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

[kasar]

ok, I managed to find how to change voltage from our cards, and not using nbitor for it (still need to use it to fix the last byte of the file (some kind of checksum))

I will also post it here if you guys are interested.

made a small how to with also a table of all posible values ^^

ok, I got how to change the voltage from our nvidia cards from 0.8V TO 1.8V !!!

all required to do is change the byte inside parentheses with another hex value from the voltage table I posted at the image ^^



I will keep modding the bioses by myself, but I will also make how to modify voltage for nvidia cards:



--------------GT525m----------------


module name: 8C8BAE9C-4AEB-44DF-AB67-1E4D8242E964_1_828.rom


[[[2D voltages]]]


[P3]

43 65 87 A9 DC FE 03 40 (55)

[P7]

00 00 0E 81 00 00 07 40 (55)



[[[3D voltages]]]


[p15]


00 00 00 00 00 00 0F 00 (5F)






--------------GT540m----------------

module name: 55009181-E3AE-4C68-9D93-29758EA9E18C_1_831.rom

[[[2D VOLTAGES]]]


[P3]

43 65 87 A9 DC FE 03 40 (53)

[P7]


00 00 0E 81 00 00 07 40 (53)


[[[3D voltages]]]


[p15]

00 00 00 00 00 00 0F 00 (62)










and finally, to fix the last checksum byte inside the file, al you need to is open the file with nbitor, dont touch anything, and save it with the same name, nbitor will fix the checksum by itself

[TimeWalker]

dude, what the [censored] ...
As of A13 Dell has apparently changes something for Fn+F4/F5 so my brightness control no longer works with IOWMIFamily patched kext that I compiled.
"Fix the QuickSet compatibility problem on Windows 8" - says the changelog.
I used to parse the third (counting from 0 it's actually 2nd) element from the INFO array which is returned by WED.
Now nothing has bloody changed in DSDT but it won't pick up the 05/06 code from the 3rd element ..

Code:

Method (_Q80, 0, NotSerialized)  // _Qxx: EC Query to Increase Brightness
                    {
                        P8XH (Zero, 0x80)
                        If (LEqual (OSYS, 0x07D6)) ----> if OS is Windows Vista
                        {
                            Store (0x03, ^^^^AMW0.INF0)
                            Store (Zero, ^^^^AMW0.INF1)
                            Store (0xE006, ^^^^AMW0.INF2)
                            Store (Local0, ^^^^AMW0.INF3)
                            If (LEqual (DMFG, Zero))
                            {
                                Notify (AMW0, 0xD0)
                            }
                        }
                        Else -----> any other OS defined in the PCI0._INI ()
                        {
                            Store (0x03, ^^^^AMW0.INF0)
                            Store (Zero, ^^^^AMW0.INF1)
                            Store (0xE006, ^^^^AMW0.INF2)
                            Store (Local0, ^^^^AMW0.INF3)
                            If (LEqual (DMFG, Zero))
                            {
                                Notify (AMW0, 0xD0)
                            }
                        }
                    }

Code:

Method (_Q81, 0, NotSerialized)  // _Qxx: EC Query  to Decrease Brightness
                    {
                        P8XH (Zero, 0x81)
                        If (LEqual (OSYS, 0x07D6))
                        {
                            Store (0x03, ^^^^AMW0.INF0)
                            Store (Zero, ^^^^AMW0.INF1)
                            Store (0xE005, ^^^^AMW0.INF2)
                            Store (Local0, ^^^^AMW0.INF3)
                            If (LEqual (DMFG, Zero))
                            {
                                Notify (AMW0, 0xD0)
                            }
                        }
                        Else
                        {
                            Store (0x03, ^^^^AMW0.INF0)
                            Store (Zero, ^^^^AMW0.INF1)
                            Store (0xE005, ^^^^AMW0.INF2)
                            Store (Local0, ^^^^AMW0.INF3)
                            If (LEqual (DMFG, Zero))
                            {
                                Notify (AMW0, 0xD0)
                            }
                        }
                    }

what? why???
where do I start digging ??
Anyone using IOWMIFamily ?

Also @Florin what do you have to say about that ? Please chime in ...

And just for the record I have tried clean A13 with no mods ... nada.
The driver is actually loaded and doesn't show any errors .. I've compiled a debug ?

[jkbuha]

Actually I am using IOWMIFamily - on my A12 bios. And it works great. Fn F4+F5 reduce/increase the brightness perfectly. I still have issues with initial screen brightness until the SS switches off the screen and/or the display sleeps, but otherwise it's fine.

Guys I've realised there's a lot of exciting things going on at the moment, so just that we're all clear on the current activities in this thread and haven't missed anything, they are as follows:

1) Implement auto-patching routine (nebster/timewalker)
2) Patch DSDT (timewalker/kasar/jkbuha)
3) New vbios find/patch (jkbuha)
4) ME firmware updates (kasar/timewalker/jkbuha)
5) Backporting sleep (PlatformSmm.efi) to the latest L502x/L702x bioses for Sleep enabling

[humanitybg]

[quote='kasar' pid='51322' dateline='1352684426']
ok, I managed to find how to change voltage from our cards, and not using nbitor for it (still need to use it to fix the last byte of the file (some kind of checksum))

I will also post it here if you guys are interested.

made a small how to with also a table of all posible values ^^

ok, I got how to change the voltage from our nvidia cards from 0.8V TO 1.8V !!!

Isn't this sort of overkill? going from 0.8V to 1.8V seems like some extreme stuff for a laptop card, or am I mistaken?

[kasar]

@humanitybg

yeah, I'm almost sure 1.8 will fry the card, for that reason I doubt I will flash anything over 1.05 on mine ^^

@jkbuha

mmm, well, I am trying to backport the PlatformSmm.efi module to the a12, will let u know if I had sucess, also trying to flash a modded dsdt timewalker gave to me

[humanitybg]

@humanitybg

yeah, I'm almost sure 1.8 will fry the card, for that reason I doubt I will flash anything over 1.05 on mine ^^

Keep us updated on that one!

[TimeWalker]

@jkbuha that's about right what's going on right now.
I wonder what the heck has happened to my WMIFamily .. care to share yours, or it's the same one DoiX gave me ?

[jkbuha]

@kasar - thanks updated!
@timewalker - yes same as DoiX - don't forget to modify your DSDT though as well!

[TimeWalker]

It was modified for ages .. I had it working for half a year at least. And now it doesn't work at all ..
I can see the driver attach to AMW0 perfectly fine but it doesn't react when I press the hotkeys and it pisses me off real hard ..
I recall it was working when I tried the VBIOS from Inspiron 17R ..

[kasar]

@jkbuha

oh, I forgot to tell u:

yeah, I sucesfully replaced the PlatformSmm.efi module from a06 to a12 bios, I am now waiting user input at the other topic


as for the dsdt, no luck yet, as timewalker said, it doenst work yet.

when I tried to flash the lucid virtu patch, I was unable even to see the flasher after the restart, it just frooze and needed a manual/force shutdown by holding pwr button for 5 secs