abit ip-35e bios unlock for ahci to work

[TheWiz]

Please repost the BIOS you want modded and I will try again, but I did have people reporting it to be successful.

TheWiz

[ToxAtec]

This all is strange.. The IP35 and IP35-E share exactly the same bios, but the IP35-E uses a slimmed-down southbridge (ICH9 instead of ICH9R) that officially doesn't support AHCI. In fact it does, according to the ICH9 datasheet from Intel (Page 54, Table 1-4, Note 4) :

4. ICH9 Base provides hardware support for AHCI functionality when enabled by appropriate system configuration and software driver.

Now what you did with the BIOS is, as far as I can see that in modbin6, that you enabled some SATA settings for a PCI storage controller:

I don't think there is such an SATA controller on an IP35(-E), it must be the JMicron IDE chip that is meant with "Storage Controller".

The part of the setup where I would expect to find the AHCI option is this, as it is under "OnChip SATA device":

But although the "OnChip SATA mode" option is marked as visible, I cannot see it in the actual BIOS setup, so there must be a check that looks for the mainboard model / southbridge or so. I don't know if this is possible, I have no experience with BIOSes in any way..
I tried to set the OnChip SATA mode to AHCI by default, but the flash was unusuable then, just like with all the other modded BIOSes. I should try to use a definitely working modded BIOS to look if the computer boots with it..

But the most confusing aspect is that people said that it worked?! There must be some magic preventing me from using a modded BIOS

I attached the beta BIOS from abit again, but it's the same as the one in the first post

ToxAtec

  m630a.zip (Size: 441.57 KB / Downloads: 51)

[TheWiz]

Sooooooo... if you post both bioses with and without the "E", I believe replacing the JMICRON from the one that works into the one that doesn't should fix it.

TheWiz

[ToxAtec]

There is no difference at all between IP35-E and IP35 BIOSes. On abit's bios pages are exactly the same files for the 2 boards:
IP35
IP35-E

I think the JMicron chip only provides the IDE ports and has nothing to do with SATA at all. Those ports are from the southbridge ICH9. There must be some check hiding the "OnChip SATA Mode" option..
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EDIT:
It looks like any modified BIOS is not working and makes the flash unusuable / unrecoverable, although flashing is successful and the bootsector is OK (verified using UniFlash).

I think solving this problem would allow me to use an AHCI-enabled BIOS.. Do you have an idea what the reason for that might be?
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edit2:
Good news, it works now. I used modbin6-2.04.02 instead of 2.01.01 to change the default of "OnChip SATA Mode" to AHCI. The option is still not being displayed in the actual setup, but AHCI works, so I don't care
Maybe it has something to do with this issue? http://www.rebelshavenforum.com/sis-bin/...2;t=000133
Or maybe It doesn't have anything to do with the modbin version and it was something different..
however thanks for your efforts.

I attached the modded BIOS; the only difference to the latest beta is that AHCI is enabled.

By the way, it is still a mystery to me that people had sucess with the first mod

edit3: I updated the Intel Option ROM so newer SSDs might work, see this post: http://www.bios-mods.com/forum/Thread-ab...1#pid53231

  ip35e-beta18-ahci.zip (Size: 441.8 KB / Downloads: 363)

[smartadze]

I attached the modded BIOS; the only difference to the latest beta is that AHCI is enabled.
By the way, it is still a mystery to me that people had sucess with the first mod

I was hoping somone else would try this :-) I have a new SSD Intel, and I really want AHCI to work. This seems the only option - Nice work!

I'm just a tad squeezy - there's no going back to XP after this flash! And that's if it works at all :-) Anyone else have experience with this one?

[TheWiz]

Nice work ToxAtec, seems like you took initiative @smartadze: If the flash goes wrong for you, and you have a PLCC bios chip, you can look at our chip reprogramming service for reflashing your chip if something goes awry.

TheWiz

[slogic]

ToxAtec, that's great news!!! Because modern SSD devices require AHCI mode for TRIM support. Is there a chance to enable an option anyway?

[ToxAtec]

You mean enabling TRIM? Or other options in the BIOS that are locked? There are some options that were disabled, and I think I didn't enable them. I'd have to boot windows to know that for sure as modbin-2.04.02 doesn't work correctly in wine/Linux

If you meant TRIM, that should work with the BIOS I posted.

[slogic]

I mean enabling option that controls AHCI/IDE SATA mode switch. It may be not comfortable to re-flash BIOS before installing another OS which does not have native AHCI support.

If i understand correctly, TheWiz enabled this option but used bugged (old) BIOS editor, right?

[ToxAtec]

I don't really know what TheWiz did, but if he was only using ModBin, like me, then I don't think that he was able to make this option visible. It is already set to "visible" by default, but as I wrote:

[...]

I think the JMicron chip only provides the IDE ports and has nothing to do with SATA at all. Those ports are from the southbridge ICH9. There must be some check hiding the "OnChip SATA Mode" option..
---------
[...]

You can't see it on an IP35-E, I was just able to change the default value.

I think you will have to reflash the BIOS if you really need to set it to IDE mode again. But all common OSes support AHCI anyway, at least Linux, Mac OS X and Windows XP and up. For Windows XP you need an AHCI driver that has to be included during the installation (using a floppy or a custom install CD).
If you really need this option being visible in the BIOS you should maybe ask some more skilled guys who know how to disassemble a BIOS or so.