Project: G50V Core 2 Quad Support via BIOS Modification

UPDATE: The microcode is not preventing quad-core support, which I originally thought. It is something else. Just hang in there .

Hello,

I am in the process of creating a modified G50Vas.213 BIOS that can support the same processors that the G51VX can (Quad-core processors). Recently, I have discovered that the P6 microcode's are pretty similar, and only differ by the G51's added support for more processors.

Information discovered about both the G50Vas.213 and G60VXAS.205 BIOS:

F0 - Something to do with Easy Flash Utility. If removed, Easy Flash will fail to load.
FA - BIOS Boot sound. (WAV Format) (BMP Format)
0E - Large OEM Logo (Animated BIOS logo) (Unknown format)
F8 - ASUS Boot Logo via ExpressGate button.
1A - Small OEM Logo (AMI Logo) (GRFX Format)
11 - P6 Microcode (Contains the Microcode for the processor)
21 - Multilanguage (Stores language settings)
06 - SMBIOS (Stores DMI information)
04 - Setup Utility
1B - Main BIOS (More details later)
2B - Memory Test
20 - Intel RAID Controller (PCI ROM)
20 - Realtek Gigabit Ethernet NIC (PCI ROM)

G50-Only Discovered BIOS Modules:
20 - GeForce 9700M GT (PCI ROM)

G51-Only Discovered BIOS Modules:
20 - Nvidia GeForce GTX 260M (PCI ROM)


This is as far as I got. I have replaced the large and small logos, and boot sound, and all worked correctly.

What lit up the idea bulb in my head is when I compared both ROM file's information:

Core Version: 8.00
Tag: G60VX001 (G51) G50V0100 (G50)
RomBuild Version: 4.18
Date: Doesn't matter
BIOS Name: Cantiga
Image Size: 1MB
Linked-List Pointers: SEG-OFF
Split Modules: NO
RomHoles: YES
Non-Critical Blocks: Yes
Boot Block and Ext. Boot Block Size: 10000
INIT Location: E0000
INIT Size: 20000
Boot Block Free Space: Disabled
BIOS Header Location: DBFEA
Duel BIOS Image: NO
BIOS Supported NVRAM: Location: DC000 Size: 4000

 

Another thing that got my attention was the CPU PATCH information. Here is the Intel microcode patches for each BIOS:

P6 Microcode Patches (G50VT) :
MicroCode ID: 0x20070020, Dated: 00/00/0001, for CPUID: 20
MicroCode ID: 0x90991CC5, Dated: 25/6B/E128, for CPUID: 1CC5
MicroCode ID: 0x20070002, Dated: 00/00/0001, for CPUID: 02
MicroCode ID: 0x483CBBA5, Dated: 21/F5/E658, for CPUID: BBA5
MicroCode ID: 0x20070080, Dated: 00/00/0001, for CPUID: 80
MicroCode ID: 0x3A60191F, Dated: 5F/B6/964F, for CPUID: 191F
MicroCode ID: 0x20070080, Dated: 00/00/0001, for CPUID: 80
MicroCode ID: 0x1969E711, Dated: 12/E2/CC6C, for CPUID: E711
MicroCode ID: 0x20080080, Dated: 00/00/0001, for CPUID: 80
MicroCode ID: 0x7957489C, Dated: 7C/8E/E191, for CPUID: 489C
MicroCode ID: 0x200800A0, Dated: 00/00/0001, for CPUID: A0
MicroCode ID: 0x611E73, Dated: 20/0C/E053, for CPUID: 1E73
MicroCode ID: 0x301E7C85, Dated: C2/D0/120D, for CPUID: 7C85
MicroCode ID: 0xE807DC1, Dated: 58/E2/0ACC, for CPUID: 7DC1

P6 Microcode Patches (G51VX) :
MicroCode ID: 0x20070020, Dated: 00/00/0001, for CPUID: 20
MicroCode ID: 0x90991CC5, Dated: 25/6B/E128, for CPUID: 1CC5
MicroCode ID: 0x20070002, Dated: 00/00/0001, for CPUID: 02
MicroCode ID: 0x483CBBA5, Dated: 21/F5/E658, for CPUID: BBA5
MicroCode ID: 0x20070080, Dated: 00/00/0001, for CPUID: 80
MicroCode ID: 0x3A60191F, Dated: 5F/B6/964F, for CPUID: 191F
MicroCode ID: 0x20070080, Dated: 00/00/0001, for CPUID: 80
MicroCode ID: 0x1969E711, Dated: 12/E2/CC6C, for CPUID: E711
MicroCode ID: 0x20080080, Dated: 00/00/0001, for CPUID: 80
MicroCode ID: 0x7957489C, Dated: 7C/8E/E191, for CPUID: 489C
MicroCode ID: 0x200800A0, Dated: 00/00/0001, for CPUID: A0
MicroCode ID: 0x611E73, Dated: 20/0C/E053, for CPUID: 1E73
MicroCode ID: 0x301E7C85, Dated: C2/D0/120D, for CPUID: 7C85
MicroCode ID: 0xE807DC1, Dated: 58/E2/0ACC, for CPUID: 7DC1
MicroCode ID: 0x200800A0, Dated: 00/00/0001, for CPUID: A0
MicroCode ID: 0x611E73, Dated: 20/0C/E053, for CPUID: 1E73
MicroCode ID: 0x301E7C85, Dated: C2/D0/120D, for CPUID: 7C85
MicroCode ID: 0xE807DC1, Dated: 58/E2/0ACC, for CPUID: 7DC1

