Question How can I convert a mobo bios .F2 File to a .Rom?

[Spike7788]

I want to open up my mobo bios in MMTool so i can inject xeon micro-codes to the bios rom file but its a .F2 File.

GA-EP45T-UD3R
(rev. 1.0)

GA-EP45T-UD3R (rev. 1.0) | Motherboard - GIGABYTE Global

Ultra Durable 3 technology with 2 oz copper PCB for lower working temperatureRevolution energy saving design with DES Advanced featuring hardware based Dynamic 6-Gear switchingSupports 45nm Intel Core 2 multi-core processors with FSB 1600 MHz Natively support dual channel DDR3 2200+ for...

www.gigabyte.com

F2 0.63 MB 2008/11/03 America
Update CPU microcode(Support Pentium 4/Celeron CPU)

This is the file im trying to convert to .ROM

Am I wrong about that being the mobo bios file?

 

[TJ Hooker]

The BIOS is a binary file, the extension doesn't really matter. If your program only lets you open .rom files then just change the extension to .rom.

Edit: The file you linked is a .exe. I'm guessing it's some sort of self-extracting archive. Run it, let it extract somewhere, then go to that location and find the actual BIOS file.

 

[Spike7788]

The BIOS is a binary file, the extension doesn't really matter. If your program only lets you open .rom files then just change the extension to .rom.

Edit: The file you linked is a .exe. I'm guessing it's some sort of self-extracting archive. Run it, let it extract somewhere, then go to that location and find the actual BIOS file.

If i rename it to .rom it wont open it. The zip has a windows batch file and FLASHSPI application do i change it when i first download it using 7zip?

 

[Spike7788]

https://ibb.co/4dLTGRC its just a image of where im at

 

[TJ Hooker]

So there were only two things extracted, a .bat file and a FLASHAPI application (.exe I assume)?

 

[Spike7788]

and that .f2 file i would use to update the mother board bios

 

[Karadjgne]

So, you'd need to reverse engineer the exe so you could get at the bios inside the exe, and then be able to take that file, create a rom that mmtool can then fix with add codes for the Xeons
http://www.backerstreet.com/rec/rec.htm

Mebe something like this.

Renaming the file won't work, you'd need to save the file as a .rom, recompiling it in a different format.

 

[Spike7788]

ok thanks ill try it out

 

[Spike7788]

so i loaded up the exe what am i missing or doing wrong. looks like the mobo bios isnt located in the .exe?

Bad BIO|
000002C0: 53 20 49 6D 61 67 65 20 21 21 21 24 E8 E1 49 73 |S Image !!!$haIs|
000002D0: 5B BA DF 00 E8 10 46 2E C6 06 72 05 01 EB 5F 0D |[:.h.F.F.r..k.|
000002E0: 21 21 21 20 42 49 4F 53 20 49 44 20 4D 69 73 6D |!!! BIOS ID Mism|
000002F0: 61 74 63 68 2C 20 55 6E 61 62 6C 65 20 74 6F 20 |atch, Unable to


bad bio bio id mismatch unable to

 

[Karadjgne]

Well bios updates don't delete any old info, just add or replace. Can't you use mmtool on an older bios that isn't in F2 exe form update to that bios, then use the exe on top?

 

[TJ Hooker]

The .f2 file should be the ROM binary. The ".f2" is actually just the BIOS version, not a real extension. If I download the latest version of the BIOS for my mobo (ver 22f, for GA-Z170M-D3H) from Gigabyte, it also has a .22f "extension". But if I change the extension to .rom it opens just fine in that utility. Maybe that utility just doesn't support that BIOS format used by your motherboard.

Edit: Try this: https://www.delidded.com/how-to-update-cpu-microcode-in-award-or-phoenix-bios/
It seems you have an Award/Pheonix BIOS, which is why MMTool wasn't working (it's made for AMI BIOSs).

 

[Spike7788]

the top one i tried to rename but wont change it to .rom. the bottom one is the the i tried here how can i or can someone reformat the top one in rec-studio?

 

[TJ Hooker]

What "top one" and "bottom one"? The file you need is "ep4tud3r.f2". The extension doesn't matter, you can just leave it as .f2 if you want. As I said, the MMTool you're trying to use won't work as it's meant for AMI BIOSs, you need to use a tool that supports Award/Pheonix BIOSs like the one I linked to. If you want you can confirm you have an Award/Pheonix BIOS rather than AMI by running something like CPU-Z on that computer and looking at the Mainboard tab. You don't need to use REC studio, or reformat it, or anything like that, pretty sure that wouldn't work anyway.

 

[ko888]

You need to use the CBROM tool to be able to edit an Award BIOS image.

https://www.win-raid.com/t2811f47-G...rocodes-on-a-non-UEFI-Award-Phoenix-BIOS.html

 

[Spike7788]

woot i finally did it thank you guys for the help. if any one else is stuck on gigabyte award mobo bios updating the micro-codes heres what helped alot




Intel Xeon X5470 validation
https://valid.x86.fr/dwlkt2

heres the guide i used


#1 | [Guide] How to update the CPU microcodes on a non-UEFI Award/Phoenix BIOS


https://www.win-raid.com/t2811f47-G...rocodes-on-a-non-UEFI-Award-Phoenix-BIOS.html





i do plan on overclocking a bit more got a nice Noctua - NH-D15 CPU cooler but you have to also order the Noctua NM-I3 Mounting Kit for Noctua CPU Coolers if you want to mount to a lga771 mobo.





you can get one free just pay shipping from noctua website or pay 20 bucks and get free shipping lol





i want to get this bad little beast to 4.4 someone on you tube posted 4.3 on a 5470. i mean right now im at for temps 46c-69c not bad. On my other computer with the broken water pump the temps would go to 90c then auto shuts down.





wont buy another corshair water closed loop they suck and mine was under recall never emailed me back i would go with the Noctua - NH-D15 its big but it pushes a lot of air quietly.


gotta delid some howi think it's soldered together saw one kid take a hair dryer i mean i have two 5470 only $50 bucks no apu just cpu so it runs cooler compared to a i5 same stats.

 

[ko888]

You can't delid using a hair dryer. What you most likely saw is a heat gun. It looks like a hair dryer but it puts out a much higher temperature high enough to flow solder.

https://www.amazon.com/heat-gun/s?k=heat+gun

 

[Spike7788]

e8400 still works this cpu is junk but i only use to boot up and update micro codes

backup x5470 still works

 

[Spike7788]

i didnt mean using a hair dryer i meant using the der8auer
https://www.ebay.com/itm/der8auer-D...532652?hash=item4d6f48ef6c:g:pRwAAOSw9EZZjLb1

i plan on using a solder iron to get the rest of the lead off i doubt intel would use silver solder cost to much.

but ill use liquid metal on the die ill have to put some more time into researching the oc settings. i work a lot this thing is just a side project ill make more to sell as a budegt gaming computer the most expenive thing is the gtx 1070 8gb 250 bucks went with it because with pcie 16x 2.0 you can get up to 8GT/s

so right now the bottel neck is the cpu and ram but ill over clock it you can see my specs im working with up there