Trying to mod my DFI Award BIOS - need guidance

I put in a request for mod, but thought I'd have a go myself. I'm getting a bit stuck, here's why.

I've got my favourite BIOS for the DFI NF4, it's an award BIOS version 704-2bta, so I use cbrom and add Iasus.bin and this is how it looks:

Code:

              ******** 704-2bta.bin BIOS component ********

 No. Item-Name         Original-Size   Compressed-Size Original-File-Name
================================================================================
  0. System BIOS       20000h(128.00K)  132DBh(76.71K)  704-2BT.BIN
  1. XGROUP CODE       0F7D0h(61.95K)   0A6FFh(41.75K)  awardext.rom
  2. CPU micro code    02000h(8.00K)    00390h(0.89K)   CPUCODE.BIN
  3. ACPI table        061C9h(24.45K)   0204Ch(8.07K)   ACPITBL.BIN
  4. YGROUP ROM        0B0C0h(44.19K)   04C3Dh(19.06K)  awardeyt.rom
  5. GROUP ROM[ 0]     07BF0h(30.98K)   03351h(12.83K)  _EN_CODE.BIN
  6. SETUP0             021B0h(8.42K)   00EC4h(3.69K)   _ITEM.BIN
  7. OEM0 CODE         0C2B0h(48.67K)   00A11h(2.52K)   BSMICODE.ROM
  8. PCI ROM[A]        0C000h(48.00K)   064EDh(25.23K)  NVRAID.ROM
  9. PCI ROM        0D800h(54.00K)   07088h(28.13K)  NVPXES.NIC
 10. PCI ROM[C]        0F000h(60.00K)   07469h(29.10K)  5216.bin
 11. LOGO BitMap       4B30Ch(300.76K)  059D5h(22.46K)  LPLOGO.BMP
 12. OEM1 CODE         00090h(0.14K)    000AFh(0.17K)   MemSetup.rom
 13. OEM2 CODE         17BC8h(94.95K)   09B76h(38.87K)  MemTest.rom
 14. OEM3 CODE         14668h(81.60K)   0827Fh(32.62K)  CPUTEST.rom
 15. GV3                037C1h(13.94K)  0101Fh(4.03K)   AGESACPU.ROM
 16. ISA ROM[1]        00400h(1.00K)    00335h(0.80K)   Iasus.bin

  Total compress code space  = 5C000h(368.00K)
  Total compressed code size = 56BC4h(346.94K)
  Remain compress code space = 0543Ch(21.06K)

 *** NVMM 4.052.0805/20/05 ►♥ * Start Offset => 0, End Offset => 4b00 ***

Great I see Iasus.rom is there, item 16.

When I flash this modded BIOS and restart the pc there is an error message saying I have a checksum error. I can ignore it (press F1)and continue, then Vista boots and activates, hooray! But, the BIOS is bad and hasn't loaded NvRaid, so my RAID disks are absent. If I restart and try to get into setup (press delete) then it hangs at the NvRaid detection message and I can't get into setup.

So I'm a bit dissapointed at failure. I do have a BIOS for this board already been modded here, so I decide to look inside and see if I can help myself to any tips, here is this BIOS:

Code:

             ********  0406bta.bin BIOS component ********

 No. Item-Name         Original-Size   Compressed-Size Original-File-Name
================================================================================
  0. System BIOS       20000h(128.00K)  134D6h(77.21K)  0406BTA.BIN
  1. XGROUP CODE       0F830h(62.05K)   0A758h(41.84K)  awardext.rom
  2. CPU micro code    02000h(8.00K)    00390h(0.89K)   CPUCODE.BIN
  3. YGROUP ROM        0B0B0h(44.17K)   04C21h(19.03K)  awardeyt.rom
  4. GROUP ROM[ 0]     07B90h(30.89K)   0336Bh(12.85K)  _EN_CODE.BIN
  5. SETUP0             021C0h(8.44K)   00ED2h(3.71K)   _ITEM.BIN
  6. OEM0 CODE         0C2B0h(48.67K)   00A11h(2.52K)   BSMICODE.ROM
  7. LOGO BitMap       4B30Ch(300.76K)  059D5h(22.46K)  LPLOGO.BMP
  8. GV3                0475Dh(17.84K)  01216h(4.52K)   AGESACPU.ROM
  9. ACPI table        0633Bh(24.81K)   021DCh(8.46K)   acpitbl.bin
 10. OEM1 CODE         00090h(0.14K)    000AFh(0.17K)   MemSetup.rom
 11. OEM2 CODE         179B8h(94.43K)   09E67h(39.60K)  MemTest.rom
 12. OEM3 CODE         14668h(81.60K)   0827Fh(32.62K)  CpuTest.rom
 13. PCI ROM[A]        0C000h(48.00K)   06FFDh(28.00K)  NvRaid.rom
 14. PCI ROM        0E800h(58.00K)   07773h(29.86K)  NvPxes.nic
 15. PCI ROM[C]        0F000h(60.00K)   074FFh(29.25K)  5403.bin
 16. EPA LOGO          021B4h(8.43K)    00264h(0.60K)   XBios.epa

  Total compress code space  = 5C000h(368.00K)
  Total compressed code size = 5865Ch(353.59K)
  Remain compress code space = 039A4h(14.41K)

 *** NVMM 4.054.0811/09/05 ◄♥ * Start Offset => 0, End Offset => 4b00 ***

Now in this BIOS there is no Iasus.bin, yet Vista is activated, so I think the asus royalty code must be contained somewhere else, inside another file. If I knew which one I could sap it into 704-2bta.

I have also tried the ISA1, 2 and 3 methods and still it makes a bad BIOS hanging at NvRaid.

Can anyone give me a clue to get my prefered BIOS working? I have tried swapping a few files from 0406bta to 704-2bta but I'm stuck.

I do have a BIOS saviour, so the bad BIOS I made doesn't cause me any problem.

What should I try next?

 

Ok I've fixed it now, found I needed to a add a SLIC to the ACPI table.

If you were thinking of replying to help me there is no need now, I made a good BIOS and Vista is activated.

 

Yes I used cbrom 1.82, and cleared cmos, loaded defaults before and after flashing - this is the procedure on the Lanparty, as I guess you know from the question!

I think this is why the 0406 BIOS already posted here had been modded by SLIC table into ACPI and not the Isa method, probably didn't work for that one either. Was a good thing for me to look and see what had been done.

Having a DFI I got used to trying different BIOS when I first built the pc, but now I settled on one that gives me best speed and stability, I wanted to keep it with an OEM mod.

I got all the info I needed from this site, great work from you guys.