[Release] G50V/VT Custom BIOS v.1.0

Welp, I finally finished my first release of making a successful modified BIOS for the G50v series notebooks. In this release, changes are mostly cosmetic:

Version 1.0:
- Removed the "Intel" On Screen Branding logo, and the black box around it.
- Replaced the animated OEM logo with a still image I created myself.
- Replaced the boot sound with one from the ASUS N70.
- Replaced the AMI logo with a custom RoG logo I created.
- Replaced the "ASUS" logo when booting in ExpressGate.
- Added the Custom BIOS version in the BIOS revision string.

Version 1.01:
- Fixed the revision string to show the proper version.

This build is based off of the 210 BIOS (G50Vas.210). If you are going to flash this, I strongly advise that you do not do so in Windows. Please use the Easy Flash utility by pressing F4 at the BIOS screen.

The BIOS has been tested extensively, and there have been NO complications or bugs associated. However, use this at your own risk.

I am not responsible for anything that goes wrong during this procedure.

Video of Boot:
Youtube


Download Link:
Version 1.01 - ( Thanks to my friend Das for hosting the files!)

Please, leave comments / questions / concerns about this. If you know x86 assembly, or know how to modify AMI BIOS's, please get in touch with meh.

Future Goals:
- Overclocking via FSB.
- Add features, such as CPU support, and Setup menu items.
- Create a friendly application for logo and sound modification.
- LED control without the use of Direct Console.

 

Screenshots:

Quiet Boot logo:


Diagnostics screen logo:


ExpressGate boot:

 

Any chance for quad support?

 

Not yet :\

 

Ill be a test dummy if you ever get to that point.

 

The thing is that I dont know enough about the G71V to proceed much (The G71 is the system that I would like to use the BIOS from). I guess I would have to know a) what processor are you wanting to put in the system, and b) if anyone has tried adding a quad-core processor to the G50VT, what happened when you tried booting up.


Id like to add that there may be a hardware limitation as well. I've read some nasty stuff about intel changing something on the PM45 chipset, which makes it incompatible with certain processors.

 

has the displaying time of the asus logo (when booting) changed?

 

There isnt much of a difference.

The only way to accomplish that is to start hacking away at the option ROMs, which I did not do. This was just more of a cosmetic mod, in which I'm hoping for some ideas for future releases.

If you have the sound enabled, that will effect the boot time dramatically. During testing, I removed the sound file and player from the BIOS. It booted quicker.

 

Wow this is great. Is there any way to preview the startup sound?

 

Here ya go:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/nz2itddlytm/ASUSSounds.zip

 

Hahaha that's awesome! The Lamborghini rev-up is particularly amusing...
You've piqued my curiosity and I hope I don't dunce any momentum you have going here, but I assume it's possible then to add any short enough/correctly formatted .wav file?
Also, would it be possible to add a custom animated logo then? What format/size would it have to be?

Sorry for asking so many questions! :/

 

Na, its cool . Modding / hacking has always been an interest, since it unlocks the true capabilities of stuff.

The sound file is essentially a WAV file that is compressed when inserted into the BIOS. The three WAV files that I extracted from ASUS BIOS's are 8-bit mono 16-24 kHz, with a data rate from 128k to 192k. The largest file I found was around 95kb in size.

The space available depends on the BIOS version, as well as weither or not any feature code (e.g. Network Boot) is removed from the BIOS. The on-board flash is 1MB in size.

As far as the animated logo, the file format used is XBMP, which im guessing is extended bitmap (I have never heard of "XBMP" before). So far, I can't find anything that will open or edit the XBMP file. I am looking into alternative methods, since I don't have access to any of the special SDK's ASUS uses.

 

Amen, amen.

Interesting, seems rather flexible. I'll have to poke around for a nice sound effect perhaps if I do learn to make my own custom BIOS.

Right. So in terms of graphics this pretty much limits us to either a small animated logo or a large static one, at least in theory.

Ditto, probably ran across the same Google results you did. It is an odd format, and the way I understand it is a bitmap file with some sort of color palette stuck onto it. I haven't run across anything regarding multiple frames/framerates etc like an animated .gif though. 'Tis frustrating not finding something in 10 seconds on Google. I guess that's what makes it fun.

 

The only thing I found on google was stuff about the xbox media player :\

 

I really like that static RoG image you created, any way i Could get my hands on a copy?

 

Will you be making a guide or "how to" for the DIYs like me? I'm super stoked you found how to remove that annoying intel inside logo from the quiet boot, that's the only thing I really want to change.

Also, why use v.210 instead of v.213?

 

i am stake with OEM

 

1) download MMTool ( http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/System-Info/MMTool.shtml iirc 3.19 is newest, i still use 3.14)

2) download any hex editor (i suggest xvi32 or winhex, google)

3) download the original bios from asus

4) extract modules one by one.

5) open each file in the hex editor and look at the first 20h bytes (some files have longer and shorter headers, usually the type will be indicated in the first dozen).

6) google the string (XMBP, WAV-RAW, and so on) to find out what kind of file it is

7) replace with your custom ones.


0xF modules are custom ones, so if something in those doesn't work, it shouldn't be fatal.