Dell Vostro 200 v1.0.16 Experimental Unlocking & Upgrading Project

[1234s282]

Hello Everyone

You may remember sometime ago when we excitedly discovered that the Dell Vostro 200 used a standard Award bios instead of the silly unique format that Dell normally use , just like the Inspiron 530 /530s. This meant that , in theory , we could also open this bios for modding and unlock all the hidden settings , just as we can with any other Award bios.

There is a lot hidden in this bios but unlike the Inspiron 530/530s bios this one has to be opened in the very latest version of Modbin , which annoyingly doesnt display "Enabled , Disabled or Show Only" in colour coded options We are awaiting some screenshots of default available options from cyberpark

However

We frantically unlocked all these options (which was very time consuming as we had to go through EVER option to see if it was disabled or not!) and ended up with a mega mod. However , unlocking all these settings broke something down the line and everyone who tested the bios reported failure.

We then removed the mods to save everyone the frustration , effort and money

As with the Inspiron 530/530s, the bios mod for the Vostro 200 generated quite a lot of attention from members. Upon the recent revival of the Inspiron 530 unlock project i thought id give this one another try too as the principle is the same.

Features We Hope For In the Final Version Of This Mod (In Order Of Preference)

1. All Unlocked Settings Including Overclocking
2. Updated RAID / LAN / Video ROMS
3. Updated CPU Support (Although this ones questionable as to whether we can do it!!)

Because rushing through and unlocking everything broke the old and the new bios , we are going to take a more methodical approach this time around. While we didnt flash it , when we reopened the file for modding it refused to

open which suggests something got corrupted.

So , calling all Vostro 200 owners who dont mind testing..........

This project will be done one step at a time to try and isolate the cause of the corruption.

Disclaimer

As with all of our bios mods , by choosing to flash this BIOS you agree to accept the worst possible scenario that the mod will brick your motherboard , rendering it inoperable. Whilst recovery is available to try it doesnt always work! If
this motherboard has a removable bios chip (DOES IT?? PLEASE CAN SOMEONE CONFIRM??) You can post it to us and we will reflash it free of charge , just pay for the shipping both ways.

Pre Build Stage

Before we can start modding , we need screenshots of all the available settings in the original bios (v1.0.16)

As with all updated builds that will follow , progress will not continue until the previous build has been flashed and confirmed by at least one person.

Hopefully we will be able to master this extremely popular machine

Good Luck!

1234s282
Administrator

[cyberpark]

I'm uploading these screen shot.
no moding, just slic. -.-
the Dell Vostro has 250W or 300W can't remember.
but I has replaced with 550w for more power required graphic card.

[VirtualBios]

Any chance of being able to enable AHCI w/o having to enable RAID?

[Dansolo]

EXPERIMENTAL BIOS, flash at your own risk! Untested as I do not own this machine!

-Enabled a bunch of stuff with modbin, and like usual, used CBROM to extract the _en_code.bin and _item.bin and add them into the original BIOS to prevent modbin corrupting it. Includes some minor overclocking, temperature/voltage monitoring, and enabling AHCI, among some other random options.

-Intel Matrix RAID 8.7 for ICH9 - works for Inspiron 530, so should work here... probably.

-Replaced Phoenix AHCI with a modified Intel 1.20E.0027 AHCI ROM with the device ID of the original OROM, and the checksum corrected. This may not work. I do not expect it to brick the board (no guarantees) but it could stop AHCI and possibly RAID from working.

-VGA BIOS 1471 -> 1533 -> 1653

-Intel Boot Agent 1.2.50 -> 1.3.63 (not even used by many people, but what the heck)


Again, FLASH THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK! IT IS EXPERIMENTAL AND UNTESTED! And let us know how it works if you still want to try it.


EDIT: Found a newer VGA BIOS, so now it's 1653 from 1533.

[cyberpark]

I flashed it on my vostro200.
it is fine, without problem.
it show more 3 options on CMOS as PNP/PCI Configuration, PC heath status, Frequency/Voltage control.
also there are more options show on each, but I don't know the mean, like as shadow something...

the bios haven't slic 2.1 so I add for my w7.
and change to IDE to ACHI (I didn't realized I have still IDE option on my PC).

there is a problem what I know.
it doesn't show sata info from standard CMOS feature.
sata-0 none
sata-1 none
...
all is none, compared with unmoded bios.
but it is working fine.

[Dansolo]

Okay, so the AHCI ROM does not load, then? If it worked, you should see the initial BIOS screen, and then it should go blank and then give you the Intel AHCI iSrc 1.20E screen and detect drives. It skips that second screen, and doesn't detect drives? If so then it doesn't like the Intel AHCI ROM after all, and I would be able to provide a test with the old AHCI ROM, but that might break RAID mode.

---

Here's one with Phoenix AHCI 1.06.70. Could you test both AHCI mode and RAID mode for me, please? I thiiiink RAID should work on the previous BIOS, but this one might break it. By the way, I actually recommend RAID mode over AHCI mode if your OS supports it, even if you don't actually set up a RAID.

As for one with SLIC, I tend to mess stuff up when I try SLIC mods, so I'm not going to do that.

[cyberpark]

Sorry for my English.
When it go to CMOS with F2 after log show up, it can go to Standard CMOS features to know what has SATA has attached on PC.
it doesn't show, all [none], rather than [wdc wd2500js-75ncb3], [phillips dvd+/-rw dvd], etc...
but it working fine.

I checked with Raid option in SATA mode on Integrated Peripherals.
it show ACHI iSc, and can create RAID, and can see all sata hard disk information correctly.

Thanks for your help.
It doesn't show on SATA information on Standard CMOS features only.

[Dansolo]

Oh, so you can boot the PC in AHCI mode, but it just doesn't show your drives under Standard CMOS Setup?

[cyberpark]

yes. I attached the photo to make clear about that.
but It doesn't chear enough for my poor camera.
I using this vostro 200 at the moment. Thanks.

[Dansolo]

You're in RAID mode, then. Does it let you select AHCI mode, and if so, does it work in that mode? Or is it loading RAID even when you select AHCI?

In AHCI mode, you should get the AHCI screen. In RAID mode, you should get the AHCI screen followed by the RAID stuff (the screen doesn't usually clear in between, so you'll see AHCI then, after, RAID, but on the same screen.