PREMA BIOS MOD Review

There are two different branches for the ME Firmware as well as driver, like with the RAID oROM and driver...I wondered about the 8.1.2.1318 ME, which is not for our machines...

Both, but if the Nvidia driver doesn't throttle back properly it is much more noticeable

 

I installed last prema bios 1.4 UV for W110ER. In Windows 8 I have no battery time left clock just percentage value.
Did I forget to install something? Do I have to wait for new bios? I never seen bios for W8 2.x, on sager/clevo/XMG page.

Amazing work PREMA, that kind of stuff should be on every laptop, shame that encrypted new UEFI could take even that small pice of pleasure.

 

To my knowledge, the W110er Battery has never reported the remaining time as there seems to be no hardware estimation loop. The batterybar program does a pretty good job of estimating the time but its results are nowhere near as accurate or responsive as a dedicated hardware loop.

 

On Polish forum guy told me that W110ER on w7 report time left.

 

Battery Bar software does...

 

Prema,

I see you finally got us a new matching Intel ME...

"Intel Management Engine Driver (8.1.10.1286)"

I have installed the latest matching ME that you added to your list. So should I update to this new 8.1.10.1286?


Any problem found with it so far? And do you know what's improved?


ps: I'm waiting for your new bios. :thumbsup: Is there any way to make the bios setup more cool? Like, is the ROM already full? It's too sad we don't see 3D bios on those laptops yet .

THANKS!
Keep Cool

 

What the hell would you want to do with a 3d bios, play with it while on shroomz ?

 

Well, I'm not asking to make a 3D Bios, it's probably even impossible (unless bios chip would be changed to a bigger size one).

I was just saying it's sad they don't bring it.

And why do I want it?

Well maybe because when my desktop startup and go into the bios it looks like this:



Why would I want a extreme uber 9999999999$ dollar laptop that it's rom setup from bios still looks like my pc from like my pentium 1, PIII and PIV pc from the rock times .




ps: And since most of my friends are noobs, I would show them the 3D Bios like my desktop and they would be like is that (they don't even have a clue of what's a 3D BIOS. Better saying, they barely don't know what's the BIOS and how to set it up . But they know it looks like the blue picture above...)
Keep Cool

 

Thats not a 3D BIOS, thats just a marketing term. Thats the graphical setup engine (GSE) and while its technically possible, you would have to rewrite the BIOS + EC from the ground up and PROBABLY get a bigger flash chip. So if anyone wants to start the collection, a new BIOS for these will run about $250K for the tools and expertise. Trust us, if we HAD that kind of $ we would have already done it up.

 

Yes I do know that... I also said the same about the chip. But nowadays desktop boards are all switching for them.

My Asus Sabertooth is just like the picture I showed. When I even mounted everything up, went into the bios to setup everything I was like is this LOL. It's awesome!

ps: I wished laptops would bring them too
Keep Cool

 

I'll give it a try, but that's a tough one..
Because you've got an OS beside, that is even more useful ?

 

You both have a point guys...would be pretty cool for a high end laptop to have a bios that also looks high end no question.
But then again 250K to look cool for a few minutes of setup time...guess that kind of money could be spend in better ways, too...

EDIT: Testing the Win8 Prema Mod 2.0. If anyone has a genuine Win8 Pro licence key to spare...the PM button always works.

 

SLIC Insertion?

You, sir, are making me tempted to trade my 150 for a 110. :laugh:

 

I'll hook you up Prema check your box

 

THX man! Highly appreciated...Win8 UEFI is installed and activated.

 

No problem! I highly appreciate your hard work for all of us!

 

Damn I'm excited that version 2 is coming out! I really love updates for my laptop

 

Thank you for helping him to HELP US ALL :thumbsup:.

Hell YEAH!

I LOVE FRESH UPDATES, everyday and every hour. But if they come to disturb, they'r not welcome (Like some M$ updates, Youtube updates... grrrrrrrr....).

50-50, Wise choice .

I don't know why in companies, every little thing are always millions, millions and millions $$$.

That's even more expensive than like, implementing the full Android system to something, though it's free. But the Bios is just a little thing jeez!

The good thing is after the 250K, they could use it on every laptop for free
Keep Cool

 

May i ask what is the difference between a normal windows installatoion and an UEFI installation of windows?

 

just reading over some stuff on the last couple of pages....

While you make a great point, I still LOVE the old bios configuration. It just seems less proprietary and more... manageable/user friendly?
let me know what u guys think!

