BIOS Editor

Since the BIOS Hacking 101 article and the BIOS thread in this section, are still getting steady traffic, I thought I had better post some links on where to find them, until I can get the updated article up.

AMI

AMIBCP V7.60.04 (DOS)
http://bios.rom.by/ROMutils/AMI/amibcp/AMIBCP_7_60_04.zip

This is just the updated version of the AMIBCP75 program.
Use this one on the older bios files.
While it seems to be a little better behaved running in a DOS Box in Windows, booting to a clean DOS is still the best way.
 
AMIBCP 3.13 (Windows)
http://rom.by/index.php?title=Wiki  <see note in the Award section>
http://www.lejabeach.com/sisubb/AMIBCP313.zip

You will need to use this one for the newer Core 8 bioses.
This is a stand alone program that runs in Windows. virgin file if you need one.

MMTool v3.12

http://rom.by/index.php?title=Wiki <see note in the Award section>
http://depositfiles.com/files/634617 (you have to jump through hoops, but it will get to the DL link).

This is a hardcore hacking tool….. so learn about it before you use it!
You’ve been warned.

This does more than just change and save settings. You can Extract, Insert, and Modify whole Modules of the bios file. You can also change the Text Strings that show in the bios when you go into it durning bootup, and even add a cpu to the list of chips it recognizes.
Very Dangerous Stuff!
 
Or just DL this:

TOOL_8_RC1.RAR
http://www.rebios.net/biosfile/tool_8_RC1.rar

This  file has both the MMTool 3.12 and the AMIBCP 3.13 programs included, as well as a few other AMI utilities. It also has a .PDF file that has the basic info for the programs.

Award

While searching for the newer AMI programs, I saw mention of several editors for Award. The two main editors are Modbin and Cbrom.
Like the AMI bios’s, you need the correct version of Modbin to tweak the files. You need Modbin for older files, and Modbin6 for the newer files.

I haven’t used any of the other Award editors yet, so I can’t say for sure, but since Cbrom also has a Cbrom6, I am going to say, ” Yes it applies to them also”.

For the latest(?) versions of Modbin6 and Cbrom6:
http://rom.by/index.php?title=Wiki
note:
This site is not in English, but has links to what looks to be the most recent of the AMI, Award, and Phoenix bios editors, as well as a couple of other BIOS’s I have never heard of before. Look on the Right side of the page.

For Modbin and Cbrom, and earlier versions of the 6′s:
http://www.biosmods.com/download.php
Phoenix

You are on your own with this one.
I haven’t even SEEN a motherboard with a Phoenix bios in a couple of years, let alone downloaded a bios file just to play with. Sorry.

I did download the editor that’s on the ROM.BY site (listed above). Just to have one handy .

Still more links

Some of these links may be a little out of date, require some digging to find the info you need, or have already been posted above. But if you really want to get into the whole bios tweaking/editing thing, they are worth reading. If just for the background info they can provide

www.wimsbios.com

http://biosmods.com
 
http://forums.biosmods.com/

www.rebios.net

http://www.rebelshavenforum.com

Remember, Google is your friend.
Playing with the search keywords, can get you some interesting results. Even when they don’t directly help with the problem you are working on.

Also keep in mind that Finagle’s First and Second Laws what! you are not Science Fiction fans? are always waiting to get you.
I. The perversity of the Universe tends to a maximum.
II. If something can go wrong, it will. (aka: Murphy’s Law).

Reset Arcserve caroot password

Award BIOS editor

Modbin6 should be run in the “Command Prompt” of Win2000 or XP. It probably will work in Vista also. The subject BIOS and Modbin6 should be in a directory by themselves when using Modbin6. Depending on the other files names and extensions that might be in your working directory, the apparent corruption can occur, so don’t include any other file not necessary.

Modbin6 allows you, at a minimum, to:
1) Unhide(or hide) BIOS Items.
2) Edit the POST Screen message.
3) Edit the names of BIOS Items and settings.
4) Move any Item or multiple Items.
5) Change the Defaults of any Item.
6) Create a new group and move a Item(s) to it.

