Replacing the Nvidia Boot Agent module in the BIOS of the motherboard
Let me introduce myself, my name is Alexander Belov, I work at the Moscow State College of Information Technology as a system administrator.
About 300 computers are in my service, of which about 70 percent of computers are in educational laboratories. Quite often, the question arises of quick diagnostics of the system unit, for example, launching system utilities to check RAM and hard disk, restoring the operating system, etc.
At first, I used several bootable flash drives to download the necessary utilities. But it turned out that some bios in the motherboard are so old that they do not support booting from USB or the transfer speed is limited to USB 1.0. Plus, the total size of the images for recovery, we have more than 100 GB, so it went through to drag a bunch of different flash drives.
In parallel, there were attempts to try to download all this stuff from the network. I stopped using the lan boot rom network card on the client side and the tftp server with the pxelinux utility on the server side, respectively. Utilities memtest, mhdd, all sorts of Linux, acronis almost without problems downloaded over the network, if only there was enough memory on the computer.
You can even load winpe (bartpe), previously integrating a special driver into the image.
An attempt was made to transfer the automatic OS installation system to the network. It works like this - a specialist downloads a special winpe assembly based on win7 from a USB flash drive, after loading, the network is initialized and the script loads from the network a list of possible images for recovery. The specialist has to choose the desired image and wait for it to be unpacked.
WinPE 3 (the recovery system is based on it) is distributed by microsoft as a wim image. This is a file-oriented archive and unlike iso images, it is not so easy to download via the network. There is an iPXE project that aims to open source implement the PXE protocol. A solution was found on one of the pages . For the PXELINUX bootloader, it looks something like this:
The solution is workable and has been tested on a variety of hardware configurations. Errors occurred if the machine had less than 512 MB of memory or the necessary drivers to start the network were missing in the boot wim image.
And then I came across one oddity. In one classroom, this download method did not work, namely, the network card was not initialized (there was a link, but data transfer was not possible). Empirically, it was found that the drivers had nothing to do with it. The same WinPE image loaded from the USB flash drive worked properly. Suspicion fell on the Nvidia Boot Agent. After a brief search of the information on the Internet, several mentions were found of a stolen Nvidia Boot Agent module. The bug was that the module did not turn off after downloading data through the network and prevented the OS from initializing the network card. At the same time, boot using ipxe image was successful.
The question arose - is it possible to replace the Nvidia Boot Agent with the iPXE module. After short experiments, a solution was found.
Attention: Be careful - you use all the components listed at your own risk, I do not give any guarantees, and I do not bear any responsibility for the consequences of use!
So
Motherboard: ASUS M2NPV-VM
BIOS Version: 1401
Required Utilities: CBROM32 v198
1. Download the penultimate bios 1401 from asus. Unfortunately, the last bios does not suit us for a simple reason - there is not enough space to turn on the iPXE module.
2. Download CBROM32 v198
3. We look at what we have in bios:
Under number 12 is the NVPXES.NIC module, we will replace it.
4. It's time to go to the site, select “Advanced, for experienced users”, then “ROM binary (flashable) image (.rom)” and indicate the DEV and VEN characteristics of your network card (VEN 10DE DEV 0269 for our case), and finally , click Proceed.
5. Rename the downloaded iPXE modules to NVPXES.NIC to correctly determine the CBROM utility. We will replace the module in bios (we do not pay attention to percentages):
6. Check the changes:
12 the module was removed, 17 is installed in its place.
7. Copy the changed bios to the USB flash drive, stick it into the computer, go into bios and flash the new bios using the built-in Asus EZ Flash utility.
8. We rejoice in a bug-free download over the network!
As a bonus - a color pxe menu ala BIOS.
About 300 computers are in my service, of which about 70 percent of computers are in educational laboratories. Quite often, the question arises of quick diagnostics of the system unit, for example, launching system utilities to check RAM and hard disk, restoring the operating system, etc.
