Sony Vaio S Bios Mod For Gt640m Le

Does anyone know how to flash it through DOS? That could be the ticket.

 

Here's what happened, i double clicked InsydeFlash as you recommended and after that, it was doing it's own thing yadda yadda do not touch or make sure it is plug in etc.... then it started loading then it restarted on it own then when it boots up and Vaio Logo appears, at the lower part of the screen it says "Update Firmware Failed" then it shuts down automatically.

Another info that may or may not help is all this new windows 8 s13/s15 are using UEFI Bios instead of the Legacy that the windows 7 was using.

 

the win 7 models use UEFI from the factory also.... and it shouldnt matter. unless they can now tell if the bios is modded or if the bios just had an error... who knows. maybe it checks an embedded checksum which would have changed when you modded it.

i would be surprised if this wasnt implemented in the old ones too though. seems like a simple step to prevent bricking... but maybe they didnt have it in thewin 7 models. the problem is there are no error loggers for the bios or the flashing utility that it uses so it will be very hard to track down the cause of the failure.

 

Hi!

I have Bios R0080C8 win8 64bit. Is there going to be a bios mod for this version?

 

Would like to know this too!!!

 

^

It's being worked on. Please have a look at the last two pages of discussion for more details.

 

Are you guys serious right now. NO read the last page not even 10. For the last 3 pages all its been is "we need win 8 bios mod" " please mod for us" " will there be mod?"

Give it more than a day to get sorted out gezz.

Where we stand. The original bios that came on the PC will never get modded as it won't be released on the website.
The new bios that was just released HAS BEEN MODDED but it seems not to be working and we don't know why.

Amal, the guy who mods all this, seems to be busy. He said he'd try to work on it when he can.

Now please stop asking. Everyday is 3 pages of requests...

Sent from my SGH-I777 using Tapa talk 2

 

You're being rude. I read last two pages and i couldnt find an answer to my question. Maybe it's because im not tech-savy enough but nevertheless i asked a polite question.

 

Flashrom from within Linux didn't work since the laptop hardware isn't supported. I've been reading about dos and fla.exe but the InsydeH2o BIOS flashers we've been getting from Sony are all Windows-based and fla likes .fd files instead of .ROMs...

edit: woah, does this forum automatically change flash ... it without the spaces and dots to "fla"?

And Amal, if the BIOS is being checked somehow, we can test that! Can you try modifying some values, saving it, opening it, changing them back, saving it, and having one of us try to flash it? If THAT doesn't flash, then Sony is somehow safeguarding against unsigned BIOS roms.

 

That is true.. i was rude. but it is extremely frustrating when it should be very clear that we dont have a mod for any of the new win 8 laptops and that is is being worked on... and yet we still get page after page of non constructive posts asking if it is done or if one exists... (and yes you dont have a technical understanding so i shouldnt be holding that against you... ) your question was polite but polite doesnt make up for the fact that you need to read the forum more closely.

here is three pages back that same question being asked and the answer to it: http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/677079-sony-vaio-s-bios-mod-gt640m-le-113.html#post8937656

and to reiterate what i said earlier. it sounds like the R0081C8 is an update (i cannot confirm but you can check by going to esupport and checking under bios to see if your laptop can take the bios.) this was modded not more then a page or two ago but was pulled because it fails to flash.
if sony ever releases the R0080C8 then it can be modded but it will probably never get released since it came stock on the laptops. more of this discussion is 5-10 pages back when we discussed taking a dump of the stock bios.

for everyone out there i would not try to force this to happen. if you badger amal and he releases something that was not tested fully.. it could break your laptop permanently. i would wait a bit and make sure everything is done right... having said that @amal you mentioned not having the new laptop i would not release it publicly. whenever we do releases for android roms on a different forum we release it via PM to a small group of WILLING testers who fully understand the risks,,,, until everything is confirmed to work properly

and i dont think that sony would go out of their way to restrict the flashing of the bios. i think its more likely that they implemented a way to ensure that the bios was downloaded and not broken and by modifying that we broke that check...

