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

[kasar]

congrats ^^

so, you managed to unlock your decriptor.

what is the output of

Code:

fpt.exe -i

you also can try now the windows version of fpt also known as fptw64.exe, it is more confortable to work from there.

did you tried to flash a whole modified flash image?

(all regions togheter)

Code:

fptw64.exe -f totalflash.rom

anyway never got that error.

in my case, after remove the descriptor lock, fpt didnt complained anymore.

(take in mind having a complete working dump externally is a must have, in case you have to reprogram it externally in case of a brick, you can also copy and modify that dump to test stuff, but allways keep a original copy of the dump.)

[kasar]

ok, my new proccesor finally arrived

I will take the unit appart in following hours, so if someone need me to take pictures of something from inside or test something, the moment to ask is now

I think I will also investigate the misterious aditional usb port I was looking at the schematics, I will post about it after the tests.

about the proccesor upgrade, I switched from my old crappy i3 2310m to a i5 2430m, not a big upgreade but well, not bad for just 25 eur, I will also have turboboost feature now for testing stuff.


also, I have some little money now, not much but will probably enough to order some flash chips.


@follow_me

just ordered two

W25Q128FVSG - 128Mbit (16MB)

[kasar]

ok, upgrade went fine hard modded the unit a little more, added another usb port to the unit.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-xps...oof-6.html

however, the missing resistors cause the device to not be detected properly, will test some resistors in following days, anyway if someone have a clue about what could be the resistor value, I would thank him a lot ^^

[gabiz_ro]

R718 and R719 are resistors but 0 ohm value.
So problem is not from there.

How long are wires? They are passing in proximity of some DC-DC converter coils?
Try to swap between them.
Better try to use some good quality cable,shielded one from board to USB socket. Take one cable cut one socket and use it.Also connect shield to GND too.

[kasar]

how do you know it is 0 ohm value?

also, while modding some routers to add usb ports, they needed also some resistors and capacitors to work properly, else they didnt worked as expected.

about the wires arent really long, they are like 30 cm max.

also changed the connector for a test one, and added a small wire, so I can work only to the cable without restarting the system the whole time, just modding the small pigtail.

tried also swap the data + and data - wires

with the initial configuration, it caused windows to detect a device but it show it as unknown device, tried with several devices being detected properly with the other ports, and same stuff happens.

inverting the data - and data + wires, when I connect something, nothing happens.

this is how the cable looks now (I also tested without resistors.)





really dont know what could be the cause.

[gabiz_ro]

From schematic

[kasar]

yeah, I that was also the one I was looking at, thanks to that schematics I found the usb pins.

however, I didnt knew the resistor was 0 ohms, I just suposed the value wasnt showed there, so I had to try with different resistors.

well, anyway, that goes to a dell little stone module, and I dont know if there are more electronics between the pins I soldered and the final usb device.

arrrgg, I need to get this working.

so acording to this, there arent any resistor, right?

[gabiz_ro]

Resistor with 0 ohms may act like a little fuse in case something go wrong.
If you say you hear sound of connect-disconnect device but is unknown device:
-too long wires -interferences on data lines,can't negociate connection
-USB port is desactivated by BIOS or driver.

For that BT_DET# could be guilty ,no BT module present port disabled
Need to check on schematic,BT_DET# related part.
You can read PCI registers and compare with datasheet of chipset and see if USB port is enabled or disabled.

[kasar]

mmm, if the port were disabled, I think I shouldn't notice anything on it, basically no sound or event.

mmm, I cant find more info about BT_DET# on the schematics

do you think 20 cm of wires could be causing issues? (long wires)

in that case, I can be a little out of luck.

well, if you check the other topic, I made a similar mod with the usb bluetooth module, the wires are the same, maybe 10 or 15 cm of wires, it works fine.

I also noticed on the usb window there are a lot of non used/connected usb ports.

that made me investigate the schematics a little more, I found interesting stuff at the page number 11

there are a lot of unused usb ports.



however not sure where those pins are exactly.

---

went to the bios, checked one of the advanced unlocked menus, it was like this:




enabled all of them, saved settings, started windows again, same stuff happens.

so it wasnt the cause.

[follow_me]

@kasar
Do you have a 5M ME image ? I've just got 8/16 MB chips and want to try expand image into