Modbin6 will fix the BIOS checksum when changing something and saving, but the checksum usually is not zero(00h). Modbin6 just saves what it calculates, and this is fine.

If the un-zipped BIOS file does not have a “.bin” extension, at the command prompt, type and enter: Modbin6 xxxxx.yyy where xxxxx.yyy represents the actual BIOS file name and extension. Or simply edit the file name to end in “.bin” as all BIOS files are binary files. Create a seperate directory and place the BIOS .bin files and Modbin6 in it and nothing else. I use a single letter for the directory so then when in the Command Prompt, I have to do a minimum of typing.

Modbin6 v2.04.01 dated 2/17/2007 screen shots cont:

One thing I don’t like is you can’t tell if a Item is hidden unless you go into it. The coloring never changes with hide/unhide settings.

When we go to save, we notice the same message that the latest CBROM issues. “-Adding MEMINIT.BIN 100%” This module has something to do with memory mapping I believe. It is extracted and re-inserted by both CBROM and Modbin recent versions.

The temp files now include several that CBROM 1.82 generates. The file “P35BA521.bin” is the BIOS I modified during this session.

If both Modbin 2.04.01 and CBROM 1.82 are going to be used on a BIOS, Modbin must be used first. If CBROM is used first, Modbin will(may) crash when trying to save the modified BIOS.

Tags: BIOS

How To Install VMware Server On A CentOS 5.0 Desktop

How To Install VMware Server On A CentOS 5.0 Desktop

Version 1.0 
Author: Falko Timme <ft [at] falkotimme [dot] com>
Last edited 05/08/2007

This tutorial provides step-by-step instructions on how to install VMware Server on a CentOS 5.0 desktop system. With VMware Server you can create and run guest operating systems (“virtual machines”) such as Linux, Windows, FreeBSD, etc. under a host operating system. This has the benefit that you can run multiple operating systems on the same hardware which saves a lot of money, and you can move virtual machines from one VMware Server to the next one (or to a system that has the VMware Player which is also free).

Also, with VMware Server you can let your old Windows desktop (that you previously converted into a VMware virtual machine with VMware Converter, as described in this tutorial:http://www.howtoforge.com/vmware_converter_windows_linux) run under your CentOS desktop. This can be useful if you depend on some applications that exist for Windows only, or if you want to switch to Linux slowly.

I want to say first that this is not the only way of setting up such a system. There are many ways of achieving this goal but this is the way I take. I do not issue any guarantee that this will work for you!

1 Find Out Your Kernel Version

Before we go on and install additional software, it’s a good idea to find out about your kernel version because in chapter 2 we will install the package kernel-devel which is needed by VMware Server. There are multiple kernel-devel packages available, and to select the right one you need to know your kernel version.

To find out about your kernel version, open a terminal (Applications > Accessories > Terminal):

Then become root by running:

su

Then run

uname -r

The output should look like this:

[root@localhost Desktop]# uname -r
2.6.18-8.1.3.el5

which means you have kernel 2.6.18-8.1.3.el5 installled.

2 Installing Required Packages

Before we install VMware Server, we must install some prerequisites. To install them, go to Applications > Add/Remove Software:

Type in the root password:

The Package Manager opens. Go to the Browse tab and select:

• Development > Development Libraries
• Development > Development Tools

Then go to the Search tab and search for xinetd. Select the xinetd package for installation:

Do the same for the kernel-devel package. Please make sure you select the kernel-devel package that corresponds to your current kernel (so if you kernel is 2.6.18-8.1.3.el5, select the kernel-devel – 2.6.18-8.1.3.el5.i686 package).

Click on Apply afterwards.

The Package Manager will then resolve all dependencies, download the packages, maybe ask you to accept some unknown software keys (please accept them), and finally install the packages.