 

Sure, I'll PM you the RE-STOCK(MODed then Re-STOCK) BIOS for you try on.

Yes, you are right on that.
I was too confident that it'll work.
Anyone willing to test it out, please do PM me.
I'll do my best, making sure it won't brick your laptop. But I can't promise it wont.

 

I've been reading up on this too. This thread seems to have some pretty good information on modding and flashing the bios through Fla.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/473226-insyde-hacking-new-vaio-z-advanced-menu-bios.html

Don't know if that's what you were reading Bobby but it seemed promising to me. Are you saying that the modded bios that Amal has won't play nicely with Fla because it's .fd?

 

So what is the next step now Amal? I am using the bios R0081C8 downloaded from the Japanese link you gave me and it is stable and working fine and been playing games all day.

 

Tried flashing in DOS with flash-it 2.0b and 1.5f resulting in this:



For 1.3u which I first tried, I got some engrish error message that didn't pick up any useful hits on google.

Does anyone have a version of flash-it that is more recent?

I pulled mine off this forum and 2.0b is supposedly from 2011.

Furthermore, for those wondering, the modded, saved, unmodded, and saved BIOS didn't want to flash either... somehow modified roms aren't being allowed to flash. I tried using the older flash utility that was used for the Windows 7 version of the BIOS, but that didn't work either, so it must be related to the new hardware or something(?)

edit: using flash-it I was trying to flash the STOCK R0081C8 rom meaning the old flash-it is just not compatible with our current larger-sized BIOS

 

When you said you tried using the older flash utility from the Windows 7 version, means that you used the InsydeFlash.exe(inclusive of other files especially platform.ini) from there and rename the BIOS name from inside the platform.ini file, and it also won't work?

 

I believe he was using flash-it to try to flash through DOS, not the insydeflash utility that runs in windows.

Have we confirmed that InsydeFlash just doesn't work at all with R0081C8? i.e. trying to use stock R0081C8 in conjunction with InsydeFlash instead of flash-it. From Bobby's tests seems like we have a compatibility issue with flash-it, but didn't see if we confirmed compatibility with InsydeFlash at stock.

 

Please read more. First 10-20 pages holds your answer

From what I could tell from his post flash it is not compatible at all with our ROMs... I would run flash it/h and see if there are some flags that will over ride that error.

Insyde flash worked with all the ROMs including modified ones. The error comes when it reboots and tries to finish the flash. Whoever has the modified unmodified ROM. Please run a checksum on the stock flash able from Sony and the modified unmodified one and she if they are the same. Should be but maybe it isn't. I'm not willing to rule out that maybe amals tools or something else is wrong. I don't think Sony went out of their way to prevent this

Sent from my SGH-I777 using Tapatalk 2

 

They are not the same, the checksum of the re-STOCK and STOCK bios aren't the same using the tools I'm using to MOD it.
It works the same with the MOD for the Windows 7 Model, in the end after I re-STOCK it back again, the checksum wont be the same as the Stock one. But that doesn't stop it to be able to complete the flash process.

Maybe we need help from the first MODder Svl7. Probably he can help.
I'm not a real MODder to start with if you read the thread from the beginning.

 

GUYS I NEED HELP!

Ok so today I was casually playing some game - GPU at 69C+/- and CPU around 75-81C - when all of a sudden my screen on the S13p went white. I crapped my pants at first cuz I thought I fried my GPU but I can attach my external monitor and I get a picture. Also tested some games so I know the GPU is working. Confirmed that with Nvidia inspector. So I think my screen went bust or a connector cable is faulty. I have the 900/900 mod running. Windows 8 Pro 64 bit. I still have the old Bios. I did a fresh install of Win 8 Pro 2 weeks ago and it kept my bios mod from when I had Win 7 running.

So what do I do now? I would like to flash back to stock bios before I give my notebook to Sony - is that safe/possible with Win 8. Amal or anyone else got info on that. Also did anyone else also have this issue with the screen? I am a bit worried about this situation. Any advice is welcome. Cheers

 

Is the mod applicable for W8?

