trying to modify acer 5536G bios

[AHMED HOSSAM]

HI, I have acer 5536G and it`s running so hot ( 90 c ) and i found that there is option called thermal control that turns of the fan and decrease it`s speed to 30% when not at load.........this option is not shown at the bios menu so i get the acer 5536G 1.11 bios from acer web site and tried opening the rom file with phoenix bios editor 2.2.1.3pro but there are messages telling me ( an unsupported module class H was found in file _H00, do you want to continue ) and the one telling me class Q and other class K and i pressed yes and modified the file and saved it and converted it to .wph using hex editor ..........but when i try to flash the new file using phlash16 from dos it stopped when backing up bios telling me some modules was not found...............................i tried only converting .rom to .wph using hex editor but without editing .rom file using phoenix editor and it was flashed properly without any problems........so the problem is that phoenix editor builds the rom file with errors.........so i was asking if there are any other methods to edit my bios....... here is the link to acer 5536G version 1.11 bios http://us.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/drivers

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please note that i only modified thermal control in the rom file which i found in the amd menu in the setup table but i don`t knew why this menue is shown in the table but hidden in the bios screen........................and also note that i only put the platform information to the rom file using hex editor by copying it from the wph file to the rom and finally there are excactly the same size and phlash16 can open it......but it gives error when backing up bios

[AHMED HOSSAM]

can any one help!!...........i can upload images or anything for anyone can help me.

[1234s282]

sorry for the delay , we have been busy outside the site!

This is a phoenix bios so i can look at unlocking it for you As you say , the option to enable thermal control does show up in Phoenix Bios Editor but you say it doesnt display in yyour BIOS?

Theres a small chance that this could be a CPU=dependent feature and the option will only appear if you have a specific CPU installed which supports Thermal Control

Il look into this more later , i might just try moving the Thermal Control option!

Admin

[AHMED HOSSAM]

never mind......i really knew you are busy here....................i tried modifying the bios and this is the last thing i have reached................i could replace the main menu & informayion menu with advanced chipset control,PBS options & CBS options which include thermal control.....................the modified bios image works great..........but i have faced some problems and hope you can resolve it.......................i just want to knew why this menu called AMD doesn`t appear in bios but appears in pbhoenix bios editor...............also i have a problem that phoenix bios editor reads the original rom file with error so it says build is ok but it has error due to errors in extracting...........so is there any programs instead of phoenix bios editor..............now im using phoenix mod tool and my hex editor and just use phoenix bios editor to test the unhidden menus then i flash the bios......here is the link to my modified bios http://www.mediafire.com/?b67jjk1p0zc5a4t hope you can help me and tell me your opinion in this bios image...

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thanks in advance

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also i want to knew if there is any options for over clocking in my bios....................i can`t find any option by phoenix editor or searching by hex editor in strings.rom...........!!!

[kizwan]

Regarding the error message, e.g. "an unsupported module class H was found in file _H00", those error can be safely ignored.

The AMD section is not visible in the real BIOS menu because there is a routine in BIOS which responsible hiding it. You can find the routine by looking at offset of the 1st function. You will need to disassembled the TEMPLAT00.ROM using IDA in 16-bit mode to examine the routine. The "mov ax, 13h" instruction is the one responsible in hiding the AMD section. What you'll need to do is change it to "mov ax, 0". After that the AMD section will visible in the real BIOS menu.

AMD menu in TEMPLAT00.ROM:-

Code:

(templat0)
075F: Loc of text 10 0A FA 01 00 00 01 21 F6 20
2nd bytes, 0A is the total length from 1st bytes, 10.
"1st table"="FA 01" (item), "2nd Table"="00 00" (description), "3rd Table"="01 21" (1st function), "4t Table"="F6 20" (2nd function)

I has checked your modified BIOS image & I found it's correctly done. However you added SLIC2.1 in the BIOS which is not necessary since the original BIOS already has SLIC2.1. You should ticked "No SLIC" in the Advanced options. This way it will only reintegrate the modified module (TEMPLAT00.ROM) & it won't touch anything else.

[AHMED HOSSAM]

thanks for your help ..........but I don`t knew anything about the ida disassembler ..................i downloaded ida pro advanced and it`s only 32bit and 64 bit mode no 16 bit mode..................i have searched for 0121 in templat00.rom with my hex editor and found it at offest 0765 ..........i don`t knew what to do........please tell me how to use the ida for editing templat00.rom..........thanks in advance

[kizwan]

thanks for your help ..........but I don`t knew anything about the ida disassembler ..................i downloaded ida pro advanced and it`s only 32bit and 64 bit mode no 16 bit mode..................i have searched for 0121 in templat00.rom with my hex editor and found it at offest 0765 ..........i don`t knew what to do........please tell me how to use the ida for editing templat00.rom..........thanks in advance

That is 32-bit & 64-bit application. I was referring to disassembled mode which is 16-bit.

