Project: G50V Core 2 Quad Support via BIOS Modification

dtd00d:
Read UP, I was made a custom BIOS myself. I just did not have the courage to flash it into my G50V's motherboard.
So it was not only a VGA card change.


panzer06:
Definitely. 9800M GS should work in G50V because if you look at the support site of the two notebooks ( G50V, G50Vt) they have the same BIOS to download.


If anyone with a G50V has the opportunity to get hands on a 9800M GS from a G50Vt it would be so nice to test it.
Where could we buy one?

 

I see you made it, but I didn't realize that was even required for a GPU swap, hence my puzzledness.

I think eBay is the most open choice right now--I don't think you can purchase just the GPU from Asus.

 

Yes, unfortunately, the BIOS for the 9700M GT is directly imposed upon the mainboard BIOS. It is unfortunately not possible to swap it for a 9800M GS or a GTX 260M. However, the G50Vt's GPU can be swapped.

 

How come? I've tried the 9700M GT in the G51Vx without any luck.
And I think both G50V, G50Vt, G51Vx have their VGA BIOS's flashed to the mainboard BIOS aswell.
You have missed something, if you check the G50V, and VT support side for the latest BIOS the site redirects you to download the EXACTLY same BIOS from the EXACTLY SAME address.
Therefore they have the same BIOS? I think yes..

 

I'm so confused. I thought the VGA BIOS was on the card. Otherwise what am I flashing every time I run nvflash.exe?

 

In this case you flash your VGA BIOS file into a module in the motherboard's BIOS. This is what happen when you run nvflash. This is why you can't upgrade graphics card so easily.

 

When you say "in this case," you mean for the G50V? Or the G50vt, too?

 

the g50v's 9700m relies on the system bios to store the vbios. this is not flashable with nvflash and can only be extracted/replaced by mmtool.
the vt's 9800m gs, however, uses an onboard chip on the mxm card itself. it can only be dumped/flashed with nvflash.
the gtx260m uses onboard flash as well.

if you try flashing a g50v with nvflash, you will be writing to reserved space for the 9800gs' vbios. since there's nothing there, it should have no effect. this is why they are interchangeable and use the same system bios.

why swapping the 9800 for 260 doesn't work, im not sure.

hopefully that clears things up a bit.

 

Aha, thanks thalanix. I've read a few things on people swapping their 9800m for a 260m successfully, so hopefully I'll be able to do the same someday.

Thanks also csufy! +rep

I'd rep you too thalanix but I already did too recently

 

it's also interesting to note that the gtx260m
in the g51vx relies on it's onboard chip, but the 260m in the g51j relies on the system bios (same as the gts360m in a g51jx). could mean that there are two cards floating around and why some work and some don't.

 

So the GTS 360m would require additional flashing to fit in a G50vt then, but might work better with a G50v?

 

i doubt the model would make a difference. avoid the g51j 260 and 360m for now, as that bios is UEFI and i'm not sure it's possible to remove the vbios (mashed together with others).

i'll check the versions embedded in the g51j when i'm home in the evening.

 

*whoosh*

Not 100% with you but it sounds good, thanks

 

have a look at http://g51jbsod.wikia.com/wiki/BIOS_disassembly#VBIOS_overclock_mod

both vbios' (260 and 360) are next to each other along with other drivers in a single 'module'. there's no documentation of checksums, so it might not be possible to pull it out of there and flash it on the g50. that's why i say avoid them, because the 260m's in the g51vx and g51j may be different.

 

Wait, your second paragraph is slightly ambiguous to me. Are you saying that by replacing the 9700M GT bios space on the G50V with one from the 9800M GS or GTX 260M, it is indeed possible to install either of the aforementioned cards in a G50V? I am speaking, of course, of the G50V. Not the G50Vt or G51.

 

although the BIOS itself isn't stored in the RAM, it provides a map of how the RAM is used. this will be stuff like video memory, system memory, interrupts, devices, device control, and among those the vBIOS (or an entry point for the vbios).
in a G50Vt, that space might point to the vBIOS on the 9800m itself. since it is writeable, you can use something like winflash to overwrite it.
in a G50V, the same space is instead could be filled with a copy of the 9700m vBIOS provided by the system BIOS.

the 9800m will work 100%, as the BIOS already has the loader for it (we know this because the G50V and Vt use the same BIOS). whether or not the 260m works, depends on if the loader method is hardcoded for specific models or only tests for a VBIOS chip on the card and defaults to system if it fails.

 

Hallo ChronosFR

I'm looking for a QX9300.

I wasn't able to send you a private message. Maybe you want to sell your CPU ?

If yes, please write an e-mail to red-dot1 at web.de

 

LOL & almost ROFL! I made that post on the Asus forums ... haha small world

 

Brrreeeet! Have you done any more research regarding G50v(t) support with quad cores? From what I have been reading on this thread, it is not a microcode issue, so it may be impossible to hack.?
We all greatly appreciated your efforts back in late 2009.