At first, I used several bootable flash drives to download the necessary utilities. But it turned out that some bios in the motherboard are so old that they do not support booting from USB or the transfer speed is limited to USB 1.0. Plus, the total size of the images for recovery, we have more than 100 GB, so it went through to drag a bunch of different flash drives.
In parallel, there were attempts to try to download all this stuff from the network. I stopped using the lan boot rom network card on the client side and the tftp server with the pxelinux utility on the server side, respectively. Utilities memtest, mhdd, all sorts of Linux, acronis almost without problems downloaded over the network, if only there was enough memory on the computer.
You can even load winpe (bartpe), previously integrating a special driver into the image.
An attempt was made to transfer the automatic OS installation system to the network. It works like this - a specialist downloads a special winpe assembly based on win7 from a USB flash drive, after loading, the network is initialized and the script loads from the network a list of possible images for recovery. The specialist has to choose the desired image and wait for it to be unpacked.
WinPE 3 (the recovery system is based on it) is distributed by microsoft as a wim image. This is a file-oriented archive and unlike iso images, it is not so easy to download via the network. There is an iPXE project that aims to open source implement the PXE protocol. A solution was found on one of the pages . For the PXELINUX bootloader, it looks something like this:
DEFAULT vesamenu.c32
PROMPT 0
FONT /pxelinux.cfg/fonts/cyr_a8x16.psf
INCLUDE /pxelinux.cfg/menu_color.conf
MENU TITLE Автоматическая установка
LABEL winpxe86drivers
MENU LABEL Windows 7 x86 (with drivers)
COM32 linux.c32 /wimboot
APPEND wimboot initrdfile=/install/7x86d/boot/bootmgr,/install/7x86d/boot/bcd,/install/7x86d/boot/fonts/chs_boot.ttf,/install/7x86d/boot/fonts/cht_boot.ttf,/install/7x86d/boot/fonts/jpn_boot.ttf,/install/7x86d/boot/fonts/kor_boot.ttf,/install/7x86d/boot/fonts/wgl4_boot.ttf,/install/7x86d/boot/boot.sdi,/install/7x86d/boot.wim
LABEL winpxe86
MENU LABEL Windows 7 x86
COM32 linux.c32 /wimboot
APPEND wimboot initrdfile=/install/7x86/boot/bootmgr,/install/7x86/boot/bcd,/install/7x86/boot/fonts/chs_boot.ttf,/install/7x86/boot/fonts/cht_boot.ttf,/install/7x86/boot/fonts/jpn_boot.ttf,/install/7x86/boot/fonts/kor_boot.ttf,/install/7x86/boot/fonts/wgl4_boot.ttf,/install/7x86/boot/boot.sdi,/install/7x86/boot.wim
MENU SEPARATOR
LABEL back
MENU LABEL Назад
KERNEL /vesamenu.c32
APPEND /pxelinux.cfg/maintenance.conf
The solution is workable and has been tested on a variety of hardware configurations. Errors occurred if the machine had less than 512 MB of memory or the necessary drivers to start the network were missing in the boot wim image.
And then I came across one oddity. In one classroom, this download method did not work, namely, the network card was not initialized (there was a link, but data transfer was not possible). Empirically, it was found that the drivers had nothing to do with it. The same WinPE image loaded from the USB flash drive worked properly. Suspicion fell on the Nvidia Boot Agent. After a brief search of the information on the Internet, several mentions were found of a stolen Nvidia Boot Agent module. The bug was that the module did not turn off after downloading data through the network and prevented the OS from initializing the network card. At the same time, boot using ipxe image was successful.
The question arose - is it possible to replace the Nvidia Boot Agent with the iPXE module. After short experiments, a solution was found.
Attention: Be careful - you use all the components listed at your own risk, I do not give any guarantees, and I do not bear any responsibility for the consequences of use!
So
Motherboard: ASUS M2NPV-VM
BIOS Version: 1401
Required Utilities: CBROM32 v198
1. Download the penultimate bios 1401 from asus. Unfortunately, the last bios does not suit us for a simple reason - there is not enough space to turn on the iPXE module.
