2022-X58/1366 PIN Motherboards NVME M.2 SSD BIOS MOD Collection

[catup]

Good

Some observations. Adding another Nvme SSD Samsung 990 Pro to my system. Now I have 980 pro and 990 pro.

I tried to see if it can boot from both in turn.

Of course, I add the modified NvmeOpRom for the 990pro first.

There is a strange situation like this:

- When I use for both ssd VMware OpRom I manage to see both in Bios but when I boot 980 pro it succeeds but on reboot it disappeared from bios boot option. When I stopped and restarted the system from the 980 pro it was ok.

- When I use for both ssd 950 pro OpRom, I see in the bios only one SSD that can be started at any time, but the second does not even appear in the Bios.

- After I use for 980 pro the OpRom from 950 pro and for 990 pro VMware OpRom. In this situation I can see both in the bios and boot everything I want when I want. This seems to be the best situation. But there are some strange things here. For example, 980 pro inserted with 950 pro OpRom, you can see in bios as IDE:N1 Samsung 980 pro, but 990 pro inserted with VMware Oprom is shown as IDE 5:0:0:1 without the name. Another strange thing is Windows 7 boot time noticeably longer with 980 pro inserted with 950 pro OpROM than boot time in 990 pro inserted with VMware OpROM

Who is using two NvmeS in the system and trying to boot from both?

It seems that if you have two NVMes and want to boot from both, you should use a different Oprom to insert each SSD !!!!

 

[MrPanda]

hello

got 2 here

1st nvme on which i boot from, 980 Pro 2TB
2nd nvme for more storage, 980 1TB

1) boot on 980 Pro is a lot longer (well, not the boot, the time between the boot launch and the moment the windows logo appears. really long, close to a minute)
2) i had to put the 980 pro on boot because it s bigger, and because it has better IOPS

to what i tested :
-if both drives have the 950 rom module, the one that shows in the bios is the first in the PCIex slot number order
-you cannot multiboot on a second nvme using those two roms, the second nvme is identified weirdly, and the booter returns something like "i couldnt find the drive named xxxxxxxxx"
-i made tests with ubuntu 18 & 20. kind of hard to find a reliable linux distro that handles X58 non UEFI with nvme, most cant find the drive, latests Ubuntu refuses to install correctly, seems to be related to grub 2, not an expert so it s a wild guess

i would LOVE to get this VMWare rom you re talking about. cause maybe then 2nd nvme could be adressed by the grub loader.

my main problem : having linux and win 10 on the same drive here ended with 5 primary partitions, #5 being the 1GB system reserved partition. it created problems, like, of course, no rescue menu, and also, cant shutdown (shutdown sends back to session login). i have to restart and hard shutdown on the PSU button during bios loading (not exactly a good thing, especially with a soft mirror raid, good thing the boot is slow cause hard shutdown during a boot is a bad idea)

so if i can adress correctly a second nvme with a different name, maybe grub (and other bootloaders) could work and then i d have a system on each drive

i get why having windows 7 is interesting, but i d be scared it messes up something with the nvme drives, also unsure how it would handle a 4TB nvme (and we ll eventually get there, someday)

tomorrow i m going to flash an asus p8-z68-v pro with a bios found on winraid forums, wish me luck (especially with the UEFI part, feels like it s going to be a nightmare)

i'm off to bed. if you can post the vmware rom with a couple explainations concerning the hex patch for nvme ref, i d be able to do some tests end of next week (got a couple busy days ahead, cant afford to have my UD7 offline)

but overall, what you describe is either "normal", or is happening here too.

i ll have to check that closely

Experimental Modded VMware-NVME Option ROM for AMIBIOS8 Core ( Legacy )

First Post “The AMIMMWIN Way” ( Command-line ) Link to the MMTool Way With the ingenious idea of the forum member @Ethaniel we’re able to boot from an NVME drive with AMIBIOS8 BIOS Successful tested on following boards: H8DGI H8QGL H8QG7 < post your results in this thread > Proof of...

winraid.level1techs.com

i guess that s the one you re using. i see lots of MM instructions and the Nvme ID seems to be injected from command line when integrating the rom in the bios....

all that doesnt sound very gigabyte compliant

i ll have to dig deeper. next week's job.

have a great weekend

edit : ok i found the opromcfg.exe

 

