Please tell me how to flash Prema vBIOS 1.1.1

Hi there. As you might know, I am a complete noob to the modding community. Therefore, I am a little scared that I might brick my laptop if I try anything sketchy. You might ask "Why in the hell did this guy post an issue about a BIOS in the Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades section?" Well, when I tell you my end-goal, things will become a little more clear.

I am intending on upgrading my HP EliteBook 8760w from NVIDIA Quadro 3000M to NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M. In two brilliant threads (here and here) a user by the name of artpra showed how the upgrade itself can be done. The problem is that I don't understand the half of the first section. I don't know how to flash a BIOS etc. etc. From those of you who understand his procedure in depth, I ask from you a kind of "parental guidance" (this name is on the spot, as I really don't know ANYTHING about the kinds of techniques artpra used in his solution) so that I too can enjoy the fast performance of GTX 980M. I decided that the first step towards victory is learning how the BIOS operates (and overcoming its whitelisting of some MXM GPUs), hence the title.

P.S.: If the guru himself, artpra is still active on this forum, please redirect his attention towards my humble thread. I think he's the one who knows best how and where to help. Also, if this thread grows in popularity, I'll edit the title to get rid of the unfortunate misleading vibe. Cheers!

 

@artpra was last active here Jun 12, 2017, so there is a good chance he may respond to being tagged and offer some advice.

I am not familiar with the machine you are upgrading, so I cannot provide any advice that is platform specific.

The @Prema vBIOS for 980M is to enhance GPU performance. It will not likely have a direct effect on compatibility or bypassing restrictions of a whitelist. That would be a system BIOS mod. If @artpra did the same upgrade without a system BIOS mod and found it to be a smashing success, you should be fine as well.

This is a significant undertaking for someone with no prior experience, but it's awesome that you are willing to take a run at it. That is how we learn, and we are all noobs in the beginning. Kudos for not being paralyzed with fear and deciding to do nothing. That is awesome. If you are careful and gather all of the information possible at the beginning, including how to dismantle the machine without breaking things, there is every reason to be confident you will be successful. Your first step here is a good one. Good luck to you.

It is also awesome that you have a laptop with a replaceable GPU. Those are (sadly) becoming rare. The ODMs/OEMs have since figured out they can milk more cash from customers by selling only disposable BGA trashbooks that are neither repairable nor upgradeable. You will be able to make that one great for a fraction of the cost of purchasing an equivalent quality machine that is new.

You probably fit the first option at the top of this poll: How do you want your next laptop to be built?

 

@Mr.Fox Thank you for your response! I am really invested into doing this and doing it right, as I want solid gaming performance. To put in a little bonus: I made a bet with my roommate - if I can get my Workstation to better framerate, he'll buy me a pizza. So that's one thing (also he would shut up about how I screwed myself over by buying an EliteBook ). I know that flashing a new BIOS is sketchy, moreover it can downright brick your device, and that's why I want to check on every forum possible and find an optimal solution. Despite lacking technical computational knowledge, I am very fond of HP EliteBook's design. I successfully dismantled it two times now, cleaned the interior, added new thermal paste etc. I also removed my old Quadro 3000M (getting sentimental now *snif*; we've been through some high temperatures together, I'll miss him *snif*) and compared it to GTX 980M to make sure it fits (BTW, it is the EXACT SAME design - there's no way it will not fit). I hope that once I get my new MXM GPU in, it will only be a matter of optimizing drivers posted by @artpra (I always feared Chinese drivers as they are often very sketchy, but this one looks legit, no viruses, just authentic content). I of course have to thank you for big information you gave me: before your response, I though Prema vBIOS was a necessity, but now I don't have to worry about potentially bricking my device. It would be cool though if I could get a "gaming" BIOS running, I DO love optimisation after all.

One last thing: I am really grateful for your kind and friendly approach. These kinds of forums are the best. In contrast, Stack Exchange for example is often cold, rude and only cares about reputation. People there are elitists, they fight each other for reputation points, camp for multiple hours just to be the first to answer the question etc. What I'm trying to say is that because of people like you this forum is welcoming and warm, no competition, just buds helping each other out. Thank you for your time and have a wonderful day!

 

Thank you for the kind words, brother. Based on what you have posted, I am very confident you can do this now. Awesome.

The driver modding is very easy. In fact, @j95 GeForce driver mods might even work for you without any additional tweaking. If not, we have plenty of talent here to help you with that.