1. open IDA application & choose "Work on your own"
   
2. drag TEMPLAT00.ROM into IDA application
   
3. for "Processor type" choose "Intel 80x86 processor: metapc"
   
4. choose to disassembled it in 16-bit mode
   

Code:

(templat0)
075F: Loc of text 10 0A FA 01 00 00 01 21 F6 20
2nd bytes, 0A is the total length from 1st bytes, 10.
"1st table"="FA 01" (item), "2nd Table"="00 00" (description), "3rd Table"="01 21" (1st function), "4t Table"="F6 20" (2nd function)

The offset of the 1st function is 0x2101. At the menu choose Jump then Jump to address & enter 2101 in the dialog box like this: seg000:2101

Like I said earlier, the "mov ax, 13h" instruction is the one responsible in hiding the AMD section. What you'll need to do is change it to "mov ax, 0". After that the AMD section will visible in the real BIOS menu. Use IDA as reference but use HEX editor to edit the TEMPLAT00.ROM. In IDA you can view the corresponding HEX values in "Hex ViewA" tab.

Try it yourself first.

[AHMED HOSSAM]

sorry for my late reply but im really busy in my study .......THANKS FOR YOUR HELP KIZWAN .....i traced the 1st function with the ida then i jumped to offest 2127 in temlpat00.rom using hex editor and changed 13 to 00 then flashed the bios and it worked well ............but thre is the last problem........the phoenix mod tool now can`t be opened it gives error saying application failed to initialize properly...........and when i download it again the kasper antivirus alert me it contains virus in file lzss-rx.exe and lzxx-r.exe.......so it can`t be opened.........i tried downloading phoenix mod tool on other pc with no anti virus but it gives the same error ..........i don`t knew what happened....it was working properly and this error suddenly comes and till now i can`t use it...............so can you help me finding another extracting tool or uploading the tool for me....................note that i can`t use phoenix bios editor because when i ignore those errors and build the image then flash the bios........it gives me black screen for 2 minutes before the splash screen is showed!!! so the build is bad even the editors can open it and say the build is ok...............but when i was using phoenix mod tool modifying the tmplat00.rom it tells me if the size is correct,smaller or bigger so i can fix it then i flash the bios and the bios image works perfectly.................now when i use the phoenix editor i just tested it by not editing any thing in the original bios file and just extracting and building the bios image then flashing it and it makes the same problem and some times the bios don`t show the bios setup utility and only black screen........................so please give me any other tool to extract rom files or upload a phoenix tool you have tested before...........................and here is a bios image that i have edited and build it with phoenix editor due to my problem...........the image was edited properly but the bios editor builds it with the same problem....... AND HERE IS IMAGE WITH UNLOCKED AMD MENU AND 5 NEW OPTIONS INSTEAD OF THE INFORMATION MENU ( ASSISTED VIRTUALIZATIN , GPP CORE CONFIGURATION , GPPSB CORE CONFIGURATIO , C STATE CONFIGURATION AND SW )..........THANKS FOR YOUR HELP
ANOTHER THING I WANT TO ASK ABOUT THE PSI.LOG FILE WHICH THE BIOS EDITOR CREATS IT.............IT CONTAINS INFORMATION LIKE THIS

File Name: _T00 (TEMPLATE)
ROM Offset: 0x95B41
Size: 12473 (0x30B9)
Type (1=bin,2=sectioned): 2
Status: 0xF8
Flags: 0x0
Section Type/Size: 0x1/12449 (0x30A1)
Compressed/Decompressed Size: 12437(0x3095)/31892(0x7C94)

SO IT SAYS ROM OFFEST 0x95B41 SO IF I OPENED BIOS.ROM WITH HEX EDITOR AND JUMPED TO 0x95B41 I WILL FIND THE TMPLAT00.ROM!!!!! OR WHAT THAT EXACTLY MEANS...............THANKS IN ADVANCE

[kizwan]

I don't understand what is the problem. I use the same tool you use to decompress & build the BIOS image. You probably need to disable something in the Kaspersky because Phoenix SLIC Mod tool is safe. Kaspersky wrongly detected it as virus.

[AHMED HOSSAM]

WELL..........when i open the tool there a message saying (the application was unable to start correctly(0xc000007b).click ok to close the application)..........so it might be some thing in kaspersky as you said............................ 1)my question is about the phoenix bios editor .......when it decompresses a rom file it creats a file called psi.log and contains information like this
File Name: _T00 (TEMPLATE)
ROM Offset: 0x95B41
Size: 12473 (0x30B9)
Type (1=bin,2=sectioned): 2
Status: 0xF8
Flags: 0x0
Section Type/Size: 0x1/12449 (0x30A1)
Compressed/Decompressed Size: 12437(0x3095)/31892(0x7C94)
so i ask if i opened bios.rom file with hex editor and jumped to offest 0x95B41 will i find the contents pf tmplat00.rom there!!!!.................
concerning the amd menu it`s now shown in the bios setup utility and i have unlocked 5 new options in addition the amd menu......thanks for your help in this ..........
2) now i can`t find any over clocking options in the strings.rom to unlock.........so i`m wandering how can i create a new option in the bios !
i knew i have asked you alot of question i`m sorry for this but please help me finding some answers