2. Download CBROM32 v198
3. We look at what we have in bios:
C:\1>CBROM.EXE 1401.BIN /D
CBROM.EXE V1.98 [08/27/08] (C)Phoenix Technologies 2001-2008
******** 1401.BIN BIOS component ********
No. Item-Name Original-Size Compressed-Size Original-File-Name
================================================================================
0. System BIOS 20000h(128.00K) 14AB9h(82.68K) 1.BIN
1. XGROUP CODE 0E7A0h(57.91K) 09FD7h(39.96K) awardext.rom
2. CPU micro code 02000h(8.00K) 003EFh(0.98K) CPUCODE.BIN
3. ACPI table 0706Eh(28.11K) 02B92h(10.89K) ACPITBL.BIN
4. EPA LOGO 0168Ch(5.64K) 002AAh(0.67K) AwardBmp.bmp
5. YGROUP ROM 0C370h(48.86K) 05325h(20.79K) awardeyt.rom
6. GROUP ROM[ 0] 07BA0h(30.91K) 030C3h(12.19K) _EN_CODE.BIN
7. BIOSF0 01F60h(7.84K) 01561h(5.34K) _DMI.BIN
8. BIOSF9 0F550h(61.33K) 00797h(1.90K) _RT.BIN
9. BIOSF7 007A0h(1.91K) 005F5h(1.49K) _Xsetup.BIN
10. OEM0 CODE 0D9F0h(54.48K) 00698h(1.65K) BGROUP.BIN
11. PCI ROM[A] 0C000h(48.00K) 0703Ch(28.06K) NVRAID.ROM
12. PCI ROM[B] 0E000h(56.00K) 07271h(28.61K) NVPXES.NIC
13. VGA ROM[1] 0F000h(60.00K) 0A9FEh(42.50K) C51PV0.ROM
14. LOGO BitMap 4B30Ch(300.76K) 092ECh(36.73K) M2NPV-VM.BMP
15. OEM1 CODE 00BAFh(2.92K) 006D3h(1.71K) PMU.BIN
16. GV3 0414Eh(16.33K) 0113Eh(4.31K) AGESACPU.ROM
17. BIOSF6 0E20Ch(56.51K) 0790Dh(30.26K) EZFLASH.EXE
(BB) Compress BT-VGA 05E00h(23.50K) 04266h(16.85K) C51PV0BB.ROM
Total compress code space = 65000h(404.00K)
Total compressed code size = 57ADDh(350.72K)
Remain compress code space = 0D523h(53.28K)
*** NVMM 4.062.1906/19/06 <¦ * Start Offset => 0, End Offset => 1b00 ***
** Micro Code Information **
Bridge ID | Bridge ID
North South Patch ID CPUID | North South Patch ID CPUID
---------------------------------------+----------------------------------------
0062 00000414 | 0068 0000040A| 006D 000004
1B
0083 0000068|
Under number 12 is the NVPXES.NIC module, we will replace it.
4. It's time to go to the site, select “Advanced, for experienced users”, then “ROM binary (flashable) image (.rom)” and indicate the DEV and VEN characteristics of your network card (VEN 10DE DEV 0269 for our case), and finally , click Proceed.
