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

[kasar]

oh, looks interesting, do you have the standalone 2170 vbios file somewhere?

also, it was a while since I updated and patched the vbios last time.

is this still being the correct procedure?

1) From your original v2104 bios, could you copy range 0xc20-0xd1f into the clipboard
2) Paste it into your new v2130/v2137 bios
3) Reboot & cross fingers.
4) If fail, boot through recovery & flash original bios?

[jkbuha]

Yes it would look to be the case. If you look at the code table just after the Ivybridge/Sandybridge copyright, it should be functionally similar to your existing table. If not, just patch n go

[jkbuha]

Sorry kasar - only now did I realise you also wanted the vbios as well...

I've attached a little pre-xmas present - all known SB/IB & Haswell bioses together with release notes. The only thing you need to add is four bytes at the beginning of the corresponding .dat bios file - you will get these from your existing working intel bios. Open up your existing file, and you will notice it has four extra bytes at the beginning of the file. Copy and paste that into the beginning of your .dat file of choice, save as the respective .ROM and repackage with PhoenixTool.

Again - this worked perfectly for me, but I cannot guarantee that it will for anyone.

[jkbuha]

All

Just a quick update that I've had some time over the festive period to open up the 15z as I've managed to find an equivalent capacity replacement battery and also some new DDR3 16GB RAM as well. So with the help of the multimeter I've also managed to find the ALC269 sound chip, which as some of you may recall, contains the key to enabling the write on the descriptor region (if you short pins 1 & 5 on boot).

In the 15z's case it turns out that the ALC269 chipset is on a daughter board, not on the main board, and any shorting of the pins does not result in a descriptor unlock, so we're back to square one. Whoever has a 15 (not 15z) - is the ALC chip on the main board, and if so - has anyone tried to unlock the descriptor using this method?

Happy Holidays!
jkbuha

[ahmed_shiko]

i Forget Bios Password How to reset BIOS password Dell XPS L502x

[kasar]

@ahmed_shiko

we are discussing here some ways to reset the password

http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-xps...ost9508963

http://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=27493

however, they involve some hardware mods.

[nayheyshun]

Hello all!

Awesome/fascinating work you guys are doing!

I've been reading this entire thread for the last 4 hours, and decided to take a dive into the modding realm. I guess it was a tad to soon, and I've been cursed with the bricked black screen 6 beep .

I've tried the emergency tool only to be met with a blinky powerlight, and that familiar black screen...

I've googled every combination of "bad flash x15z" and tried many of "solutions" though nothing has brought my laptop to its former glory. Anyway has there been a solution to the issue?

I've currently got access to my brother 15z, which is the exact same model (We bought it at the same exact time). Would this help develop a cure? I knew the risks, but hey fortune favors the bold! (Clearly not in my case).

[jkbuha]

Happy New Year, and sorry to hear about your problem.

Have you tried creating an emergency boot CD as described by kasar? It has got us out of trouble countless times...

[nayheyshun]

@jkbuha

I have indeed, thats when i get blinking power light, but nothing upon the screen

[jkbuha]

Ah - I thought it was just when you powered on. Unfortunately it would appear that the only two options would be

(i) desolder and flash the BIOS chip as done by kasar in this thread
(ii) order a replacement motherboard (are you still under warranty)

But either way it would be important if you could provide us with any additional info such as board revision etc. The GPU in the BIOS file on the first post was vanilla (i.e.: from Dell's own BIOS update), so it would have worked fine with all 15z mobo revisions. Not sure why yours would have failed - what Nvidia graphics card do you have?