Use Intel NIC PXE image mod for 2.1 SLIC?

Discussion in 'MDL Projects and Applications' started by SirSilentBob, Aug 25, 2009.

  1. mcw

    mcw MDL Novice

    Jun 22, 2009
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    Wow, that's awesome news. I just ran across one of these boards around here the other day, thinking, what the hell was I going to do with it...

    I guess I can look forward to a plan for it...

    Now, getting that injection for the DX58SO will have plenty of people pleased, I'm sure. This might finally be the solution for Intel boards that we've all been waiting for.
     
  2. Lithium

    Lithium MDL Novice

    Sep 2, 2007
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    O My God

    Asus A7V266-C, AMD 2600+, Award BIOS
    Intel PRO/100 S Manamegent Adapter, VendorID 8086, DeviceID 1229

    First run and absolute success
    Clean Win7 activated :)

    Amazing...:eek:...thank you so much
     
  3. bertmace

    bertmace MDL Member

    Jul 14, 2009
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    #123 bertmace, Oct 2, 2009
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 20, 2017
  4. truthinjection

    truthinjection MDL Member

    Aug 27, 2009
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    Unbrickable, sure. But does it taste like strawberries?

    Hi all,

    Good news, everyone. :)

    Thanks! I've got some semi-clever news further down in this reply regarding testing this new code (since I don't want to brick people's NIC cards).

    Okie dokie. I have one too that got flashed with a bogus RAID firmware and needs to be reflashed, so I was about to try it out, so I might have more info for you later in the day. Do you know the VendorID/DeviceID of the card? Oh, and before you try anything, what motherboard are you trying this with?

    There's probably no reason this trick wouldn't work on a DX58SO (unless it forces you to use the UEFI stuff maybe?). I just have never seen one to know for sure. Right now, my new code isn't in a super-trustable-to-boot-to-dos-for-recovery state, so I've been trying to fix bugs and find a way to make it safer to try out.

    On that note...

    I think I've figured out a way to add in a [slightly annoying for the user] way to prevent the cards from becoming irretrievably bricked. One of the things a PCI card receives from the BIOS at bootup is a "PFA" (PCI-Bus/Device/Function Address). This tells the card where it lives in terms of PCI devices that share the computer. Adjacent PCI slots, at least in the one crappy ECS board I'm testing with right at the moment, are numbered ... adjacently (as in, 'Odd', then 'Even'). I suspect this is probably the case for most boards, at least those with more than one PCI slot.

    Theoretically, if I make the very first thing in the firmware initialization a check for "Is my PCI PFA address 'even numbered'?", then I can have the card cleanly skip INIT if so. That way, if the card isn't in the PCI slot you set when you compiled the ASM file, it won't hang, it just won't do anything at all but quietly boot past it, so that you can then boot to DOS again and re-flash it with a different firmware.

    Keep on truckin',
    -tij-
     
  5. jet29

    jet29 MDL Member

    Aug 8, 2009
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    info required

    Could someone tell me if this :- INTEL 752438-010 PRO/100 S SERVER ADAPTER PCI NETWORK INTERFACE CARD

    will be moddable or not, since the one in my motherboard says not flashable since it is onboard.

    thanks
     
  6. truthinjection

    truthinjection MDL Member

    Aug 27, 2009
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    Nope, onboard devices generally aren't flashable since they don't actually have a ROM attached to the device itself. Instead, they just use a portion of the main BIOS chip to store the PXE ROM. So, from the perspective of the device, it has no ROM, and therefore, isn't flashable.

    -tij-
     
  7. jet29

    jet29 MDL Member

    Aug 8, 2009
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    sorry i meant to ask will the one mentioned above be ok to buy, the one in my system is not flashable, should i get the above titled adapter

    thanks, sorry for mix up
     
  8. jet29

    jet29 MDL Member

    Aug 8, 2009
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    There are a no of adapters being sold on ebay, i am not sure which one is flashable as the information is not mentioned on their details, I can give links if someone can check them out for me, just making sure before i buy!! thanks again
     
  9. truthinjection

    truthinjection MDL Member

    Aug 27, 2009
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    Oh, gotcha. I'm not sure. I don't have any Pro/100 adapters at all (unlike those of us with a ton of them ;) )

    As far as I know, the Pro/100 adapters had a decent ROM size as well. How much did you find one for? I saw a Pro/100 buy-it-now on Ebay for $5 when I looked a second ago. Depending on shipping, that could be good, but I'd like to hear from TheOneAndOnly to see if they had any luck. :)

    (?) Hey, does anyone out there have any experience with the $10 "recovery card" things on dealextreme.com? They're kind of creepy quality-wise, but if they're flashable, they'd also be about perfect (less than $10 free shipping).