I compared each patch file in a hex editor, and they all matched up perfectly. The weird thing is that the two No. 6 and 7 microcodes from the G51's BIOS matched up perfect against each other. Strange.

I will review the SMBIOS information tomorrow, but I need some help with this. Also, what are the supported processors in the G51 (Can they support the same processors the G50 can?) It appears the chipsets are both the same (Intel PM45).

 

REQUEST : Anyone who has a G51 (Retail, and/or Best Buy) and/or a G60, can you please send submit an Everest report, or any type of total system benchmark report?

 

Hopefully you can get it to work. I flashed a quad-supporting BIOS to my G51vx-RX05 (Best Buy edition with a C2D) that had come from a quad-equiped G51vx-A1. The quad I had still didn't work because of a motherboard incompatibility.

 

Do you know what the incompatibilities were? Flashing another system BIOS, IMO, wouldn't be the way to go about it. I'm aiming at extraction and injection of microcodes and patch files, thus maintaining the same compatibility the stock BIOS offers.

I currently own a G50 from best buy, and through figuring out what is what in the BIOS, I think we are capable of creating a great mod.

 

The Best Buy G51's motherboards are capable of using a quad, but Asus disabled it in the bios due to legal concerns (according to the Asus rep on these forums). Crossflashing with a different G51 that supports quads didn't work, but modifying its official bios might! If this works, it'd be great if you could inject quad support into the Best Buy G51's as well.

 

don't bother, already tried this. it doesn't work at the hardware level, not the microcode -> old g50v. but if you still want to give it a go, you can use the MSI GT725 as the donor (AMI v8 iirc).

 

I am going to revamp the whole project. I found out that the G71v pretty much has the same system specs as the G50v, except for a TPM, and the video card.

I also got access to every microcode for every supported processor. This is definitely a huge work in progress.

 

And we are following you.

 

hopefully you could do this i be really happy to pop in a quad in my g50vt-x5

glad i waited to upgrade the stock p7450 was gonna get a p9600 or a 9700

but want to see what this comes to

 

actually, asus customer care confirmed that flashing that bios did nothing because they write protect the areas of the bios responsible for cpu support, for that very reason.

 

Well, that bites. So I guess there is some hope.

 

I love that phrase "write protect."

 

Well this thread is interesting *bookmarked*

 

Can you run everest and message me a full system report?

Asus Customer Care lied to you .

There's no part of the BIOS that is write protect. Maybe shes referring to the tools required to modify the BIOS, which I have.

 

He never said it was write-protected. This was his response as to why you couldn't crossflash a quad-supporting G51VX bios onto the Best Buy's G51VX:

Perhaps it would work with a different flash utility?

 

Im too lazy to re-type up the first two posts :\.

I discovered that there is a more compatible system to the G50 that supports quad processors: The G71V

Anyways, after careful research and such, I replaced the microcode module from the G71V with the one that resides in the G50V's BIOS. Ill upload it shortly. (EDIT: No I wont... )

As the flashing is concerned, I use the flash utility built into the BIOS ROM. When you flash an AMIBIOS ROM image, it cleared the flash, and copies the ROM image over.

The person who you were chatting with might be referring to the boot block, which is not updated. The boot block is more or less for recovery.

 

I wish Asus could have just provided us with this since core2quad uses the same socket, instead of making look-a-like upgrade machines like g51vx.

 

Well, I guess lets try and make this happen. You can't brick a system by adding microcode.

Does anyone have access to a G50 model, and a quad core processor? If so, what happens when you attempt to boot the computer?

Another issue would be cooling, since the system isn't designed to cool such a processor.

