Bios Mods -The Best BIOS Update and Modification Source

Hello,

first i want to say is that you folks have a nice site, and that it is a nice idea to help People to get more out of their BIOS.

Now to my request.

I own a HP TouchSmart tx2 notebook with a Turion X2 Ultra runing on a s1g2 socket.
I want to try to put a Turion II CPU in it that is running on a s1g3 socket.

I did a lot of research on this and i found out that the socket s1g3 is nearly the same to s1g2. Both have the same memory controller and numbers of pins, and the chips (Southbridge and Northbridge) that are used on the newer Platforms that are supporting the Turion II have almost the same features like they have on my notebook.

Thats why i want to give it a Try. I think nobody has tried that before.

But to try it i need my Bios supporting the new Turion II cpus. Thats why want to ask you to do a microcode injection.

The supported cpus should be this:

Turion II M500
Turion II M520
Turion II M540
Turion II M560
Turion II Ultra M600
Turion II Ultra M620
Turion II Ultra M640
Turion II Ultra M660

Maybe you can find the microcode in the bios of the newer touchsmart tm2.

As attachment I'll put the newest original Bios for my Notebook already extracted and with the whitelist removed. Its an Insyde Bios.

You can download the original Bios here: ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp46001-46500/sp46499.exe

Would be nice if you guys could look after it.

I found a possible bios canidate to take the microcode from:

ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp48501-49000/sp48896.exe

Hey Mate

Im sitll figuting out where abouts the microcode is located in Insuyde bioses , will let you know how i get along

Regards
Admin

Hi maybe i can fasten the process...

i was able to inject the microcode taken from your award bios thread (ncpucode.bin) in my touchsmart bios.

As flashmap I used the attached standard flashmap.

The Software I used was ezH2O v.2.1.0.13

Untouched and injected bios have still the same size but comparing them using a Hexeditor you can see noticeable changes .

I know this isn't usable for me cause the microcode is wrong I don't know if the flashmap is right. But I think its maybe a start.

If there is anything i can do to give you a hand, be pleased to let me know.

Hi there,

It should be the same size once recompiled, otherwise it wouldn't fit on the chip. If we can find an Insyde BIOS that has the same microcode we could reproduce it with the same procedure eh?

TheWiz

Two things:
I don't understand why the microcode form the award bios is fitting in the Insyde bios? Is the microcode the same for all bios manufacturers?

If I understood you right I now have to find an Award bios and an Insyde bios supporting the same Cpus, extract the microcode.bin from the Award bios an inject it in another Insyde bios.
But how do I know that my flashmap is right?

Not sure if there is a foolproof way to ensure the flashmap is right, but the actual microcode itself is the same. The only thing im worried about is a header difference between an award microcode bin and an insyde, which is why its probably easiest to repalce a current microcode witht he one you need that won't affect your board.

Is there any possibility to find a certain processor in the microcode.bin of an award bios? E.G. by translating the hex code?

If so I could try to localize a certain Processor in my bios, and replace them with a known cpu out of an award bios.

Hi

id be really interested to know how you got the flashmap.ff OUT of the bios!!!

This could make Insyde CPU mods possible!

Regards
Admin

Tonitiger,

The easiest thing to do is probably as you suggest. Find an old outdated microcode, and replace it with the one you need. That way the offsets and file integrity are maintained. The Award, AMI, and Phoenix BIOSes may have a bit of a different table setup, but the actual microcode value does nto change in any platform.

TheWiz