3 VMware Server

To download VMware Server, go to http://www.vmware.com/download/server/ and click on Download Now:

Accept the license agreement by clicking on Yes:

Then download the VMware Server for Linux .tar.gz file (not the rpm file!) to your desktop (e.g. to /home/falko/Desktop):

To get the serial number you need to run VMware Server, go to http://register.vmware.com/content/registration.html. Fill in your personal details. Afterwards you will get a page with a serial number for VMware Server. Write it down or print it out:

To install VMware Server, open a terminal (Applications > Accessories > Terminal) and become root:

su

Then go to the location where you saved the VMware Server .tar.gz file, e.g. /home/falko/Desktop (replace falko with your own username!):

cd /home/falko/Desktop

Unpack the VMware Server .tar.gz file and run the installer:

tar xvfz VMware-server-*.tar.gz
cd vmware-server-distrib
./vmware-install.pl

The installer will ask you a lot of questions. You can always accept the default values simply by hitting <ENTER>. When it asks you

In which directory do you want to keep your virtual machine files?
[/var/lib/vmware/Virtual Machines]

you can accept the default value or specify a different location where you have more free disk space, e.g. like /home/falko/virtual_machines, but this is up to you and not necessary.

At the end of the installation, you will be asked to enter a serial number:

Please enter your 20-character serial number.

Type XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX or ‘Enter’ to cancel:

Fill in your serial number for VMware Server.

After the successful installation, you can delete the VMware Server download file and the installation directory:

cd ../
rm -f VMware-server*
rm -fr vmware-server-distrib/

You will now find VMware Server under Applications > System Tools:

When you start it, select Local host:

Afterwards, you can create virtual machines (or import your virtual Windows machine that you created with VMware Converter):

Internet speed testing

www.speedtest.com.hk

Reminder Cube

www.remindercube.com/Site.htm

IP Sniffer 1.98.07

http://erwan.l.free.fr/

USB Virus Scan 2.3 download

http://www.usbvirus.com

How to use Acronis to migrate your system to a machine with dissimilar hardware

http://www.acronis.com/r/support/en/kb/502/aur_restore.html

Backup to USB, Create Acronis Bootable Media, Restore with Acronis Universal Restore

Step-by-step instructions on how to:

Back up the whole hard disk drive to an external USB Hard drive;
Create Acronis Bootable Media;
Restore the backup from external USB Hard drive using Acronis Universal Restore.

This document applies to:

• Acronis True Image Echo Server for Windows with Acronis Universal Restore
• Acronis True Image Echo Enterprise Server with Acronis Universal Restore
• Acronis True Image Echo Workstation with Acronis Universal Restore
• Acronis True Image for Microsoft Windows Small Business Server with Acronis Universal Restore

(!) Acronis Universal Restore is a separate add-on.

(!) Acronis True Image Home does not support Acronis Universal Restore.

This document contains step-by-step instructions on how to migrate your system to a machine with dissimilar hardware.

The entire migration process described here consists of the following steps:

1. Backing up your system partition to a USB hard drive;
2. Creating Acronis Bootable Rescue Media with Acronis Universal Restore;
3. Restoring the backup to a machine with dissimilar hardware.

Step 1: Backing up your system partition to a USB hard drive

1. Run Acronis True Image Echo;
2. In the main window of the program click Backup to start the Create Backup Wizard:

   

3. On the welcome screen click Next:

   

4. Click My Computer to create a backup of the whole hard disk drive or the system partition, including all the data and partition structure:

   

5. On the Partitions Selection screen select the partitions or the whole hard disk drive you want to back up:

   

   (!) If you are not going to back up the whole hard disk drive, make sure you back up the system partition.

