ASUS P8Z77-M

This page describes how to run coreboot on the ASUS P8Z77-M.

Flashing coreboot

Type Value
Model W25Q64FVA1Q
Size 8 MiB
Package DIP-8
Socketed yes
Write protection yes
Dual BIOS feature no
Internal flashing yes

The flash chip is located between the blue SATA ports.

The main SPI flash cannot be written internally because Asus disables BIOSWE and enables BLE/SMM_BWP flags in BIOS_CNTL for their latest bioses. To install coreboot for the first time, the flash chip must be removed and flashed with an external programmer; flashing in-circuit doesn’t work. The flash chip is socketed, so it’s easy to remove and reflash.

Working

  • All USB2 ports (mouse, keyboard and thumb drive)
  • USB3 ports on rear (Boots SystemRescue 6.0.3 off a Kingston DataTraveler G4 8GB)
  • Gigabit Ethernet (RTL8111F)
  • SATA3, SATA2 (all ports, hot-swap not tested) (Blue SATA2) (Blue SATA2) (White SATA3) port 5 port 3 port 1 port 6 port 4 port 2
  • CPU Temp sensors and hardware monitor (some values don’t make sense)
  • Native and MRC memory initialization (please see [Native raminit compatibility] and [MRC memory compatibility])
  • Integrated graphics with both libgfxinit and the Intel Video BIOS OpROM (VGA/DVI-D/HDMI tested and working)
  • 16x PCIe GPU in PCIe-16x/4x slots (tested using nVidia Quadro 600 under SystemRescue 6.0.3 (Arch based))
  • Serial port
  • PCI slot Rockwell HSF 56k PCI modem, Sound Blaster Live! CT4780 (cards detected, not function tested) Promise SATA150 TX2plus (R/W OK to connected IDE hard drive, OpRom loaded, cannot boot from SeaBIOS)
  • S3 suspend from Linux
  • 2-channel analog audio (WAV playback by mplayer via back panel line out port)
  • Windows 10 with libgfxinit high resolution framebuffer and VBT

Known issues

  • If you use MRC raminit, the NVRAM variable gfx_uma_size may be ignored as IGP’s UMA could be reconfigured by the blob.
  • If SeaBIOS is used for payload with libgfxinit, it must be brought in via coreboot’s config. Otherwise integrated graphics would fail with a black screen.
  • PCI POST card is not functional because the PCI bridge early init is not yet done.
  • The black PCIEX16_2 slot, although can physically fit an x16, only has physical contacts for an x8, and is electrically an x4 only.

Untested

  • Wake-on-LAN
  • USB3 on header
  • TPM header
  • EHCI debugging (Debug port is on the 5-pin side of USB2_910 header)
  • HDMI and S/PDIF audio out

Not working

  • PS/2 keyboard or mouse
  • 4 and 6 channel analog audio out: Rear left and right audio is a muted copy of front left and right audio, and the other two channels are silent.

Native (and MRC) raminit compatibility

  • OCZ OCZ3G1600LVAM 2x2GB kit works at DDR3-1066 instead of DDR3-1600.
  • GSkill F3-1600C9D-16GRSL 2x8GB SODIMM kit on adapter boots, but is highly unstable with obvious pattern of bit errors during memtest86+ runs.
  • Samsung PC3-10600U 2x2GB kit works at full rated speed.
  • Kingston KTH9600B-4G 2x4GB kit works at full rated speed.

Extra onboard buttons

The board has two onboard buttons, and each has a related LED nearby. What controls the LEDs and what the buttons control are unknown, therefore they currently do nothing under coreboot.

  • BIOS_FLBK OEM firmware uses this button to facilitate a simple update mechanism via a USB drive plugged into the bottom USB port of the USB/LAN stack.
  • MemOK! OEM firmware uses this button for memory tuning related to overclocking.

Technology

Northbridge Intel Sandy Bridge-specific documentation
Southbridge bd82x6x
CPU model_206ax
Super I/O Nuvoton NCT6779D
EC None
Coprocessor Intel Management Engine

Extra resources