N55SL partially unlocked BIOS

Disclaimer
Your warranty is now voided.
I take no responsibility whatsoever for any damage, impairment etc. that may occur as a result of flashing/attempting to flash/using (or anything else to do with) this BIOS. Use at your own risk.
NO WARRANTY WHATSOEVER is offered with regards to this BIOS. Hell, I'm not knowledgeable when it comes to recovery methods for the N55SL, so it's unlikely I'll be able to help you recover in the case that something does go wrong. (All I know is that the recovery filename is "N55SL.bin" according to PhoenixTool) If you depend on your N55SL, then don't risk it! If you stumble upon the same guide as I did to unlock BIOS options then don't change the optimal/failsafe default settings in the BIOS!

Precautions

• Check the MD5SUMs! (HashTab is nice if you're using Windows, but other, more portable utilities exist)
• If you're flashing with Easy Flash, ONLY FLASH FROM A USB STICK FORMATTED AS FAT32! Not your (NTFS) HDD. I do not know if this is the case for the N55SL, but people have bricked other ASUS laptops by flashing from (an) NTFS (HDD). Do you really want to risk it?
• Remove any BIOS passwords you have set prior to flashing. You may not be able to enter them in after flashing, and recovery methods may be blocked waiting on your password to be inputted. It also makes things easier if you've managed to disable your display (I did this twice).
• I never tried this, but dumping the contents of your BIOS chip using Flashrom could possibly provide a way for you to flash the chip externally using a Bus Pirate if something goes wrong.

Credits

• Lannigan for the guide on unlocking BIOS options
• carlicious for the guide on how to enable AES-NI
• scottdrmyers for some of the disclaimer above which I pilfered.

Features

• Partially-unlocked BIOS options
• AES-NI enabled
• For the i7-2670QM CPUID rev.: 06-2A-07, I replaced the 23 microcode with the newer 28 version. While a GNU/Linux system with a recent version of udev and the microcode files installed will automatically update your CPU's microcode to version 28 for that session, Windows doesn't bother.

Why "partially unlocked"?
Try as I might, I cannot get the Chipset (which hosts a wealth of options of its own) screen to show up. If you own an N55SL and are a whiz with assembly, you know what to do!

Options I deliberately kept locked

• Save/Discard Changes and Reset - the normal save options already do this if necessary
• Anything in the Security screen - the BIOS checks to see what hardware you have present (in my case, I don't have a TV tuner but a different variation of the N55SL may have it) and hides non-present devices automatically. I didn't want to mess that up.
• Quiet Boot - all this does is place a large, nasty American Megatrends logo after the ASUS one
• Fast Boot - causes display to not start for a while and BIOS is in a medium-sized corner of the screen on top of the ASUS logo
• Bootup NumLock State - unless you like not having keys interpreted correctly, you don't want to change this one
• Boot VGA Controller Selection - on the N55SL you have to use the Intel GPU to drive the screen; attempting to use the NVIDIA chip to drive the laptop's display leaves you with a display that displays nothing (sadly). Trust me on this one. Yay Optimus!
• Shock Protection Support - our N55SLs do not have the hardware required. Since turning on bad options may cause damage, I've kept this option hidden.

Note: if an unlocked option provides the same functionality as an option that was already in the BIOS originally, I'd recommend toggling the option that was originally there.

Screenshots

AES-NI enabled:


Advanced BIOS screen:



(Photographer I am not)

Download

MD5SUMs:
EE19BE92025E041B82488A15C8A37EE8 - N55SLAS_mod.202
2A19371958592CE81A6F0C5BB698EC25 - N55SLAS_mod.zip

(Yes, yes, the ZIP shouldn't be extractable if it's corrupted, but, hey, when it comes to BIOS flashing it helps to be cautious)

N55SL 202:
N55SLAS_mod.zip

I personally flash using WinFlash with the /nodate parameter.

 

thx for this

 

What the warranty is void as soon as you read the disclaimer?

 

If one is reading that one already have done a thought-crime!

 

We are the thought police