5. Rename the downloaded iPXE modules to NVPXES.NIC to correctly determine the CBROM utility. We will replace the module in bios (we do not pay attention to percentages):
C:\1>CBROM.EXE 1401.BIN /PCI NVPXES.NIC
CBROM.EXE V1.98 [08/27/08] (C)Phoenix Technologies 2001-2008
Adding NVPXES.NIC ........ 98.5%
6. Check the changes:
C:\1>CBROM.EXE 1401.BIN /D
CBROM.EXE V1.98 [08/27/08] (C)Phoenix Technologies 2001-2008
******** 1401.BIN BIOS component ********
No. Item-Name Original-Size Compressed-Size Original-File-Name
================================================================================
0. System BIOS 20000h(128.00K) 14AB9h(82.68K) 1.BIN
1. XGROUP CODE 0E7A0h(57.91K) 09FD7h(39.96K) awardext.rom
2. CPU micro code 02000h(8.00K) 003EFh(0.98K) CPUCODE.BIN
3. ACPI table 0706Eh(28.11K) 02B92h(10.89K) ACPITBL.BIN
4. EPA LOGO 0168Ch(5.64K) 002AAh(0.67K) AwardBmp.bmp
5. YGROUP ROM 0C370h(48.86K) 05325h(20.79K) awardeyt.rom
6. GROUP ROM[ 0] 07BA0h(30.91K) 030C3h(12.19K) _EN_CODE.BIN
7. BIOSF0 01F60h(7.84K) 01561h(5.34K) _DMI.BIN
8. BIOSF9 0F550h(61.33K) 00797h(1.90K) _RT.BIN
9. BIOSF7 007A0h(1.91K) 005F5h(1.49K) _Xsetup.BIN
10. OEM0 CODE 0D9F0h(54.48K) 00698h(1.65K) BGROUP.BIN
11. PCI ROM[A] 0C000h(48.00K) 0703Ch(28.06K) NVRAID.ROM
12. VGA ROM[1] 0F000h(60.00K) 0A9FEh(42.50K) C51PV0.ROM
13. LOGO BitMap 4B30Ch(300.76K) 092ECh(36.73K) M2NPV-VM.BMP
14. OEM1 CODE 00BAFh(2.92K) 006D3h(1.71K) PMU.BIN
15. GV3 0414Eh(16.33K) 0113Eh(4.31K) AGESACPU.ROM
16. BIOSF6 0E20Ch(56.51K) 0790Dh(30.26K) EZFLASH.EXE
17. PCI ROM[B] 11E00h(71.50K) 119D5h(70.46K) NVPXES.NIC
(BB) Compress BT-VGA 05E00h(23.50K) 04266h(16.85K) C51PV0BB.ROM
Total compress code space = 65000h(404.00K)
Total compressed code size = 62241h(392.56K)
Remain compress code space = 02DBFh(11.44K)
*** NVMM 4.062.1906/19/06 <¦ * Start Offset => 0, End Offset => 1b00 ***
** Micro Code Information **
Bridge ID | Bridge ID
North South Patch ID CPUID | North South Patch ID CPUID
---------------------------------------+----------------------------------------
0062 00000414 | 0068 0000040A| 006D 000004
1B
0083 0000068|
12 the module was removed, 17 is installed in its place.
7. Copy the changed bios to the USB flash drive, stick it into the computer, go into bios and flash the new bios using the built-in Asus EZ Flash utility.
8. We rejoice in a bug-free download over the network!
As a bonus - a color pxe menu ala BIOS.
PXE menu color
menu color screen 0 #00000000 #00000000 none
menu color border 0 #ffFFFFFF #00000000 none
menu color title 0 #ffFFFFFF #00000000 none
menu color unsel 0 #ffFFFF55 #00000000 none
menu color hotkey 0 #ffFFFFFF #00000000 none
menu color sel 0 #ffFFFFFF #ffAA0000 none
menu color hotsel 0 #ff0000AD #00000000 none
menu color disabled 0 #ff505655 #00000000 none
menu color scrollbar 0 #ffA8A8A8 #00000000 none
menu color tabmsg 0 #ffFFFFFF #00000000 none
menu color cmdmark 0 #ffFFFFFF #00000000 none
menu color cmdline 0 #ffFFFFFF #00000000 none
menu color pwdborder 0 #ffFFFFFF #ffAA0000 none
menu color pwdheader 0 #ffFFFFFF #ffAA0000 none
menu color pwdentry 0 #ffFFFFFF #ffAA0000 none
menu color timeout_msg 0 #ffFFFFFF #00000000 none
menu color timeout 0 #ffFFFFFF #00000000 none
menu color help 0 #ffFFFFFF #00000000 none
menu color msg07 0 #ffFFFFFF #00000000 none
menu background #0000AA