Acer Laptop with Phoenix BIOS: BIOS MOD Request

I believe the correct course of action for you is to send it for repair. If you tried fixing it yourself, it might void the warranty. This look like hardware problem.

 

Hi guys,

I have collected several version of phlash16.exe which was use in BIOS recovery on different model of notebooks. I have put note under each version what models has been tested with each of it. I also have collected two more BIOS recovery procedure which both has been tested & working on several notebook models/brands. Please find all of this at the first post.

 

Hi @kizwan
Is there any chance to make unhide/unlock hidden menu in American Megatrends bios version R0280Y6 Setup Menu ?
Sony Vaio F series VPCF11MIE
VAIO : Sony Europe : Specifications

Thanks in advance for your answer.

 

AMI BIOS have different structure compared to Phoenix BIOS. Right now I can't mod BIOS other than Phoenix BIOS. Sorry. I do hope to understand AMI BIOS structure in the future but for now it is not my priority.

 

To bad......ok thanks for your answer.

 

Hello...
I had a big problem updating the BIOS to an Aspire 5672. I have Windows 7, I downloaded the 3239 BIOS from the Acer site, I tried flashing the BIOS with SWinFlash and anything looked ok... The problem is that restarting the pc I had a fix black screen, nothing happened. I restarted and the pc stopped on the first Acer white screen. I tried after half an hour and it worked. I can never restart my pc, if I turn it off, I have to wait about 20 mins to turn it on back.. I am looking the solution from a month but no way. I cannot sending the pc to assistance because I am in Argentina and they whant me to send the pc to Buenos Aires, at 1500 km from where I live. I am really desperate, and I hope that here I can find some Phoenix BIOS expert that can help me...
Thanks a lot.. BYE!!!

 

Hello again, thanks for that suggesting, i tried lots of different combinations of phlash files and bios files over the weekend....but still no success.....what I suspect is that the BIOS on the acer page is just the incorrect one for my particular unit, it might have been for only the 7740G or the likes....or else it probably would've flashed fine the first time when I tried to install it.

I believe you are correct and that the procedures you gave me are the right steps. I think it's just down to the fact that I don't have the right BIOS file and/or phlash.exe file....

I have contacted ACER tech support and explained to them the situation, and sent it in for service, they seemed to think that it should be a fixable problem, so hopefully its just a matter of them using the correct files and recovering it.

I will update you when I get the unit back from them, but thanks again for all your time and help, I greatly appreciate it!

 

Kizwan, could you please have a look at the Extensa 5630G bios again? Maybe I'm suffering the same problem - it has been dead ever since I tried the modded bios from you a while ago. Thanks in advance.

 

Sorry, there is nothing I can do about it. Acer notebook BIOS recovery is simple & straight forward. Please send it to Acer for repair.

 

I have triple check the modified BIOS image for Aspire 8942G & I found there is no mistake when I unlocked the advanced sub-menu. I have an idea why it doesn't visible though. Normally I use "Workaround Control Sub-Menu" string as a parent menu for all sub-menu such as "CPU Control Sub-Menu", "MCH Control Sub-Menu" & etc. Like this (example):-


However, there is no "Workaround Control Sub-Menu" string in Aspire 8942G BIOS. The only string I found which is not in use, is "OverClocking Performance Sub-Menu". I put all sub-menu under it. The "parent menu" is important to save space since I'm using Phoenix SLIC Mod tool to re-build the modified BIOS image. As I said before, Phoenix SLIC Mod have limited functionality, unlike PBE which have the ability to re-arranged BIOS modules if the modified module no longer fit in it's original offset. I believe the reason why "OverClocking Performance Sub-Menu" menu is not visible is because there is a control in BIOS which prevent it from visible.

I can use "CPU Control Sub-Menu" string (one of the sub-menu strings) as parent menu. Do you want me to proceed? Are you sure CRISIS disk is working on your notebook?

 

Sorry for late replay, kizwan. I was a little bit busy yesterday.
Of course I want you to proceed with bios mod.
Crisis disk worked once - it should work again .
If not, I take my chances.