[catup]

hello

got 2 here

1st nvme on which i boot from, 980 Pro 2TB
2nd nvme for more storage, 980 1TB

1) boot on 980 Pro is a lot longer (well, not the boot, the time between the boot launch and the moment the windows logo appears. really long, close to a minute)
2) i had to put the 980 pro on boot because it s bigger, and because it has better IOPS

to what i tested :
-if both drives have the 950 rom module, the one that shows in the bios is the first in the PCIex slot number order
-you cannot multiboot on a second nvme using those two roms, the second nvme is identified weirdly, and the booter returns something like "i couldnt find the drive named xxxxxxxxx"
-i made tests with ubuntu 18 & 20. kind of hard to find a reliable linux distro that handles X58 non UEFI with nvme, most cant find the drive, latests Ubuntu refuses to install correctly, seems to be related to grub 2, not an expert so it s a wild guess

i would LOVE to get this VMWare rom you re talking about. cause maybe then 2nd nvme could be adressed by the grub loader.

my main problem : having linux and win 10 on the same drive here ended with 5 primary partitions, #5 being the 1GB system reserved partition. it created problems, like, of course, no rescue menu, and also, cant shutdown (shutdown sends back to session login). i have to restart and hard shutdown on the PSU button during bios loading (not exactly a good thing, especially with a soft mirror raid, good thing the boot is slow cause hard shutdown during a boot is a bad idea)

so if i can adress correctly a second nvme with a different name, maybe grub (and other bootloaders) could work and then i d have a system on each drive

i get why having windows 7 is interesting, but i d be scared it messes up something with the nvme drives, also unsure how it would handle a 4TB nvme (and we ll eventually get there, someday)

tomorrow i m going to flash an asus p8-z68-v pro with a bios found on winraid forums, wish me luck (especially with the UEFI part, feels like it s going to be a nightmare)

i'm off to bed. if you can post the vmware rom with a couple explainations concerning the hex patch for nvme ref, i d be able to do some tests end of next week (got a couple busy days ahead, cant afford to have my UD7 offline)

but overall, what you describe is either "normal", or is happening here too.

i ll have to check that closely

Experimental Modded VMware-NVME Option ROM for AMIBIOS8 Core ( Legacy )

First Post “The AMIMMWIN Way” ( Command-line ) Link to the MMTool Way With the ingenious idea of the forum member @Ethaniel we’re able to boot from an NVME drive with AMIBIOS8 BIOS Successful tested on following boards: H8DGI H8QGL H8QG7 < post your results in this thread > Proof of...

winraid.level1techs.com

i guess that s the one you re using. i see lots of MM instructions and the Nvme ID seems to be injected from command line when integrating the rom in the bios....

all that doesnt sound very gigabyte compliant

i ll have to dig deeper. next week's job.

have a great weekend

edit : ok i found the opromcfg.exe

Yes that is VMware OpRom what i use and OpRomCfg is in my previous post . And command line is :
" OpRomCfg NvmeOpRom.bin 144D A80A " but :
Hex edit it can be used to change ven ID and Dev ID in this way 4D 14 0A A8
Should work for Gigabyte too in my opinion .
The boot time is a lot shorter (tested for Win 7 ) and if you use one ssd inserted with VMware oprom and one with SM 950 pro Oprom it can be booted both without any hassle .
Sorry for the late post in the night .
Nice weekend for you too !!!

 

[MrPanda]

yes i m linking the dots right now, problem being when first downloaded, the oprom contains 00 00 00 00 and it s kind of hard to point out exactly where to put the values

to what i understand, that s the rom used along another module to make the UEFI boot possible.

so somewhere, with just that, cant boot on X58. but i think it could be used to get a valid adressable name for a second nvme to make a dual boot. i ll dig deeper, but i have to stop now or else i ll spend the weekend on it and i should use the temporary cooldown of temperatures outside to get back the ton of things i had to do those last 10 days and couldnt be done due to 32°C inside the house.

 

[catup]

yes i m linking the dots right now, problem being when first downloaded, the oprom contains 00 00 00 00 and it s kind of hard to point out exactly where to put the values

to what i understand, that s the rom used along another module to make the UEFI boot possible.

so somewhere, with just that, cant boot on X58. but i think it could be used to get a valid adressable name for a second nvme to make a dual boot. i ll dig deeper, but i have to stop now or else i ll spend the weekend on it and i should use the temporary cooldown of temperatures outside to get back the ton of things i had to do those last 10 days and couldnt be done due to 32°C inside the house.

If you find a way " get a valid adressable name for a second nvme to make a dual boot " please let me know I am not so experimented in this kind of mod .
Short video with Hexedit VMware OpRom Ven ID and Dev ID . When saving modified OpRom the program create automated the Bak file of initial OpRom file !

Right now prepare for 980 pro and 990 pro the OpRom with HexEdit base of VMware OpRom . After insert the two with mmtool in Spectre Patched Bios of my Mobo P6x58d Premium. It worked see the screen with Boot Popup attached .
Second screen is with 980 inserted with samsung 950 OpRom and 990 inserted with VMware Oprom .
I will put all files in cloud because the forum don't allow video !!!!
https://s.go.ro/jcmkcnge | password: 858189

 

[catup]

More to read !!!!!

