Release for Toshiba Satellite P10x users: modded BIOS to try and activate Conexant sound chip

[BuXb]

[..] or "say" to BIOS that the system is not Linux (or something like that). The latter is widely used now.

in grub.conf, you would just add this parameter to the kernel line, like this:

acpi_os_name="Microsoft Windows XP"

in Mac OS, the equivalent would be:

 

in /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist add

<key>Kernel Flags</key>
<string>-legacy</string>

it is not coming 100% close to Linux' acpi_os_name="Microsoft Windows XP", but still, have you guys ever tried that .. ?

[geiman]

hmmm, no I haven't ever tried that. I didn't even ever think of doing that with Linux, that would be great if I could get my nix os back!

 

EDIT: After a second look, I think I have tried what you suggested. Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't that be the same as booting with the -legacy flag after pressing F8 at boot? If so, then yes, I have tried that and it makes no difference.

[BuXb]

yes, same as booting with the -legacy flag after pressing F8 at boot

[mentorek]

in grub.conf, you would just add this parameter to the kernel line, like this:

acpi_os_name="Microsoft Windows XP"

in Mac OS, the equivalent would be:

 

in /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist add

<key>Kernel Flags</key>
 <string>-legacy</string>

it is not coming 100% close to Linux' acpi_os_name="Microsoft Windows XP", but still, have you guys ever tried that .. ?

 

No, I've never tried -legacy option.

 

By the way, I've tried EFI Strings, more than 3 versions of BIOS, different Azalia kexts, HDAEnabler.kext. Everything failing. The only thing that was very close to getting sound - as a matter of fact I've got it - was very very very silent sound with Azalia but it's not acceptable at all.

[geiman]

I've never been able to hear anything in OS X since I first decided to upgrade my bios, a decision I will kick myself for until I get a new laptop. However, in Linux I have been able to hear a very faint sound coming from the speakers, however the volume control does nothing and to hear it I have to put my ear against the speaker. I'll try the Linux hack mentioned above but I'm starting to think I have done this before, only in a different way.

[Thomahawk]

After I installed the modded BIOS (rev 1.01), i had no sound anymore in ubuntu 8.04...

 

I use the Conexant CX20551 (Waikiki) soundchipset. Do you also have that one, or do you use the Conexant Venice chipset...That's e relevant difference I think...

 

In Windows XP I had normal sound.

 

Thanks for your reply ;-)

[BuXb]

I don't know about Venice or Waikiki:

 

00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller [8086:27d8] (rev 02)

 

Description: Conexant HD Audio output

Hardware ID: HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_14F1&DEV_5047&SUBSYS_1179FF31&REV_1000

Manufacturer ID: 1

Product ID: 100

 

that means: Vendor-ID: 14F1 | Device-ID: 5047

[Thomahawk]

Yes, Device-ID 5047 is Waikiki, Device-ID 5045 is Venice ;-)

 

Well I'm looking forward until my Notebook is finally set-up with Leopard

[BuXb]

yeah that's me, I prefer Hawaiian surf to Italian canals ..

 

I've never been able to hear anything in OS X since I first decided to upgrade my bios, a decision I will kick myself for until I get a new laptop.

the trick is: look in the folder from where you applied the update which overwrote the 2.4 - it should contain a bios.bak. That bios.bak contains your entire BIOS from a to z, whereas a BIOS update from Toshiba only contains those parts of the BIOS that get updated (or deleted!) from that particular BIOS update. That's why all these people (look in the Linux forums, there are a lot) who, after they lost sound when updatiing beyond 2.4, never got their sound back by applying the 2.4 from Toshiba. The BIOSes beyond 2.4 OVERWROTE parts of the DSDT, if not even all of it.

 

Here's a quote from Master Justin:

Keep in mind that the DSDT for each system is totally unique, so it is best to decompile the DSDT from your laptop and then diff it against a repaired DSDT from a similar model. I found that Toshiba really varies their hardware even in the same product line though, so comparing two DSDT's may not be too useful. i.e. one Satellite P100 is not necessarily anything like another P100.

That's what we are experiencing here right now.

 

I have no idea why Justin's DSDT which came from a Toshiba Satellite PSPADU-033026 works on my PSPA3E-00R00DGR (P10x is of no importance because P100 in Europe = P105 in US ..). Looking at all you poor guys here it was pure luck that the modded DSDT from his works on mine. If you wanna know why look here ....

 

Mentorek is closest, because he had sound in Linux with a modded DSDT. Jusin followed this path here to get sound in Linux on his machine. This would have to be done prior to trying and get sound in Mac OS, and as you can see, it is a veeery long path ...

