Help backing up my TZ31 (R0091N7) BIOS

Hi all,

Hopefully someone in the know will be able to help me out with this. I am trying to dump the BIOS for my TZ31 with the R0091N7 BIOS. Unfortunately there are no BIOS updates for this model as far as I am aware, hence my need to dump the existing BIOS. What I have done so far, is download the R0052N7 updater for the earlier TZ models and extracted the contents revealing Winphlash, along with the R0052N7.WPH file. Normally the Winphlash as supplied by Sony will only allow the flash firmware option, but I enabled the backup option also via use of an INI file. Now I have provided the existing R0052N7 as required by Winphlash to back up my firmware. The problem I have however is that when I try to edit this dump with the Phoenix BIOS editor (the version I am using is the one from Intel's website) it says "Invalid ROM Length". Worthy of note is the fact that I am able to happily edit the R0052N7 image with the same application.

Can anyone offer any suggestions? It looks like the R0052N7 BIOS is a different size to the R0091N7. Is there a way which I can determine what the correct size of the dump should be? I chose the R0052N7 BIOS as it's the BIOS of the closest relative to this model. Maybe I should try a BIOS with a closer version number (eg. R0096N0) rather than focusing on similar system models? Remember these BIOS' are only required because Winphlash can only backup a system's BIOS if another BIOS of equal length is provided.

The reason I am trying to do this is to disassemble the code modules and find the CMOS entry it is using for controlling the VT-x setting. I'm sure this will benefit anyone else running with this firmware who also wants VT-x. I'm not interested in the trial and error approach of blindly changing settings until I find it or end up needing to dismantle my laptop to clear out the CMOS.

Thanks!
Zet

 

Does anyone know of some kind of utility that will allow me to determine the size of the existing BIOS in my TZ? This whole chicken or the egg thing has me stumped with the Phoenix BIOS tools as it looks like I won't be able to properly dump my BIOS unless I am in possession of the actual BIOS file in the first place! Since there hasn't (to my knowledge) been a BIOS update for the TZ3* series it looks like I may be out of luck. Annoying that Sony lock out the ability to turn on VT.

 

I have the same bios version. How did you get winplash to display the backup option? I have tried both hideall=0 and advanced=1. It would only let me flash. The only version of winphlash that let me click on advanced without crashing is the one supplied in r0052N7 update file. All other versions of winphlash (v1.6.9.7) will either give error, or crash (v2.0.5.2)
I can provide Phoenix BIOS Editor 2.2.0.1 if you want to have ago with that. I cant even dump, let alone edit the dump in phoenix bios editor. I have a R0071N7 bios from a chinese site too.

 

Thanks for the reply. I'm glad I am not the only one. Perhaps if all owners with this ROM can put their minds together we can crack this. I'm perfectly able to find the location of the CMOS register once I get a good dump as I have been coding assembly language for years (from 6502 up to 80x86). As for your question about how I enabled the dumping feature, well all I needed to do was create a phlash.ini file in the same directory as the winphlash.exe provided with any recent Sony firmware update.

The phlash.ini file needs to have contents like this below:

[UI]
Advanced=1

[Main]
RetryCount=3
UpdateMode=0
FormatVersion=2
UpdateFlags=1800002
UserFlags=800000
UserMask=d121a4
PSIFlags=20
UserMode=ffffffff

It appears that the one Sony includes is modified as if you try to backup the BIOS using a vanilla winphlash.exe it won't even dump properly. I actually have the 2.2.0.1 editor which I believe should be compatible but unfortunately it gives me the error I describe in my first post.

 

thanks, I managed to get a dump. However have you tried comparing the dump to the r0052N7? The dump is basically all FFFFF until the very end, where it is the same as r0052 and r0071N7. There must be something wrong with the special winphlash from sony. Normal winplash dont work either.

I am beat.

 

Yeah I did notice that actually. I suspected that the BIOS is larger than the reference BIOS used (you used a 1029k BIOS like me, right?) and a lot of it is being missed. This might also explain why the Phoenix BIOS editor complains about the length of the backup file as well. I did just for kicks run the dump through a disassembler and although that's not the way to go about it (as there are code and data modules that comprise the BIOS that the Phoenix editor is able to decypher) I did see some meaningful code towards the end.

I'm thinking of trying a larger BIOS/WPH file next time I do a dump, but I need to find out if any other Vaio models use a larger file so I will have to sift through the updates on the Vaio website(s) to try to find one. I suspect that if I use a 1.5MB or 2MB WPH file there might be some more useful information to dump. It's a real catch 22 with these annoying Phoenix tools. I also tried a couple of BIOS dumping tools with DOS but they don't recognise the Vaio BIOS/chipsets.

The alternative is to poke about with the CMOS directly until one is hit that enabled VT, but that can so easily lead to needing to disassemble the unit to reset the CMOS so it's too much of a worry unless someone happens to have their TZ pulled apart for an upgrade or something I did stumble upon a website that did comment on some findings about where the VT setting usually resides in relation to other values/settings. I'll see if I can dig that up as well.

 

zetsurin, I indeed used a 1029k bios. I havent had the time to delve any further into it in the past few days. I might have another tackle later in the week. Its good that you've made some progress with regards to the disassembler and that website. Let me know if something rocks up! Also lets hope someone opening there TZ up is willing to poke about the CMOS!

 

Hello,

there are any news about this?

If I can help, tell me how.

Greets, KirK

 

I'm not sure what actual issue is in regards to enabling VT-x on your particular TZ, but have you seen this thread http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=189228&page=1 ?

My TZ340 has the R0091N7 BIOS and I just followed the instructions on the first post of that thread, along with post #49's table showing the 0363 register for TZ models. It works just fine. Essentially, I did the same exact steps on my newer TZ-340 purchased January 2009 as I did on my old TZ-180N I posted about on post #51.

 

anyone has a backup of the R0091N7 bios ? (with winphlash) because my TZ31 ha this R0052N7 bios and i want to try this update to see if my SSD drive is reconized....
thanks.

 

I actually have the same problem . I installed an ssd and the bios refuses to recognise it. Getting fed up with this laptop.