Thanks again

 

No problem. Notebookreview forum also seems unstable lately. Please proceed to post #804 to download latest modified BIOS image for Acer Aspire 8942G.

 

ok. bios downloaded. i'm gonna flash it in a few minutes. i hope i can report back from this machine.

 

SUCCESS - kizwan you are a magician. I am typing from another machine. I can not get to live from CPU Control Sub-Menu unlocked by you.
There are so many options to play with - hope I'm not going to destroy something.
Let me now if you need pictures or details.
Thank you a million times !

 

First impressions - most of the settings, I have no ideea what they mean.
But I see a couple wich might be very useful:
Extreme Edition - default Disabled - maybe I can upgrade to Core i7 920 if enable ?
VT-d - default disabled - will enable with capable i7 processor ?
Intel Trusted Execution - default disabled - is not an important feature for me.

 

@seaman

Nice! Glad to hear it is working for you. If it is possible, can you post the picture of the CPU Control Sub-Menu section? Thanks. If you change anything in the sub-menu that make your computer unbootable, you only need to reset CMOS.

Based on the success story I read elsewhere (different Acer notebook), I'm confident that Aspire 8942G can support any Intel Core i7 mobile processor including the extreme one.

 

Sure, give me a few minutes.
I ran out of batteries in my old camera. Let me recharge them then I will take pictures of all sub menus - there are a lot of them.

 

Kizwan, I was wondering if you might be able to give the Studio XPS 1647 Core i7 Upgrade issue a look. The 1647 motherboard has the same chipset and socket as the 1645 which will accept Core i7 CPU's, but will not boot with any of the 45nm Core i7(720QM in my case) CPU's. I've talked with several people over in the XPS forums and I have become convinced that this is a BIOS limitation more than anything else.

If you are willing to tackle the problem to see if it's even possible, I'd greatly appreciate and would be more than happy to supply anything you might need.

 

@firesyde424,

Sorry, I have no experience with CPU control/support in BIOS. If I'll try to do it, it will be purely trial & error which is not a good idea. Are you sure the Intel Core i7-720QM is not faulty? Does your Studio XPS meet the TDP requirement to run i7-720QM? I can't promise anything but can you give me the BIOS link for Studio XPS 1647 & 1645? I will try to compare both BIOS.

EDIT: With i7-720QM, does your Studio XPS powered ON when you turn it ON? Do you hear any beeps sound?

 

1647 BIOS

1645 BIOS

I appreciate you looking into this.

 

Just got off of chat with XPS tech support. Originally I was told the 1647 series would support the i7 cpu line. This time, they also said that it would support the i7 series but "only if the cpu was installed by the factory." She goes on to tell me that my existing Studio 1647 can be upgraded to an i7 quad core, but I will need to have a Dell technician perform the upgrade which costs $120.

 

@ kizwan
here are all the pictures of sub menus in bios
http://rapidshare.com/files/426406513/8942G_bios.rar

 

Thank you.

 

@firesyde424,

I'll let you know if I found anything useful.

 

@firesyde,
So far I didn't find anything in BIOS that indicate it doesn't support i7 quad core processor. Bear in mind, I came up with this conclusion with my limited knowledge. I found it is strange that you can't upgrade to quad core processor on 1647. The only way I can think of, if manufacturer decided to "remove" or "block" i7 quad core processor support is by using whitelist or similar control in BIOS. If it is true, the computer should be able to POST with i7 quad core processor but of course it will stop there because the processor is not "supported". Also it doesn't make sense. If i7-620M is supported in 1647, the i7-720QM (for example) also should be supported too.

Of course they will say like this since they want you to buy it (including support) from them instead of do it yourself. Base on this reply, 1647 does support i7 quad core processor. It doesn't make sense it only will work if Dell technician do it for you. What you need to do now is to confirmed that your i7 quad core processor is not faulty. Try put it again because there is almost similar issue on Acer Aspire 5740G thread where the owner was unable to get his i7 processor recognized but later he found out that it was not properly fitted to the socket.