 

i think someone did try booting with a quad core. can u search up the posts in the forum sth like processor upgradability in g50
here it is
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=377597&page=3
the guy tried it, the bios recognized the cpu as core 2 quad extreme, but it didnt boot up.
thermally speaking, it is very likely that it is going to be warmer, but the g50 cooling is really good, t series have 35w, extreme have 44w both are used on similar machines, i would assume thermal shouldnt be a problem/ since it is 45w; possibly higher fan speeds and need of arctic silver though, it seems to me.
bret, let me know if i can be of any help on this topic. i came so close today to buy a p9600 on ebay to replace my p7450, which is my bottleneck in my g50vt-x5; i really don't want to switch to g51 just because of quad core, ilove my computer.
doing the research etc, let me know ifi can be of any help.

note: you're right about the microcode thing, but i am not sure, if there is a chance that may be the motherboard is not supplying the socket with enough voltage in the scenarios in that thread??
oz

 

If the computer recognized the processor, but wouldn't boot, then it is most likely a microcode issue. I have every microcode file for every P6 processor, so if someone has a quad-core processor they would like to install into their G50V series notebook, then patching the microcode and testing this out should be easy.

EDIT: After reading your link, except for the Q9100, it sounds like the motherboard and BIOS support the processors. The person in that thread who tested the processors may of had a different HAL, and that's why Vista wasn't working correctly. I know the PM45 has weird compatibility with certain processors, so maybe thats why quad's aren't "supported"

 

I guess you can send a message to the guy who tried it in the thread i have sent you, i think it should be a retailer.
As of HAL, I believe simply using ubuntu live should fix it or opensuse.
let me know if you can reach win32asmguy he might still have the q9100 and gentech guy in the forums, he might try it too.
there is one here: http://cgi.ebay.com/Intel-Core-2-Qu...73QQcmdZViewItemQQptZCPUs?hash=item3357e2768d
it is from japan, some one who lives in japan can test it.
let me know about the progress/or anything i can do.

 

I've got a Best Buy G51, and have Everest. I have ugraded to a T9300. If a system report would help, let me know.

 

Any update on this?

 

+1 I am dying to put a quad on my computer.

 

waiting for new updatee

 

Look at your signature, you already have a X9100! Dude, a quad will not improve gaming that much will it?

oz

 

He can sell the X9100 and go for a Quad...

Tag.

 

The person who bought a quad core processor for their G50 didn't PM me back. :\

All I really need is someone who has a PM45 compatible quad core processor, so that we can test this. I don't have a quad core handy, so theres no way for me to know what happens when one tries upgrading the CPU without a patched BIOS.

 

Did you PM this guy?
win32asmguy

 

So, updates?

 

Hello there,

I am new on these forums, I found this topic and I am very insterested by the idea of making a Quad CPU support for the G50V.

I plan tu upgrade my G50V soon, maybe for an Intel QX9300 CPU (but not right now because it's quite expensive, so maybe once I'll get little more money) and I would like to know if it will work for sure or not, once you will have finished your modification, and what sort of 'tests' you would like to make.

Thanks in advance for your work.

Regards

 

Also super interested in this. Had anyone actually tested transplanted microcodes? I couldn't find it anywhere.

 

Well.
I'am wondering... I have a G50V and a G51VX.
I want to change my G50V's 9700M GS videocard into a GTX 260M from the VX.
I've already made a bios file, changed the "20 - GeForce 9700M GT (PCI ROM)" module with the "20 - Nvidia GeForce GTX 260M (PCI ROM)" module.
I'am just not brave enough to flash it into my G50V...
Do you think it could be working or do we need some other changes?

 

I am by no means any expert and you should take what I say with little heed (except for this warning) but I was under the impression you could pop in any Asus reverse-MXM video card and then install drivers and you're set. The worst that could happen if you did so before a bios flash would be a no-video POST (which I guess is pretty bad), but you could just revert back to your former video card.

 

i made a transplant some few months ago, someone tried it and no dice. asus confirmed that the lack of quad support is at the hardware level (can't find original posts, sorry).

in theory, it should work. no one's actually tried it.
the BIOS has room for both vbios', so if you have the balls to flash it consider adding the old 9700m in there as a failsafe. that would spare you a blind flash if it doesn't work. if it would fail completely, then the changes would be irreversible anyway. hth

 

Ah, thanks thalanix. Your word is just as good as the original post for me. Ah well. Dual core it is. I'll have to live with the extra battery life and less power.

 

Well, if I get those balls I'll let you know what happened

I would love to get my G50V some more graphics horsepower instead of selling it and changing to a G51 (which I bought already). I love that "old" orange design a lot more
In the G51 I only like the LED Backlit screen, the backlit keyboard and the GTX260M... I already disassembled them but If I change the motherboards the OLED won't be working anymore beause the G51 doesn't have the controller for it... Sadly the G51 Keyboard doesn't fit into the G50's case...
Every single part takes the same place so I can easily change the motherboard. If I change everything, I cut the cases to fit the keyboard aswell... Even I get a G50, with a dead OLED because the G51 doest have that controller on the mb also...
I don't want that half result.

