(UEFI) Dell XPS 15z L511z modded BIOS - and HOWTO

[Marinaldo]

yes, pls

[kasar]

well, as far I know, the only wall wich block software unlocking the BCLK, is the descriptor settings, wich block the software to read and write the ME region.

well, anyway, it is recomended to backup the whole chip with a hardware way.

I hard bricked my laptop while trying to unlock the ME overclocking settings.

only way to recover the laptop was hardware program the last working backup of the whole chip.

thats also why is it is so risky do the entire process by software.

1 mistake, and bye bye to the machine, no recovery method will recover a bad ME flash, the cdrom method only cover the BIOS section :/

[oshyman2010]

is that work with inspiron n5110 or just xps ?

[jkbuha]

Just XPS for now oshyman. We haven't managed to crack the n5110 yet as the descriptor tables don't seem to be in that BIOS.

[Brabbelbla]

BTW, has anyone come across a UEFI shell binary that supports the bcfg command and runs on our machines?

And, mostly @ TimeWalker:
I took the BIOS of the Inspiron 15 R SE 7520 model, as AFAIK it supports UEFI booting OOTB. I compared the the FOWM call in the DSDT of that machine with the one in the XPS'es, and they are identical. So that may be a part of the problem, but can't be the true cause. Have an idea of what else it could be?

[thorbsd]

Alright, I've mostly been lurking here, but now my warranty is up and I'm interested in trying out the modded bios on my 15z. I'm just curious as to what I'm actually getting with the mod.

What is in the hidden menus? Anything that will allow me to make this system run cooler?

Looking at GPU-Z, my 525m is using 0.98v. Will having it at 0.83v be unstable at all? It seems like a fairly significant reduction in power.

New CPU microcode really doesn't do anything other than allow you to use a newer CPU (if you somehow managed to swap out the CPU) right?

Is there a good site for information on installing OSX on this computer?

[jkbuha]

hey thorbsd

so in answer to your queries:

1) yes the system will run cooler. much cooler in fact (mine is approx 15C less than stock)
2) 0.83V works perfectly fine on my machine, and I occasionally play cpu-intensive games too
3) CPU microcode is actually for your existing CPU. it updates the cpu 'firmware' at runtime
4) There's lots of OSX tutorials around; a couple were actually written by me specifically for the 15z. GIYF

cheers
jkbuha

[thorbsd]

Alright, so the BIOS updated without issue.

1. My idle and max CPU temperatures have increased by 2 °C. Not sure why this went up.

2. GPU-Z shows the nVidia GPU at 0.98v (drops to 0.83 every once and a while when the clocks drop automatically from 600 to 50, but 99% of the time, it's at 0.98v and clocked @ 600MHz). Is this normal, or is there something I need to do manually to keep the voltage and clocks down?

3. I noticed the Intel GPU BIOS is now v2130, but the description on the first page says you guys reverted back to the stock v2104. Are there no concerns with 2130? Last I saw was a post by TimeWalker saying he was having some trouble with it.

Lots of new options to play with. Gonna see what I can tweak. Thanks guys!

[thorbsd]

Stupid computers and all the interesting stuff that comes with them!

I'm in med school and I've got exams on Monday, and I've spent the whole day "tweaking", reading up on updating microcode, patching DSDT tables, and reading through page after page of documentation of random pointless crap to figure out some way to enable some perceived ideal state of existence for this bloody laptop that in all likelihood will provide no tangible benefit to me or anyone else in any way whatsoever. Seriously, who the heck tries to flash a modded BIOS on a laptop that is 100% needed to work over the next 2 days?

I swear med school would be painlessly easy if I spent even half as much time studying as I do learning new crap about computers! Looks like it's gonna be another long night trying to catch up...

D@MN YOU NERDS! Quit enabling me!

[Brabbelbla]

@thorbsd
I believe the NVIDIA GPU is either 'off' or at the lowest power state when not being used, with corresponding voltage. When checking this with GPU-Z, however, the NVIDIA GPU is continuously turned on when sensors are being read and off when done, and so forth. Everytime the GPU is turned on it starts at its default, maximum clocks and voltage. So GPU-Z will think the NVIDIA GPU is running constantly at maximum clocks, but that's because of GPU-Z. You can run another program at the same time on the NVIDIA GPU, and have it do nothing to see the clocks and voltage reported by GPU-Z drop. And last thing I read about the Intel VBIOS was that TimeWalker without any noticeable issue managed to update his VBIOS to v2130, using Intel BMP.