nVidia Network and Firewire/1394 Bios Repair Tutorial

[acidoman]

Hi guys!

[1st post here!]

How can I flash the MAC address into bios, without using AWDFLASH utility? I have a AMI bios. Thanks in advance!

Jorge

Asus K8N-E Deluxe
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Skt754

[Calgeno]

Where can I find the nvmac and the nvguid adress on the motherboard?
Thanks

[sasovics]

I have an ASUS P5N32-E SLI mobo with 2 onboard NICs.
After my recent BIOS update my both NICs MAC has changed to 04:4B:80:80:80:03.

Based on the instructions in the 1st post I managed to reflash the 1st NIC to it's original MAC address, however even after hours searching on the internet I did not find a way how to reflash the second NIC.

If anyone has found a solution how to reflash the 2nd NIC, please advise!

[sasovics]

... after a looong-looong suffer I finally DID IT folks!!!!

Here is a procedure for everyone who might need it in the future!

Your onboard NIC MAC addresses are stored at this location:

1st NIC MAC: 0F8430h
2nd NIC MAC: 0F8738h
IEEE1394 GUID: 0F8740h

This offsets apply for ASUS P5N32-E SLI (1MB Award BIOS image), so if your mobo is a different model, the offsets might differ. There are two ways finding the correct offsets:

Search for the following HEX pattern: 04 80 80 80 4B 03 (NVIDIAs default MAC addr)

or

Change the 1st MAC using AWDFLASH /PY /SN /CC /CD /CP /NVMAC:XXXXXXXXXXXX /WB /E then restart, load BIOS defaults, load your OS and dump your existing BIOS to disk (you can use Asus Update application for that).
Then just search for HEX pattern of your changed NIC, that will give you the location of your 1st NIC offset (DO NOT FORGET to reverse the byte-order while searching your HEX pattern!!!)

Now the patching itself:

1. Open your original BIOS file in WinHex or UltraEdit (I used UltraEdit)

2. Press CTRL+G and enter 0x0F8430. It will take you straight to the offset where the 1st NIC MAC address is located (you should see the default MAC
address there in reversed order: "04 80 80 80 4B 03"

3. Now start typing your current MAC address.
As I mentioned above, do not forget to reverse the byte order. That means if your 1st MAC is 00-19-A2-D6-6D-93 you enter "93 6D D6 A2 19 00".

4. Repeat steps 2-3 for the 2nd NIC and the 1394 GUID only that for CTRL+G dialog you enter the corresponding offset (0x0F8738 for 2nd NIC, 0x0F8740 for IEEE1394 GUID)

5. Save your modified BIOS file.

6. Prepare a DOS bootable floppy disk and load your modified BIOS image to it.

7. Get the Nvidia System ROM flasher (NVFLSHSC.EXE).

For those not having it, or are unable to find it, I have uploaded it here

8. Put the NVFLSHSC onto the floppy disk. Now your floppy disk should contain 2 files: your modified BIOS image, and the Nvidia System ROM flasher.

9. Boot your PC from your newly created floppy disk.

10. Use the following cmdline to flash your MAC addresses: NVFLSHSC -f YOURBIOS.BIN

11. Job completed! Have fun!

DISLCLAIMER: Although I have tested this method sucessfull on my motherboard,
I take no responsibility for any damages you may cause by using the above metioned method.
Do it only at your own risk!