Katch Posted October 21, 2006 Share Posted October 21, 2006 Not really sure if this is the right place for this, but I need to find a piece of software (XP, OSX or Linux, don't care which) to allow me to decompress a BIOS image (ROM) file from Insyde or alterantively dump one off the hardware. Any help much appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaemonES Posted October 22, 2006 Share Posted October 22, 2006 http://stargaz0r.nm.ru/ Bit for award BIOS'es. And amideco for ami, google for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katch Posted October 22, 2006 Author Share Posted October 22, 2006 I'm not looking for tools to handle Award or AMI or Phoenix based BIOS ROMs, and I've been trawling Google for days. I need tools that specifically handle Insyde BIOS' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mifki Posted October 22, 2006 Share Posted October 22, 2006 why? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katch Posted October 22, 2006 Author Share Posted October 22, 2006 The BIOS in my Laptop has a set of restricted WiFi cards, a white list. I want to get into the ROM and find out which DEV IDs are on the white list and add some of my own. Why..? Because the only 2 documented cards that are supported are based on Broadcom or IPW 2200 chipsets (Yuk!) I want to get a decent Atheros based card in my system for full cross platform support (OSx XP and Tux) as there are many things I like to do n Linux that can only be done with an Atheros based card ( well or Ralink but I dislike their chipset ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaemonES Posted October 22, 2006 Share Posted October 22, 2006 Utility that allow freely browse BIOS ROM is not exists, only by hands. You have to dump bios image using OEM utility (like award flesh), decompress it, make some changes (usually IDA + HIEW) then compress and don’t forget to correct checksum. Collection of decompressing utilities: http://www.rooter.nm.ru/DECO/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katch Posted October 22, 2006 Author Share Posted October 22, 2006 All of these utilities fail to decompress the Mobile Pro Insyde BIOS image I am investigating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jml401 Posted October 22, 2006 Share Posted October 22, 2006 I was in the same boat as you with my compaq x1000 laptop. After many hours searching, I found out compaq/hp have a proprietary bios and no utility exist to decompress it outside of the company. Your laptop's vendor may have implemented a similar proprietary bios code. And, even if one managed to decompress the .bin or .rom files, is it really worth the risk of frying your bios through hex edits? Are you using the most updated bios firmware? If so, it's likely that your laptop's vendor implemented a white list recently in lieu of an increase in customers voiding their warranties by replacing the mini-PCI wireless cards. They could easily implement an updated white list through bios updates and not mention it to the end user. With this in mind, I flashed my laptop's bios to an earlier version (the earliest available on their support page). Now the laptop boots up with no whitelist error. *Problem solved. Yes, I was concerned that a downgrade in the bios version would risk performance/compatibility, however I notice no difference whatsoever except now I'm able to use a wireless card of my choice. hope this helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katch Posted October 22, 2006 Author Share Posted October 22, 2006 The BIOS is provided (To lenovo) by Insyde. They are a realatively new player in the BIOS market so they are not widely documented and none of their developer tools have found there way into the public domain (as far as I am aware). The whitelist has been in place since the initial build. The laptop in question has a crisis recovery boot block that allows recovery from a bad flash. That said I am not inexperienced in this matter and would not flash without being confident of sucess. My initial goal is to see if there is already an Atheros based card in the whitelist (otherwise I have to purchase and test an aweful lot of Mini PCI cards to try and find one). If I don't find one, then I'll will look into patching the list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jml401 Posted October 22, 2006 Share Posted October 22, 2006 alright. good luck with all that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaemonES Posted October 23, 2006 Share Posted October 23, 2006 I have an idea. You may reflesh EEPROM of card with new VEN and DEV ID. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stripwax Posted September 21, 2008 Share Posted September 21, 2008 Talk about revisiting an old thread... I managed to find a few Insyde decompress tools, via the awesome archive.org and a couple of hours following dead ends and vague leads. InsyDeco will let you decompress Insyde bios revisions. I've uploaded a local copy so everyone benefits (as well as a mirror on my host) InsyDeco comes in two flavours, a .zip is a windows binary application, and .tar is a linux source tool insydeco.0.1.zip insydeco.0.1.tar.tar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esoterikest Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 Talk about revisiting an old thread...I managed to find a few Insyde decompress tools, via the awesome archive.org and a couple of hours following dead ends and vague leads. InsyDeco will let you decompress Insyde bios revisions. I've uploaded a local copy so everyone benefits (as well as a mirror on my host) InsyDeco comes in two flavours, a .zip is a windows binary application, and .tar is a linux source tool Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OriginalMACNUT Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 Talk about revisiting an old thread...I managed to find a few Insyde decompress tools, via the awesome archive.org and a couple of hours following dead ends and vague leads. InsyDeco will let you decompress Insyde bios revisions. I've uploaded a local copy so everyone benefits (as well as a mirror on my host) InsyDeco comes in two flavours, a .zip is a windows binary application, and .tar is a linux source tool Windows version is bad, or at least when I tried with 3 programs. thanks, -OMN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surfstu Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 I have lenovo G560, Insyde bios H20, after osx install with mulitbeast, the laptop wouldn't enter setup - bricked. I've downloaded and unzipped bios from lenovo, but how do i get this on a pen for flashing? I have a file called NIWE3202.ROM, do i just simply put this on a fat32 pen? or do i need some kind of Insyde flash disk creator? cheers stuart oh and anyone reading this may be able to tell me about removing whitelist? I have a broadcom card that works in windows but not in OSX? maybe it is not a whitelist issue? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoarthing Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 I have lenovo G560, Insyde bios H20, after osx install with mulitbeast, the laptop wouldn't enter setup - bricked. I've downloaded and unzipped bios from lenovo, but how do i get this on a pen for flashing? I have a file called NIWE3202.ROM, do i just simply put this on a fat32 pen? or do i need some kind of Insyde flash disk creator?cheers stuart oh and anyone reading this may be able to tell me about removing whitelist? I have a broadcom card that works in windows but not in OSX? maybe it is not a whitelist issue? . . . suggest you have a look at this thread at mydigitallife. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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