UPDATED 16/02/2011 TO RELEASE 78N - MODIFIED BIOS - USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!

DISCLAIMER: This is strictly provided as-is, no guarantees that you will not have issues.  Please ensure that you have a copy of the official BIOS handy and a way of flashing back in case you have issues.  I am providing this simply as a courtesy to those that want it.  This is in no way endorsed or supported by EVGA and will not be covered by them or their warranty and is in no way covered or supported by me.  I have only personally tested E759 mods.  Use at your own risk and DO NOT USE ON ANY SYSTEM WHERE CRITICAL DATA COULD BE LOST OR IS KEPT.
 
UPDATE 17/02/2011 - Now that we got some people to start testing, there appears to be some issues with the AHCI ROM not correctly detecting drives at boot (it will detect them but not report any back to the BIOS).  I am investigating this and looking at whether it can be fixed but I cannot make any promises.  For now if you want to use this BIOS and take advantage of AHCI you can put the board in RAID mode and it will default to using AHCI for any drives that are not in any sort of RAID configuration.
 
17/02/2010 Update - BIOS 78N - I have decided to pull this update for further investigation on issues people are encountering with invisible drives using the new AHCI ROM.  Previous release 78M collection can be found here http://www.mediafire.com/?xu4cir0oz6rdd8o.  For anyone who installed 78N I recommend rolling back to 78M until the issues with the new BIOS are resolved.
Changes in 78N include (compared to official 78 BIOS from EVGA):

• Updated Intel AHCI ROM, v1.20E (replaces Phoenix AHCI ROM v1.06.70); compatibility update; new AHCI ROM should provide better compatibility with various SSD in the market - there appears to be some issues with the AHCI ROM not correctly detecting drives at boot (it will detect them but not report any back to the BIOS)
• Updated JMicron ROM, v1.08.01 (replaces v1.06.79)

• Updated Realtek PXE ROM, v2.39 (replaces v2.28)

If you are posting the link anywhere else please give me and sromerod some credit   Full credit goes to sromerod for identifying a functional AHCI ROM that can be used with the EVGA boards.  The version that I am using in this BIOS release is extracted from the latest BIOS of Gigabyte UD7 board, revision 2.0.
 
Enjoy
 
Use at your own risk!!!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I tried modding the latest Intel RAID OROM into my BIOS with no success so far...well that is until I tried an older 64K OROM...
 
I kept getting the "Internal Error - PnP and PCI compliant BIOS not Present" error every time.  Being that this is a relatively simple procedure I decided to play around with it a bit more as well as use my Google-fu to see if I can figure out what is amiss here.  Below are the results.
 
Attempt 1: Tried with the official Intel ROM 10.1.0.1008 ROM and no go.  Size of ROM is 85K compared to 64K in the current BIOS releases.
 
Attempt 2: Tried with an older 9.6.0.1014 ROM as well and same thing, same error.  Again, size is 85K instead of 64K.  I knew something more is amiss here.  I thought that the problem is with the size.
 
Attempt 3: To confirm that size is in fact a problem I went to load the last 64K RAID OROM Intel released, 8.5.0.1030.  It loaded perfectly fine and I am using it right now.
 
Looks like EVGA needs to either fix or allow larger RAID OROM than 64K before we have any hope of updating to any RAID ROM newer than 8.5.0.1030.  Also, please note that this appears to be a general older Award BIOS issue based on what I found online and affects other boards as well.
 
There you go.  My test results. For all of those that were wondering, you can stop wondering right now.  An official update is required (if it is even possible) before new RAID OROM can be used at all.

I am more than a little confused, Is this what you are saying will not work on our system:

No, I am talking about BIOS RAID ROM from Intel.  Stock on 759/760 is like 8.0.0.1038 I believe.

Is this what your talking about ?

 
If I am running something that is not supposed to Run, I need to know it.

KMoore4318


Is this what your talking about ?


If I am running something that is not supposed to Run, I need to know it.