Here is @j95 most recently posted driver mod [ LINK]

 

Thanks man. I'll order my shipping on eBay in near future, and then we'll see how it goes. Just a quick side note: during my research of compatibility, I encountered a lot of naysayers that though this was impossible, but I disagree! Thank you for the drivers, this will be my first attempt of choice. Have a wonderful day!

 

You're welcome. The ignorance of the masses is truly amazing. There are conditions where you cannot do it, but most erroneously assume it is not possible and are critical of the things that have no knowledge or understanding about. You already possess hard and irrefutable evidence to the contrary, based on the example of one that went before you, so you are wise to ignore those ignorant trolls.

 

And more shockingly, this didn't come from some random thread, no I went on professional forums and asked the exact same question: "How do I upgrade from Quadro 3000M to GTX 980M". The so called "experts" said that there is no possible way. Hell, I'll even give you a concrete example. In this link, you can find my question posted on Quora.

 

LOL. You have already learned what some people never find out. NEVER, EVER, trust trust people that present themselves as experts that know everything. In fact, the MCSE and M$ MVP types (those with credentials) are among the most uninformed and ignorant "experts" you can find out there. Most are talking heads that repeat what they saw or heard another "expert" say. This clown exposed his ignorance by making such a "matter of fact" statement about something he is clearly misinformed about.

 

Furthermore, check my reply to him. He is claiming that my MXM GPU is unremovable (in spite of removability being the sole purpose of a MXM GPU). At this time I said to myself: "Ah, I see nothing good will come out of sticking here and wasting my time." In all fairness though, he DID apologise and admit he is wrong in comments, so that's good. In the end I was giving advice to him.

 

the GTX 780m has been put into the 8760W



the GTX 980m has been done in the 8770W.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...w-and-970m-6gb-and-980m-8gb-they-work.786791/

 

That is correct. To this day, there is no test of compatibility between HP EliteBook 8760w and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M (might as well be the first one to do it ). However, through carefully analyzing both of @artpra 's posts (you can find them here and here) I came to the conclusion that GTX 980M will (almost) DEFINITELY work in my 8760w. Why wouldn't it? All @artpra 's procedures had nothing (at least it seems so to me; correct me if I'm wrong) to do with the model of the laptop (unless the necessary HP BIOS mod is compatible only with 8770w BIOS, which I find unlikely).

Besides, this was not my essential question. For the love of God, please (I am pretty desperate, I beg you) walk me through a safe Prema BIOS flash. This is right now essential to continue with my procedure. Just please tell me, how I get rid of SMBIOSBIOSVersion 68SAD Ver. F.62 (I'm pretty sure 8770w uses the exact same BIOS) and replace it with Prema BIOS. And if you've see @artpra 's activity recently, PLEASE send him to this post. I am TRULY invested into this and do not want my endeavour to fail. Thank you in advance.

P.S.: I've got a separate question that you can look up if you have the time (it's this exact topic, but more detailed): http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...68sad-ver-f-62-to-upgrade-to-gtx-980m.808131/

Drawing extra attention to my thread to maximize the amount of answers/replies is most welcomed and honoured.

 

All you should need is a lvds bios for your 980m and/or if your laptop supports optimus you can set that up too

 

But what IS a LVDS BIOS? Is it a longer name for vBIOS? Please help.

 

Laptop MXM vbioses come in 2 major flavors:

"LVDS" like all hp elitebooks

And

"eDP" like all hp zbooks and newer laptops from other companies

The 980m has vBioses for both formats and you need one that is LVDS it does not need to be Prema's but they are probably the best for performance.

 

How do I get the proper vBIOS ROM though? I'm asking this for backup as well. Any download links?

 

Did the tread involving the original upgrade not provide a link to the vbios? At any rate Premas site should have links to both @Prema

 

No, it did not. And I'd be very grateful if you could link the vBIOS directly to me, I can't find it in @Prema 's profile Thank you in advance.

 

I think you should be able to get it by navigating premamod.com

 

Following the link you've provided I come to a nice website which only has a "Subscribe" bar and Prema logo, nothing else. Are we thinking the same website? http://premamod.com/

 

What's your GPU HWID as shown in device manager?

 

@Prema ! Thank you so much for taking your time! When looking for GPU HWID in Device Manager, I come across this:

PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0E3A&SUBSYS_1630103C&REV_A1
PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0E3A&SUBSYS_1630103C
PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0E3A&CC_030000
PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0E3A&CC_0300

I don't know which ID is relevant to you, so I just copy-pasted everything the Device Manager gave me (I read on some Wiki that the topmost and longest ID is the relevant one). I am really confused as how to get the right vBIOS for my new GTX 980M, I am scared that I'll brick my laptop Please help me! I need a safe, point-to-point tutorial on how to flash the vBIOS. But firstly, I need the .rom, and I don't even know how to get that! I will be in great debt to you for your generous help!

