Motherboard Group Buy/Crowdfunded Modded BIOS for the Asrock A300m (Deskmini A300)

[rook]

@legogris So so very far away...

Compared to where I started on this project, I've learned an extraordinary amount of information, but it still feels like a raindrop in a lake of what I think is needed to accomplish the goal. What is UEFI... I know enough to understand these articles. Where is the code I need to replace/update... not sure; sometimes not even sure if the best community tools are right. Some tools I think would be useful are also currently beyond my access or expertise (ex. IDA Pro/Ghidra/QEMU/Unicorn). Those are all for reverse engineering or emulation & require some hardcore computer science knowledge. If there is a champion among you, please step forward!

 

[GLSRacer]

Thanks for all your work on this, I completely understand if you feel it's time to step back. With any luck we'll get one last BIOS upgrade to support the 4800G if that APU is released.

 

[TwinHaelix]

I'm using the 2nd or 3rd BIOS with a 2400G and I have had no problems that would make me want to update. Hyper-V works just fine and I am running 2 VMs 24/7 right now. I just want to make sure we get updated to support the 4000 series desktop APUs. I'll try to send a support email to ASRock mentioning the above issue when I have a chance

Can you confirm which BIOS it is that has no issue with Hyper-V? I enabled Hyper-V and now mine won't boot (BIOS 3.60).

 

[GLSRacer]

I think I'm still on the original BIOS and I run multiple VMs 24/7 with Hyper V on Server 2012R2, no problems so far.

 

[Hifihedgehog]

If @ASRock System says no to Zen 2 APU/Renoir support, I am also officially interested. Wanting this for an arcade build.

 

[ASRock System]

If @ASRock System says no to Zen 2 APU/Renoir support, I am also officially interested. Wanting this for an arcade build.

Due to everything under table, I can't comment about new AMD processors condition.
But I have a good news that we will have new DeskMini product very soon.

*edit typo 0.0

 

[Curiosity]

Due to everything under table, I can't command about new AMD processors condition.
But I have a good news that we will have new DeskMini product very soon.

You probably can't say but-
X300 board? I heard about that 'chipset' recently.

 

[W4RR10R]

Due to everything under table, I can't command about new AMD processors condition.
But I have a good news that we will have new DeskMini product very soon.

How soon? I am extremely excited.

As long as it can boot without an igp I'll buy it, within the first hour of availability.

 

[Quango]

I really hope they resolved their persistent quality issues. No more coil whine, dying audio chips and HDMI flickering please.

 

[Curiosity]

The only issue I've had with mine is my little iPad monitor doesn't play nice with the igp. But I'm pretty sure that's a driver issue.



//Anecdote

 

[Hifihedgehog]

Due to everything under table, I can't command about new AMD processors condition.
But I have a good news that we will have new DeskMini product very soon.

YES! YES! YES!

 

[GLSRacer]

I'm just hoping we see support for the 4700G on the current DeskMini.

 

[Hammerfest]

Considering still waiting for AGESA 1.0.0.4B (which YES ACTUALLY DOES contain fix's for Zen/Zen+) on A300, somehow I dont trust ASRock...

Currently running a BETA BIOS provided by ASRock (3.53) so I can have Hyper-V/Virtulization (was issues with both VBox and containers) and ASRock support has been "nope, 1.0.0.1 is fine, despite the fact we released a beta bios with 1.0.0.3 that fixed the issue herderrr)

 

[Hifihedgehog]

If I might ask, has the group here found someone who is willing to perform the BIOS mod? If not, I know Wendell at Level1Techs once stated he was capable of modifying the BIOS on AM4 laptops to support Ryzen 3000. Perhaps the group leadership could reach out to him and see if he would be willing to take the job? Perhaps, if anyone could do it, maybe Wendell could. And if he got it working on A300, it would send a bold statement to AMD that old AM4 chipsets can and should be supported. It could pressure motherboard makers who refuse to supply updates to take action and up their game.

 

[ermac318]

If I might ask, has the group here found someone who is willing to perform the BIOS mod? If not, I know Wendell at Level1Techs once stated he was capable of modifying the BIOS on AM4 laptops to support Ryzen 3000. Perhaps the group leadership could reach out to him and see if he would be willing to take the job? Perhaps, if anyone could do it, maybe Wendell could. And if he got it working on A300, it would send a bold statement to AMD that old AM4 chipsets can and should be supported. It could pressure motherboard makers who refuse to supply updates to take action and up their game.

You could also try posting on the Level1 Forums, see if anyone there has the skillz.

 

[ExecutableFix]

Good morning (or evening, or even night )! I've stumbled upon this thread through a random comment on r/Amd and saw some stuff that grabbed my attention. I'm not an expert in bios modding, but I've been experimenting with EPYC Rome overclocking and bios "modding". I only started back in December, but made significant progress when it comes to understanding the AMD platform. So I'm willing to give this a try!

I don't actually own a DeskMini myself, but if some stuff I end up trying works I'll be getting one for science

So if I understand everything correctly, this is a list of features you guys want to have (feel free to correct me here):

• AGESA 1.0.0.4B on the DeskMini (or higher?)
• Working Ryzen 3000 chips
• Overclocking the iGPU
• Voltage control for the iGPU (?)
• ECC memory support

While I haven't looked at the bios layout yet, I can hopefully get the agesa updated no problem. I'm not really sure if I'll be able to get any of the other stuff to work (I'll definitely need a DeskMini for that), but it's worth a try

 

[W4RR10R]

So if I understand everything correctly, this is a list of features you guys want to have (feel free to correct me here):

• AGESA 1.0.0.4B on the DeskMini (or higher?)
• Working Ryzen 3000 chips
• Overclocking the iGPU
• Voltage control for the iGPU (?)
• ECC memory support

For me, (OP) my main feature was CPU support, no igp, non g skus. All the other features are spot on.

I've been thinking recently that the no g skus are being prevented from posting becaue it fails to initialize the igp and halts on error, so if you could expose an option in bios to ignore errors in post or enable/disable halt for specific error, like failed igp initialization.

On contacting Wendell, I'll see if I can get in touch with him.

 

[ExecutableFix]

For me, (OP) my main feature was CPU support, no igp, non g skus. All the other features are spot on.

Awesome! I'll definitely have some time this weekend and maybe even later today for the agesa.

On contacting Wendell, I'll see if I can get in touch with him.

I've already had contact with him on Twitter DMs about other stuff, I'll link him this thread and maybe he's able to help

 

[W4RR10R]

I've already had contact with him on Twitter DMs about other stuff, I'll link him this thread and maybe he's able to help

Awesome, even better.

 

[ExecutableFix]

I don't own a DeskMini so one of you guys has to test it, but here's the latest bios with the 1.0.0.4B AGESA. Not sure if it will do anything useful as it might require other tweaks but it's worth a shot. Note that the PBS firmware version might still report the 1.0.0.1 AGESA as that's just a plaintext string I couldn't replace.

MEGA Link