A7N8X Deluxe PCB Revision 1.04, 1.06 with SATA ROM 4279

[ribbles]

I updated my rev2.0 board with 4.2.84 and when it gets to the XP or Recovery Console menu I pick XP and it immediately hangs. I can load recovery console and can access my disk, it is just XP that does not start. I tried refreshing my install with no luck. I tried repairing the MBR but no love.


I flashed again with 4.2.83 and same thing.


UPDATE: Flashed again with 4.2.50 and it works! So if anyone has 4.2.84 and .83 recognizing your drive in BIOS but then hanging when windows tries to boot, try it with 4.2.50!!!

[webdevoman]

My journey began over at billakos_99's post. I wanted to be able to use my SATA drive with Windows Vista. There were no working drivers to be found for the RAID Controller that Vista was detecting.

So, I followed billakos_99's steps, but I used the 1.04/1.06 BIOS version 1008. Bad idea. I had to order a new BIOS chip to save my motherboard, as after flashing this cbrom606-modified BIOS my computer ceased to POST.

Before you go any further, note that this new SATA ROM increases the boot time by at least 2-3 seconds by stalling longer at the RAID POST screen. This probably won't be a problem for most people, but it's a little annoying. If you're not using Vista with an SATA drive, there is absolutely no reason to use this BIOS and I wholeheartedly recommend that you leave well enough alone. If you're worried that when Vista is released your SATA drive won't work with it, I'd say it's too soon to tell. Just wait for it to happen and then check for updated nForce2 drivers at nVidia's site.

Disclaimer: THIS GUIDE IS FOR ASUS A7N8X DELUXE PCB REVISIONS 1.04 AND 1.06 ONLY!!! ONLY FOLLOW THIS GUIDE IF YOU WANT TO GET SATA OR RAID TO WORK IN VISTA! I also want to let you know that I CANNOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO YOUR SYSTEM AS A RESULT OF FOLLOWING THESE INSTRUCTIONS OR DOWNLOADING OR FLASHING THIS BIOS, WHETHER YOU ARE USING THIS GUIDE TO GET SATA TO WORK IN VISTA OR FOR ANY OTHER PURPOSE. It has only been tested on PCB Revision 1.06, but I don't see why it wouldn't work on 1.04 as the BIOS I used was meant for either one. Most importantly, MAKE SURE YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING!!!

Download the BIOS
You can download my modified version MADE FOR PCB REVISIONS 1.04 AND 1.06 ONLY here (just click the link for AN8D1008.bin). It was updated with the 4279 SATA ROM.

You may also need to download the following beta drivers from Silicon Image here.

Of course, if you use this already-modified BIOS, the "Do It Yourself" section does not apply.

Please scroll down to the Closing Notes for other information.

Do It Yourself
What You Need
A7N8X Deluxe BIOS 1008 for PCB revision 1.04, and 1.06 only or an appropriate ASUS BIOS (search for one by starting here)
CBROM 6.06
Silicon Image SiI3112 BIOS

What You May Want
Award BIOS Editor 1.0 - This program is NOT suitable to update the SATA ROM on its own, as it will create a corrupted BIOS. This program is unnecessary for completion of this guide, but because it was used in the creation of this guide, I thought I'd link to it.

What You Do
1. The first (obvious to some) step is to create a folder to put everything in. For this guide, we'll use the folder C:\DosTools. So, create the folder.
2. Copy CBROM606.EXE (from cbrom606.zip), 4279.bin (from BIO-003112-xxx-4279.zip), and the BIOS (AN8D1008.bin from AN8D1008.zip for this guide) to C:\DosTools.
3. Make a copy of AN8D1008.bin and rename it new.bin.
4. Open a command prompt to C:\DosTools.
5. Run the following command...