Lol, no, the driver works fine, but with that driver there is also an updated RAID ROM that comes from Intel that mobo manufacturers can load through BIOS updates.  This is what everyone in the BIOS thread keeps asking about for the last few pages.  Loading this is pretty easy in general, however, newer ROM releases than 8.5.0.1030 cannot be loaded.  Basically, what you are running is a RAID ROM 8.0.0.1038 or something paired with the 10.1.0.1008 driver.  Most of us would like to be able to get the RAID ROM 10.1.0.1008 paired with 10.1.0.1008 driver.  There are a lot of compatibility updates, especially when it comes to SSD drives that are supposed to be in the new RAID ROM.

thankfully not an issue with my new mobo, it has Raid Rom 10.1.0.1008  and I have the same driver installed,  even booted right up with my 9260-8i plugged in, that was quite an issue with EVGA bios and my 762 mobo

doorules


thankfully not an issue with my new mobo, it has Raid Rom 10.1.0.1008  and I have the same driver installed,  even booted right up with my 9260-8i plugged in, that was quite an issue with EVGA bios and my 762 mobo

Thanks for rubbing it in

sorry bud, lol

Yea pretty sure the update won't come.  They made the updates to the P67.  Unless a larger BIOS chip is used we won't see any updates for the X58 anytime soon.  Seems they are pushing more into the p67 chipset.  Unfortunately some of us don't have the money to change our computer parts like underwear.  But w/e my system is only 4 months old and i have 2 new GTX 570s coming from the step-up program so my system still can smoke almost anything out there.

Good to get some answers going, thanks for the info. Hope EVGA will rectify the issue though this board is growing older and is fast approaching the EOL

Well luckily this is not the limitation of the BIOS chip.  The new ROM fits just fine, it is only a matter of tweaking the BIOS to allow for the larger RAID ROM.  Whether that will actually happen is a whole another discussion.

hey dejanh, i have had pm's with Jacob here and LSI tech support, it's the size of the bios rom that is the issue, my understanding is it will not be addressed on x58 mobo

I'm pretty sure that EVGA can tweak BIOS to support LSI controlers on X58 systems. 
If they can't do that than it would be nice to give us a list of compatible RAID controllers. Otherwise this will be my last EVGA board.

Maybe those bios troubles are somehow related to the guy who designed the boards and who left the EVGA company several months ago?...for ASUS..)) And noone in EVGA no longer knows how to work with the BIOS?
 
 

kingofsorrow


Maybe those bios troubles are somehow related to the guy who designed the boards and who left the EVGA company several months ago?...for ASUS..)) And noone in EVGA no longer knows how to work with the BIOS?

 
That sound positively hilarious XD

doorules


hey dejanh, i have had pm's with Jacob here and LSI tech support, it's the size of the bios rom that is the issue, my understanding is it will not be addressed on x58 mobo

I cannot believe that at all.  The updated RAID ROMs compress just fine down to the 1024K size, and the flash goes fine as well.  I think the issue is just an offset where the BIOS is looking for executable code related to the RAID ROM, in essence between what start and end block is the RAID ROM located and supposed to be loaded.
 
By the way current BIOS...
 
Total compress code space  = 9D000h(628.00K)
Total compressed code size = 89F16h(551.77K)
Remain compress code space = 130EAh(76.23K)
 
...so I think there is space to accommodate another 21K of RAID ROM

dejanh

doorules


hey dejanh, i have had pm's with Jacob here and LSI tech support, it's the size of the bios rom that is the issue, my understanding is it will not be addressed on x58 mobo

I cannot believe that at all.  The updated RAID ROMs compress just fine down to the 1024K size, and the flash goes fine as well.  I think the issue is just an offset where the BIOS is looking for executable code related to the RAID ROM, in essence between what start and end block is the RAID ROM located and supposed to be loaded.

By the way current BIOS...

Total compress code space  = 9D000h(628.00K)
Total compressed code size = 89F16h(551.77K)
Remain compress code space = 130EAh(76.23K)

...so I think there is space to accommodate another 21K of RAID ROM

What I heard was 85K was needed, and 65K was what we now use, so if your above #'s are correct, and no other changes, or additions are needed, that would work, with 1K to spare. Just have to wait and see.