 

I did do a bit of looking around on "the google" before talking with Dell the first time. I ran into forums posts on Dell's support site and I think this site as well, where someone had tried exactly what I wanted to do and got the same result I later obtained. Their problem, at least initially, was they had purchased an i7 from Ebay that was an Engineering Sample. So I purchased a sealed i7 740QM from Newegg.

What happens when I power this laptop on with the 740QM in it is the fan spins up then down, the screen will flash, but it halts there and two media keys light up solid and a third one flashes on and off about once a second. So it looks like it tries to POST, but stops when it detects the CPU.

Having said that, it wouldn't be the first time I've seen a CPU dead out of the box. I'll make sure I've got the CPU inserted properly. I don't know that I have a way to determine if the CPU is bad or not short of sending it back to Newegg for a replacement, but I'll try and figure something out. Thanks for the help! =)

 

I just gave it another shot. The processor only fits one way. If I rotate it 180 degrees, it almost fits, but there are a few pins in the upper right corner(to the right of the cam screw when viewed from the front of the laptop), that do not seat in, preventing proper installation of the heatsink.

The CPU was able to sit snugly into the socket, I'm positive I put it in correctly. When I powered up the laptop, it did exactly the same thing as before. The fan spins up, along with the CD ROM as I had a CD in it this time, the media lights will turn on and off in sequence from left to right in what I assume is part of the normal POST procedure. At that point, two media lights come back on solid with a third in between them that flashes on and off about once a second.

In my experience, if the CPU is toast, the machine won't even power up, let alone start to POST. Now it may be different with this model of board, but to me at least, it looks like the laptop is going through its boot up process and stops cold at what I assume is where it detects the CPU. How likely it is that the CPU is bad?

Also, are there any "advanced" or "technician" options in the Dell version of the Phoenix BIOS that might not be visible in the standard BIOS screen?

 

Please Mod to 2.1

Motherboard Manufacturer and Model : Acer Aspire 5100
-Bios Revision :3.13
-Bios Type hoenix
-Bios SLIC :2.1 Acer if possible
-Bios Link : http://global-download.acer.com/GDFi...C=en&SC=AAP_10



please

 

This is difficult to troubleshoot unless you have another notebook that can accept i7 quad core processor to confirmed it doesn't faulty. Base on the notebook behavior, I think the CPU is faulty. If the CPU is not faulty & can communicate with BIOS, meaning BIOS trying to identify the CPU but failed, it should respond this on the screen:-

I found this in 1647 BIOS. I'm confident if it is not faulty, the CPU is not properly seated. I know when Studio XPS turn ON, the media lights will turn ON & OFF like a "Knight Rider" effect before POST. About the two media lights flashes might means something. Have you tried checking it in your notebook manual? You can try ask Dell support what it is actually means (skip the part you change the CPU yourself ).

I believe there are hidden options but I highly doubt it will do any good. Your notebook need to be able to POST (and enter BIOS menu) first before you can utilize the hidden options.

EDIT: I saw "TDP Limit" option in 1647 BIOS. It doesn't exist in 1645 BIOS.

 

I still have some doubts. Looking in the service manual, I see that Acer use 6 motherboards for 8942/8942G series - different for Clarksfield(i7) , Arrandale(i5,i3), and GPU Broadway or Madison core.
Don't know what could be the difference,since is same socket, same chipset and I really doubt that Acer will design other motherboard for +10Watts power on CPU.
I can understand about GPU wich is soldered on mobo - here service manual shows MXM card - but I think pictures were taken from 8940 model.
By the way, is there anything else to unlock in my bios menu ?
What you think about that CPU overclocking menu wich might be blocked by some bios string. What overclocking options can it offer since clock generator is SILEGO SLG8SP585V, wich doesn't support FSB changing, as i understood from other thread ?

 

please help me.

