Sony Vaio VGN-AR61E Phoenix BIOS R2080J8 (12/26/2007) (SLiC 2.0)

[Boost]

Im confused. (and also posted in the unlocked section by accident 1st)

I extracted the BIOS of this VAIO...and just read that I cant flash this one back.

Only original downloaded BIOS files can be flashed.

So, as there is no download for this laptop...maybe there is an alternative BIOS ?
(VGN-AR760U & VGN-AR730E & VGN-AR61ZRU & VGN-AR61M & VGN-AR61S seem to have the same BIOS (R2080J8)...but also only in extracted form)

But hippotek managed to combine a "real" bios and an extracted BIOS it seems :
inserting platform information from R0032J8 into R2080J8

Anyway, my Laptop is a :
-Core2Duo T5450 @1.67ghz
-Motherboard: SANTA ROSA CRB
-4gb RAM
-GeForce 8400M GT (128MB)

bios R2080J8 (12/26/2007) (SLiC 2.0)

dxdiag BIOS Ver 1.00PARTTBL
gpuz says 60.86.3b.00.27

The BIOS I extracted can be viewed and edited with Andys Phoenix tool and with the Phoenix Bios Editor Pro.
It also has the nvidia roms inside which can be edited using NiBiTor (6.0.6).

There are a lot of strings mentioning sub menus, thermal menus, multiplicators etc. and I wonder if these are all just string-remnants or if it can be all unlocked/activated/unhidden.

I wanted to be sure and put the extracted bios on a bootable floppydisk using plash16.exe. Result :



That doesnt look too promising...


Also I read about enabling virtualization :
In any case, register x0285 is the magic one for the AR730E/B with BIOS R2080JB.

That VAIO has the same BIOS...but ofc my CPU does not support VT. But it should be inside the BIOS then.(?)

Man, thats a lot of input ^^

[Sml6397]

You have a private message.

Your BIOS image with the platform data added to it is at the bottom of this post.

Im confused. (and also posted in the unlocked section by accident 1st)

I extracted the BIOS of this VAIO...and just read that I cant flash this one back.

Only original downloaded BIOS files can be flashed.

So, as there is no download for this laptop...maybe there is an alternative BIOS ?
(VGN-AR760U & VGN-AR730E & VGN-AR61ZRU & VGN-AR61M & VGN-AR61S seem to have the same BIOS (R2080J8)...but also only in extracted form)

But hippotek managed to combine a "real" bios and an extracted BIOS it seems :
inserting platform information from R0032J8 into R2080J8

Anyway, my Laptop is a :
-Core2Duo T5450 @1.67ghz
-Motherboard: SANTA ROSA CRB
-4gb RAM
-GeForce 8400M GT (128MB)

bios R2080J8 (12/26/2007) (SLiC 2.0)

dxdiag BIOS Ver 1.00PARTTBL
gpuz says 60.86.3b.00.27

The BIOS I extracted can be viewed and edited with Andys Phoenix tool and with the Phoenix Bios Editor Pro.
It also has the nvidia roms inside which can be edited using NiBiTor (6.0.6).

There are a lot of strings mentioning sub menus, thermal menus, multiplicators etc. and I wonder if these are all just string-remnants or if it can be all unlocked/activated/unhidden.

I wanted to be sure and put the extracted bios on a bootable floppydisk using plash16.exe. Result :



That doesnt look too promising...


Also I read about enabling virtualization :
In any case, register x0285 is the magic one for the AR730E/B with BIOS R2080JB.

That VAIO has the same BIOS...but ofc my CPU does not support VT. But it should be inside the BIOS then.(?)

Man, thats a lot of input ^^

[Boost]

Thank you so much for the bios !

1st thing I tried, was to use it to back up my bios with WinPhlash. It worked without an errormessage. (using Hirens Boot CD-mini XP)

While the "Universal Bios Tool" Read Out had a size of 1.024, the "Winphlash" Read Out had a size of 1.027 and can not be edited with the Phoenix Tool anymore "Invalid Rom length".

Also your BIOS is 1.027 in size, but can be opened in Phoenix Editor without a problem.
A quick file comparsion in hexedit shows no difference at file start and ending.