P.S.: I'm just curious: are you planning on making a Prema BIOS for HP? I saw it working on Clevo and it is AMAZING, it really kicks all the corporate restrictions through the windows! Too bad I don't own a Clevo but a HP EliteBook 8760w. Well, I hope that I will manage to get some of your monumental work running on my machine anyways! Cheers!

 

So you have a Quadro K3000M in there...I thought you have a GTX980M?
If you haven't put the 980M in there yet read the current vBIOS revision on the label to help me identify the model you bought.

 

I have a Quadro 3000M (at least so Speccy says... I don't know if 'K' is purely optional). I am planning on buying a GTX 980M and installing it into my device. Do I need to physically have access to the new GPU to make further preparations? I am planning on buying this (http://www.ebay.com/itm/GTX980M-Sli-8GB-MXM-N16E-GX-A1-Graphics-Video-Card-for-DELL-HP-Laptop-notebook-/152612277787?hash=item2388668e1b:g:5X4AAOSwoH1Zdd-w) GTX 980M.

 

Just make sure the seller flashes a Clevo or MSI (8GB) vBIOS before shipping the card and you should be fine with it. Also you may want to order from a seller within US or EU (wherever you are) instead of China...Clevo 8GB or MSI 4GB/8GB 980M should wok just fine on your system with a driver mod.

 

Why not China (yes, I am in EU)? Some of my friends advised me the same as you and told me that my GPU will probably be withheld on some border and I'll never see it or it will be severely damaged... What are your reasons? I'm in a hassle, as all GTX 980Ms that are available on eBay are located in China. I'm wondering, should I go for a GTX 970M? And lastly, do you know any online shop that sells MXM GPUs in the scope of USA and EU? I'll be very grateful for all information you can provide.

 

You will have massive import duties when importing into EU from China...

Here is someone you can just PM to get a 980M even cheaper from within EU @tanzmeister

 

Thank you so much for the suggestion! I already contacted @tanzmeister and am waiting for his response. I am just concerned that shipping may not go so smoothly...

 

How can I contact you after about 3 to 4 weeks, after I get my hardware? I'm sure that you're the BEST expert on the topic, so I'd really like to converse with you when I need help!

 

iirc he doesn't have the 980m yet I think he wants to have the pieces in place first

In the recent past the site was an open book

 

Several people took advantage of @Prema 's generosity and caused this to happen. This isn't the first time someone betrayed another person who was extremely valuable to our community. Pretty sure Unwinder went through this also. I still remember when Unwinder made a custom DLL file for me to fix a severe Unreal Tournament '99 artifact issue (W-buffer?).

Those days are now gone forever

This is why we can't have nice things anymore.

 

What kind of betrayal are you talking about? I'm just curious. But yeah, I agree, nice guys are not treated well in most communities (trust me, I know, when I was in high school, all the girls picked the guys that straight up molested them; I was extremely nice and got ridiculed for my reservation and respect). That's why I asked Prema to stay in touch - I am SO lucky that he noticed my humble thread and decided to help me. Be sure to let me know what I mustn't do with his work if he decides to link me the Prema vBIOS for my machine. Cheers!

 

Someone released a private mod into the wild......and it happened MORE than once....

 

That's a really messed up thing to do. That one asshole cost us the trust of one of the best modders! As far as I know, his thread was made private recently... I hope that one day we gain what we lost... Prema truly is a Crown Jewel of our community, so his permanent loss would be a heavy blow.

 

Yes it is. But people will be people and the 0.1% will always ruin things for others. I have to suffer with a power limited broken GT73VR (which I'm going to get rid of) because I can no longer donate to the mighty @Prema for a mod to fully use my unlocked 1070 and 330W PSU. So even though this cost me $2500 I have to get a Clevo instead. If I knew something about Linux, perhaps I could learn something. but you have to go to school for years and have a background in EE. and what did I do instead? Play chess tournaments...

 

Hey, I use Kali GNU/Linux AND love chess! Are you down for a game (lichess.org is my favourite online place to battle it out)?

 

If you show me how to use Lichess, and how to add you. I'm usually on internet chess club (ICC) as a paid member.

 

OK, we'll do that someday, but right now I'm busy. It was pleasant talking to you!