So the only thing I can change without any mod is the LCD panel.
With some modding the videocard change could be possible.

This is all I can do. Maybe I should just keep the G51 and let the G50 away...
Or buy a G71GX with the power of GTX260M and the design of G50V

 

Hello,

Thalanix, I just read your message now about the quad-core support on G50V, but I already purchased a QX9300 CPU (SLB5J, no ES or QS) and waiting to receive it...
What you said in your post, means that the G50V will never support quad-core CPU, even with updated microcodes in the Bios?
I hope there is a way to make it work. Anyway, I'll keep you informed once I will receive it and install it.

 

Haha, at this point I might opt to sell everything for the G71 or G73. But a quick question on the OLED screen: how many pins/wires connect it to the board? Is it four? Because I've seen somewhere in a log on my computer that it connects via USB--perhaps one of the internal ports?

You can always get an external USB OLED screen if you really wanted. But you'd have to mod it with a program like LCD Hype.

Best of luck, keep us posted. I don't think it will work but who knows?

 

i'd go for the g73, if you don't mind the design and a little waiting.

iirc Ken posted somewhere in EIements CPU selling thread that quads require a different mainboard, despite being the same socket (bb g51 does not support, reseller a1 does).

 

Hello,

I received the QX9300 today. Here are the results.

After installing it, I first power on my G50V on battery power. The lights turn on but the screen remains black.
So I try to boot with AC power, the Bios shows up, the CPU is detected correctly, everything seems fine, until I get to the OS Selection menu.

Windows will start loading but after a few seconds, the little animated logo will freeze and the computer just hangs.
Same thing with Linux, it starts loading but then I just get a little blinking cursor on the screen and nothing more.
I also tried with Live CD, this is the same thing.

So I guess that even if the CPU is correctly detected, there is something which will prevent OS loading... So you think it is hardware related compatibility issue? That would mean even with a modded Bios this will not change anything?

If anyone here has an idea, don't hesitate to talk about it.

Thanks!

 

I saw someone posted the similar question at asus's forum - http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx...&board_id=3&model=G50V&page=1&SLanguage=en-us

It said "Lilja, if you really want to try and run a QX9100 in your G50V, then I suggest that you flash your laptop with the latest BIOS for the G51vx, as this BIOS supports quad core processors, and the G50V, G50VT and G50VX all share the same chipset. But there is a chance that that BIOS software won't work, and you'd have to revert back to a G50V BIOS."

You like to try it? I'd like to know the result as well. my notebook G50V-A2...

 

if the CPU is detected, it should already have the microcode. you can add it yourself using the MSI GT725 as a donor which 100% supports it, but i personally don't think it will change anything. if linux doesn't spit out any errors or panic at all, then it's almost certainly on the BIOS/hardware level.

crossflashing = instant no. if it fails, there is no reverting.

 

Hello,

Thanks for your answers, I am sure it's hardware-related now, any Bios modification will not change anything. So I will not try cross flashing, I don't want to take the risk of having a 'locked' laptop.

I think I will keep my G50V for now, it's still running fine, maybe I will switch to a newer model when I will really need it ^^

 

Hi again!

I finally had the courage to flash my modified BIOS into my G50V. (GTX 260M BIOS module change)

I can confirm now that the BIOS module change is not enough.

After flashing the notebook did not even boot with the original 9700M card.
After installing the GTX 260M it started (heard the Asus logo sound) but the fan was at full speed and It happened exactly the same when I just switched cards without any BIOS mod: it was like only the screen backlit has power but no video signal, nothing appeared.
I suppose it needs further modifications to make it work...
It was pain in the a** to make my G50V to live again (flash back the original BIOS) but after hours of trying I could made it back... Maybe I'll post is if someone needs ..

I can't find anywhere anyone who tried a 9800M from a G50VT to a G50V.
It should work in the G50V also because they have exactly the same BIOS's.
Any info on this?

 

Wow what a trip you went on. Question though: You flashed the motherboard bios in an attempt to make your g50v accept a 260m? And it didn't work? I was under the impression you could just switch cards and do a driver update.

 

In reading a bunch of links it appears that the G50VT with the 9800 works with just a swap. Don't know about the other G50s.

Cheers,

 

This is what I'm looking for. I really want to know whether GTX260M will work on G50V. Sadly, it won't work even with BIOS mod. Maybe I'll try with 9800m, hope that it should work 'cause as you said G50VT and G50 have the same BIOS.