Asus Rampage III Extreme ZioMod Bios (Latest: 1601_S17)

[ZioGTS]

Dear Zio, will be super, when you post tutorial how-to mod bios with options roms and where to get them.

Although I am not Zio, I may be able to help you.
>Here< you will find a tutorial about how to mod a BIOS with PCI Option ROMs and >here< you can find already extracted versions of the most actual AHCI/RAID ROM modules.

Regards
Fernando

Welcome Fernando! Glad you joined the thread! Mirecek was probably looking for a tutorial on building Marvell modules from the source image posted on station-drivers.com, as I promised to show how I managed to do it. I extracted and recompiled all 3 modules from the newest release, not only the bios pci option module. On winlite link you posted, only the bios module can be downloaded, but that's not enough to obtain a full firmware upgrade of our Marvell controller. Unfortunately, I didn't have much spare time and my tutorial is still unfinished. By the way, you can download and share the files on winlite if you want. Just give me credits! ;-)

[Fernando]

Mirecek was probably looking for a tutorial on building Marvell modules from the source image posted on station-drivers.com, as I promised to show how I managed to do it.

If you are right, I have misunderstood Mirecek's post.

On winlite link you posted, only the bios module can be downloaded, but that's not enough to obtain a full firmware upgrade of our Marvell controller.

You are right, the topic of my tutorial is the update of AHCI/RAID ROM modules as part of the mainboard BIOS and not the replacement of the firmware of any SATA Controller. That is why I only have uploaded and linked the actual AHCI/RAID ROM files of different chipset manufacturers and no firmware packs.
Nevertheless I have added a note into >this< post, that users with a Marvell 91xx SATA Controller should not only update the PCI ROM Module of their mainboard BIOS, but additionally have to flash the appropriate firmware into the Marvell Controller by using the special firmware tool.

[ZioGTS]

Nevertheless I have added a note into >this< post, that users with a Marvell 91xx SATA Controller should not only update the PCI ROM Module of their mainboard BIOS, but additionally have to flash the appropriate firmware into the Marvell Controller by using the special firmware tool.

In order to update the controller firmware, you need to modify your motherboard bios by updating the additional modules E6 and E7. If you flash the controller directly, it will revert to the original firmware on first reboot...

[Fernando]

In order to update the controller firmware, you need to modify your motherboard bios by updating the additional modules E6 and E7.

What do you mean with this information?
According to my knowledge no AHCI/RAID Controller of any manufacturer requires the update of 2 PCI ROM modules within the mainboard BIOS. If there are 2 similar modules within the BIOS, the second one will be updated automaticly after having replaced the "main" PCI ROM module by a newer one.
Just for testing purposes I have opened the actual ASUS Rampagne III Extreme BIOS 1502 with the AMI MMTool v3.26 and found the Marvell 91xx PCI Option ROM at ID 20. Why do you think, that the modules at ID's E6 and E7 have to be updated?

[sinders]

The modules at E6 and E7 are the Bootloader and Firmware for the Marvell 91xx SATA 6G Controller of the ASUS Rampagne III Extreme.

Replacing ID 20 on its own will just update the PCI Option ROM/the bios version but not the Bootloader and Firmware.

The ASUS Rampagne III Extreme Marvell 91xx SATA 6G Controller is locked so you can`t update it using the special Marvell firmware tools.

The only way to update the Marvell 91xx SATA 6G Controller PCI Option ROM, Bootloader and Firmware on the ASUS Rampagne III Extreme
is to update Marvell 91xx SATA 6G Controller modules within the board BIOS itself which is split in three parts inside the ASUS Rampagne III
Extreme BIOS, ID's 20, E6 and E7.

[ZioGTS]

Perfect explanation, thanks sinders!

[Fernando]

@ sinders:
Thanks for the explanation, now I got it. It is hard to believe, that owners of an ASUS Rampagne III Extreme board are not able to use the Marvell 91xx firmware flash utility.

@ all:
Users with other ASUS mainboards (P7P55D-E PRO and P7P55D-E LX) succeeded with the Marvell 91xx firmware update by doing the following one after the other :
1. Update of the Marvell 91xx PCI ROM module to v1.0.0.1033 by using the AMI MMTool
2. Flash of the firmware 2.2.0.1125b by using the Marvell firmware utility
If you want further informations, you may look here: >report from idk12 (P7P55D-E)< and >report from mechtronic (P7P55D-E LX)<
The user mechtronic reported, that the updated Marvell 91xx Controller worked flawlessly after the second reboot.

[idahosurge]

I would like to confirm that ZioMod_1601_S02_SLIC.rar is what I want to download to update the BIOS and with that confirmed I am just curious as to why you provided a link to the modules Modules_for_1601_S02.rar.

Regards,

Rod

[sinders]

I would like to confirm that ZioMod_1601_S02_SLIC.rar is what I want to download to update the BIOS and with that confirmed I am just curious as to why you provided a link to the modules Modules_for_1601_S02.rar.

Regards,

Rod

ZioGTS supplied the modules just in case people would prefer to mod their own BIOS themselves.

[idahosurge]

Thanks

---

Does anyone know for sure if the latest Marvell modules included in this latest 1601 BIOS along with the latest Marvell drivers will now actually transfer the trim command to an SSD when sent by Win7?

Has anyone benchmarked AS SSD on an SSD connected to the Marvel ports since updating to this latest 1601 BIOS to see if their score improved? Last summer I updated to a 1301 modified BIOS I got from xtremesystems.org and the AS SSD score was still so bad I moved my SSD back to my Intel ports.