KMoore4318

dejanh

doorules


hey dejanh, i have had pm's with Jacob here and LSI tech support, it's the size of the bios rom that is the issue, my understanding is it will not be addressed on x58 mobo

I cannot believe that at all.  The updated RAID ROMs compress just fine down to the 1024K size, and the flash goes fine as well.  I think the issue is just an offset where the BIOS is looking for executable code related to the RAID ROM, in essence between what start and end block is the RAID ROM located and supposed to be loaded.

By the way current BIOS...

Total compress code space  = 9D000h(628.00K)
Total compressed code size = 89F16h(551.77K)
Remain compress code space = 130EAh(76.23K)

...so I think there is space to accommodate another 21K of RAID ROM

What I heard was 85K was needed, and 65K was what we now use, so if your above #'s are correct, and no other changes, or additions are needed, that would work, with 1K to spare. Just have to wait and see.

 
Actually, you would be replacing a 64K ROM with a 85K ROM, so you are only using up another 21K of uncompressed space once flashed.  The BIOS chip can hold 1024K of information, total used so far uncompressed is 779.93K, which leaves 244.07K of unused space, of which we only need 21K to support the new Intel RAID ROM, leaving 223.07K of space still free.
 
Just tested this theory by loading an updated JMicron ROM into the BIOS and it works fine, despite being larger than the previous ROM.  There is space.
 
I am using the following modified ROMs now (as in right now, while I am typing this):

• Intel RAID ROM 8086-2822_v8.5.0.1030
• JMicron JMB363 197B-2363_v1.08.01_raid

 
Here is how the current official BIOS breaks down...
 
              ********   E75977.bin BIOS component ********

 No. Item-Name         Original-Size             Compressed-Size Original-File-Name
===============================================================================
  0. System BIOS          20000h(128.00K)  1398Dh(78.39K)  8a79teva.BIN
  1. XGROUP                 0DF20h(55.78K)     08FD8h(35.96K)  awardext.rom
  2. ACPI Table             09F75h(39.86K)     032A3h(12.66K)  ACPITBL.BIN
  3. YGROUP                 0E100h(56.25K)     07558h(29.34K)  awardeyt.rom
  4. GROUP ROM[ 0]     08B80h(34.88K)     034A1h(13.16K)  _EN_CODE.BIN
  5. SETUP0                  02320h(8.78K)       00D93h(3.39K)   _ITEM.BIN
  6. BIOSF0                   01910h(6.27K)      01186h(4.38K)   _DMI.BIN
  7. Other (4077)          02570h(9.36K)      00E1Dh(3.53K)   SPIFLASH.BIN
  8. Other (40B9)          01070h(4.11K)      00A22h(2.53K)   EXTFGRP.BIN
  9. Other (40B7)          00010h(0.02K)      00038h(0.05K)   SMI32COD.BIN
 10. Other (40B8)         00440h(1.06K)      002E9h(0.73K)   SMIAPCOD.BIN
 11. Other (407B)         2B321h(172.78K)  2B3A8h(172.91K) BIOSINIT.BIN
 12. BIOSF2                  04C00h(19.00K)    02EEEh(11.73K)  AH_P_ROM.BIN
 13. GV3                       03320h(12.78K)    03347h(12.82K)  PPMINIT.BIN
 14. PCI ROM A           08000h(32.00K)     0458Fh(17.39K)  jmb363_1.06.79_raid.bin
 15. PCI ROM B            10000h(64.00K)     09E44h(39.57K)  raid_or_8001038.bin
 16. PCI ROM C            0C800h(50.00K)     070ECh(28.23K)  rtegpxe_d.lom
(SP) NCPUCODE          15400h(85.00K)      15400h(85.00K)  NCPUCODE.BIN

  Total compress code space  = 9D000h(628.00K)
  Total compressed code size = 89F16h(551.77K)
  Remain compress code space = 130EAh(76.23K)

