foxconn + 965G micro code update?

[ziggatron]

Hi

I have a foxconn G9657MA-8EKRS2H which utilises the Intel 965G chipset.

The bios will support the conroe dual cores e.g. E6420 but at the moment will not support wolfdale core 2 duo e.g E7500

I have read all your tutorials, which were very informative and I think that there is an intel cpu micro code update avialable for the 965G chipset that has been used by HP owners to update and run the wolfdales, so I beleive it can be done.

here is a link to the thread..

http://h30499.www3.hp.com/t5/Business-PC...cDd_5x5TGg

looks like many people were successful.

I would like to learn how to do this myself and was considering subscribing to your "new bios modders" request..

This is a link to the board bios, xxxxx 61 is the latest..

As far as a donor bios would I be looking for a 775 socket board where the 965G chipset already supports wolfdales? Or is this now not neccessary due to the note about ACPITBL.

Any thoughts on whether you think this update will be possible?

cheers.

[Falco]

There were never any 965 boards that supported the Wolfdale natively. Conroe and Wolfdale were several years apart. The 965 chipset also doesn't properly support Wolfdales for two reasons:

1) The 965 chipset has a maximum FSB of 1066 MHz. Most Wolfdale parts use a 1333 MHz bus, which is out of spec.

2) Although the microcode update may allow the CPU to boot the machine, the same doesn't apply for ACPI. Speed step is broken and the CPU will run at full voltage, full clock all the time.

I have an Intel DQ965GF (Q965 chipset) and mistakenly bought a Pentium Dual-Core E6300 (which uses a Wolfdale core) instead of a Core 2 Duo E6300 some years back. And while the motherboard worked and didn't complain, Speedstep never worked and the CPU always ran really hot and sucked tons of power.

You can try it, but unless you already have the CPU in question that you want to try upgrading it with, it's really a waste of money. The fastest Conroe C2D the 965 will officially support is the E6700 or Q6700

[ziggatron]

There were never any 965 boards that supported the Wolfdale natively. Conroe and Wolfdale were several years apart. The 965 chipset also doesn't properly support Wolfdales for two reasons:

1) The 965 chipset has a maximum FSB of 1066 MHz. Most Wolfdale parts use a 1333 MHz bus, which is out of spec.

2) Although the microcode update may allow the CPU to boot the machine, the same doesn't apply for ACPI. Speed step is broken and the CPU will run at full voltage, full clock all the time.

I have an Intel DQ965GF (Q965 chipset) and mistakenly bought a Pentium Dual-Core E6300 (which uses a Wolfdale core) instead of a Core 2 Duo E6300 some years back. And while the motherboard worked and didn't complain, Speedstep never worked and the CPU always ran really hot and sucked tons of power.

You can try it, but unless you already have the CPU in question that you want to try upgrading it with, it's really a waste of money. The fastest Conroe C2D the 965 will officially support is the E6700 or Q6700

Thanks for your reply Falco,

I do have the E7500 (fsb1066) which is why i wanted to give it a go.

I am also mostly interested in learning the process as well.

Have spent many hours reading this is where I am at, please be kind enough to correct me or guide where necessary..

I have sourced intels cpu microcodes list and extracted it with microdecoder.exe

As I understand it I need to find out which codes apply to the E7500 ((1st issue)which at the moment I can't... supposed to be able to do it with info from cpu-z but I cannot see any info relating to cpuid, platform, version and date - which is the format of the microcode updates??) and delete the ones I don't need, making sure I keep the latest version of any duplicates.

I then need to create a new NCPUCODE.BIN file by running copy /b *.bin ncpucode

Delete the existing ncpucode..

make the new NCPUCODE.BIN read only via properties..

And insert it back in to the bios..

2nd issue is I don't get any official output when running the following..

cbrom fox.bin /nc_cpucode release

I havn't tried re-inserting ncpucode using the following yet, but I am about to..

cbrom fox.bin /nc_cpucode NCPUCODE.BIN

See what happens..

I have also read that the NCPUCODE is actually written into the system bios rom, and that you need to copy from a donor bios with the updated microcodes in already, and paste that block of hex into your bios, using hex editor, making sure the size of the block is not smaller, if so over write any of the residual bits at the end with a hex value (can't remember what it was now.. some thing like FF - i can check again though)

wondering how you identify the hex which represents the NCPUCODE within hex editor?