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C:\DosTools>cbrom606 new.bin /D

...and make sure your output is something like this (should be exactly like this if you're using the AN8D1008 BIOS and cbrom 6.06):

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              ********      new.bin BIOS component ********

No. Item-Name         Original-Size   Compressed-Size Original-File-Name
================================================================================
  0. System BIOS       20000h(128.00K) 12859h(74.09K)  AN8D1008.bin
  1. XGROUP CODE       0C450h(49.08K)  085EDh(33.48K)  awardext.rom
  2. ACPI table        04532h(17.30K)  0187Dh(6.12K)   ACPITBL.BIN
  3. EPA pattern       0168Ch(5.64K)   002AAh(0.67K)   AwardBmp.bmp
  4. YGROUP ROM        06270h(24.61K)  0398Eh(14.39K)  awardeyt.rom
  5. Other(4029:0000)  05A50h(22.58K)  026CAh(9.70K)   _EN_CODE.BIN
  6. PCI driver[A]     0A800h(42.00K)  055B5h(21.43K)  4227.BIN
  7. PCI driver[B]     10000h(64.00K)  07593h(29.39K)  NVPXES.NIC
  8. PCI driver[C]     0E800h(58.00K)  09308h(36.76K)  MBIOS_S.BIN
  9. LOGO BitMap       4B30Ch(300.76K) 18221h(96.53K)  A7N8X2.BMP
10. Flash ROM         0A0E7h(40.23K)  057DEh(21.97K)  AWDFLASH.EXE
11. VRS ROM           02280h(8.62K)   014BBh(5.18K)   ANTI_VIR.BIN

  Total compress code space  = 5D000h(372.00K)
  Total compressed code size = 576CFh(349.70K)
  Remain compress code space = 05931h(22.30K)

                      ** Micro Code Information **
Update ID  CPUID  |  Update ID  CPUID  |  Update ID  CPUID  |  Update ID  CPUID
------------------+--------------------+--------------------+-------------------

6. The Option ROM that needs to be replaced is PCI driver[A] (4227.BIN), for this is the SATA ROM. Now, billakos_99's post says to simply perform the /PCI command-line option with 4279.bin, but this is not enough. We should preserve the layout of the option ROMs. If you simply run cbrom606 with the /PCI option, the PCI driver[A] will be the last Option ROM in the BIOS. I don't know much about BIOSes, but I think we should keep things as close as possible to what they were before. Because of this, the /PCI option alone is unsuitable.
So, we have to remove everything after PCI driver[A] including PCI driver[A] itself, then insert the new SATA ROM, and then put the following Option ROMs back. We'll extract and release the Option ROMs with the following commands:

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C:\DosTools>cbrom606 new.bin /vrs extract
CBROM V6.06 (C)Award Software 1999 All Rights Reserved.
Enter an extract file Name :(ANTI_VIR.BIN)<enter>
[VRS] ROM is extracted to ANTI_VIR.BIN

C:\DosTools>cbrom606 new.bin /vrs release
CBROM V6.06 (C)Award Software 1999 All Rights Reserved.
[VRS] ROM is release

C:\DosTools>cbrom606 new.bin /awdflash extract
CBROM V6.06 (C)Award Software 1999 All Rights Reserved.
Enter an extract file Name :(AWDFLASH.EXE)<enter>
[Flash ROM] ROM is extracted to AWDFLASH.EXE

C:\DosTools>cbrom606 new.bin /awdflash release
CBROM V6.06 (C)Award Software 1999 All Rights Reserved.
[Flash ROM] ROM is release

C:\DosTools>cbrom606 new.bin /logo extract
CBROM V6.06 (C)Award Software 1999 All Rights Reserved.
Enter an extract file Name :(A7N8X2.BMP)<enter>
[Logo] ROM is extracted to A7N8X2.BMP

C:\DosTools>cbrom606 new.bin /logo release
CBROM V6.06 (C)Award Software 1999 All Rights Reserved.
[Logo] ROM is release