 

Has anyone tried (or know the reason why no one is) flashing a G71 bios onto their G50? It's from the same time period and the G71 supported quads.

 

hi....i swap my g50v from 970mm gt to 9800m gs.now i swap 9800m to 260.....it's easy.

i have one problem....the fan is max......

this is the link.....

http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus/446885-asus-g50-260m-swap-procedure-8.html

bye.....i don't change the bios.....the 9800m is recognized of windows 7....no problem.....the g50v is same of g50vt......same mobo and same bios!!!!!!!

 

Very nice, Antonio. Thanks!

 

hi friend i have asus g50vt-x5 and Quad core Q9000 my questions
asus g50 vt support quad core q9000 orginal bios ?
and
how to bios modification asus g50?

 

Hello vbektas, welcome to NBR! It seems English isn't your first language but I hope the following is understandable:

Unfortunately I believe the current consensus is that there is no BIOS that will support a quad core on the G50vt. It is not a BIOS issue, it is a hardware issue. The BIOS will detect the quad but the G50vt will freeze before it can boot into an operating system (Linux, Windows, etc). I'm not aware of anyone who has successfully transplanted the quadcore microcodes into the G50vt BIOS.

I hope this helps!

 

thank you dtd00d
sorry my english poor :S
i think change g51vx bios p6 mircode g50vt bios p6 microcode maybe work ?
because same chipset 50 and g51 then g51 support quad core 9000
it works ?

 

No problem vbektas I do not speak any other languages so you are ahead of me with that.

I don't think the G51vx bios will work on a G50vt, and I don't think transplanting the microcodes will work either. The chipset is the same, but I have heard there is some kind of hardware lock by Asus that does not allow quad cores to work on a G50. You can try flashing that BIOS but I think you will "brick" your computer, or kill it.

 

no no i will not flashing g51 bios on g50
i think use mmtool g51 p6 microcodes extract then insert g50 bios
Asus G50 quad-core processor the need to do well also to work ?

 

I think that has been tried, but I could be mistaken. I think the BIOS will recognize the quad core but not boot into Windows/Linux.

What you are saying sounds safest though. I don't know if it will work, but I say try it if you can and post your results! Good luck!

 

I am a little bit ago g51 p6 microcodes extract then
insert g50 bios and flashed laptop is work I have not tried yet quad cpu
i will try tomorrow quad core in my g50
i think
There is no hero who thinks about his end

 

I doubt this will work based on previous attempts here, but I'm hopeful! Post your results when you can!

 

my operation is failed....
I was triend modified bios quad cpu g50 battery mode blank screen.. then i was tried apdapter mode xp startup freeze and windows 7 startup freeze ubuntu startup freeze
i was tried re install xp and win7 all problem is freeze g50
:S:S

 

A noble effort, vbektas. Unfortunately I think this is the same result we got before, it appears to be a hardware problem. I was looking through Intel's spec sheet here: http://download.intel.com/design/processor/datashts/320390.pdf and Table 15 outlines the electrical differences between the quad and dual core CPUs.

I think we are stuck with dual cores only.

 

I am supporting your thoughts. % 99 hadware voltage problem.. but i dont modification cpu voltage.
we are use x9100 extreme cpu
core 2 extreme is always better
so let's cheer ourselves.

 

I have also heard the G51vx-RBBX05 does not support quads while other G51vx's do have quads... perhaps the hardware goes beyond just voltage.

Thanks for your efforts again, vbektas! Haha here's to higher clockspeeds and fewer cores.

 

i was extracted g51vx bios this 51vx bios name G60VXAS205 supported quad core G60VXAS205 bios but is not work for g50 :S:S

 

I see. I don't know of anything else we could try. The G71 supported quads but I'm not sure the hardware was similar enough to the G50v/G50vt.

 

i think asus sales strategy in this situation..
later times, perhaps supports the quad cpu asus g50
i am so tired
g50 vt not supported quad core :S:S
thankyou dtd00d

 

I agree, we keep what we have

Good work, vbektas, we'll call this a thread. Thanks for your endeavors!

 

well asus g50 support intel 4 gb turbo memory ?

i was looked g71 v bios this support qx9300 but i dont want try p6 microde exract in g50 bios because g71 not supported core 2 duo p7450 cpu

 

I believe it does, but you need to take apart the whole laptop basically to access the second PCIe port, it's on the underside of the motherboard.

I think someone else tried the G71V microcodes and got the same result that you did--blank screen on battery power, and any OS would freeze on startup.

 

i think vbektas is from Turkey, that is a very common saying in Turkish a good series called the Valley of the Wolves

thanks for the try vbektas, I sold my g50 finally, x9100 works very good though, i don't recommend anything more than a p9700 , since it heats up pretty bad, or if x series is installed, one has to undervolt...
qx is not so diffferent.