Wanted to look at the system bios in hex editor out of interest, but again I am not sure what command will extract this using cbrom..

cbrom fox.bin / system bios extract cbrom fox.bin / bios extract cbrom fox.bin / original.temp extract don't work..

Would be very grateful for answers to these questions or guidance what is the best way forward..

Please bear in mind that as well as an end result, part of my goal is to learn the correct way to do this myself.

Just for reference, this is a screen shot of cbrom195 and the bios..

   

Thanks for your help.

notice I am not getting email notification of replies.. despite selecting "subsribe and receive email notification of new replies"

wondered why that was? Sorry for any delay in responding..

[Florin9doi]

e7500 have cpuid=1067A

Code:

echo .>ncpucode.bin

CBROM195.EXE 631F1P61.BIN /nc_cpucode NCPUCODE.BIN

copy /b ncpucode.bin+cpu0001067a_plat00000011_ver00000a0b_date20100928.bin+cpu0001067a_plat00000044_ver00000a0b_date20100928.bin+cpu0001067a_plat000000a0_ver00000a0b_date20100928.bin ncpucode.bin

attrib +R ncpucode.bin

CBROM195.EXE 631F1P61.BIN /nc_cpucode NCPUCODE.BIN

if the file it's too big you must remove some microcode from ncpucode.bin

631F1P61.BIN currently have this: http://i.imgur.com/v1G1VV7.png

[ziggatron]

e7500 have cpuid=1067A

Code:

echo .>ncpucode.bin

CBROM195.EXE 631F1P61.BIN /nc_cpucode NCPUCODE.BIN

copy /b ncpucode.bin+cpu0001067a_plat00000011_ver00000a0b_date20100928.bin+cpu0001067a_plat00000044_ver00000a0b_date20100928.bin+cpu0001067a_plat000000a0_ver00000a0b_date20100928.bin ncpucode.bin

attrib +R ncpucode.bin

CBROM195.EXE 631F1P61.BIN /nc_cpucode NCPUCODE.BIN

if the file it's too big you must remove some microcode from ncpucode.bin

631F1P61.BIN currently have this: http://i.imgur.com/v1G1VV7.png

Hi, thanks for the info..

Can you tell me how you extracted the actual list of microcodes already contained in the ncpucode please.

http://i.imgur.com/v1G1VV7.png

I may like to remove some and i also want to check that my updates appear correctly.

[ziggatron]

e7500 have cpuid=1067A

Code:

echo .>ncpucode.bin

CBROM195.EXE 631F1P61.BIN /nc_cpucode NCPUCODE.BIN

copy /b ncpucode.bin+cpu0001067a_plat00000011_ver00000a0b_date20100928.bin+cpu0001067a_plat00000044_ver00000a0b_date20100928.bin+cpu0001067a_plat000000a0_ver00000a0b_date20100928.bin ncpucode.bin

attrib +R ncpucode.bin

CBROM195.EXE 631F1P61.BIN /nc_cpucode NCPUCODE.BIN

if the file it's too big you must remove some microcode from ncpucode.bin

631F1P61.BIN currently have this: http://i.imgur.com/v1G1VV7.png

Hi, thanks for the info..

Can you tell me how you extracted the actual list of microcodes already contained in the ncpucode please.

http://i.imgur.com/v1G1VV7.png

I may like to remove some and i also want to check that my updates appear correctly.

Hi was hoping to have heard from you.. please advise.. many thanks

[Florin9doi]

I used a personal tool and It does not check if you broke something.

[ziggatron]

I used a personal tool and It does not check if you broke something.

Personal tool?

If I broke some thing?

I'm sorry I don't follow you..

Where did I say I had broken some thing?

Nothing is broken, why would you think that?

Quite the opposite actually.

I wanted to learn how to view and access the micro codes myself.. which is why I asked you how you did it?

You did suggest in your post that I may wish to delete some of the microcodes in order to allow room for the new ones.. ..but offered no guidance..

Based on what you suggested it would be sensible to learn how to access and edit that information, such as the way you have done it?

If that's ok with you my good friend