Important Update to Award BIOS Code Injection Article
OK, let me clarify, there is nothing wrong with the main concept explained in the article, i.e. the method used to inject new code into Award BIOS. But, there is something that can mislead people in the particular implementation explained there in the last section (Possible Downside and Its Workaround). I've made a "critical update" to address the issue in the latest version of the article in the following link: Award BIOS Code Injection
To summarise, the issue is: in the original article I've claimed that the bug due to the race condition (in the sample injected-code) has been addressed, whereas, further experiment don't say so. Thus, I've carried out further experiments last week to find out the problem and has come-up with a thoroughly tested solution, i.e. a reworked patch.
well, I'll just paste the relevant code here to clarify.
#The sample injected-code in the original article (nasm syntax):
;---------------- BEGIN TWEAK.ASM --------------------------------------------------------------
BITS 16 ;just to make sure nasm prefix 66 to 32 bit instructions, we're assuming the uP
;is in 16 bits mode up to this point (from the boot state)
section .text
start:
pushf
push eax
push dx
mov eax,ioq_reg ;patch the ioq register of the chipset
mov dx,in_port
out dx,eax
mov dx,out_port
in eax,dx
or eax,ioq_mask
out dx,eax
mov eax,dram_reg ;patch the DRAM controller of the chipset,
mov dx,in_port ;i.e. the interleaving part
out dx,eax
mov dx,out_port
in eax,dx
or eax,dram_mask
out dx,eax
mov eax,bank_reg ;Allow pages of different bank to be active simultanoeusly
mov dx,in_port
out dx,eax
mov dx,out_port
in eax,dx
or eax,bank_mask
out dx,eax
mov eax,tlb_reg ;Activate Fast TLB lookup
mov dx,in_port
out dx,eax
mov dx,out_port
in eax,dx
or eax,tlb_mask
out dx,eax
pop dx
pop eax
popf
clc ;indicate that this POST routine successful
retn ;return near to the header of the rom file
section .data
in_port equ 0cf8h
out_port equ 0cfch
dram_mask equ 00020202h
dram_reg equ 80000064h
ioq_mask equ 00000080h
ioq_reg equ 80000050h
bank_mask equ 20000840h
bank_reg equ 80000068h
tlb_mask equ 00000008h
tlb_reg equ 8000006ch
;---------------- END TWEAK.ASM --------------------------------------------------------------
This code causes the system to hang in certain circumstances.
#The reworked injected-code (fasm syntax)
;------------------------------ file: mem_optimize.asm -----------------------------------
use16
start:
pushf
cli
mov cx, 0x50 ;patch the ioq register of the chipset
call Read_PCI_Bus0_Byte
or al, 0x80
mov cx, 0x50
call Write_PCI_Bus0_Byte
mov cx, 0x64 ;DRAM Bank 0/1 Interleave = 4-way
call Read_PCI_Bus0_Byte
or al, 2
mov cx, 0x64
call Write_PCI_Bus0_Byte
mov cx, 0x65 ;DRAM Bank 2/3 Interleave = 4-way
call Read_PCI_Bus0_Byte
or al, 2
mov cx, 0x65
call Write_PCI_Bus0_Byte
mov cx, 0x66 ;DRAM Bank 4/5 Interleave = 4-way
call Read_PCI_Bus0_Byte
or al, 2
mov cx, 0x66
call Write_PCI_Bus0_Byte
mov cx, 0x67 ;DRAM Bank 6/7 Interleave = 4-way
call Read_PCI_Bus0_Byte
or al, 2
mov cx, 0x67
call Write_PCI_Bus0_Byte
mov cx, 0x68 ;Allow pages of different bank to be active simultanoeusly
call Read_PCI_Bus0_Byte
or al, 0x44
mov cx, 0x68
call Write_PCI_Bus0_Byte
mov cx, 0x69 ;Fast DRAM Precharge for Different Bank
call Read_PCI_Bus0_Byte
or al, 0x8
mov cx, 0x69
call Write_PCI_Bus0_Byte
mov cx, 0x6C ;Activate Fast TLB lookup
call Read_PCI_Bus0_Byte
or al, 0x8
mov cx, 0x6C
call Write_PCI_Bus0_Byte
popf
clc ;indicate that this POST routine successful
retn ;return near to the header of the rom file
;-- Read_PCI_Byte__ --
;in: cx = dev_func_offset_addr
;out: al = reg_value
Read_PCI_Bus0_Byte:
mov ax, 8000h
shl eax, 10h
mov ax, cx
and al, 0FCh
mov dx, 0CF8h
out dx, eax
mov dl, 0FCh ; '?'
mov al, cl
and al, 3
add dl, al
in al, dx
retn
;-- Write_Bus0_Byte --
;in: cx = dev_func_offset addr
;al = reg_value to write
Write_PCI_Bus0_Byte:
xchg ax, cx
shl ecx, 10h
xchg ax, cx
mov ax, 8000h
shl eax, 10h
mov ax, cx
and al, 0FCh
mov dx, 0CF8h
out dx, eax
add dl, 4
or dl, cl
mov eax, ecx
shr eax, 10h
out dx, al
retn
;------------------------------ file: mem_optimize.asm -----------------------------------
This new patch (injected-code) is working flawlessly during the "patch-integrity" test, i.e. more than a hundred boot-reboot cycle
Important Update to Award BIOS Code Injection Article
OK, let me clarify, there is nothing wrong with the main concept explained in the article, i.e. the method used to inject new code into Award BIOS. But, there is something that can mislead people in the particular implementation explained there in the last section (Possible Downside and Its Workaround). I've made a "critical update" to address the issue in the latest version of the article in the following link:
Award BIOS Code Injection
To summarise, the issue is: in the original article I've claimed that the bug due to the race condition (in the sample injected-code) has been addressed, whereas, further experiment don't say so. Thus, I've carried out further experiments last week to find out the problem and has come-up with a thoroughly tested solution, i.e. a reworked patch.
well, I'll just paste the relevant code here to clarify.
#The sample injected-code in the original article (nasm syntax):
This code causes the system to hang in certain circumstances.
#The reworked injected-code (fasm syntax)
This new patch (injected-code) is working flawlessly during the "patch-integrity" test, i.e. more than a hundred boot-reboot cycle
sorry for the inconvenience.
greetz,
Pinczakko