AMI Bios Tool by Gkend
Thanks to Steve Jobs for this article on his blog. Steve Jobs wrote: Thats another great tool by Gkend, created to easily add a SLIC table to an existing AMI Bios.
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25.5.2007 Vista Loader 2.2.0 OEM BIOS Crack Emulator
This is New version of Vista Loader 2.2.0 from Chinese hackers. With this you can force a bios emulation and let Vista think it's installed on a OEM machine.
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20.5.2007 Microsoft Confirms Windows Vista OEM BIOS Crack
Microsoft confirmed the fact that hackers have developed a valid Windows Vista crack designed to exploit the operating system's OEM BIOS activation.
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11.4.2007 How To Reset, Remove, Clear or Reveal CMOS BIOS Security Password
There are times that we need to reset the computers BIOS security password. Yesterday I was at the local government technical school facility and the person who is in charge of the computer told me that they are not able to reinstall Windows because they are not able to get in the BIOS to set the boot order as it is password protected. The lecturers do not know the password as it is not set by them, but by some unknown student.
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6.7.2008 Windows Vista Genuine Validation Fails Due to Incorrect BIOS Data
Thanks to Steve Jobs for this post in his blog. Even if the operating system was activated properly.
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27.6.2007 Microsoft to Kill the Grace Timer and OEM BIOS Windows Vista Cracks with Vista SP1
With the advent of Windows Vista, cracks also became available being designed to bypass the activation process of the operating system.
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4.12.2007Dell cures some Nvidia GPU woes with BIOS update
Dell has issued a BIOS update to prevent its notebooks equipped with faulty Nvidia graphics cards from overheating...
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29.07.2008Researchers Demo BIOS Attack That Survives Disk Wipes
A pair of Argentinian researchers have found a way to perform
a BIOS level malware attack capable of surviving even a
hard-disk wipe.
Alfredo Ortega and Anibal Sacco from Core Security Technologies — used the stage at last week's CanSecWest
conference to
demonstrate methods for infecting the BIOS with persistent code that will survive
reboots and re-flashing attempts. The technique includes patching the BIOS with a small bit of code that gave them complete control of the machine.
The demo ran smoothly on a Windows machine, a PC running OpenBSD and another running VMware Player.
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23.03.2009BIOS maker Phoenix reinvents itself as virtualization platform vendor
Over the past quarter-century, more than a billion PCs have been produced that use Basic Input Output System (BIOS) software from Phoenix Technologies
Ltd. The BIOS provides a key interface between the hardware and the Windows operating system.
But with the BIOS business in a
long-term decline, Phoenix is aiming for a rebirth as a vendor of application platform technology that instead of enabling Windows, starts to compete
with it.
On Monday, the Milpitas, Calif. vendor unveiled a Linux-based virtualization platform called Hyperspace.
Based on the HyperCore hypervisor developed by Phoenix and embedded within its popular BIOS, Hyperspace provides a thin software layer upon
which cut-down versions of popular open-source software can be loaded instantly without the need to boot up Windows, said Woody Hobbs, Phoenix's CEO,
in a telephone interview.
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05.11.2007Phoenix Instant Boot BIOS starts loading Windows in under a second
Phoenix is showing off a few interesting things at IDF, but the real standout is their new Instant Boot BIOS, a highly optimized UEFI implementation
that can start loading an OS in just under a second. Combined with Windows 7's optimized startup procedure, that means you're looking at incredibly
short boot times -- we saw a retrofitted Dell Adamo hit the Windows desktop in 20 seconds, while a Lenovo T400s with a fast SSD got there in under 10.
It's pretty slick stuff, and it should be out soon -- check a video after the break...
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25.09.2009Microsoft Responds to Reported OEM BIOS Hacks
The WGA team have finally
provided a written response to
the reported OEM BIOS Hacks
regarding Vista:
I
know many of you are aware of
reports of hacks that attempt
to exploit our OEM BIOS based
activation. We're aware of
this type of hack and I wanted
to take a minute to describe
how these work and how we plan
to respond.
First, what is OEM BIOS
based activation?
Here's a little more
information on how OEM BIOS
based activation works. This
form of product activation is
also known as OEM Activation
or just OA, which is how
Microsoft refers to it and how
I will refer to it in this
post. Back at the launch of
Windows XP when Microsoft
introduced Windows Product
Activation, we recognized that
as easy as end-user activation
is, it still represented an
extra step.
neowin.net -
12.04.2007World's First Mainboard with Open-Source BIOS
According to a post over at
Gmane.org, AMD engineer
Yinghai Lu has reportedly
released source-code of the
BIOS for the Gigabyte
Technology M57SLI-S4
motherboard. This can
potentially allow advanced
users to "program their
motherboards" by themselves,
customizing and optimizing the
BIOS to their personal needs,
possibly even opening up more
functionality for
overclocking. The M57SLI-S4
mainboard is based on Nvidia
nForce 570 SLI core-logic,
supports various AMD
processors in the AM2
form-factor, has four slots
for DDR2 memory, has two PCI
Express x16 slots for SLI
mode, three PCI Express x1
ports for add-in cards, six
Serial ATA-300 connectors for
hard disk drives with RAID
support, ten USB 2.0
connectors, three IEEE1394a
(FireWire) ports and so on.
