Tutorial 3112 Sata: Inserting Bios 4.2.66 into Your MB Bios

[joshua]

This is for any MB that utilizes the onboard Sil 3112 (3114 ?) Chipset
and Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG

The usual Scenerio:

You have just downloaded the latest Bios for your Motherboard
But Alas it has NOT got the latest Sata Module in it.
What to do!!!

Here is the answer...

This works on AN7...
should work on other Motherboards with Sata 3112 Onboard
but MAY need different version of cbrom.

Hope you find this usefull.
On with the Tutorial.

Step One:
DOWNLOAD NEEDED FILES:
----------------------
Download Hexeditor (If you dont have one) and Install it.

Download the following files and unzip to a directory
E.G.
Dir (Name it what you like)

Download Latest Sata Image:
---------------------------
http://www.siliconimage.com/docs/BIO-00 ... 0-4266.zip
Unzip To Dir.

Now we need to grab the image to use in the bios.
This is the bios for SATARAID add-in cards and is 128KB
We need to load this file into a Hex Editor and save a section of it.

Hexedit r4266.bin

Copy from 0 to bfff to a newfile e.g 4266.bin
This file should be 48KB in length.

This is our new Sata Module we will use in our Bios.

Download cbrom 2.15:
--------------------
http://www.biosmods.com/download/award/cbrom215.zip
Unzip to Dir.

Download your latest Bios Image:
--------------------------------
Unzip to Dir.

Step Two:
--------------
THE DIRTY WORK
--------------
Open a dos prompt (Dos prompt here tweek comes in handy) on Dir.
Typing cbrom will give you this:

CBROM V2.15 (C)Award Software 2001 All Rights Reserved.
Syntax:
CBROM.EXE InputFile [/other] [8000:0] [RomFile|Release|Extract]
CBROM.EXE InputFile [/D|logo|vga....] [RomFile|Release|Extract]
InputFile : System BIOS to be added with Option ROMs
/D : For display all combined ROMs informations in BIOS
/epa|epa1-7 : Add EPA LOGO BitMap to System BIOS
/logo|logo1-7: Add OEM LOGO BitMap to System BIOS
/oem0-7 : Add special OEM ROM to System BIOS
/err : Return error code after executed
/btvga : Add VGA ROM to Boot Rom Block Area.
/isa : Add ISA BIOS ROM to System BIOS.(/isa Filename [xxxx:0])
/vga, /logo, /pci, /awdflash, /cpucode, /epa, /acpitbl, /vsa, /hpm
/hpc, /fnt0 - 5, /ros, /nnoprom, /mib, /group

RomFile : File name of option ROM to add-in
Release : Release option ROM in current system BIOS
Extract : Extract option ROM to File in current system BIOS
<<< Examples >>>
CBROM.EXE 2a4ib000.bin /D
CBROM.EXE 2a4ib000.bin /VGA filename
CBROM.EXE 2a4ib000.bin /VGA filename /ERR
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

type cbrom (bios file name) /pci Release
will show you all the pci related modules.
On mine it showed
PCI ROM - - - [A] NUXPES.NIC
PCI ROM - - - [B] 4250.bin <<<< THIS IS THE FILE "I" NEEDED TO REPLACE. 4.2.50 > 4.2.66
Enter a choice:

I Selected [B] as that was the version of the Sata module 4.2.50
Your version will probably be named differently E.G. 4247.bin

Next we give this command:
cbrom (bios file name) /pci 4266.bin

This will insert the module
4266.bin
which is the file we earlier
extracted from the Sata Bios file.

Step Three:
You are now ready to Flash your NEW Bios:)

Hopefully you know how to do this.

PLEASE TAKE CARE WHEN FLASHING YOUR BIOS!!!
Bios Savior Comes in handy!!

Enjoy!!!

Joshua

[momo]

and then your MB is completely borked and unflashable....

The SIL 3112 is obsolete by now and the last MB BIOS contains the latest drivers. It's very nice method but why would anyone go through that very risky procedure for little gain ?

[Stami]

Thank you very much for the tutorial.
The most tricky part for me is the one with the hex editor...I hope I won't fail.

I emailed SIL for the changelist of the BIOS.

Stami

[Blowupbarbie79]

I'd be curious to see the changelog as well.

If it ain't broke don't fix it I appreciate your effort for making the tutorial though Joshua.

EDIT:Silicon Image is quite the odd company.It is surprising they don't include release notes.

clipped from the readme in the 4.2.66

3.2.5 Click the Browse button and select the b4266.bin file

Even their instructions aren't accurate the file in the archive is named r4266.bin

[Stami]

the b version is here http://www.siliconimage.com/docs/BIO-00 ... 0-4270.zip

Stami

[kmyne]

Hello Stami,

I prepared my bios according to your guide.

Two questions arose:

- The original SATA bios (4.2.47) has a size of 42K, is 48K for the new one ok ?
- The new SATA bios is inserted by cbrom at a different adress in the bios file, does this matter ?

Many thanks for a feedback.

kmyne

[Stami]

Hehe, it's not my tutorial.
But yes mine was 48, too.
Just follow joshua's steps exactly and it will work.
I did it just that way...

Stami

[joshua]

Hello guys...

The File size should be 48KB (The length $c000 Hex is 49152 Bytes)

Stami...Glad to here it worked...

Now to try the 4.2.70 !!!

Joshua

[Stami]

Hey, no stop!
The 4270 is for non-raid chips!


Stami

[joshua]

Stami
the 4.2.66 seems to be working fine...will stick with these...
thanks
Joshua