 

I think instalation process is same. But uefi should boot quicker.

 

Well, less proprietary yeah...

But more user friendly I don't think so.

The one I shown I have in the Asus Sabertooth, on the normal setup (first page), u have already all you need, and you have 3 main performance options (with a very nice graphic that shows you what it does). Those options are Energy saving, Normal and Asus optimized (which stands for performance mod). That's mostly what a common user needs, and can easily know what they do with the graphic. It also shows right on first pages, the temps, fan speeds, voltage...


A normal Bios, the common user won't even try to change anything, because they are afraid of the blue scary screen, that already tells that that's not a common part of the computer .

Oh and also on the 3d Bios I shown to you, the user use the mouse, so it doesn't need to start pressing keys to go down, so it's even more user friendly.


It also have the boot options right there in first page, so all a common user really needs is right there on first setup page. And if you are a advanced user like me, then you enter in the advanced setup which is more like the old BIOS, but with lot better User Interface, and more things.
Keep Cool

 

I don't care how it looks. Just give me all the user configurable options you can manage. Old BIOS menu or new, I don't care. Clevo goes bare bones as it is and offers bare minimum configurable in the BIOS. Do you really think they'd spend the time and money to do something like that?

 

I'm more scared of messing with an interface like that than the old bios. I understand some people are intimidated by the old interface, but that's what I have always used!

It would be cool if that was an option, but you could switch to the old look if you wanted to.

I don't like change!!!! Hell, I would flash my bios with a usb floppy drive if I still had one!

 

Come on, this is P.O.R.N. (I wanna C.U.M. on my dektop's BOARD) :

(This small EFI BIOS overview is part of a written article located at Guru3D.com and demonstrates the beauty that is the new EFI motherboard BIOS)

Yeah, but you know what?

If Asus and all the other that also makes full laptops, GPU's, Boards, and a little of everything, were thinking like you, we would still be in MS-DOS .

Change happens when someone go ahead!


I think Clevo could have spent more €€€ in their BIOS. Why did they give us custom laptops with - 100% customizable BIOS Setup. Why did Prema had to work to unlock the options they hide from us? (do they pay less for having the options hidden in it? so that the functions are less and therefore they pay less, with the options still coded inside? ).

Since I was also very used to old BIOS, The new also made me to be more scared, but as soon as I used it, jeez I don't want anything else Can you click it, Can you? .

About the Bold part.......... YOU CRAZY??? >>NO COMMENT<<

I can't even understand why did they invented Floppy drives, jeez I have the SO it was like 100 floppy disks? (Can't even remember, and I don't want to, cause I don't wanna jeez in my pants LOL ).

ps: I still have a million of those around, if you wanna exchange for a 128GB USB Pen Drive of around 150MB\s, I will be very, very, very happy:thumbsup:.
Keep Cool

 

There's a lot more things I'd like to see improved than a GUI BIOS. I agree opening up options is necessary though. At least the basics like RAM timings, disable/enable speed step and hyperthreading, and basic CPU clock settings.

I'd much rather see them improve battery life, there's no reason a laptop with Optimus and 80WHr+ battery shouldn't get 4-5 hours battery life. Better keyboard, mainly ghosting issues, and audio quality. Not to mention things like setting up the main SATA bay *and* the mSATA port as both SATA III.

 

Clevo loves to mess with the W11:

First it was the only model to receive a second GT650M vBIOS to prevent the change of volts/clocks. We got that under control...

Second it is the only W series model which got an UEFI vBIOS along with the Win8 update. It would prevent any GPU modifications while in secure boot mode, but we also solved that...

Third thing is an override which simply stops the custom RAM profile and Latency switches from working...

I am working on that too, but as of now I would suggest to all W-series user not to upgrade to Win8 BIOS if you plan to use custom RAM settings or XMP profiles...

 

any idea why they'd spend time on that ?
not because of your work, yes ?

 

Does that mean our 1866MHZ ram would not be useful? it would be running on a slower speed?
Prema thank you for your continuous effort! I check this site everyday to see if there is any new updates for my laptop.

 

If your RAM is native 1866 it will work. If you set it on the mod, then we will see.

 

Depends on how your RAM profiles are setup. I know the ADATA ram I have only does upto 633mhz in the JEDEC profiles and has the 800+mhz profiles set using XMP. From what you are saying about the XMP profiles not working I wouldn't be able to run my RAM at its rated speed under the new BIOS as without XMP support the highest the RAM will go is the fastest JEDEC profile.