 

You didn't include RW-Everything report but I got it from here. (third party RW-Everything report - Acer Aspire 5100, Bios Revision : v3.13)
UPDATE: I got RW-Everything report posted by you over here.
This modified BIOS image for Acer Aspire 5100. It is based on BIOS v3.13.
-Motherboard Manufacturer and Model : Acer Aspire 5100
-Bios Revision : v3.13
-Bios Type : Phoenix
-Bios SLIC : ACER SLIC 2.1
-Tool: Phoenix SLIC Mod v1.59
-Method : SSV2
OLD BIOS IMAGE: Aspire 5100 BIOS_v3.13 SLIC2.1 MOD.rar (using third party RW-Everything report - Acer Aspire 5100, Bios Revision : v3.13)
UPDATE: Aspire 5100 BIOS_v3.13 SLIC2.1 MOD FIXED.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.

 

-ACER 5542G
-Bios 1.09
-Phoenix Bios

wish list
- Hidden menus
- Memory clock has been locked to 667Mhz instead of 800MHz. . i have 2X 2Gb at 800Mhz PC6400. this board is capable but they downclocked it.

- The 5542 has ati 4200 igp,And my 5542G has ati 4570 (512Mb DDR3) -- I opened up my laptop to grease up the CPU and GPU to find i have BOTH gpus - gpu P/N 216-0728014 ATI 4570 which is enable and gpu P/N 216-075001 AMD RADEON IGP 4200 (RS880).
i had a look in RWeverything and sure enough it shows onboard device RS880 which is the ATI 4200. just dont understand why ACER got lazy and left a perfect gpu in the board which is not being used, i thought they would at least enabled GPU switching.

any way i wanna c if it can be enabled.

dont need SLIC or VT-x

P.S for anyone who wants to know the PLL chip Xtal is X5: 14.31818MHZ and ICS9LPRS480BKL.

Bios is at:
http://global-download.acer.com/GDFiles/BIOS/BIOS/BIOS_Acer_1.09_A_A.zip?acerid=634128532249300504&Step1=Notebook&Step2=Aspire&Step3=Aspire%205542G&OS=721&LC=en&BC=Acer&SC=PA_6

RW:
http://rapidshare.com/files/426692146/AcpiTbls.rw

 

Yes, I doubt it too. I'm confident that your notebook can support i7 series processor, including the quad core. I don't see any reason it won't be supported. The only way to know is by trying it yourself. There is already one person, at least, has upgraded the i7 quad core to extreme processor. Make sure you bought it from trusted source & they offer refund or warranty in case it is faulty.
Don't believe the service manual on the GPU part. It is not true. For sure, on 8942G, the GPU is embedded on the motherboard.

There are several overclock menu I found. I'll look into it & will let you know later.

 

I'll look into this. It will take some time. For the time beings, please make sure your notebook can recover corrupted BIOS with CRISIS disk.

I can't change this. Memory clock is depend on chipset & processor. Both must support FSB speed 800MHz before it can utilize it.

It is not possible to enable graphic switching on your notebook. It doesn't supported. For graphic switching to work, it require extra component called multiplexer(s). This will make notebook cost more. Anyway, I haven't found any notebook with graphics switching which consist of two ATI GPU. The ATI 4570 already take over the ATI 4200 functionality.

 

main reason why i though it could be switched is that my old ASUS F3Ke Laptop did excactly this with an ATI x2300 128Mb DDR2 dedicated to a ATI x1250 IGP in the BIOS but im not sure if it just was the RV610 chip downgrading itself (1 GPU). But yeah not to worry.

i thought the original BIOS had it at 800MHz until i updated the BIOS but im not 100% sure.

Thanks anyway

 

this is my post with all the data on my acer aspire 5100.
I use the same bios mod you I've posted, or do you expect another?

Phoenix bios SLIC mod requests (*.WPH or *.ROM files).

thanks.

 

Can you see AMD section in the BIOS setup menu? If not, you might interested with this:-

Bear in mind, this option only useful if it is supported on hardware level. This look like classic graphic switching where you need to choose which GPU is active in BIOS. Unlike modern graphics switching which doesn't require reboot. The modified BIOS will ready as soon as possible.

