Sony :: Insyde HackingNew Vaio ZAdvanced Menu In BIOS
Apr 4, 2010
For even more advanced options (Overclocking, undervolting!) it is needed to disassemble setup executable to figure out where are those items stored. They are definitely inside the setup, but are not accessible even with this unlock.
VSS register which controls advanced menu is now: 0x258 (for old Z, it was 0x25A) - in advanced menu, you can configure SATA controller to IDE/AHCI/RAID, change lots of advanced features etc...
Now, I cannot share my bios dump as the serial number is inside. But I can give you info how to do it................
I'm working on modding the Insyde BIOS's included in most of HP's recent laptops. At the moment I have successfully patched the boot logo and ACPI tables. A number of people have mentioned they would be interested in this and in particular patching the BIOS so other PCI devices can be added. If you are interested in this and are willing to experiment (obviously there is some risk attached) please give me a pm. (Also note that the Insyde BIOS's actually have a great bad flash recovery procedure built in so in almost all cases you'll still be okay!).
EDIT: A bit more detail into how I'm doing this. There is a tool called EzH20 (official Insyde tool) that has been leaked. This showed how the BIOS's were compressed - using LZMA comression. Now we can decompress (and recompress) the BIOS. This tool also includes a feature to replace the BIOS logo. The BIOS is split into a number of modules that have unique GUID's. Unfortunatly there is no way to tell what module does what apart from that data in it (which is obviously mostly just randomness!). However there are certain things that can be patched if we know the format. Patching the white list of PCI cards for example, may be possible by searching for the device ID's and then finding which module they occur in.
Updated: Found a better way to backup Bios only, Please see the end of this message
Let say your Vaio Z is using Bios R4040M3 and you move to Bios R4041M3 to use the official VT support. Later on, you want to move back to R4040M3 to use the Advance Menu hack. Unfortunately, you cannot move back as Sony never publish the R4040M3 Bios update. This is my current situation.
I decided to investigate a way to back up the current Bios. Using a program called Universal extractor, I managed to extracted the files in the original Bios update. The bios update uses a program called Insydeflash to flash the Bios. The Insydeflash uses a file called platform.ini to control its setting.
In the platform.ini file, there is a section called [FDFile]. The section [FDFile] has a parameter called BackupName. If we put in a file name here, the Insydeflash should save your current Bios into that file. Unfortunately, I cannot make it work with the Sony supplied Insydeflash. (version 3.38).
I managed to get the newer version of Insydeflash (version 3.72). The newer version has a new ini section called [BackupROM], as the following:
I forgot the bios password and i need to enter to the bios menu to change some configurations.my laptop is an HP Pavilion dv4 4172lathe OS is windows 7 64the code appeared is: 62023458. How can i reset the password?
Acer Aspire V3-772G - BIOS setup utility menu items have disappeared
I have setup this brand new laptop, pre-installed with Windows 8.1, for my sister-in-law who bought it. The installation went well BUT the 16GB USB device which I purchased as advised by the Acer literature to store the recovery partition was not big enough, the physical capacity being 14.4GB. The Acer book says use a 16GB device or larger so I did. I naively thought that a USB drive which was labelled 16GB would be appropriate. Not so. I have had to buy a larger one but am still awaiting delivery.
I therefore decided to image the whole HDD to save the work I had done but found that the Acronis Backup and Recovery DVD would not boot. I went into the setup utility and adjusted the Boot settings to legacy and changed device priority. Acronis would not run so I did not continue. I went back into the setup utility, used F9 to restore the default and found to my astonishment that the DUAL boot option had now disappeared and the Windows Boot option had also vanished.
This means that this £800 laptop is now unusable. The setup utility self-reconfigured without warning. Nowhere is there any advice or warning not to use the setup utility in case it erases features which cannot be recovered by using F9 to recover the default configuration. If this is not a serious design fault, I don't know what is.
I am deeply worried because the idea of a BIOS setup utility behaving this way seems so improbable. How is it that the setup utility has been designed to self-harm like this?
Acer Aspire V3-772G - BIOS setup utility menu items have disappeared
I have setup this brand new laptop, pre-installed with Windows 8.1, for my sister-in-law who bought it. The installation went well BUT the 16GB USB device which I purchased as advised by the Acer literature to store the recovery partition was not big enough, the physical capacity being 14.4GB. The Acer book says use a 16GB device or larger so I did. I naively thought that a USB drive which was labelled 16GB would be appropriate. Not so. I have had to buy a larger one but am still awaiting delivery.
I therefore decided to image the whole HDD to save the work I had done but found that the Acronis Backup and Recovery DVD would not boot. I went into the setup utility and adjusted the Boot settings to legacy and changed device priority. Acronis would not run so I did not continue. I went back into the setup utility, used F9 to restore the default and found to my astonishment that the DUAL boot option had now disappeared and the Windows Boot option had also vanished.
This means that this £800 laptop is now unusable. The setup utility self-reconfigured without warning. Nowhere is there any advice or warning not to use the setup utility in case it erases features which cannot be recovered by using F9 to recover the default configuration. If this is not a serious design fault, I don't know what is.
BIOS setup utility behaving this way seems so improbable. How is it that the setup utility has been designed to self-harm like this?
i bought a battery from ebay and the battery came with a disc driver that had to be installed before the battery can work. i installed the driver but what it does is flash the bios with an update for the battery. long story short the battery does not work and will return it but i am having problems now with my video controller does not regognize my video card and reinstalling the original driver does not work and also my network adapter is gone does not see it at all. i treid to flash the bios with the backup that the battery update made but still no success still having problems with the video and network eithernet adapter. i think the update flash screwed up my original bios and i cant find the original bios anywhere. sony website does not have it. does anyone have or know where i can download the original bios for my laptop.
For some reason, when I access the BIOS settings menu, most of the options are greyed out (e.g. I can't switch off the requirement for a password at boot).
I'm using a Sony VAIO Laptop. its model is VGN-SZ48GN. BIOS Version is R0111N0. I want to update this to latest version. Do you know anyplace to download this ?
I was applying arctic silver 5 on cpu heatsink today and disassemble my vaio s460 completely.after putting back everything when i power on it give that vaio sound and blank screen. When press F2 its showing Entering setup.....and stuck there.Could be motherboard or CPU problem or RAM?
I would like to let you know that the search is over. Sony had posted all the bios and drivers for Vaio Z Windows 7. You can go to here to get the bios:
Vaio Z Windows 7 Official driver available now!
Thanks for sh4rkt for the bios link. Everything is working now, including the brightness control in speed mode.
if anybody else's battery care option on Vaio Z is not working anymore after updating the bios to R2165M3 version. Mine will keep charging my battery to 100% even when the battery care is set to 80%.
I have a Sony SZ90 notebook, and would like to run a BIOS update on it. I have the latest BIOS (that I found with help from chaps on this forum). However it won't recognise the notebook when I run it.
I have wondered whether this is because I added a BIOS password to it ages ago. I know the password.
I would like to remove the password, but cannot for the life of me find how to do this in the BIOS.
Does any one know how to remove the BIOS password?
