Request : Asus A8JS laptop bios unlock -> to accept new VGA card

[jommoner]

I have an ASUS A8JS with GeForce GO 7700; and want to upgrade to a newer card (GeForce 9650 GT). The TDP are similiar, and physically the cards are the same Asus reversed MXM profile, but I know they won't work, as ASUS BIOSes specifically check that the correct graphics card is in use.

I have found one computer the ASUS M50, that uses the 9650 GT (also 9600M and 9500 cards). The BIOSes for all three variants are actually the same file, and are 1MB in size. My original BIOS is 512K in size.

Should I post up My computer (A8JS) bios, together with A8JR, A8JP bioses for comparison? (similiar computers with different VGA cards), as well as the M50 Bios? Or do I need to find an ASUS laptop with 512K Bios with the 9650M GT before posting the files?

Thanks for your help; will check back soon, and get a package of BIOSes read for upload!

[jommoner]

Files downloaded from ASUS website, except for the modded BIOS.

A8JS is my laptop (has GeForce Go 7700) - 512mb dedicated ram
A8JR is a laptop with ATI X2300 (I also have one of these but won't be upgrading it
...yet). Has 128MB dedicated ram.
A8JP is another laptop; this has a mobility radeon X1700 with 256M dedicated + 256M system ram
M50VAS212 - this is the BIOS for the ASUS M50V; which seems to support the Geforce 9500M, 9650M GT, as well as 9600M cards. The three variants of the M50V all use the SAME BIOS, despite having different graphics cards.
M50SAas205 - this is the bios for the ASUS M50S, which has ATI graphics.

(and also, there is an A8JS + 9500M BIOS made by 1234s282 a few months ago which is not yet verified to work - it worked on an external monitor, but the tester shorted out his laptop before knowing whether the internal VGA worked).

I could just get a 9500M / 9600M, but I can get a 9650M GT for practically the same price, and get some more performance, but Double the memory! (and reduced power consumption / heat), so want to go for that.

What I would want to do is : Take the Asus A8JS BIOS, and put the 9650M GT Bios into it! I have no idea how to do this but am willing to do some hex editing if given guidance I think the main sticking point may be that the M50 BIOS is 1MB rather than 512K; I'm not sure what extra data is contained (hopefully the VGA BIOS is the same as in the 512K version!)

Anyway, will post this now, hope someone can help

http://rapidshare.com/files/415555042/ASUS_BIOSes.zip (only 10 downloads available before I need to refresh this, so, please post if downloads have run out, and only download if needed!)

http://www.bios-mods.com/forum/Thread-A8...phics-card

The link above is for a similiar thread posted earlier (but the BIOS is for 9600M, not 9650M GT, and so probably won't work with the 9650M GT)

Thanks for your help!

[TheWiz]

Wow that's a whole lotta information , but welcome to the forums as well!

I am going to need to consult several people before I can comment on the mod for sure, but we are working on it

Regards,
TheWiz

[jommoner]

Wow that's a whole lotta information , but welcome to the forums as well!

I am going to need to consult several people before I can comment on the mod for sure, but we are working on it

Regards,
TheWiz

Thank you for the welcome!

As soon as the mod is done, I will be ordering the card (there are several on ebay just now), and will fit it, and start testing!

In the meantime, I am going to figure out the emergency flash system - how to flash from a USB stick if BIOS is corrupt; I need to update the current BIOS to the latest version anyway, so will experiment by doing it the 'emergency' way (AMIBIOS.ROM on a USB stick), and if it works, will know that, even if the BIOS doesn't work, I can always revert to a working one! (hopefully)

Thanks for all your help; look forward to testing out the mod

[TheWiz]

Hey jommoner,

Still looking inot this, but if all the boards use the same BIOS and supports the different chips then shouldn't it work? In any event to clear things up for me a bit can you post the perferred link that you know supports the GPU you are getting and then the original BIOS for your laptop.

Thanks again,
TheWiz

[jommoner]

Hey jommoner,

Still looking inot this, but if all the boards use the same BIOS and supports the different chips then shouldn't it work? In any event to clear things up for me a bit can you post the perferred link that you know supports the GPU you are getting and then the original BIOS for your laptop.

Thanks again,
TheWiz

Hi!

The Boards for the 'M50V' support a variety of 9000M-series Nvidia cards, however my board (A8JS) only supports the GeForce Go 7700; other variants of the A8J motherboard support the ATI X1600, and X2300, but none supported any newer GeForce cards.

So, my A8JS is stuck with a GeForce Go 7700, but the M50V supports a variety of 9500,9600,9650 cards! So, what I want is to have the video driver for the M50V, joined to the basic bios for the A8JS, to use in my A8JS with a new card

I will repost the zip archive (I think the download limit of only 10 has probably run out!) - will post it below (please only download if using it people )

Thanks again for all your help!

P.S. In the file 'ASUS BIOSes.zip', my computer is 'A8Jsv213AS.zip', but I want
the video bios from 'M50VAS212.zip' merged into it, to use on my A8JS

File link : http://rapidshare.com/files/415555042/ASUS_BIOSes.zip

And another copy: http://rapidshare.com/files/417571461/ASUS_BIOSes.zip (if the one above runs out of downloads!)

Thanks

[TheWiz]

Thanks, I think I got the picture now I'll try my best to post a mod soon.

TheWiz

[jommoner]

Thanks, I think I got the picture now I'll try my best to post a mod soon.

TheWiz

Hi!

Just ordered one of these cards from ebay, as they were getting rare Hope it is possible to do the mod :O (will understand if it isn't possible for some reason!)

[jommoner]

Hi!

Still recovering from the anxiety of the BIOS flash; I just made a BIOS using
the new Asus V213 BIOS (I had V210), and, I made a bios so that my computer now
supports *both* the GeForce Go 7700 (the original card), and also the 9650M GT!.

I flashed the new BIOS, the bios has updated to V213, and I am now typing it on
the computer (still running the Go 7700 Card). The flash was particularly scary as
my PC has a soldered BIOS chip, so I only had once chance, and I have never
modded a BIOS before :O

It turns out the original BIOS had support for Go7700 and Go7600, so I just removed
the Go7600 Video BIOS, and replaced it with the 9650M GT Bios from the M50V!

Random fact of the day : The ASUS M50V supports all the Nvidia cards that ASUS specify,
but quite randomly also supports the much older ATI Radeon X1600! (this could be useful if
someone needs to buy a cheap X1600 to get their system up and running in case of video
card failure) -> This fact is true with the latest BIOS from the ASUS website, not sure about
the older ones.

Anyway, thanks for your help, and for this site, which gave me all the info and knowledge I
finally needed to make the mod!

I will post back and let you know if the new 9650M GT card works - if so, I will post my BIOS
mod up here (also, I could then make BIOSes for anyone with A8JR, A8JS, A8JP, etc, so they
can use their original card and a new card, for very low-risk VGA card updates!)

[TheWiz]

Dude you rock! I must extend my apologies for taking so long, I have been very busy this month and appreciate you taking a tackle at this, absolutly fantastic. Please check your PM. when you get a chance.

Thanks,
TheWiz