 

not i dont have AMD section in my BIOS yes Please

this is what my old asus laptop used to do switch in the BIOS with a reboot(not on the fly in the OS) this is what i was hoping.

 

I already modified it with SLIC 2.1 at post #883. It is not nice to request the same thing at different forum at the same time.

 

I'm sorry. but I'm not able to do so.

 

@selu,

I already post new modified BIOS image for Acer Aspire 5100 with SLIC 2.1 at post #883. This time it based on your RW-Everything report. Check it out.

 

what application i need to use to flash modded bios on acer 8935g, can you help me?

p.s.
i download original bios from acer site, and there is a windows application so i dont know what to do with .wpf extension

 

@yoske,

I recommend to flash BIOS in DOS mode. It is much safer than do it in windows. Please go to at first post to learn on how to create DOS bootable USB flash drive. In DOS, you'll need to use phlash16.exe tool. It is also available at the first post. Flash BIOS like this:-

Code:

phlash16.exe /x /s /mode=3 [file-name].WPH

 

thanks a lot

 

Look at this video:
YouTube - Dell Studio XPS 16 core i5 to core i7 upgrade problem.

I am in the same situation as this guy. My laptop does exactly what is shown in the video there. I am confident the CPU is seated properly. It sits exactly as the i5 does and is even turned the same way. I'd be more inclined to say the CPU was bad except that my laptop does exactly the same thing that every other person I've read about who has tried this. I am more than willing to send the CPU back for a replacement, but I'd like to be a bit more sure that it's not something else before I slog through Newegg's RMA process.

The TDP limit does get my gears running a bit. According to Intel's website, the Arrandale(core i5 mobile) CPU's are 32 nm and have a max TDP of 35 watts while the Clarksfield(Core i7 Mobile) CPU's are 45 nm and have a max TDP of 45 watts.

I did some checking on Dell's website and the google before I posted here originally and also before posting this reply. I can find BIOS beep codes and POST codes for the Phoenix BIOS, but there is no mention of the media key "code" that is shown in the youtube video. Also, neither the service manual nor the user guide for the XPS 1647 mention BIOS codes. I have known HP laptops to use a flashing code system for their laptops, but I am unable to find any information regarding what the media key lights flashing on and off mean for a Dell laptop. I will give tech support another try later today when I have some more time.

As far as the TDP limit in the 1647 BIOS, do you think it's possible to remove that specific check?

 

Hi I'm new to the forum and first of all thanks for your work.
I have some problem to flash the bios of an acer extensa 5510 notebook (extensa 5513wlmi).
I've tried both winflash and phlash as suggested in this thread but with no result at all.
Both flash operation seems to be completed correctly but after the system reboot I find the bios unchanged (actually I have the acer bios 3.60).
The bios I used to flash is the "Aspire 5652 BIOSv3.60 SLIC2.1 VT MOD.zip" tested by ZakMcRofl on Aspire 5652 as reported on the first page.
Some suggestions?
Thanks.

 

I'm planning to look into it. TDP Limit is a menu actually, one of the hidden BIOS menu. I will unlocked it & I'm going to need you to test the modified BIOS image & see what TDP Limit menu can offer.

 

Welcome to notebookreview forum! It is not a problem. The modified BIOS was successfully flashed though. The only reason why you don't see any changes is because your Extensa 5510 is not equipped with VT capable processor. You can check with Everest that your Extensa 5510 BIOS is now have SLIC 2.1. The original BIOS have only SLIC 2.0.

 

At some point when I thought I could do this myself, I created a BIOS recovery disk according to the tutorial for the Phoenix BIOS. This was before I read some more and discovered just how far over my head I actually was. Hopefully it will work in case something goes wrong.

In any case, I'm more than willing to give it a shot. If this works, you'll likely have saved me a good $100 or more that I would have lost by putting the CPU up on Ebay.