SLIC 2.1 on Sony VAIO with AMI Aptio BIOS...so it is possible?

Discussion in 'BIOS Mods' started by Moony, Nov 15, 2009.

  1. Moony

    Moony MDL Novice

    Nov 15, 2009
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    I've been lurking and reading these forums for quite a few days now. Although I have learned much, orginally I came here in the hope to find a modded SLIC 2.1 BIOS for my SONY VAIO FW31ZJ

    However, after much searching and reading there is none to be found on these forums. What I did find was the general believe that it is not easy or even possible to flash the AMI APTIO BIOS and thus it is not possible to update the BIOS for SLIC 2.1.

    After some more google-ing I did find something interesting.

    It all starts with this link:

    P.S> As a newcommer it seems I'm not able to post actual hyperlink for my first two post. No idea why so I had to revert to replacement. Please remove the two brackets around the first word of each hyperlink.

    [www].jhangra.com/blog/2009/06/enabling-intel-vt-on-sony-vaio-notebook-with-ami-aptio-efi-bios

    As you can read there someone succeeded in enabling the VT bit in the Sony AMI APTIO BIOS (this was all before sony released the new bioses themselves where this bit was made active, which was only recently).

    The interesting part is that this shows that it is possbile to dump,adapt and reflash a AMI APTIO BIOS. If the maker of the patch, levicki, was able to do it then I wonder what is still missing to make a modded SLIC 2.1 bios?


    We have:

    - A recent BIOS released by SONY (although I have no idea how to unpack

    [support].vaio.sony.eu/computing/vaio/downloads/info/info.aspx?l=en_gb&url=VAIO/Updates/EP0000208408.exe&m=VGN-FW31ZJ&ip=EP0000208408.htm


    - The SLIC 2.1 for Sony
    [forums].mydigitallife.net/showthread.php?t=5952

    Now, I'm definately not an expert on BIOS modifications or anything like that ( I know how to flash them and that is about it). I just dropped my line of thinking here in the hope that some of you experts and comment on it or explain where I'm going wrong so I can keep going from there.
     
  2. motion55

    motion55 MDL Junior Member

    Aug 17, 2008
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    #2 motion55, Nov 16, 2009
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 29, 2017
  3. Moony

    Moony MDL Novice

    Nov 15, 2009
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    First of all thanks for these suggestions. That is why I posted in the first place.

    As said, I have done my reading and I found that post you refer to also.

    replacing the SLIC in the executable is no solution because flashing it afterwards won't work. Reason is that the executable detects that the installed BIOS has the same version so it won't overwrite.

    Second option, to extract the exe with universal extractor 1.6 (latest version) also doesn't work. It cannot unpack this Sony BIOS update. No idea why.

    hence I was back at square one and still need a way to get a fully unpacked and correct BIOS dump for my VAIO serie somehow. When I have that then we can start thinking about modding (in which I'm a noob btw so some help and guidance might be needed)


    Hoping for some more ideas and/or suggestions to go forward with this.
     
  4. Yen

    Yen Admin
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    May 6, 2007
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    If you would dump the bios, the version would be the same anyway!
    So the regular biosupdate doesn't work? (same version).
    There is no other version to try?

    Another way would be to cut the bios using an hexeditor....then to flash it with another tool. I successfully did a mod for Phrunt already (Sony as well) by just replacing the SLIC at the bios. I ask him how he flashed the mod.....maybe we could use the same flastool then.....

    To replace the SLIC is a very safe way. We just need a tool to flash it afterwards.
     
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  5. Moony

    Moony MDL Novice

    Nov 15, 2009
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    I'm curious to learn that aswell.

    A tool for flashing I might have. I think we can use the ordinary AFUDOS for that, as long as you run it from pure DOS mode.

    Question is how to get a solid BIOS dump. If I know that then I dump my own currently installed BIOS. Only thing is that I cannot determine if a dump is correct and complete.
     
  6. Yen

    Yen Admin
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    I was able to extract your bios. It's at the exe offset DA3DEh-2DA3DDh.
    The flashtool inside is afuwin. The switches used are AFUWIN R2060Y0.ROM /P /B /N /E.

    If we can modify the switches.......I'll do more research.....:)
     
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  7. str8

    str8 MDL Expert

    Jul 3, 2009
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  8. Yen

    Yen Admin
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    #8 Yen, Nov 16, 2009
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 20, 2017
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  9. Yen

    Yen Admin
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  10. str8

    str8 MDL Expert

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    Yen, we posted it at the same time :D
     
  11. str8

    str8 MDL Expert

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    Hi Yen! If i remember correctly one of the users from Insyde thread didn't use any switches and was successful in updating his slic version to 2.1. But the ones that come inside the package are the same that you have already mentioned - AFUWIN R2060Y0.ROM /P /B /N /E
     
  12. Yen

    Yen Admin
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    Thanks my friend :)

    So he should use no switches! I have cut the bios using hexeditor and have got afuwin and drivers from another Sony bios..:D

    Your idea with the temp directory is great!
     
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  13. Yen

    Yen Admin
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    str8, your bios isn't modded????:confused:

    Edit: str8 has updated the bios. It's modded now! :)
     
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  14. str8

    str8 MDL Expert

    Jul 3, 2009
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    #14 str8, Nov 16, 2009
    Last edited: Nov 16, 2009
    Yes sir! Just fixed it - forgot to put the mod instead of the original one. Sorry.
    As for the switches maybe he should try using them first and see if it works.

    UPDATE - I just checked and the user DID use the batch file in that package which in our case here is AFUWIN R2060Y0.ROM /P /B /N /E so switches must be used. Sorry for this confusion.
     
  15. Moony

    Moony MDL Novice

    Nov 15, 2009
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    Excellent guys, thanks a bunch for your help so far.

    str78, your tip with just running the executable worked like a charm. I have just done that and know I have the BIOS file of my specific VAIO.

    Your version of modded BIOS is for another machine it seems and also is another version of the BIOS that I have so I'm not sure if that one will work for me.

    All I have to do now is mod this BIOS file I got and then make sure I can flash it without checking the current version and force an override. Maybe the /X or /ECUF option will do that.

    Now...how to mod this BIOS file?
     
  16. Yen

    Yen Admin
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    Open it with an hexeditor and replace the Sony SLIC with SLIC2.1
    Your bios isn't R2060Y0.ROM?
     
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  17. str8

    str8 MDL Expert

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    Hm, we got that bios from the link you have provided. What bios file do you have? Can you upload it somewhere?
     
  18. Moony

    Moony MDL Novice

    Nov 15, 2009
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    lol, I completely missed your mod there Yen. I only saw the one that str8 posted. Sorry about that. :eek:

    I just downloaded it and now try to figure out how I can do a forced reflash without resorting to trial and error :D
     
  19. Yen

    Yen Admin
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    They are the same!
     
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  20. Yen

    Yen Admin
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    I only provided different afuwin version.

    Try AFUWIN R2060Y0.ROM /P /N /E to flash
     
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