GIGABYTE Modified Bios

[dejanh]

Re: GIGABYTE Modified Bios

What board did you pull it from? And what do you mean by more stable, did you have stability issues with the older one, really? I've never used it as an OS controller, so I've asking seriously, as I'm not sure how stable it is when used like that I've only benched it and never saw any issues.

Yes I would also like to know what issues you were having and what bios you found it in. I looked and think I found the same Marvell rom but it was in a Asus bios. I did see in the notes of the bios mod I downloaded it said it addressed a bunch of issues, maybe ones found on asus thought dont know.

Right now my X58A-OC is down while PSU is on RMA for 2 weeks or so. So I would not be able to test for my self unless I brake down another system to steel its PSU for a quick test. But I was using the Marvell Ports as a boot drive and from what I could tell no issues. You can see some of my testings in the link in my sig. What drive are you using on the Marvell ports.

The BIOS came from a Marvell insider, but I do not have direct contact with him though. I do believe that it was used on an Asus board as well but I am not sure which one. In all I noticed that the controller is more stable when running RAID with the 0025 than with the stock 0017 BIOS. My testing was done with a Corsair Force GT series drives (2x 120GB drives) using the newest Sandforce controller. I found that on 0017 BIOS the RAID array was very prone to corruption when used as the OS drive, especially when overclocking. Almost all of that went away when using the 0025 BIOS. I also noticed a slight bump in performance when testing with AS SSD, though I did not do extensive testing to eliminate any statistical error. I have not been using the 0017 for many months now and have been using the 0025 BIOS solid for a long time. Having said that, because of the potential of corruption when overclocking I do not bother with Marvell for RAID any more as Intel generally responds better when overclocking. Also, I noticed that ICHR10 provides better performance for 4K reads and writes, where as Marvell (both 0017 and 0025 BIOS) provides better sequential.

I will post up the 0025 BIOS if you want to use it (hopefully) tonight. I just find it disappointing that Marvell does not post up these builds officially since I pretty much know for a fact that they have updated builds internally (just like the 0025 we are talking about here).

I also have a finished mod (did it a couple of days ago) for the X58A-OC based on the F5e BIOS that I can post up. The mod includes the following option ROMs.

Intel RAID ROM: 11.1.0.1413
Marvell RAID ROM: 1.0.0.0025
Realtek PXE ROM: 2.46

[NoJuan999]

Re: GIGABYTE Modified Bios

dejanh,
The newest Marvell 91xx ORom I have is 1.0.0.1029 (9123B.bin - 26.5 KB).
It would seem to me that that is a pretty Old Version you are using.
Are you sure it isn't v1.0.0.1025 and NOT 1.0.0.0025 ??
Please post a link so we can look at it.

Here is version 1.0.0.1029:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/55030067/Marvell_91xx_1.0.0.1029.rar

Version 1.0.0.1027 (27 KB) is here:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/55030067/Marvell_91xx_1.0.0.1027%20ORom.rar

And Here's the Version 1.0.0.1025 Orom I have (27.5 KB):

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/55030067/Marvell_91xx_1.0.0.1025%20ORom.rar

EDIT:
As lsdmeasap pointed out your MB has the Newer 9182 Chip so v1.0.0.0025 is new for that chip.
Sorry for the Confusion and Thanks for the Info.

[stasio]

Re: GIGABYTE Modified Bios

Here is version 1.0.0.1028:

http://www.station-drivers.com/telechargement/asus/u3s6/U3S6R1.zip

[Acebmxer]

Re: GIGABYTE Modified Bios

Thanks guys

[NoJuan999]

Re: GIGABYTE Modified Bios

Here is version 1.0.0.1028:
http://www.station-drivers.com/telec...3s6/U3S6R1.zip

Actually if you look at that one it is Firmware v1.0.0.1028 but includes the v1.0.0.1019 ORom.

[Acebmxer]

Re: GIGABYTE Modified Bios

Here is version 1.0.0.1028:
http://www.station-drivers.com/telec...3s6/U3S6R1.zip

Actually if you look at that one it is Firmware v1.0.0.1028 but includes the v1.0.0.1019 ORom.

So its 1.0.0.1019 mislabeled as 1.0.0.1028??

