Sony PCG-GRT series BIOS MOD - can anyone experienced post their feedback on this?

Hi all,

I'm wondering whether any of you know anything about approaching the below mod.

I have a Pheonix BIOS from a European model Sony PCG-GRT 900 series laptop known as version R0200F0. The US equivalent model also uses this same BIOS version.

I also have a Pheonix BIOS from a European model Sony PCG-GRT 700 series laptop known as version R0043F0. Again, the US equivalent model also uses this same BIOS version.

Despite both the above BIOS's being for different Sony PCG-GRT laptop models they can be flashed onto each other.

Both laptop model series use the SIS648 chipset, same motherboard and even same graphics card (the video BIOS is encoded into the system BIOS).

Here's the issue:
- BIOS version R0043F0 does not have an enable / disable Hyper Threading option in the BIOS but does support PC3200 DDR RAM when installed (the memory will run at 400MHz effective).

- BIOS version R0200F0 does have an enable / disable Hyper Threading option in the BIOS but does not support PC3200 DDR RAM when installed (the laptop will just display a black screen and not boot at all, it needs a PC2700 DDR SODIMM to boot despite SPD data being backward compatible).

My question is. How can I edit the R0200F0 BIOS to incorporate the PC3200 DDR memory support? I think that either the memory table module needs to be extracted from BIOS version R0043F0 and inserted into BIOS version R0200F0, or that certain chipset register values need to be changed in BIOS version R0200F0?

I tried to find a SIS648 register table so I can find out what register numbers need changing (on older Intel chipsets the memory config registers were in the 70-79 range if I remember correctly) but to no avail. Seems like a copy / paste is the only way forward?

Can anyone here compare the attached BIOS's and post back your findings.

Many thanks for helping, regardless whether it turns out to be a success or not.

I'm not allowed to post links yet so please copy and paste the below links in order to download the above BIOS version:

R0043F0 (No HT Support, supports PC3200 DDR)
megaupload.com/?d=T3W4RXAB

R0200F0 (Supports HT, no PC3200 DDR support)
megaupload.com/?d=G62JV5PP

 

No one has anything to say? Strange.

 

Thanks for your reply.

This is as far as I got. I can also see these modules via the Pheonix BIOS editor but I don't know which module is responsible for the RAM configuration table.

 

Thanks again. That image you posted proves my concern, a lot of references to RAM might be just BIOS strings and not configuration data. I'll see if I can get a hold of andyp.

 

Okay, so couldn't get a hold of andyp. Guess it's back to trying to figure it out myself. If one BIOS does what I need, and the other doesn't (both for the same series of laptop) then it should just be a case of swapping the necessary code between them, or so seems to be a logical explanation.

 

I've run the above software and attached the Sony GRT BIOS version R0200F0 RW-File below:

megaupload.com/?d=EFB98HSC

This is from the BIOS that gives a black screen/no boot when a PC3200 SODIMM is installed. Will only boot with a PC2700 or lower spec SODIMM.

 

Thanks for your reply and the modded BIOS. Even though this isn't what I was looking for I'll give it a go. I understand this BIOS auto-activates Windows 7?

 

Hello there,

No, I never figured it out. I don't know how to extract the memory table from the R0043F0 BIOS into the R0200F0. There's something about the former BIOS that isn't in the latter. My last line of thought was that maybe it has something to do with the 533MHz Vs 400MHz FSB. I'm pretty sure the SIS648 chipset supports PC3200 with a 533MHz FSB, just a case of setting up the right registers at bootstrap by the BIOS.

Short of a miracle I don't think there's a solution to this.