    Hope that helps,
    -tij-



    ~
     
  10. jet29

    jet29 MDL Member

    Aug 8, 2009
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    They are selling for £5 on ebay uk, where i am. it is cheap, its i just dont want to make a mistake and choose the wrong card and so on...
     
  11. jet29

    jet29 MDL Member

    Aug 8, 2009
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    Thanks for the info, i was also checking the intel site but i could quite see any mention of flashable rom etc. though i reliase now the intel boot agent has something to do with it.
     
  12. truthinjection

    truthinjection MDL Member

    Aug 27, 2009
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    Intel ITK EFI BIOS NIC-firmware solution!

    OK, the current version of my new code [not released anywhere yet] works on both an Intel DX48BT2 (which is a .ITK bios file, which if that other thread is to be believed, is an EFI bios that they don't currently have a way to directly hack a BIOS SLIC for!) and on some AMI no-name ECS board with an Intel 945G chipset.

    I guess I'm kind of looking for volunteers to try my new code. Any Intel EFI motherboard users out there that would like to give it a try? (You'll need a flashable NIC or other device and a willingness to boot a linux LiveCD to figure out PCI IDs so I can set the code to not brick whatever card you're using).

    Let me know,
    -tij-
     
  13. genuineintel

    genuineintel MDL Member

    Apr 28, 2009
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    After reading the post, I think it better mod my BIOS.
     
  14. truthinjection

    truthinjection MDL Member

    Aug 27, 2009
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  15. truthinjection

    truthinjection MDL Member

    Aug 27, 2009
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    Cool. Modding the BIOS is the 'preferred' way to do this sort of thing usually, since it's (A) free and (B) pretty permanent and trouble-free (assuming it doesn't brick the board to start with or something).

    The big draw of the PCI NIC mods is that they aren't tied into the BIOS so closely, so you can flash your BIOS to later versions without having to re-do your mod, and you can remove the card to get rid of the mod, or (in theory) move it to a new machine and take the mod with you without having to track down the BIOS/utilities to do the mod to the new BIOS. The other, bigger advantage of the PCI NIC mod is that it can work even in cases where no proper way to directly mod the BIOS exists. For example, I have a pci-nic modded Intel BoneTrail2 (DX48BT2) motherboard, that according to various threads, isn't moddable by the traditional means since it is an .ITK BIOS file.

    Another (more theoretical) advantage is that my algorithm, whilst being quite a bit heavier (and, yes, currently clunkier) than even the original 2K "add_slic.asm", can be more easily extended to do, say, dual-SLIC loading (the SLIC needed for Windows 7 *and* the SLIC needed for Nvidia SLI support). I'm pretty sure if I copied my slic insertion code, I could load dual SLICs without difficulty, since my SLICs don't go into the BIOS itself, but instead live in a dedicated reserved memory region carved out of upper/free memory.

    So, there are upsides and down-sides. It's all in the desired end-result and the tools-at-hand. :)

    -tij-
     
  16. jet29

    jet29 MDL Member

    Aug 8, 2009
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    Once i get the nic card, i will have a go and let you know, i have 4 laptops already with bios modded by buskykid and all flashed and working, with dual boot etc.

    I have also done motorola phone modding, can upgrade pcs, and unlock phones etc.

    I'm starting to learn linux now, i have self taught everything through internet !!
     
  17. jet29

    jet29 MDL Member

    Aug 8, 2009
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    Hi, i just received the pro 100 s card today, inserted into pc, disabled onboard card, ran ibautil, it says no flash present, so i think the card is not flashable, i am trying again.
     
  18. truthinjection

    truthinjection MDL Member

    Aug 27, 2009
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    Does it have a PLCC FlashROM on it (lower right corner)?

    There's also an ibautil.exe option to enable/disable flash, but that usually says "Flash Disabled" rather than "Flash Not Present" (which it displays if it thinks there really isn't a ROM.