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A7N8X Deluxe Rev. 2.0 BIOS (Possibly)

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First post, by Tecchie

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EDIT: Might also have the SLIC 2.1 installed for Windows from XP to 7 to "self activate" - again, memory is a bit fuzzy

Pretty sure this is an old BIOS file I had laying around, if anyone can analyze it, that would be great - I no longer have the board that it's for, as I have a newer version with the Gigabit Networking.

I have a lot of old files I need to sort through and would like to contribute more.

Thanks guys!

P.S. I cannot seem to find this exact string of text the file name is anywhere on the net anymore.. but my file dates back to 2005. This likely unlocked a bunch of BIOS options, updated the SATA-Rom and had a fix to allow for the Mobile Athlon CPUs to be used. That's just my fuzzy memory and a guess based on the file name.

😀

Reply 1 of 2, by Chkcpu

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Hi Tecchie,

Although I’m more into analyzing and patching Award v4.5x Socket 3/5/7 BIOSes, I will give this “modern” Award v6.00 BIOS a go. 😉

The BIOS file you attached is indeed an Asus A7N8X Deluxe PCB revision 2.0 BIOS and appears to be an adapted version 1008 by somebody with the nickname RedDwarf.

The latest official 1008 BIOS for this board can still be downloaded from:
https://www.asus.com/supportonly/a7n8x%20delu … /helpdesk_bios/

When I compare the official Ver 1008D.BIN with your 1008D_R3.BIN file, I see they both have the same 08/04/2004-nVidia-nForce-A7N8X2.0C-00 BIOS-ID. But the Sign-on string of the official BIOS is:
ASUS A7N8X2.0 Deluxe ACPI BIOS Rev 1008
while your edited BIOS shows:
ASUS A7N8X2.0 Deluxe ACPI BIOS Rev 1008 By RedDwarf

Viewing both BIOSes with Award’s CBROM tool, I notice more differences.

The attachment 1008-d.png is no longer available
The attachment 1008d_r3.png is no longer available

- The System BIOS module has a different length and is renamed to MOBILE.BIN which points to added support for mobile CPUs.
- The PCI driver [A] module 4247.BIN is replaced by 4250.BIN and this is an updated SATA ROM.
- The _EN_CODE.BIN module has a slightly different length indicating updated microcodes.

Unfortunately I don’t have a Modbin6 version to open these Asus v6.00 BIOSes, so I can’t tell you which BIOS options were unlocked.
But with the above observations I can tell you your memory is not fuzzy at all and your guesses about this edited BIOS are spot on!

Cheers, Jan

CPU Identification utility
The Unofficial K6-2+ / K6-III+ page

Reply 2 of 2, by Tecchie

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Hey @Chkcpu, Thank you, I really appreciate you looking into it. I ran this on my original board that I no longer have - I now posess the refresh that has the nForce2 Ultra with Gigabit Ethernet and dedicated Wi-Fi connector (need to collect that ancient adapter 🤣). But this board/chipset combo has been rock solid for me. And always was fast.

I hope this BIOS can help others. I forget what the SATA-Rom changes were, but I think it might have been for stability and possibly larger drives. again, I did all this back in the late early 2000's... 🤣

Again thank you.

There appears to be a collection of BIOS tools here that I'm gonna check out. ( http://xdel.ru/downloads/bios-mods.com-tools/ )

Cheers!
-Brian

EDIT: Proving to find the Modified Modbin is proving difficult. Was modified by a Korean guy by the name "LoveLust". I can't seem to find it and the WayBack machine doesn't show the file in the directory listing for the BIOS tools found here where every link I found seems to point to:

( http://web.archive.org/web/20040517001204/htt … s.net/bios/mod/ )

Also found later captures of the site and it allows me to see a directory listing, but the BIOS directory is blocked from access. So not sure how we will find info there.. hmm..

( http://web.archive.org/web/20041215000000*/ht … ads.modlabs.net )

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