BAGZZlash
RBE Author
- Joined
- Mar 9, 2008
- Messages
- 587 (0.10/day)
RBE v1.20 just got released.
From the changelog:
A little explanation this time:
The built-in hex editor has two major advantages over editing a BIOS using some random hex editor:
The alternative BIOS extraction method works as following:
When you switch on your computer, the CPU finds itself in the so called REAL mode. The mainboard's BIOS then copies the video BIOS data into the computer's RAM (usually address C000:0000). Then your computer boots to windows and switches to the protected mode. From this moment on, programs can't access physical memory addresses any more, but virtual memory addresses the operating system administrates. There's a protected area usual programs can not access, this area is only accessible for kernel mode software. Unfortunately, the video BIOS data the mainboard's BIOS copied into RAM finds itself in this kernel memory, so programs like RBE can't access it.
But: Imagine you open a DOS box (command prompt) inside windows. Windows sets up a so called V86 environment then, a virtual REAL mode for old 16 bit DOS programs. For legacy support, windows also puts the video BIOS data into that virtual machine. So I figured a trick that accesses this V86 machine, harvests the BIOS data there and returns it to RBE. Voilá, RBE gets the data.
Using this, you can have RBE to extract almost any video BIOS from almost any video card. You can rip not just ATI BIOSes but also those from nVidia, S3, XGI and whatever video card you have installed.
Notice one thing, though: This trick can only be used if the virtual REAL mode (the V86 mode) is provided by windows. 64 bit OSes (like XP x64 or Vista 64) don't do that any more, so RBE's alternative BIOS extraction method is being greyed out on those machines. Use a 32 bit windows, instead.
From the changelog:
Code:
v1.20
- Added hex editor.
- Added alternative BIOS extraction method.
- (Hopefully) fixed the 3650 Device-ID-bug for good.
- Fixed a bug concerning weird 4670 fan settings.
A little explanation this time:
The built-in hex editor has two major advantages over editing a BIOS using some random hex editor:
- Additionally to jumping to a given position in the hex code and to searching for certain hex codes or text, you can jump specifically to the beginning of your BIOS' fan script, power play script, voltage registers and more. RBE obviously "knows" where these positions are inside your BIOS, so you can use this to find out how your BIOS works and to manipulate more bytes there than the RBE GUI can.
- After modifying bytes in the hex editor, you can return to the RBE main window and be certain that the checksum balancing has already been taken care of. RBE's built-in checksum correction engine does that for you, if you want. Furthermore, you can see your changes' impact immediately in the GUI.
The alternative BIOS extraction method works as following:
When you switch on your computer, the CPU finds itself in the so called REAL mode. The mainboard's BIOS then copies the video BIOS data into the computer's RAM (usually address C000:0000). Then your computer boots to windows and switches to the protected mode. From this moment on, programs can't access physical memory addresses any more, but virtual memory addresses the operating system administrates. There's a protected area usual programs can not access, this area is only accessible for kernel mode software. Unfortunately, the video BIOS data the mainboard's BIOS copied into RAM finds itself in this kernel memory, so programs like RBE can't access it.
But: Imagine you open a DOS box (command prompt) inside windows. Windows sets up a so called V86 environment then, a virtual REAL mode for old 16 bit DOS programs. For legacy support, windows also puts the video BIOS data into that virtual machine. So I figured a trick that accesses this V86 machine, harvests the BIOS data there and returns it to RBE. Voilá, RBE gets the data.
Using this, you can have RBE to extract almost any video BIOS from almost any video card. You can rip not just ATI BIOSes but also those from nVidia, S3, XGI and whatever video card you have installed.
Notice one thing, though: This trick can only be used if the virtual REAL mode (the V86 mode) is provided by windows. 64 bit OSes (like XP x64 or Vista 64) don't do that any more, so RBE's alternative BIOS extraction method is being greyed out on those machines. Use a 32 bit windows, instead.