C:\DosTools>cbrom606 new.bin /pci extract
CBROM V6.06 (C)Award Software 1999 All Rights Reserved.
PCI driver - - - [A] : 4227.BIN
PCI driver - - - [B] : NVPXES.NIC
PCI driver - - - [C] : MBIOS_S.BIN
Enter a choice:c<enter>
Enter an extract file Name :(MBIOS_S.BIN)<enter>
[PCI-C] ROM is extracted to MBIOS_S.BIN

C:\DosTools>cbrom606 new.bin /pci release
CBROM V6.06 (C)Award Software 1999 All Rights Reserved.
PCI driver - - - [A] : 4227.BIN
PCI driver - - - [B] : NVPXES.NIC
PCI driver - - - [C] : MBIOS_S.BIN
Enter a choice:c<enter>
[PCI-C] ROM is release

C:\DosTools>cbrom606 new.bin /pci extract
CBROM V6.06 (C)Award Software 1999 All Rights Reserved.
PCI driver - - - [A] : 4227.BIN
PCI driver - - - [B] : NVPXES.NIC
Enter a choice:b<enter>
Enter an extract file Name :(NVPXES.NIC)<enter>
[PCI-B] ROM is extracted to NVPXES.NIC

C:\DosTools>cbrom606 new.bin /pci release
CBROM V6.06 (C)Award Software 1999 All Rights Reserved.
PCI driver - - - [A] : 4227.BIN
PCI driver - - - [B] : NVPXES.NIC
Enter a choice:b<enter>
[PCI-B] ROM is release

C:\DosTools>cbrom606 new.bin /pci extract
CBROM V6.06 (C)Award Software 1999 All Rights Reserved.
PCI driver - - - [A] : 4227.BIN
Enter an extract file Name :(4227.BIN)<enter>
[PCI-A] ROM is extracted to 4227.BIN

C:\DosTools>cbrom606 new.bin /pci release
CBROM V6.06 (C)Award Software 1999 All Rights Reserved.
PCI driver - - - [A] : 4227.BIN
[PCI-A] ROM is release

7. Now, to insert the new SATA ROM.

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C:\DosTools>cbrom606 new.bin /PCI 4279.bin

You can run the following command to make sure everything worked correctly.

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C:\DosTools>cbrom606 new.bin /D

You should see this as the list:

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  0. System BIOS       20000h(128.00K) 12859h(74.09K)  AN8D1008.bin
  1. XGROUP CODE       0C450h(49.08K)  085EDh(33.48K)  awardext.rom
  2. ACPI table        04532h(17.30K)  0187Dh(6.12K)   ACPITBL.BIN
  3. EPA pattern       0168Ch(5.64K)   002AAh(0.67K)   AwardBmp.bmp
  4. YGROUP ROM        06270h(24.61K)  0398Eh(14.39K)  awardeyt.rom
  5. Other(4029:0000)  05A50h(22.58K)  026CAh(9.70K)   _EN_CODE.BIN
  6. PCI driver[A]     0A800h(42.00K)  05603h(21.50K)  4279.bin

8. Now to add in the other PCI drivers, the logo, the flasher executable, and the antivirus. The reason you cannot simply use /PCI for the other PCI drivers is because this would mark them all as PCI driver[A], when they're really drivers B and C. You can learn from Award BIOS Editor that PCI driver[A] is of type ID 4086. Drivers B and C are 4087 and 4088, respectively. It would be nice if cbrom606 handled this automatically, but this is an esoteric area...

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C:\DosTools>cbrom606 new.bin /other 4087:0 NVPXES.NIC
C:\DosTools>cbrom606 new.bin /other 4088:0 MBIOS_S.BIN
C:\DosTools>cbrom606 new.bin /logo A7N8X2.BMP
C:\DosTools>cbrom606 new.bin /awdflash AWDFLASH.EXE
C:\DosTools>cbrom606 new.bin /vrs ANTI_VIR.BIN

Now, let's take a final look at that BIOS with the /D command-line option.