                          ** Micro Code Information **
Update ID  CPUID  |  Update ID  CPUID  |  Update ID  CPUID  |  Update ID  CPUID
------------------+--------------------+--------------------+------------------
SLOT1  11   06A5  |  SLOT1  0A   06A4  |  SLOT1  0F   06A4  |  SLOT1  0D   06A4
SLOT1  1A   06A0  |  SLOT1  0B   06A1  |  SLOT1  19   06A2  |  SLOT1  16   06C0
SLOT1  06   06C1  |  SLOT1  0C   06C2  |

Would you guys be able to help out with directions for doing this with cbrom? I'm wanting to do this on my socket 775 board as well. Apparently the newer option roms have better SSD support.
 
Is it worth doing the AHCI bios update too?

I sent you a PM.  Have a look through it

I was able to update both the AHCI and RAID portions of the latest bios. Thanks dejanh, much appreciated 

Very good info Dejanh. Would like to see someone from eVGA chime in...

dejanh

Can you also update the ROM's on the E762 bios (bios version 77)?
Or at least the Intel RAID ROM?

rafale


Very good info Dejanh. Would like to see someone from eVGA chime in...

Thanks.  I would like to see somebody chime in as well.  Not with a generic answer though, actual concrete technical answer.

MvdL79

dejanh

Can you also update the ROM's on the E762 bios (bios version 77)?
Or at least the Intel RAID ROM?

Should be able to...I'll message you later.  Today is looking like a busy work day.

dejanh

rafale


Very good info Dejanh. Would like to see someone from eVGA chime in...

Thanks.  I would like to see somebody chime in as well.  Not with a generic answer though, actual concrete technical answer.

MvdL79

dejanh

Can you also update the ROM's on the E762 bios (bios version 77)?
Or at least the Intel RAID ROM?

Should be able to...I'll message you later.  Today is looking like a busy work day.

 
Keep us posted with your findings please.

dejanh

rafale


Very good info Dejanh. Would like to see someone from eVGA chime in...

Thanks.  I would like to see somebody chime in as well.  Not with a generic answer though, actual concrete technical answer.

MvdL79

dejanh

Can you also update the ROM's on the E762 bios (bios version 77)?
Or at least the Intel RAID ROM?

Should be able to...I'll message you later.  Today is looking like a busy work day.

MODIFIED BIOS - USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!
 
Alright, here is a collection of all of the EVGA 77 BIOS (BIN format only) with updated JMicron and Intel RAID option ROMs.  I am posting this in response to a few individuals queries for updated BIOS.  These BIOS replace the following option ROMs.

• JMicron jmb363_1.06.79_raid.bin replaced with 197B-2363_v1.08.01_raid.BIN (version 1.06.79 replaced with version 1.08.01)
• Intel RAID raid_or_8001038.bin replaced with 8086-2822_v8.5.0.1030.BIN (version 8.0.0.1038 replaced with version 8.5.0.1030); please note that this is the only version of updated Intel RAID ROM that will work on any of EVGA X58 boards for the moment.  EVGA needs to update the overall BIOS for each board to allow for newer Intel RAID option ROM than version 8.5.0.1030.

DISCLAIMER: This is strictly provided as-is, no guarantees that you will not have issues.  Please ensure that you have a copy of the official BIOS handy and a way of flashing back in case you have issues.  I am providing this simply as a courtesy to those that want it.  This is in no way endorsed or supported by EVGA and will not be covered by them or their warranty and is in no way covered or supported by me.  I have only personally tested E759 mods.  Use at your own risk and DO NOT USE ON ANY SYSTEM WHERE CRITICAL DATA COULD BE LOST OR IS KEPT.
 
Now that we have that out of the way, the link - http://www.mediafire.com/?yvnqybrgc1cy3h7
 
If you are posting the link anywhere else please give me some credit Enjoy

I've got to say, the bootspeed of the latest 10.x ROM has been improved after booting up a few times now over the last couple days. Even more snappy now :P Very nice.

I have to admit I'm afraid to try it out :)

About to try on my FTW3! Will post back on how it goes! :) (if all else fails, new BIOS chip, or use the on board 2nd bios.