Hello everyone! I am at my wits' end with this, and I really hope someone can shed some light onto things for me. I have posted in multiple forums, with zero luck so far. (I did get someone telling me that installing an SSD was a better boost to performance than going from dual-core to quad...even though I need the more powerful CPU, not faster data read/write speeds...that was interesting) I have a Toshiba Satellite L775D-S7220. I know it's a few years old, but I really cannot afford to replace it (laptops are bloody expensive here in Austalia.) I want to upgrade to an A8-3510MX chip over the A4-3300M that is currently onboard. I already have the A8 chip, and have had it for a WHILE. I have done several BIOS mods of my own to add CPU support to desktops, and thought this one would be no big deal, as it's an AMI BIOS....oh how wrong I was. The BIOS works off of a BIN file instead of a ROM, and I cannot find any program at all that I can utilize to get the codes from the donor BIOS to insert in my own. Here are the two BIOS' in question: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Original BIOS: cdgenp01.csd.toshiba.com/content/support/downloads/sk40v150.exe (Satellite L775D-S7220) Donor BIOS: cdgenp01.csd.toshiba.com/content/support/downloads/skbqv610.exe (Satellite L875D-S7342) I included the model numbers in case the direct links don't work and you have to go through Toshiba support to find them. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I did find one thread on here that had a program that looked promising, though I cannot tell for certain if it's capable of working with my files or not, here is the thread (From this forum): /threads/6921-How-to-Modify-Your-Own-Bios-Using-AMI-Mod-Tool-and-Award-Mod-Tool I downloaded the AMI Tool, and ran AMIMMWIN, it gave a DOS window, and the option to export and import CPU strings into files, but I am at a loss as to how to do it or if it will work with my BIOS, since the program is rather old comparatively. When viewing the BIOS files with HexEdit, I have seen that they're tagged by Insyde. The BIOS data on bootup says AMI, but the internal data says Insyde, so I haven't a clue as to whether I need to be looking at completely different programs to do what I need. The other major roadblock I am hitting is that everything is in Unicode (I think). It's a mangled mess of letters and symbols with more accents than a UN convention. Other than some random tidbits, like programmed error messages, the entire thing is indecipherable. Is there any way to transcribe the Unicode into conventional text or binary? I could probably work with that if I needed to. If anyone knows of a program I can use, or can point me in the general direction of where to look, I would be beyond grateful for any and all assistance. I'm tired of my CPU maxing out even after an overclock to 2.2ghz when I try to play Minecraft with my fiance. Thank you all in advance.
Okay, I can get into the BIOS for my system using AMIBCP, and view the strings on there. I see this particular one...and I think it's the one that needs editing. Am I right? AMIBCP won't open the donor BIOS at all unfortunately. Well, I tried something, it didn't work. I extracted the ISO image for my donor BIOS, and got an FD file. AMIBCP can't open it though. I get a popup saying 'Setup Information Not Found'. Doing the same with the core BIOS yields....nothing. Weirdness. I extracted the files from the zip executable, but that only gave me another BIN among the files, no FD or ROM. Any advice at all? Feel free to whap me with a newspaper if it's something really obvious that I am missing here.
Your BINs are both normal UEFI images, with some minor structure flaws. You can use UEFITool or PhoenixTool to work with them. I don't know where CPU microcodes are located in AMD BIOSes, but if you know what to search for, there be no problem.
Okay, first off....THANK YOU! I now have progress and can see what I am working with. Now, I've gone down the list and have a couple options I see that could be what I want. One is titled 'CPUDxe', the second is "CPUSmiBiosDriver', the final and most likely monster is 'AmiAgesaDxe'. I will admit I am far out of my depth of knowledge on this one, but I am thinking it should just be a simple matter of extract and insert the tables from the 'AmiAgesaDxe' sector, right? Or would it be a combination of those three sectors? Going further down I have also encountered these: CpuPei, AmdProcessorInitPeim, AmdInitPostPeim. I can forsee myself learning quite a bit about this program in the future though, as I know several people with comparable laptops to mine that want to get past the short list of CPUs that are allowed on them. Again, thank you very much for replying with the info you gave me.