Spoiler: Links to external Russian language site

HERE

Spoiler: Links to external Russian language site

HERE TOOhttps://forum.ixbt.com/topic.cgi?id=9:69793:303#303 I

From legendary russian user vlo !!!!

 

[MrPanda]

i'll have a look at it thanks for the links.
P8-Z68 is up and running, my younger son will be happy to run forza horizon. Nvme 3200MB/s due to PCIex 3.0

and my old P5Q just died took nearly 10 years of overclocked xeon, so it had a good run. only problem is i dont have a motherboard to watch movies in the living room anymore. spotted a couple Z77A, i ll see if i can get one.

therefore, delaying the bios play with the UD7, got bad vibes.

 

[myhome22]

Hi Ismail,
My X58 motherboard is Gigabyte GA-EX58-EXTREME,
and NVMe Controller Device hardware ID

PCI\VEN_2646&DEV_5017&CC_0108

Please help Inject these modules,

Thanks,

 

[MrPanda]

Hi myhome22

Ismail will not be back in the forum due to the earthquake catastrophe that happened a year ago.

You can patch your gigabyte bios by yourself, i left a few explainations a couple pages ago, it's not very hard.

goodluck

 

[catup]

Sorry for the links.I take my lesson .
Any way it is let say strange !

 

[MrPanda]

i had a warning once because i answered "no" to someone asking Imail to mod a bios, because my answer was rude.
fact that people adress to Ismail and request anything from him, though, seems to be ok.

forum rules remain an obscure domain to me, far more complex than hardware tweaking.

 

[mamisen57]

Hello bro, I couldn't upload it in any way, I tried to upload the bios, the image doesn't come without resetting, I would be glad if you help me gigabyte x58a-ud5 rev.2

 

[MrPanda]

hello
people did talk about UD5 rev 2 here :

2022-X58/1366 PIN Motherboards NVME M.2 SSD BIOS MOD Collection

You don't need to use Ismail s bios as a base. I modded my official bios directly Yes, am using the OG Gigabyte BIOS file to start with a clean slate. Unfortunately no luck using the OpenNVMe.bin NVMe entry currently. All looks good, hex editing offset 20 (reversing VEN and DEV bits), checksum...

www.techpowerup.com

maybe there is a solution there, i dont know, not much time today. goodluck


also i m not sure what you mean when you say :

the image doesn't come without resetting

 

[thavidu]

@İsmailTPC_Hastanesi the P6T files are missing from Google drive (link is broken)- the P6T deluxe ones work though? Can you please re-upload the P6T ones? Thank you so much for this huge upgrade!


EDIT: Oh shoot just heard about the earthquake.. has anyone got a copy of the P6T files?

 

[catup]

@İsmailTPC_Hastanesi the P6T files are missing from Google drive (link is broken)- the P6T deluxe ones work though? Can you please re-upload the P6T ones? Thank you so much for this huge upgrade!


EDIT: Oh shoot just heard about the earthquake.. has anyone got a copy of the P6T files?

The files are there . Try again !!

 

[MrPanda]

just a reminder, please forgive the offtopic :

2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

7.8 magnitude is no joke, tens of thousands died.

So, again, asking for Mr Hastanesi is no use. but there is a few people keeping a close eye on this topic and willing to help.

 

[thavidu]

Thank you so much for re-uploading it! It works now!

Next step: I need to add my SSD hardware IDs to it (its an WD SN850x)- I see a few different explanations in the last few pages on how to add that, but i'm confused which one I should follow for my case- I heard its catup's most likely since my motherboard is Asus. Is that right? Any chance could link to the best set of instructions? I'll keep digging in the meantime

EDIT: https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/...2-ssd-bios-mod-collection.299867/post-5292014 is this post the best instructions to follow?

 

[MrPanda]

yup, Asus > "MMTool How To" posted by Catup a few pages ago, you spotted the good post

goodluck (check twice everything you do, it s not long so you can take the time to double check everything)

 

[catup]

Thank you so much for re-uploading it! It works now!

Next step: I need to add my SSD hardware IDs to it (its an WD SN850x)- I see a few different explanations in the last few pages on how to add that, but i'm confused which one I should follow for my case- I heard its catup's most likely since my motherboard is Asus. Is that right? Any chance could link to the best set of instructions?

We are here for help .Just ask for it .
Good Luck !!

 

[dajuice_911]

you need to act less impulsively, you went too fast.
Catup did post a MMTool guide, for Asus Motherboards.

we re not installing a modified driver here, we re modifying a bios with the risk of terminating the motherboard with no hope of repair if things are not done correctly.

you need to take your time, and read what has been posted on the, let s say, 5 last pages, at least.

take notes, and make sure you really understood what you re going to do.