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              ********      new.bin BIOS component ********

No. Item-Name         Original-Size   Compressed-Size Original-File-Name
================================================================================
  0. System BIOS       20000h(128.00K) 12859h(74.09K)  AN8D1008.bin
  1. XGROUP CODE       0C450h(49.08K)  085EDh(33.48K)  awardext.rom
  2. ACPI table        04532h(17.30K)  0187Dh(6.12K)   ACPITBL.BIN
  3. EPA pattern       0168Ch(5.64K)   002AAh(0.67K)   AwardBmp.bmp
  4. YGROUP ROM        06270h(24.61K)  0398Eh(14.39K)  awardeyt.rom
  5. Other(4029:0000)  05A50h(22.58K)  026CAh(9.70K)   _EN_CODE.BIN
  6. PCI driver[A]     0A800h(42.00K)  05603h(21.50K)  4279.bin
  7. PCI driver[B]     10000h(64.00K)  07593h(29.39K)  NVPXES.NIC
  8. PCI driver[C]     0E800h(58.00K)  09308h(36.76K)  MBIOS_S.BIN
  9. LOGO BitMap       4B30Ch(300.76K) 18221h(96.53K)  A7N8X2.BMP
10. Flash ROM         0A0E7h(40.23K)  057DEh(21.97K)  AWDFLASH.EXE
11. VRS ROM           02280h(8.62K)   014BBh(5.18K)   ANTI_VIR.BIN

  Total compress code space  = 5D000h(372.00K)
  Total compressed code size = 5771Dh(349.78K)
  Remain compress code space = 058E3h(22.22K)

                      ** Micro Code Information **
Update ID  CPUID  |  Update ID  CPUID  |  Update ID  CPUID  |  Update ID  CPUID
------------------+--------------------+--------------------+-------------------

Closing Notes
I recommend that, despite how difficult obtaining a working floppy disk can be, you use one (or create a boot CD, but the problem with this is that you can't back up your old BIOS onto a CD like you can with a floppy) and boot up with it, using AWDFLASH to flash your BIOS as opposed to the Asus Update Utility. The reason I suggest this is that the checksum for the BIOS I flashed was incorrect but the Asus Update Utility allowed me to flash it anyway. The AWDFLASH.EXE utility isn't quite so stupid, fortunately.

Before i go through with this I just want to be sure....
I have a Rev 1.04 A7N8X Deluxe with XP Pro and I am having issues getting a 1tb sata past post stage. First off, if I download and flash my bios with the file here (AN8D1008.bin) will it solve me problem? This is for Rev 1.04? Right? I don't see why Vista or XP would matter but I just want to be safe.. I don't have a back up unless I hotflash another bios chip and I would really like to skip that if this is safe enough..

Anyone?? has anyone else used this successfully with a 1.04?

Thanks

[ribbles]

Before i go through with this I just want to be sure....
I have a Rev 1.04 A7N8X Deluxe with XP Pro and I am having issues getting a 1tb sata past post stage. First off, if I download and flash my bios with the file here (AN8D1008.bin) will it solve me problem? This is for Rev 1.04? Right? I don't see why Vista or XP would matter but I just want to be safe.. I don't have a back up unless I hotflash another bios chip and I would really like to skip that if this is safe enough..

Anyone?? has anyone else used this successfully with a 1.04?

Thanks

If you want to be doubly sure then go to the Asus website and download the correctly labled BIOS file and patch it yourself.

Also -- the original post is wrong in saying you have to reorder the files the same way. Just using the /PCI switch works fine.

> cbrom606.exe AN8D1008.bin /pci 4285.bin

That is ALL you have to do! Then you can list the contents just to make sure.

> cbrom606.exe AN8D1008.bin /D

And you should see 4285.bin at the bottom of the list as PCI[0].


The only other thing to add is that I used cbrom215.exe b/c the link to cbrom606 in the OP was dead. I got it from here: http://www.rebelshavenforum.com/CBROM.html