 

Still, I think if some of the values in Justin's DSDT that were modded from * (wildcard) to fixed values would be switched back to * (wildcard), we would actually increase the chance for a DSDT which is more compatible. But the testing again can only be done in Linux .

 

So - alltogeter bad news ..

 

Kabyl uploaded a dsdt.diff (modded compared to the original one). This is primarily for mentorek I would say. Mentorek, maybe you can narrow it down to the part which is responsible for the sound (and for the PCI bus ...).

 

Kabyl can only help you guys if you narrow down the culprit if possible all the way down to a certain value entry (like I did here). Thorrough analysis like this is paramount.

 

I hope I can supply my Linux codec dump as requested by you, mentorek, tomorrow.

[mentorek]

...

 

So if Justin is right then were {censored}ed! Maybe flashing to lower versions like 2.10 or even 1.70 would have any effect on that.

In theory, WinPhlash utility provided by Toshiba has Advanced settings where one could tweak some settings. It's possible to enable "zeroing block before writing" and do other stuff. To enable this open Winphlash.ini file and locate AdvancedSettings. Set it up to 1 and start the utility. Start the Winphlash and you should get Advanced Settings button. Maybe all of you had already tried it. I thought it's worth to mention.

BTW. I've got 2.40 BIOS updater on bootable CD. If anyone is interested I can provide you with ISO image. Also, I've found 1.70 BIOS for Toshiba P100 and I'm looking for 2.10 version. If anyone has other ideas let us know.

 

Cheers,

mentorek

[mentorek]

...

 

So after flashing both 1.70 and 2.10 BIOSes I have no sound. Well just the very very very very low.

DSDT dump from 1.70 shows that DSDT has changed slightly. Not a big change but still.

 

So, does any of you have a full BIOS image backed up somewhere? I mean the 2.40 and/or lower? That's the only hope I guess...

 

Cheers,

mentorek

 

P.S.

Bugs, does the slider for Master channel work for you in Audio MIDI Utility? I does not work for me (greyed out).

[BuXb]

hey mik,

 

master channel in Audio MIDI Utility is greyed out here, too (not movable), but sound OK, so that's not it.

 

I have a 2.1 BIOS.bak which I applied yesterday for a test --> no sound in OS X .. but I attached it to this posting, but like I said, don't expect anything from it.

 

I feel a bit sickish right now so I don't have the power for booting Linux and dumping the codec, that would be a lil bit too much for me right now, as rare as I deal with Linux heb ik geen zin voor Penguinen nou ..

 

I will contact you via PM right now because I want to get somebody else into the boat who, I think, has the capabilities to help us here a bit

 

PS: the full 2.4 BIOS.bak is unfortunately missing here, too ..

bios_2.1.bak.zip

[geiman]

So, after breifly reading this updates, I take it things don't look good. I wish I had known about the .bak file before. I've reinstalled my os so many times since then, no chance of getting that back. Anyways, if I understand it right, If we were able to get a copy of the original bios before the DSDT became corrupt, we could theoretically flash that and have a functioning DSDT, correct? If so, I have a friend at college with the exact same laptop as mine, and he has never upgraded his bios, so there is a good chance his is still intact. Is there any chance we could get a backup of his bios to apply on ours?

 

Edit: Wouldn't you think we should be able to get this from Toshiba? Surely they would have a copy of the original somewhere, why couldn't they make it available to us?

[mentorek]

So, after breifly reading this updates, I take it things don't look good. I wish I had known about the .bak file before. I've reinstalled my os so many times since then, no chance of getting that back. Anyways, if I understand it right, If we were able to get a copy of the original bios before the DSDT became corrupt, we could theoretically flash that and have a functioning DSDT, correct? If so, I have a friend at college with the exact same laptop as mine, and he has never upgraded his bios, so there is a good chance his is still intact. Is there any chance we could get a backup of his bios to apply on ours?

 

Edit: Wouldn't you think we should be able to get this from Toshiba? Surely they would have a copy of the original somewhere, why couldn't they make it available to us?

 

It's possible to use .bak file with any other (Toshiba P100) laptop I would say.

Help from Toshiba - hmmm... I would not count on them but who knows. Their policy is that they do not support any other OS than the ones from MS. Well, not all of the MS OSes. Just XP, Vista and maybe 2000.

One and only hope is that one of us would have some friend at Toshiba's service and he could provide us with the solution (erasing whole BIOS chip, updating with the desired version, stuff like that).

Well, these are only speculations (about BIOS being updated with just some parts), no one is 100% sure about the update process.

[geiman]

Well once I can contact my friend from college, I will try and get a backup of his BIOS, provided it's 2.4 or earlier. Then we'll just have to figure out how to apply it, or is that possible with winphlash?

[BuXb]

yes, possible with WinPhlash. Just look at the files and you will figure it out ..