Im asking cause gpu-z still indicates 1000/1000 but the nvidia software is 9.18.13

 

That is correct. I used 3 old versions of flash-it: 1.3u, 1.5t, and 2.0b, then various versions of InsydeFlash.exe: 6.19, 6.20 (and a number of older ones from ACER, Dell, and Lenovo BIOS packages). For InsydeFlash I'd either rename the BIOS to the one that matched the package, or change the platform.ini to match the file I was trying to flash. With the stock R0081C8 file all of the InsydeFlash tools were able to flash the BIOS, but not the modded one so the BIOS itself must have some sort of self-check perhaps.

You'll be able to flash with the older "STOCK" modded file by Amal since you don't have the newer hardware. The whole Windows 8 vs Windows 7 is the hardware that the new 8 laptops shipped with, not the OS itself

I tried renaming the ROM to fd, still no dice, threw the same error as the exact same file with the "ROM" file type

 

Did you get in contact with Svl7 lately? Does he have an account in NBR?

 

Any one lagging in games when upgraded to windows 8 from windows 7? I know my laptop is compatibly, it just lags when I play League of legends. Any Idea's on how to fix it? Never had any issues on windows 7

 

this mod was not posted on NBR originally it was on another forum by svl7... and i blog i think. idr.

 

Page 5 states that all BIOS updates must be signed, protected, and the protection cannot be bypassed.

Page 8 shows a certificate block in the header. I'm guessing whatever tool Amal used to mod the BIOS may have accidentally touched this Capsule Header which raised a flag stopping the modded BIOS from being flashed.

 

Actually this MOD wasn't posted anywhere originally.
It was a Private test between me and svl7, after I request if from the Techinferno forum.
So, it was first shared on public here in NBR by me, which didn't went well due to permission issue that I didn't discussed properly with svl7.
Then it was taken out from public and need to wait until svl7 come out with a proper thread in Techinferno.
Since everyone can't wait during that time, so I decided to learn myself on how to MOD a BIOS, and tested it on my laptop. With some hiccup here and there, in the end it works as it supposed to.
So then I shared it out to the public again here in NBR, while waiting for svl7 to comeout with his own thread in Techinferno.

Back to topic. I already contacted svl7 in Techinferno forum coz that's where he is active most.
So, now I'm waiting for a feedback from him.

You guys may try to contact him too though, just in case he is still mad at me.

 

Yeah, that could be it.

Btw, just received a feedback from the Master(svl7).
He did mentioned that if it comes with secure boot and secure firmware upgrading, we will have a hard time flashing it if it's modified. There are ways which might work, but no guarantee.

 

this might make you gasp.... but i actually got the message... "ran out of gpu memory" today!!!... i cant believe that is possible but it could be poor coding

 

On the older modded BIOS or the fairly new stock R0081C8?

 

older. not even the newest win7 one... the second to newest

 

Sounds like those of us with Win8 models could be out of luck. Let us know if you or svl7 have any luck with those "other ways".

Even if nothing comes of this, thanks for all your work and help on this Amal. Hats off to you.

 

Yes, will definitely let you guys know.

I feel bad for the new owners.
I'll do my best to help out.

Hopefully it's not that complicated as we all think it is.

 

Isn't it possible to contact Sony engineers and ask them about this?

Because it's annoying as hell that they limit on purpose the capabilities of this laptop.

 

That's like asking your dad if you can use all his money because he's limiting your capabilities. (Never gonna happen haha)

 

No its like asking dad if you can drive the car with gas instead of pushing it even though you bought the car and gas with your own hard earned money. They have a responsibility to their customers but they provided what was advertised and I agree.... it won't do a thing

Sent from my SGH-I777 using Tapatalk 2

 

This may be a stupid question, and probably has been answered somewhere in this thread - but can one not 'just' overclock the 640M LE via software? I know it's less practical, but is there a difference in the results or is it somehow just not possible?