Also both BIOS (yours and mine) show the RAID Option already visible (but got [HIDE] in brackets) when I emulate it in the Phoenix tool.
I guess setting it to visible will make it visible, after beeing flashed ?

I read through a bios-hexedit tutorial and still try to understand what,when and where modifications make it possible to add menus like Intel or Multiplicators.
It says while there is not "enough room" in the advanced tab, just put the new unlocked menu in the main section....or remove "useless" menus... *phew*

Forgive me my poor knowledge of bios editing, but Id say Im not yet ready to flash with these questions remaining.

I attached the file with the "Invalid Rom length", just in case

[Sml6397]

Hello Boost,

You can actually remove "generic texts" and/or reorganize very specific parts of the TEMPLAT0.ROM file to make room for adding the INTEL Menu (which contains virtually every setting that you would want and much much more). You do not have to remove other menus to make room (although there are some useless BIOS menus anyways, so there is no loss in taking the shortcut of removing a menu that has no interesting options (you can also put these options in the Intel Menu anyways)).

I have not found the voltage settings for the CPU or GPU yet (They are probably controlled/influenced by files other than TEMPLAT0.ROM or STRINGS0.ROM (I have yet to find a single mention of these settings in STRINGS0.ROM)). Even if you did manage to unlock the CPU voltage settings in the BIOS menu, you most likely have a locked CPU and modifying the option would require modifying the CPU's MSRs. This would require other hardware hacks (I think...) that are beyond my current knowledge (although I think I heard something about a "PLL" Pin controlling or being able to unlock the clock?). I do know that the thermal settings as well as the frequency ratio setting (for the CPU) do exist in TEMPLAT0.ROM . Frequency Ratio is not under any menus that I know of yet (I am still investigating it) in TEMPLAT0.ROM , but it can be added like other settings. A lot of the Thermal settings can also be controlled by the NVRAM Token Table (although I am not sure what values correlate to what numbers (settings (like degrees))).

To compare BIOS images, you must do a byte-by-byte comparison, checking the beginning and ending will not suffice in this case.

WARNING: DO NOT use PBE to mod or repack the BIOS image that you will be flashing. It is known to change far more than what was actually changed and can lead to corrupted BIOS's. Only use Andy P's PhoenixTool. To make the actual modifications, use a hex editor.


For answers to your questions, please check your PM's.

Thank you so much for the bios !

1st thing I tried, was to use it to back up my bios with WinPhlash. It worked without an errormessage. (using Hirens Boot CD-mini XP)

While the "Universal Bios Tool" Read Out had a size of 1.024, the "Winphlash" Read Out had a size of 1.027 and can not be edited with the Phoenix Tool anymore "Invalid Rom length".

Also your BIOS is 1.027 in size, but can be opened in Phoenix Editor without a problem.
A quick file comparsion in hexedit shows no difference at file start and ending.

Also both BIOS (yours and mine) show the RAID Option already visible (but got [HIDE] in brackets) when I emulate it in the Phoenix tool.
I guess setting it to visible will make it visible, after beeing flashed ?

I read through a bios-hexedit tutorial and still try to understand what,when and where modifications make it possible to add menus like Intel or Multiplicators.
It says while there is not "enough room" in the advanced tab, just put the new unlocked menu in the main section....or remove "useless" menus... *phew*

Forgive me my poor knowledge of bios editing, but Id say Im not yet ready to flash with these questions remaining.

I attached the file with the "Invalid Rom length", just in case

[Boost]

Thank you so much for all the help, infos and support so far Sml6397 !!!

The voltage for my Nvidia Card is stored in the OPROM01.ROM file (thanks to chinobino of guru3d.com).
The voltage can be editet with NiBiTor 6.0.6. and then saved back to the ROM.

Over the years I used Rivatuner to "boost" the nvidia from 450/602 to a 550/770 never breaching the 70° (using extra cooling plate)
All games beeing stable, getting "more" fps in games.

For the CPU I also read about the PLL pin, because I was trying to use SetFSB back in the days...but SetFSB has no support for my clock generator (yet).

I even found out what PLL was used in my Vaio, without opening, but lots of googling...but that was back in 2009 or so and I never tried overclocking the CPU again.

p.s.
Just in case, OPROM0.ROM of my BIOS has RAID for SATA v7.0.0.1020 in it.
OPROM1-4 are for GeForce 8600x cards.

