think Dell would be so low to charge $120 just to change the BIOS for you but it also seems strange that if the board can support the i7 then why wasn't it made to do so in the first place.

I can understand your frustration but there's going to be a point where you might have to bite the bullet and get on with your life.