[NoJuan999]

Re: GIGABYTE Modified Bios

Not really, Technically that U3S6R0 and U3S6R1 Firmware used to Flash the Marvell chip (MVFlash on the U3S6 Board) is considered to be Version 1.0.0.1028 but the ORom included in that package (what we normally replace in a Gigabyte BIOS is version 1.0.0.1019).
That 1.0.0.1028 Version is actually for use with this RAID/USB3 Card:
ASUS - Motherboards- ASUS U3S6

They use the same Marvell chip (9123 in this case) as many Gigabyte MBs, but are two different things completely.

Look here and you will see: (Firmware version/mvflash version/Host BIOS ORom version)
at the Bottom of the page under Marvell MV91xx / Firmware.

http://www.station-drivers.com/page/marvell.htm

But it definitely does NOT have the 1.0.0.1028 Marvell RAID ROM included in that package.

[stasio]

Re: GIGABYTE Modified Bios

Actually if you look at that one it is Firmware v1.0.0.1028 but includes the v1.0.0.1019 ORom.

Yeah,right.
I didn't check with notepad.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: GIGABYTE Modified Bios

Just wanted to comment on all this Marvell talk, keep in mind 9182 does not use the same BIOS/firmware as 9128/9123

[NoJuan999]

Re: GIGABYTE Modified Bios

Just wanted to comment on all this Marvell talk, keep in mind 9182 does not use the same BIOS/firmware as 9128/9123

Good Point, I didn't realize he has a 9182 and not a 9128 on that MB.
So, 1.0.0.0025 is new for the 9182, the f5e Beta has version 1.0.0.0017 in it.

[Acebmxer]

Re: GIGABYTE Modified Bios

The following Gigabyte X58 boards have the Marvell 9182 controller

X58A-OC
G1.Guerrilla
G1.Sniper
G1.Assassin

The rest should have the older Marvell 9128/9123 controller.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: GIGABYTE Modified Bios

Ya, sorry, I meant to bring that up so everyone would notice sooner, but couldn't get into the forums until now.

When I first started seeing the discussion go off base I figured someone would notice and mention that, but I see no one did until now. I';m not sure what would happen with a flash like that, but I know the controllers and BIOSes/Firmware are very different, so I would assume at the very least it would fail to update, but it could also cause the board to be unbootable without recovery options needed, or could possibly mess up the Marvell controller itself if you couldn't get it flashed back? Not sure, and I don't think I'd try the cross mod anyway, luckily no one has to find out by accident though! Maybe someday we will know what happens, if anything, but I'd suggest no one try that on purpose just to see what happens.

This is the latest one I have for 9128/9123 (M9123FW.BIN) - BIOS 1.0.0.1033 / Firmware 2.2.0.1125, if you need it here ya go
m9123fw 2.2.0.1125.zip

For 9182 the only one I've looked at is the one you mentioned, from F5e OC BIOS (91a2b.bin - 1.0.0.0017), not sure if there is a newer one in any GBT BIOSes or not. There may be newer versions in older BIOSes, you'd have to check if you want to be sure because sometimes they roll back. And of course, the one Dejanh mentioned will probably work too if it's for 9182. Gigabyte used to be the ONLY one who got Marvell updates directly from Marvell, so maybe Asus can now too, or maybe Gigabyte has that version or newer but just hasn't implemented it is all?

It should be OK as Dejanh mentioned, just be sure when you guys mod or discuss Marvell that everyone is on the same page about what controllers are being discussed

*Edit* @ Ace, many new GBT boards (P67^+) have 9172 as well, and I'm not sure if that BIOS and Firmware is interchangeable with any of the others either, so just keep an eye on what board and BIOS you are modifying with what Marvell ROM's.

[NoJuan999]

Re: GIGABYTE Modified Bios

I personally would NOT try cross modding those Marvell ORoms either as they are Very Different from each other.
And you're right it is always best to be sure of what you're working with.
That's why when I actually mod a BIOS I extract the Original ORoms and check the versions Before I consider updating anything.

If I was actually updating that BIOS I would have seen that v 1.0.0.0017 (137 KB) was in there and realized it was much larger and a different Version than the 9128/9123 ORoms (which are about 26-27 KB in size).

But, If anyone sees me screwing up, Please PM me.
I'd always rather be Safe than Sorry when it comes to doing a BIOS Mod.

[Peakr]

Re: GIGABYTE Modified Bios

Here is a pretty good site with a tutorial on swapping UEFI rom modules out.

Win-Lite

[mathewgx]

Re: GIGABYTE Modified Bios

What about ep45 - ud3r ?