You can see these with CPU-z if you want to check if your RAM will work at full speed under the new BIOS.

 

I don't even know where you find the Stock Clevo BIOS in the first place. I just can't wait to see if this BIOS fixes the Windows 8 USB 3 issue.

 

You can find the stock BIOS on a sticky in the main forums page HERE

 

Thanks for the link but that appears to be an old BIOS version. or am I wrong? and that BIOS would cause a brick since it's below 04 so that's not good

 

They may be a bit older, if you want the latest you'll want to either contact your reseller or email the Clevo builder you used for your machine and they should be able to provide the latest one. For example, if buying a sager unit you would email us to provide it or you could email Sager tech support directly and they'll email you the latest one. They don't typically post them as it's not generally advised to flash your BIOS unless you're wanting a specific feature, the USB 3.0 issue in your case.

 

Ok, I did not know that. Thank you very much for that information. I use RJTech PC but I got a barebones one so that shouldn't matter either. I guess it wouldn't since I don't even have a branding on me. It's all naked!

 

There is info to find the win8 BIOS in this thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/697723-w110er-uefi.html

Not sure if it helps with USB3 as I'm not using it due to the RAM profile issue I mentioned above.

 

Is there any new information on a new Prema BIOS?

 

Hey Prema,

how does the new UEFI Bios look like? The design is the same as the 1.4 version?


Also I'm having CPU tering problems on BF3, anyone have them too?
Keep Cool

 

Ya, BIOS style is good old "blue"

I have everything ready to run a beta for W11 (have enough tester ), just need to get the RAM control functional again...maybe next week

 

Would that mean us W150ER users see a new update then as well or do we need to wait a bit longer, would really love to try the 1.4 version on my W150ER machine, Thanx a lot Prema!

 

I upgraded to the latest BIOS from Sager that said had Windows 8 support and here are a few things I found that could probably limited to my install. I will do a test install on my other W110ER with Windows 8 to see if the same issues are present later

ISSUES:

1) This BIOS seemed to have broke the Bluetooth and Wifi key combo on the keyboard. under device manager the Bluetooth radio cannot be installed anymore because it says "Access Denied" all over the Bluetooth device properties windows under device manager. Wifi can only be "turned off" AKA airplane mode via Windows 8 and not via the keyboard button.

2) The Hotkey suite crashes and can no longer be reinstalled because it thinks it is not a sager/clevo laptop. (very strange)

3) Any kind of GPU overclocking blue screens the system, even a small increase. I tested this on all nVidia driver versions (310.54, 310.33 and 306.97) that I had which include the one from Sager/Clevos site (I think Prema mentioned something similar that he was working on but could be different)

Fixes:

1) fixes the USB 3 issue in Windows 8. Windows 8 would see USB 3 devices but only work in 2.0 mode. Now they work in 3.0 mode and all my hubs work too in 3.0 mode as well.


I am feeling that this BIOS is not worth it (until Prema release his 2.0 one then it will be, obviously)so I switched back to Prema's 1.4UV and all is well again. Man, Prema should be making the big bucks huh

 

Wow, the USB3.0 issues finally got fixed. I reckon somebody at Clevo really doesn't like what we are capable of at the moment so they're really locking things down. Such a shame since this machine is so customizable.

 

A lot of different Chinese Forums started posting the W11 mods some time back...go figure

 

another 15 euro for the cause, Prema get yoself some of dat awesome Starbucks coffee

 

So after a few more tests... These issues, that I have posted above, happen on my 2nd W110ER in both Windows 8 and Ubuntu so it is a BIOS level issue.

 

You could try the hotkey driver for win 8 from the clevo site instead of the sager site, they are different i think. but dont know if that will solve ur hotkey issue.

The only weird thing i have is that with my resellers win8 bios the wifi light keeps burning orange no matter if i turn the wifi on/ off , bluetooth on/off
. but i have a w150er not a w110

 

Intel Management Engine & Driver updated to v8.1.20.1336

:hi2:

EDIT:Regarding the RAM settings not working on 09 BIOS...bricked my system 3 times in the last 24h (beyond the FN+B recovery procedure) in the process to find out what is preventing it from working...now after I know what it is the next step is to get the RAM setting re-enabled...

 

thanx prema!

 

So is there some other recovery method or have you purchased and installed a removable chip?