[mentorek]

Any new reports? Mine has the same problem with no matter which (modified) BIOS image I use.

[geiman]

Nothing from me, no bios works and I have no sound in linux with the acpi trick. I wish I knew how/what they modified in order to correct it on bugs's laptop.

[BuXb]

sorry to hear all that. Maybe there are some more compiled BIOSes on the way at some point. But is is nothing I can influence right now ..

[sebast33]

hello all, I permit to write some lines.

to bugs: I tried the bios and no sound in leo and usb mass storage don't work but was working before...strange. I tried to install ubuntu and no sound with it, wheras with normal bios and xp in dual boot I have bios.... strange

 

to all:

http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/tais/su...mp;x=61&y=6

 

See at this page I found all the versions of bios for p100-p105, I will test it...

But question which bios has a correct dsdt?

[mentorek]

hello all, I permit to write some lines.

to bugs: I tried the bios and no sound in leo and usb mass storage don't work but was working before...strange. I tried to install ubuntu and no sound with it, wheras with normal bios and xp in dual boot I have bios.... strange

 

to all:

http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/tais/su...mp;x=61&y=6

 

See at this page I found all the versions of bios for p100-p105, I will test it...

But question which bios has a correct dsdt?

 

Despite the fact that this page shows me the 4.30 version only I can say that none of the publicly available versions starting from 1.70 had not been working for me in OSX. If you've read through probably you're already know that there is a theory that some of the updates overwrote some part of BIOS (not sure if it is DSDT but in Linux it seems to be the problem) that allows me and possibly other users to use the sound chip.

Wish you luck with flashing.

 

mentorek

 

EDIT:

I've forgotten to add that it might be related to pin config (in my case because I've got very silent sound). Or really whatever Toshiba had changed in their BIOS.

[sebast33]

if you click on the button "+" before the name you can see that you have access to all the bios. I have a difficultie to understand why we can't downgrade the bios and come back to a "good" version. In fact, for me when you upgrade or downgrade the bios enterly is modfied not only a part of it?

[mentorek]

if you click on the button "+" before the name you can see that you have access to all the bios. I have a difficultie to understand why we can't downgrade the bios and come back to a "good" version. In fact, for me when you upgrade or downgrade the bios enterly is modfied not only a part of it?

 

OK, so I've tried 1.70, 2.10, 2.40, 4.00, 4.20, 4.30 but no go for me. Maybe you'll have better luck.

[BuXb]

if you click on the button "+" before the name you can see that you have access to all the bios. I have a difficultie to understand why we can't downgrade the bios and come back to a "good" version. In fact, for me when you upgrade or downgrade the bios enterly is modfied not only a part of it?

look into the folder with the BIOS files, in there is a file bios.bak. Apply that, and you have your BIOS at the original state before the update.

 

Yes, the reason why the modded BIOS here isn't working is because the Conexant use altering pin configs depending on the Tohi lap one has. I do not know if ANY pin config can be corrected or adressed by modding the BIOS.

 

I have not yet found the time to mod the AppleHDA.kext yet. There is a step-by-step manual how to get it going on pretty much any Intel HDA based sound card, but it takes a couple of hours ..

 

 

OK, so I've tried 1.70, 2.10, 2.40, 4.00, 4.20, 4.30 but no go for me. Maybe you'll have better luck.

Tohiba NEVER supplies a complete BIOS as a public update, they only publish what has to be updated. Esp. the DSDT is usually left out in it's entirety, because it differs quite a bit from model to model. That's what the trouble is.

[mentorek]

look into the folder with the BIOS files, in there is a file bios.bak. Apply that, and you have your BIOS at the original state before the update.

 

Yes, the reason why the modded BIOS here isn't working is because the Conexant use altering pin configs depending on the Tohi lap one has. I do not know if ANY pin config can be corrected or adressed by modding the BIOS.

 

I have not yet found the time to mod the AppleHDA.kext yet. There is a step-by-step manual how to get it going on pretty much any Intel HDA based sound card, but it takes a couple of hours ..

 

 

Tohiba NEVER supplies a complete BIOS as a public update, they only publish what has to be updated. Esp. the DSDT is usually left out in it's entirety, because it differs quite a bit from model to model. That's what the trouble is.

 

I think DSDT part is not completely true. Using linux (without any dsdt patches), one can dump /proc/acpi/dsdt to a file and then decompile it. It's always looking the same. And Toshiba had never confirmed (nor denied) that they are only using differential updates of the BIOS. My guess is that the part that is failing is somewhere else (like it was said, some pin configs or whatever) and might vary from one notebook version to another. I'll try to contact Toshiba service here in NL and ask them about complete BIOS 2.40 or reflashing of the chip by them.

I'll keep you updated.