LinuxBIOS is a free
software project started in
1999 and endorsed by the Free
Software Foundation; the
project aims to replace the
proprietary BIOS firmware
found in most computers with a
lightweight BIOS designed to
perform only the minimum of
tasks necessary. " The need
for a Free BIOS is even more
pressing since DRM and
Treacherous Computing have
found their way into some
proprietary BIOSes and EFI.
From a practical perspective,
LinuxBIOS removes the need for
ugly hacks and workarounds in
the kernel that compensate for
buggy BIOSes we can now fix
the BIOS ourselves ," a
statement proclaims.
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26.02.2007Intel's BIOS tool spells death bell for third party utilities
ECS is showing
Intel's backup utility called
the System Recovery Tool.
This utility sits inside
the BIOS of a motherboard that
of course, sports Intel's
latest chipsets. The
application features partition
and disk image backup and
recovery, just like a lot of
third-party applications.
However, being built inside
the BIOS, it has the advantage
of not needing any sort of
boot or recovery CDs, rather
pressing a function key (F3 in
the case of ECS's boards) on
a keyboard.
The image
creation process is very
simple - press the F3 key,
pick the option Create new
image, choose what partition
will be backed up and the
destination (different
partition, CD, DVD medium).
You can expect this
feature to come on many
motherboards in near future.
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08.06.2007All Phenoms feature infamous L3 cache errata
Sadly for AMD, the Phenom launch was dumbed down by a nasty bug that stopped AMD from launching a 2.4 GHz variant (9700).
At the
same time, problems with the OS freezing were solved by a BIOS fix inside the motherboards that actually reduces performance between five to 10 per
cent, since that BIOS update did nothing but ordered a processor to avoid that ill-fated corrupted cache data.
The problem with
L3 cache caused performance reduction on all clock speeds and yes, Phenoms 2.2 and 2.3 GHz are affected as well, but it was really noticable at 2.4
GHz. BIOS run-around caused a 2.4 GHz part producing performance of 100-200 MHz slower parts. Of course, standard disclaimer in some rare-found,
practically laboratory-only instances applies here.
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30.11.2007Microsoft nonchalant about Phoenix assault on Windows
BIOS maker Phoenix Technologies Ltd.'s plans to market a new application platform the company claims will solve a number of problems endemic to
Microsoft's Windows platform might be taken as a provocative gesture at their longtime partner. But Redmond's immediate reaction was nonchalant.
On Monday, the Milpitas, Calif. software maker announced Hyperspace, a Linux-based virtualization platform that will let OEMs bundle
cut-down versions of popular open-source software that end users will be able to access instantly, even without booting Windows.
"We call this embedded simplicity, or PC 3.0," said Woody Hobbs, CEO of Phoenix in an interview.
Phoenix has for many years
been the leading maker of BIOS, which enables a PC's Windows operating system to communicate with the hardware. But BIOS is being slowly supplanted
by a newer technology called Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI).
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06.11.2007Nvidia "Patches" Serial ATA Issue For the Third Time
Nvidia Corp., a leading
chipset developer, and EVGA, a
supplier of graphics cards and
mainboards, have released more
BIOS versions that should
correct the already well-known
issues with Serial ATA storage
devices and mainboards powered
by Nvidia's latest
core-logic. Some EVGA
customers using the EVGA
nForce 680i SLI motherboard
have reported experiencing
disconnect or write error
issues with Serial ATA disk
drives. To address this, we
have worked with Nvidia to
release a BIOS update for this
motherboard that eliminates
this bug," said Joe Darwin, a
spokesman of EVGA.
The new BIOS version P23
beta 2 that was available
through EVGA forums and the
final BIOS version P23 are
supposed to correct the Serial
ATA problems that users were
experiencing with mainboards
featuring Nvidia's latest
nForce 680i core-logic set.
The previous release - BIOS
version P23 beta 1 - did not
correct issues with Serial ATA
storage devices for all end
users.
neowin.net -
23.12.2006Windows 7 and XP virtualization: What you need to know
Microsoft's new Virtual XP Mode requires hardware virtualization, but with all the news surrounding this feature, users are wondering "Am I able
to run Virtual XP Mode?" Even though people may recommend you run Securable to check and see, the problem is, Securable may not display results
accurately, even if your BIOS says that hardware virtualization is turned on as evidenced by this forum thread. Thankfully, Microsoft is aware of
this, and has created this page to help you out. The pages gives you ways to identify if your processor supports hardware virtualization, and gives
instructions on how to check the BIOS settings of Dell, HP, and Thinkpad systems to see if it's turned on.
Read full story.....
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06.05.2009Motherboard Compatibility for Wolfdale and Yorkfield Processors
Over the past couple of years it seems as though every new desktop CPU release from Intel has required either a new chipset, board redesign, or at the
very least a BIOS update for the user to experience the latest and greatest from Intel. The biggest change occurred in June of 2006 when Intel
launched the Core 2 series and overnight several previous generations of Socket 775 compatible chipsets and motherboards were deemed obsolete.