[Sml6397]

Hello Boost,

Thank you for the information about where the voltage settings are stored as this could help me a lot in the near future in terms of learning about the BIOS. I knew that the option roms stored information about network/graphics/other similar devices and even antivirus programs, but I did not know it controlled that much.


EDIT: (To all who are looking for the modified R2080J8 BIOS image) Look at post #13 for the modified BIOS image. This image is confirmed to be flashable by Boost.

Also, you have a PM answering your previous questions as well as containing the register that controls the RAID options' visibility in the Advanced Menu.


Happy Easter!

Thank you so much for all the help, infos and support so far Sml6397 !!!

The voltage for my Nvidia Card is stored in the OPROM01.ROM file (thanks to chinobino of guru3d.com).
The voltage can be editet with NiBiTor 6.0.6. and then saved back to the ROM.

Over the years I used Rivatuner to "boost" the nvidia from 450/602 to a 550/770 never breaching the 70° (using extra cooling plate)
All games beeing stable, getting "more" fps in games.

For the CPU I also read about the PLL pin, because I was trying to use SetFSB back in the days...but SetFSB has no support for my clock generator (yet).

I even found out what PLL was used in my Vaio, without opening, but lots of googling...but that was back in 2009 or so and I never tried overclocking the CPU again.

p.s.
Just in case, OPROM0.ROM of my BIOS has RAID for SATA v7.0.0.1020 in it.
OPROM1-4 are for GeForce 8600x cards.

[Boost]

Holy mother of god...what an "INTEL menu"...man! :'D

Also thermal values to be set

So as there are no options for CPU voltage / clock settings it might be a hardware lock then ?
So even SetFSB should fail if I would know the right PLL ?

Thanks for this "preview" !

[Boost]

The 1st time I tried flashing my backed up BIOS (universal extractor) I got the following error (as platform information was mising).
And as I can see, the tool WILL backup my BIOS as well, after verify.

I wonder if it will back it up with the platform information, so that I would recieve an 100% original BIOS of mine then. (?)
(or maybe it wont back it up, as this Sony Vaio model was never supposed to recieve an update)



I hope to recieve the SLIC mod of my BIOS by Yen from MDL, to do a 1st test-flash.

[Sml6397]

Hello Boost,

It shouldn't matter which particular BIOS you get the platform data from as long as it is compatible (same [notebook] series, same chipset). Universal BIOS Backup will NOT backup up the platform data and if you flash the image without the platform data, there is a 100% chance that you will brick your notebook (assuming the flash program lets you flash it). Please make sure that the image that Yen modifies is the one that the platform data was added to. You should be able to tell by looking at the size of the BIOS file. The platform BIOS should be around 1027 KB, while the BIOS without the platform data will be 1024 KB in size. If you need another image with the platform data, just ask me and I will send it to you.

The 1st time I tried flashing my backed up BIOS (universal extractor) I got the following error (as platform information was mising).
And as I can see, the tool WILL backup my BIOS as well, after verify.

I wonder if it will back it up with the platform information, so that I would recieve an 100% original BIOS of mine then. (?)
(or maybe it wont back it up, as this Sony Vaio model was never supposed to recieve an update)



I hope to recieve the SLIC mod of my BIOS by Yen from MDL, to do a 1st test-flash.

[Boost]

I enjoy reading about changing bits and numbers at the right location with the hex editor, but sadly I dont have the time right now to explore any deeper. Changing hex-values with instructions is one thing, but finding these is another story. So Im really glad there are people on the net that actually know what they are doing.
Im amazed by the amount of sub-sub-sub menus in my phoenix BIOS and can imagine why these options arent there for the "standard-user".

I guess the flash didnt happen, because of the platform data missing. Hence the message "error reading ROM".
Thank god this tool doesnt just flash data files you point at, without asking or testing file integrity.
I would really like to see the result of "Back up system BIOS ROM". (platform data - yes or no)

Good to know our phoenix BIOS ROMs are similar and Im ready for the next mod of yours, to be viewed in the phoenix tool.

Thanks for your support, I really appreciate that !
This is an exciting adventure into the land of BIOS!