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

[kasar]

srry for the late reply guys,


just tested this on my l502x and the backup bios doesnt seem able to load windows, it automatically reboot/crash while loading windows.

also the sata devices looks emty at the setup options.

maybe we can try entering windows in fail safe mode, however I supose the services neccesary for flashing will not be also avalible suposing it even boot.

do someone have a clue about how to get ride of this?

[TimeWalker]

Read above, the registry trick should work.

[kasar]

Read above, the registry trick should work.

yeah, however if you need that before your bios crashes, it isnt very good I think becaose most of people will be unable do it if they are unable to boot windows :o

what about boot a small windows XP installed on a usb drive and flash from there?

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well, if it does boot under safe mode, you can apply the reg changes and then boot to normal mode.

that will make things easier I think ^^

[TimeWalker]

Windows To Go is right around the corner, so it won't be an issue at all. I've posted the method over at MDL and a person with bricked Lenovo AMD APU-based laptop replied .. I had made the capsule for him, but it appears that Lenovo has a totally different implementation of Phoenix Tiano, for AMD machines at least .. it attempts to flash the capsule right away, instead of loading it into memory.

[TimeWalker]

I would love to modify VESA 1024x768 to 1336x768 (you can alter just one axis on nvidia and amd vbioses, can't do both.. so I assume this applies here) in HD3000 vbios, anyone had any experience with this kind of things? I know the module is 64Kb in size, but I wasnt able to find any tools to decode data.

[kasar]

my screen is also 1366x768, that would be interesting

anyway, since intel hd3000 is the main GPU for my laptop, it can be dangerous since we can get a black screen with no image if something goes wrong :o

[TimeWalker]

Dude, we have recovery to sideload the new rom... why flash
My laptop has a single channel LVDS, so its pretty much the only screen it can have, I can't swap it for a higher res one. Will try snooping around ...

[kasar]

oops, you are right, I just forgot xD

so after modding the bios:

1. Extract the BIOS1.WPH from the OEM updater
2. Take the F33E367F-41D2-4201-9CB7-AFA63DCCEEC9_x_x.ROM
a) Use any HEX editor of your choice and remove the first 180000h bytes of the file, it's the initial padding layer. There should be 16 zero (0x00) bytes left before the first symbol.
b) Extract the F33E367F-41D2-4201-9CB7-AFA63DCCEEC9_x_x.ROM using Phoenix Tool again, set the Manufacturer as Dell, press Advanced button, confirm with Yes .. enable the option to be able to alter the contents of the rom. Press Go, wait for the prompt .. Go to the DUMP folder and remove PADDING-00000000_x_x.ROM which is usually ~1.536 Mb in size. Press OK and wait until Phoenix tool finishes. You will end up with a F33E367F-41D2-4201-9CB7-AFA63DCCEEC9_x_x_SLIC.ROM in the same directory which will be by 0.1 Mb bigger than your on-chip bios image. Rename it to BIOS.cap and place in the root of FAT32 formatted flashdrive
3. Cut the power to the laptop, unplug the AC and leave the battery in place. Press and hold the End key, insert the AC plug back in and let go of the End key. In ~ 20 seconds you will be booting into your favorite operating system.

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oh, this can be interesting for modding the intel bios

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/2...idia-bios/

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I took a look to PlatformSetupAdvancedDxe.efi and I found many overclocking and voltage strings missung from the current unlocked menus, this make me wonder if we already unlocked the most interesting features, yes, I am talking about overclocking.

any chance we analyze more in deeph the advanced menu module and unlock those stuff?

[TimeWalker]

This tool won't work for Intel:

Code:

Attempting to open /Users/g00dman/Desktop/AnalyseVBIOS 2/8086_0116.ROM
Length:65536

-----------------------

Attempting to open /Users/g00dman/Desktop/AnalyseVBIOS 2/10de_0615.rom
Length:126464
Found 1. possible NVIDIA Mode at 0x7bbd(Decimal:31677)
     Empty Table at 0x7cdd(Decimal:31965)
     Empty Table at 0x7d5d(Decimal:32093)
     Empty Table at 0x7d9d(Decimal:32157)
Correct number of finds
Mod should be working

But I have found a couple of other explanations on figuring possible substitutes for VESA .. today is a busy day for me, so will look into this later.
Regarding OC features and TPM - I believe this is what jkbuha was trying to wrap his head around lately.

[jkbuha]

Hey guys, been quite busy.

@TimeWalker - sadly no more options are left to unlock. The strings regarding performance are there by default and in our bioses are not linked to any of these strings in the menu tables. On another note - still haven't managed to boot into recovery. Do your laptops have a physical End key - mine is only accessible via Fn+> so maybe I have a different combo? Also - have you been successful in booting to windows (via ATA?), or failing that, booting to freedos to flash via phlash16?