40GB: GCT-Allwell STB1030N (Original Bios Inside...)

lagmagnet · Tue Aug 03, 2004 2:46 am

Hi,

Was wondering if anyone could possibly patch this BIOS for a 1030N set top box.

It is running an award 4.x bios and appears to suffer from the 32GB limit.

BIOS available at http://www.users.on.net/~ultrabyte/STB1030N.zip

Thanks in advance

Wed Aug 04, 2004 11:06 am

What size disk are you trying to use ? Our own patcher can fix the 32GiB bug but says there is not enough free space to fix the 64GiB patch as well. I can try another patcher if you need >64GiB.

lagmagnet · Wed Aug 04, 2004 1:09 pm

Hi Nick,

I'm trying to use a 40GB.

It would be handy to fix the 64 problem as well if this is possible... "Just in case".

Feel free to scrap the GCT splash screen OEM Banner if this will give the required space.

One other quick question, am I correct in assuming there is a full intel nic boot rom (onboard of the STB) within this BIOS?

Thanks!

Wed Aug 04, 2004 1:36 pm

Code: Select all

CBROM V2.07 (C)Award Software 2000 All Rights Reserved.

              ******** gct1030N.bin BIOS component ********

 No. Item-Name         Original-Size   Compressed-Size Original-File-Name
=========================================================================
  0. System BIOS       20000h(128.00K)12AFDh(74.75K)original.tmp
  1. XGROUP CODE       03E60h(15.59K)02AD9h(10.71K)awardext.rom
  2. EPA pattern       0168Ch(5.64K)0030Dh(0.76K)AwardBmp.bmp
  3. VGA ROM[1]        08000h(32.00K)04B87h(18.88K)VGA1.BIN
  4. PCI driver[A]     07200h(28.50K)04768h(17.85K)i558.rom
  5. VSA driver        20000h(128.00K)095E1h(37.47K)GXM55305.bin
  6. LOGO BitMap       2583Ch(150.06K)01715h(5.77K)splash2.bmp

  Total compress code space  = 32AFDh(202.75K)
  Total compressed code size = 298C8h(166.20K)
  Remain compress code space = 09235h(36.55K)

The space issue isn't the free space in the ROM, it's a question of finding enough contiguous free space in the original.tmp module to put in some extra code.
There's a module there for the Intel i558 NIC chip.
I've patched the 32GiB bug and posted the file at the "untested" link in my signature - look for (GCT STB1030N 64GiB).zip. Try this (at your own risk as usual).
apple_rom's patcher bp-4_23.exe falls over trying to patch this BIOS but there is a later beta we could try when we have the time.

lagmagnet · Thu Aug 05, 2004 12:59 am

NickS wrote: apple_rom's patcher bp-4_23.exe falls over trying to patch this BIOS but there is a later beta we could try when we have the time.

I had that same problem but was getting "can not find start.modul" and assumed I was doing something wrong

Thanks for doing the patch. I'll give it a run on the box later today and see how it goes.

lagmagnet · Fri Aug 06, 2004 6:30 am

Seemed to work perfectly.

40GB is detecting fine and installed linux without issue.

Thanks NickS!

Fri Aug 06, 2004 8:46 pm

Thanks for the feedback!

lagmagnet · Mon Aug 30, 2004 5:23 am

Just wondering if it was possible to get the 64gb problem sorted as well.

Is there any workaround for the lack of space?