6. On the Source Files Exclusion screen you can exclude files from the backup archive:

   

7. On the Backup Archive Location screen select your external USB hard disk drive:

   

8. On the Select Backup Mode choose Create a new full backup archive:

   

9. On the Choose Backup Options screen select to go with the default options or set the options manually:

   

10. On the Archive Comments screen put any information about the backup that you might find useful:

    

11. On the final screen check the summary of the planned operation and click Proceed to start the backup:

    

12. After you click Proceed the backup process will start:

    

13. After the backup process completes successfully you will the notification:

    

Step 2: Creating Acronis Bootable Rescue Media with Acronis Universal Restore

Please make sure that you have Acronis Universal Restore installed on the same machine with Acronis True Image Echo. If it is installed, in the title of the product you will see Acronis True Image Echo [Edition] with Acronis Universal Restore.

1. On the right pane of main window of the program click Create Bootable Resue Media:

   

2. On the welcome screen of Acronis Media Builder click Next:

   

3. On the Rescue Media Contents Selection check Acronis True Image Echo [Edition] with Acronis Universal Restore (full version):

   

4. On the Bootable Media Selection screen choose your CD burner and insert a blank CD:

   

   You can also select ISO Image if you wish to burn the ISO to a CD later or use it to boot your Virtual Machine.

5. On the final screen click Proceed to create Acronis Bootable Rescue CD:

   

Step 3: Restoring the backup to a machine with dissimilar hardware

Before restoring the backup of your machine to a machine with dissimilar hardware, please make sure you have drivers for the hard disk drive controller or chipset drivers. These drivers are critical for booting the operating system.

You can download the drivers for your motherboard on the Vendor’s web-site. Please note, if you downloaded the drivers in *.exe, *.cab, *.zip format, you should extract them first.

The driver files should have *.inf, *.sys or *.oem extension.

1. Boot the machine to which you are going to restore the backup from Acronis Bootable Rescue CD. (Remember to set the primary boot device to CD-ROM in BIOS to make the machine boot from the CD).
2. Once booted, select Recovery:

   

3. On the welcome screen of the Restore Data Wizard click Next:

   

4. On the Backup Archive Selection screen choose the backup archive with system partition that you intend to recover:

   

5. On the Restoration Type Selection screen choose Restore disks or partitions:

   

6. On the Partition or Disk to Restore screen select the partitions you want to restore:

   

   The recommendation is to select partition by partition, not the whole disk to recover. In this case you will get the possibility to resize the target partition size. In most cases it is not necessary to restore MBR.

7. On the Restored Partition Location select the target partition or unallocated space to which the backup will be restored:

   

8. On the Restored Partition Type set the type Active for your system partition:

   

   If you do not set the type Active for your system partition, the machine will not boot.

9. If you selected to restore only one partition instead of the whole hard disk drive, you will see the Restored Partition Size window that will let you set the size for the restored partition:

   

10. On the Next Selection screen choose No, I do not if you are not going to restore other partitions at this time:

    

11. On the Acronis Universal Restore screen select Use Acronis Universal Restore:

    

12. On the Specifying Mass Storage Drivers screen click Add to specify drivers:

    

    The recommendation is to specify the drivers manually. Hardware Vendors usually provide separate drivers for SCSI or RAID controllers. IDE or SATA drivers are usually included into the chipset drivers for the motherboard.

    The HDD controller drivers are critical for booting the operating system. Specifying drivers for other devices (video/sound card) is not recommended. Once you restore and boot the system, you can update all other drivers manually in Windows Device Manager (Start -> Run -> devmgmt.msc).

13. On the Select File screen point to the exact driver file for the HDD controller:

    

14. Select the driver that will be used:

    

15. On the Restoration Options screen you can check both options: Search removable media for device drivers and Search device drivers in the following locations:

    

    Acronis Universal Restore will search the checked options if some drivers are missing.

16. In Additional settings you can also check Change SID after the restoration is finished:

    

    If this option is enabled, the SID will be automatically changed after the restore.

17. On the final screen you can check the summary and click Proceed:

    

18. The restore process will start:

    

If after the restore the machine does not boot correctly, please boot in Safe Mode (hit F8) and check the drivers in Windows Device Manager.

Tags: Acronis, Clone