UDR3 has been modified successfully a couple pages ago, but i m not totally sure of the motherboard revision (v1 or v2)

so take a good breath, read, make sure you checked twice everything, then modify the UDR3 bios (with CBROM btw....)

also, begin by checking if you have a bios rescue procedure in case things go wrong (i dont know if the UDR3 has a dual bios chip)

goodluck

MrPanda

I was able to get my M.2 recognized in BIOS and I have it now booting Windows. Thanks for your suggestion and patience.

I did brick my MB and unfortunately the back-up BIOS was not able to kick in so I had to buy an external programmer. Plus I had to learn how to de-solder the BIOS chip and program the original BIOS back on to it. Once I got my MB up and running, I didn't want to run the @bios (Windows-based program) to flash again as it was what I used initially that bricked my MB. I resorted to using Rufus and FreeDOS to flash the modified BIOS. It was so beautiful and a relief when Ismail's custom splash screen came up!

 

[MrPanda]

wow

hello

well i m glad it did end well. @bios has a bad reputation, generally, flashing from windows is not a good option, i didnt think it could brick a motherboard, thought more like bad checksum or refuse to flash.

it s scary when you say the backup bios didnt kick in. I hope people will read your post and realize these things happen sometimes and be even more careful.


i admire you for being able to desolder the chip. i know i wouldnt be able to do it, i dont trust my hands anymore for this kind of very precise operation. I imagine your relief when the machine did finally boot.

had a similar experience with a Z87 couple days ago, this time it was the bios flash MFlash that almost bricked the bios (i managed to get back a boot after like 20 power on/off, dont know exactly what happened, but i red after that MFlash was a bios killer in some specific situation)

glad you re back with a working computer.

 

[dajuice_911]

I had to use @bios because when using Q-flash, I would get the message about the new BIOS being a different size than what is currently on the MB. My motherboard had version FF (1 MB) and the updated FH BIOS was 2 MB. So I had to use @bios. The flashing went from 0% to 100% and the MB rebooted afterwards but it then went into this power-on/power-off loop. I let this go on for close to 10 minutes and powered it off thinking it wasn't going to POST anytime soon. When turning it back on, it did the same power-on/power-off loop cycle.

I think I did get an error message when trying to flash the BIOS on Windows 10 and read in some forums that people had more luck with Windows 7. So I resorted to Windows 7 and was able to proceed with flashing but ended up bricking my MB.

I am not sure why I was not able to get the back-up BIOS to write to the main one when my MB bricked. Google mentions that when the main gets corrupted, the back-up should automatically write to the main. I even tried what others have mentioned in other forums which was to power on the computer with both power and reset buttons held down for a period of time which did not work. There was an alternate method to get the back-up BIOS to start up by jumping pins 1 and 6 of the main BIOS chip. All methods failed to get the back-up BIOS to take over. This was when I had to acknowledge that I may have no way to get back my MB but to buy a used one off Ebay.

Before buying another mb, I ordered a $15 CH341A chip programmer to see if I can program my saved BIOS to the corrupted one. I spent 2 days trying to get it to detect the chip. Long story short, the BIOS chip has to be de-soldered off the board in order for the programmer to detect it. As for soldering, my hands naturally starts shaking so it was difficult de-soldering and soldering the chip off and back on. But when I was able to get my mb to boot with my original BIOS, I was pretty ecstatic. So, my next course of action was finding out how to update version FF to Gigabyte's FH since Q-flash doesn't work and @bios is questionable. FreeDOS along with the SPIFLASH.exe included in the BIOS folder was able to do the update. When I rebooted after flashing to FH version, I was surprised that the BIOS version was now FH! Next thing to do was to flash Ismail's BIOS and was taken back when his splash screen showed up after reboot. But this BIOS does not include my Samsung 990 M.2 device and I was not sure the modification I made to Ismail's BIOS would brick my mb. But since I can always reflash the BIOS chip with my programmer if it did brick it, I decided to go ahead with the flashing. So when I flashed the Ismail BIOS with the Samsung 990 m.2 support and the BIOS recognized it, I breathed a sigh of relief and had to smile a bit.

Thanks for the kind words. And yeah flashing BIOSes is not fun.

 

[MrPanda]

as a general rule, it s always better to flash from a usb freedos with command line program.
something that happened to me recently on other mainboards made me thing that if you want to use a modded bios which version differs of the one you currently have, it s better to first flash official manufacturer's bios at the same version level, then flash the modded one.

it s a bit different because it involves Intel ME firmware, but i had real problems with a Z87 until i made things properly and in the good order, aka, official bios flash, official bios flash with intel ME firmware, then modded bios flash without intel ME firmware.

but in conclusion yes, do not flash from windows, do not flash from bios, flash from usb boot freedos made with rufus.