# Turning your Asus P5G33 Barebone motherboard into a P5K-VM



## Thrackan (Nov 16, 2008)

So, here's a little report on the sweaty adventure I had reflashing my "branded" motherboard that came with my Asus P5G33 Barebone.

*Flashing a motherboard with a BIOS that is not "meant" for it is risky stuff! I will NOT be held responsible for deadflashes, errors and/or other means of system corruption and neither will TechPowerUp! or any of its associates!*

*Why?*
The branded version of the P5K-VM board, dubbed V-P5G33, had *no* overclocking options in the BIOS. Peeking behind the sticker on the motherboard, a real P5K-VM board was unveiled.
That, and my E6750 was begging me to turn it up a notch 

*So what's the problem?*
The branded BIOS has a ROMID that's different from the P5K-VM BIOS ROMID. 99% of the flashing possibilities fail right there.

*Prerequisites:*
Your V-P5G33 board is equipped with Asus Crashfree. It will ask you for a floppy, CD or USB stick with the original ROM if you kill something.
I know from *experience* now that you should have the original ROM, rename it to P5KVM.ROM and stick it on a CD-R or floppy. USB was being crappy, so I wouldn't depend on it.
Next, you need AFUDOS version *2.07*, *no other version has worked with me for bypassing the ROMID!*
And of course, you need the version of the P5K-VM BIOS you want to flash and a bootable DOS floppy.

*Steps:*
- Create your bootable DOS disc and put AFUDOS and your BIOS file on it. If it doesn't fit, put the AFUDOS and the BIOS somewhere you can reach from DOS (I used my cardreader). Keep in mind, DOS and NTFS partitions aren't exactly friends. Also, it seems AFUDOS has a problem with NTFSDOS.
- Rename the AFUxxx.exe to AFUDOS.EXE for ease of use.
- Reboot from your floppy.
- Go to the directory AFUDOS and the BIOS file are located in.
- Make double sure you still have your original ROM somewhere!
- Type "AFUDOS /i<ROMNAME.BIN> /n" where <ROMNAME.BIN> is your BIOS file's filename. No space between /i and the filename and /n is the switch to ignore ROMID.
- Wipe off your sweat and cross your fingers 

*That was pretty easy!*
Yeah, actually, it was. Then again, you didn't go through manually editing BIOS files, testing about 10 different versions of AFUDOS or flashing your motherboard dead on the only PC available without having the original ROM somewhere 
It should take you about 15 minutes tops now, I was busy the entire day 
I'm still thankful that I never tried to overwrite the section which stores Asus Crashfree...


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## cdawall (Nov 16, 2008)

very good read


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## Mussels (Nov 17, 2008)

Thrackan said:


> So, here's a little report on the sweaty adventure I had reflashing my "branded" motherboard that came with my Asus P5G33 Barebone.




quite interesting.
i'll have to look around at how much the cheaper verison costs, could be a money saver here.


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## Thrackan (Nov 17, 2008)

I suspect this fix is applicable for all Asus V2/V3 barebones, of course with their respective motherboards. They come branded, without BIOS JumperFree settings and have a different motherboard name.
Also, I like the case that came with it. Dumped the power supply though , gave it to my girlfriend cause hers was dead.

The P5K-VM itself does about 70-75 euros here, the V2/V3 Barebone around 120.
For 50 extra you get a case and a PSU, whereas the PSU itself might set you back 40-50 euros.
Sounds like a free case to me


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## Blahman12 (May 22, 2012)

Hi I'm resurrecting this thread (I know its really old). I hope to do the same thing to an ASUS M4A78 LT-M LE AM3 board, with the V-M4A3000E barebone bios. I can't find anything about flashing on that exact board. Would I just have to follow the same instructions as with this board? The board is exactly the same, same connectors, looks, everything. Hasn't got a floppy port though.


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## Thrackan (May 22, 2012)

Holy necro Batman! 

Anyway, check if your board boots from USB correctly, in that case just replace the boot floppy with a USB stick. Same instructions apply.

In case of failure, keep a USB stick, CD or whatever ready that you can write the original BIOS onto (with the filename asked by CrashFree) and you should be perfectly fine. A second PC is obviously required if you need to do this after flashing has failed.


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## Blahman12 (May 24, 2012)

Ok thank you. I've got another PC so if I do brick it I can either get a new bios or failing that get a new board, I've found what I've got for £20. Wish me luck!


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## Thrackan (May 24, 2012)

Good luck! Let us know how it worked out, I'm very curious, as I haven't heard other people doing the same trick yet.


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## Blahman12 (Jun 2, 2012)

Nah it didn't want to work unfortunately . Ah well I'll just have to get another board. The newer boards are not that much and have more features than what I have, like USB3. Thanks for the guide though!


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