Sure, the 975X, 945G/P, and even the i865 chipsets were able to support the new Core 2 architecture, but the motherboards designed
around them required a significant overhaul in the electrical components and trace layouts to work correctly - not to mention new BIOS releases. We
also had the release of the P965 family of chipsets that were designed expressly for the Core 2 series which brought about another twist in the
selection process. It was a scant four months later when the Kentsfield quad-core CPUs were launched and we went through the entire motherboard/BIOS
revision process again. Unfortunately, some of those users that purchased boards at the June launch of the Core 2 family found they required yet
another board in order for Kentsfield to operate properly.
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29.10.2007ATI: Some 4830's were short on stream processors
Bit-Tech are reporting that
ATI has finally admitted to the strange goings on with its HD 4830 graphics cards.
Bit-Tech and other hardware review sites noticed that
after benchmarking, there were too many variances in the results and some cards were a lot slower than others, even though they were supposed to be
identical review units.
It was later discovered that the strange results were the result of some cards only using 560 of the total of 640
stream processing units available, hence the lower scores.
Last week AMD has put out a statement that they were “aware of the
issue” and now they have gone further and told the full story:
"AMD has identified that, in addition to reference samples of the
ATI Radeon HD 4830 boards sent to media with a pre-production BIOS potentially impacting the card’s performance, a very limited number of ATI
Radeon HD 4830 boards were released to market with the same pre-production BIOS. This is in no way hardware related, and an updated BIOS fully
resolves the performance limitation.
Through consultations with AMD board partners, it has been determined with a high degree of certainty
that fewer than 400 ATI Radeon™ HD 4830 boards from one AMD board partner, HIS, have reached the market with the pre-production BIOS incorrectly
provided by AMD. As only a small number of HIS-branded ATI Radeon™ HD 4830 cards are impacted, we ask any customers that purchased an
HIS-branded ATI Radeon™ HD 4830 to test the board using the GPU-Z utility. If
the GPU-Z utility reports fewer than 640 shaders, please visit the HIS website for information on how to update the card BIOS via a downloadable
install utility."
Read full story.....
neowin.net -
27.10.2008George Ou: Vista deactivates me for upgrading motherboard firmware
George Ou:
Updated 8:40AM - After going to Windows Help and Support in the start menu, I searched for Activate and the second
choice was Activate this computer. Using the phone option I called an 800 number and spent 3 minutes waiting and 3 minutes talking to a person. I
didnt have to give him any keys and simply explained what happened. He gave me a 48-letter activation code and I was on my way. That wasnt too bad
but the whole process is rather silly and a waste of my time.
Twas the day before Christmas and all I got from Microsoft and MSI
was Vistas kill switch, a buggy motherboard BIOS, and horrible tech support from MSI. The following is the screenshot of what I saw after I upgraded
my problematic motherboards (MSI P965 Platinum) BIOS firmware...
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25.12.2007How To Warm Boot Windows XP/Vista
Unless you have to, it is many
times advantageous to warm
boot, or rather warm reboot,
Windows. In a warm reboot,
Windows restarts, but the
computer doesnt, skipping the
whole pre-Windows boot
screen/BIOS/startup sequence.
You an
easily specify a warm boot
in both Windows XP and Windows
Vista. Just hold down SHIFT on
your keyboard before clicking
Restart in Vista, or before
clicking OK in the restart
dialog in XP. Enjoy the extra
20 seconds!
Technically, the use of
the term warm boot is a bit
misused here, but the small
amount of time saved by not
re-running the BIOS can be
worth it.
winbeta.org -
17.08.2007Dell customers unhappy with BIOS band-aid for faulty NVIDIA GPUs
Dell customers are unhappy with the BIOS patch released by Dell to counter the problem with
faulty NVIDIA GPUs, and quite rightly so!
Here’s just a small
selection of comments left by Dell customers on the
Direct2Dell blog...
winbeta.org -
30.07.2008Phoenix Hyperspace firmware gets Opera-enabled
Phoenix Technologies, makers of the BIOS of the same name, announced today a partnership with Opera software that will give its Hyperspace virtual
Linux environment instant-on Internet browsing...
betanews.com -
06.11.2008Phoenix gets embedded DVD player for HyperSpace
California's Phoenix Technologies, the company most famous for its BIOS, has announced an upgrade to its HyperSpace virtual Linux environment that
will allow a system's DVD player to be accessed independently from the core OS...
betanews.com -
29.10.2008New Phoenix BIOS will run Linux apps when Windows fails
California-based Phoenix Technologies has announced its plan to develop an embedded Linux-based bypass system that will allow users to run some
productivity applications even if the main OS has failed...
betanews.com -
13.02.2008XP Won't Run on Intel
MacBook, iMac
With the announcement of the
first Intel based Macs
yesterday, many users have
rejoiced in being able to
dual-boot both Mac OS X and
Windows. Unfortunately, this
is not the case; due to
Apple's use of the extensible
firmware interface (EFI)
rather than BIOS, current
Windows releases will not run
on the systems...
betanews.com -
11.01.2006