 

It seems that every OC software was unable to OC these SONY laptops.
Also even if they work, the gain in overclock would be modest, for example MSI afterburner can only add a max of 135MHz, very far from what you did with the bios mod.

 

no please read the thread a bit more

 

And is there any chance downgrading to W7 and using the old bios? Is it possible? Since it might take a long time to get it wokring on W8 (if ever). I've never played with bios before.

 

If you don't know a lot about the bios.... do some research. It is something that shouldn't be taken lightly. It is what is the interface between hardware and software. If you mess it up. There is a good chance the computer is broken forever.

If you try to flash the old bios. Things will stop working depending on what the HARDWARE differences are.

The bios is mostly independent of the software(sometimes the way the hardware presents itself to the software changes. For instance let's say Microsoft were to change touch pads from hid to touchable interface device. In order for it to get recognised it would have to tell the software I'm this new terminology.) For example, I am using my windows 7 bios on my windows 8 installation and a few things without drivers weren't recognised. But the drivers fixed that(a whole another interface layer... usually there are 3 to 4 including the services process).

To sum it up: downgrading to windows 7 should have no effect unless the insyde bios flashing tool is the problem. And changing to windows 7 does not warrant changing your bios. And the BIOSes are different because of HARDWARE not software.

Sent from my SGH-I777 using Tapatalk 2

 

svl7 released a tutorial to circumvent secure flash. He says it's not work on all models. So we need an very advanced tester to test it or wait for svl7, that he released a modded bios for the new s13/s15. Or he says, we have no luck . But there is hope

 

Still no update yet.

But we can see that our friend Bobby Lemain is doing something with svl7. So, hopefully there'll be good news from that.

Anyway, just saw someone did a video on Need For Speed Most Wanted on the Vaio S, running on stock GT 640M LE.
So, I've decided to do a test video using the BIOS MOD to compare the fps.

Here are the video :

Stock GT640M LE - Created by androiddindang


1000/1000 MOD GT640M LE - Created by me


Didn't expect that much of a difference though.

Sorry for the bad video(one hand holding the phone, the other on the keyboard).

 

Do you need to use the newer BIOS to run Windows 8 on a 7 model?

 

I don't think so.
It works as per normal before I update my BIOS. But I've only tested it for 1 day on Windows 8. So, maybe others can comment.

 

I am running an old bios and it seems the be running fine

Sent from my SGH-I777 using Tapatalk 2

 

Same here. Running the old bios and it's running well. I had updated to the new one (1000/1000 Mod), but ended up with high CPU usage from System.exe. Downgrading seemed to fix the issue for me. Might try upgrading again, but don't really see the need at this time

 

Aw man so no can do for the windows 8 models . I was ready to buy one, but decided not to, just because the bios mod wont work .

 

Sooo. Sony didn't implement a hotkey to recover from a bad BIOS flash. Sony also seems to have fully implemented the new UEFI Secure Firmware Flash as seen in the PDF I posted earlier, and the special flashing tool that sv7 had me test also failed to work...

I believe that until a crack or a utility to mimic the Sony Certificate Block comes out, we won't be able to do anything.

sv7 in this thread was able to bypass Dell's Secure Firmware Flash, but it seems that Sony stepped up their security to end our fun. Its kind of ironic how on Page 3, they mention BIOS modding haha. Seems they were able to stop us for the time being

 

Damn Sony.
Sorry to hear the bad news for the new owners.
Thank God they didn't apply it to the R0143C5 BIOS.
Now I should be careful not to flash to a newer BIOS(newer than the R0143C5) if they released one for the Windows 7 Model.

 

Just spent a long time reading all of this.
I have a new s13 model arriving in a few days which is being shipped with windows 8.
With no prior experience where all of this is concerned, does it look like its possible that the new vaio's will never allow the bios mod? or just that it will take longer to crack?
Thanks to everyone who has put time and effort into solving this problem.
I will be eagerly checking this forum hoping for a solution!!