I started this thread not because I wanted an arguement or something. I just wanted to understanding BIOS modding methods. Originally I wanted to Mod my BIOS Aspire 4530, I wanted a SLIC Overwriting Mod. 1)Find OEM Vendor ID, Replace 2)Find PubKey, Replace 3)Find Marker, Replace However Justinkb suggested SLAC modding. Adding a new ACPI Module then disable the original SLIC Tables by marking it as SLAC. My own assumptions was that introducing more modules can cause more issues than just overwriting it. Since SLIC although from different vendors are identical in length hence replacing them should be safer. Any Opinions from other experts out there?
it depends if the pubkey and/or marker are LZINT compressed in modules... i believe this was the case for your mod... if this is the case, making the old SLIC table to SLAC is much easier, because the pubkey and marker may not be changed from the slic.bin so its impossible to ' make them compress' to the same size. this means the modder will have to find a slic marker and corresponding pubkey that compress to the same module size, which takes too long.
But I thought PBE will handle the compressions so you just have to double check if the other modules in the rebuilt BIOS has the same checksum?
we dont use PBE for rebuilding, it bricks your motherboard, kills your grandfather and eats your dog.
But I thought after you rebuilt using PBE to ensure safety just dissemble the Modules again then double check checksum compared to the original then everything will be ok?
so you rebuilt the bios for one specific model and it worked a couple of times... so it must work for all bioses! [/sarcasm]
Update: I managed to mod it successfully using hex substitution. Dell QA09 SLIC. Activate Vista successfully.
congrats, if you want to help out in the thread, and feel comfortable you can produce more successful mods... pm Yen
Preference and what you are comfortable with. I do both. It is situational. I would use PBE sparingly. Some like it, some hate it...I dont care either way. "Fate favors the bold"...LOL