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

[dkinsano]

I think the last one has more potential since we may be able to run the efi files and debug them in a safe enviroment.

[jkbuha]

I think the last one has more potential since we may be able to run the efi files and debug them in a safe enviroment.

Ok makes sense. So If I read this correctly this is what we have to do:

1) Create a Fedora environment (I'm doing this thru Virtualbox at the moment, but we can do this on a real partition as well)

2) Build EDK11 environment on Fedora

3) Move our Dell/Asus/anything Phoenix UEFI files into this build

4) Mod/Patch uefi firmware and verify using TianoCore environment

The point I'm not too sure on is (3) but let me start working on this and report back. Anyone else is free to try this as well and report any progress.

Good luck to all who try this!

[jkbuha]

Ok - baby steps but we're getting there...

1) Created a Mint (Ubuntu-variant) environment

2) Build EDK11 environment on Mint. Bl**dy painful process including development + build environments, but we've finally done it.

Now I need to figure out how to debug the existing Dell UEFI Bios under EDK11. If anyone has ever done this before - now's the time to help me

[marstone]

i am busy these days and i just read the last link, it is interesting.

step 3 seems possible but very difficult
the Phoenix tianocore would be compiled in ms vs
but now we compiling EDK using gcc

i have no experience about "combine" the binaries together from different platforms/compilers

is there any "standard interfaces" between UEFI modules? if any, maybe modules are compiler-awareless... I will ask my intel friends to finger it out tomorrow

[jkbuha]

Starting to tackle step 3 now.
Can anyone kindly point out how I can debug any existing efi (no need for dxe right now, we'll do 64-bit later..) from my Dell bios under SecMain?

[marstone]

The Intel(er) tells me that "efi files are pe32+ compatible", so are our dumped roms.
I tried to rename the rom file to exe or dll and it seems can be run under windows (rundll32 ***.efi DllEntryPoint)
but gives something like "memory protection" errors as expected:
the platform are totally different on cpu/memory managements to prevent further debug.

I also find that the .efi entry are different from Phoenix to Intel Tiano
the former is DllEntryPoint and the later is InitializeDriver
They(the Intel(er)) said they are working on "Binary Build" other than "SourceCode Build", however, it is still in progress.
in additional, their source build is only one way to "implementation",
They "concatenate" efi files to "FD" files and then "concatenate " "FD" files to the final rom file with the extension "FV" with some offset settings
i thinks the Phoenix way would be different. so the intel build detail would be useless

then, because "efi"s are "dll"s, I think may be we could try some way to load them dynamically
they said you can try run "load ***.efi" or just run it under the EFI shell as it is a PE32+.
I haven't build any uefi emulation environments yet, and i can't try it now.

as we already know, some "efi" files are "Application" while some are "Driver";
some "Driver"s runs at "DXE" phase while some are not
I think "Application" would be easier to run with higher possibility, but PlatformAdvancedSetupDxe.efi is a "Driver",
I don't know if we have a chance to run it or load it on an emulator.

PS: another idea, are there some Phoenix TianoCore ROMs "oem" unlocked the menus?
such as DELL poweredge server or other brands.
if any, we could compare the differents

PS2: there many versions bios for XPS Lx02x, are the menus identical from each other?
if not, maybe there are some clue..

[jkbuha]

Good piece of info re: dell vs intel efi. Kind of explains why I was getting segmentation faults every time i tried to load a dell efi

PS: another idea, are there some Phoenix TianoCore ROMs "oem" unlocked the menus?
such as DELL poweredge server or other brands.
if any, we could compare the differents

PS2: there many versions bios for XPS Lx02x, are the menus identical from each other?
if not, maybe there are some clue..

This is a really interesting thought. Does anyone out there have:

1) An original Phoenix UEFI BIOS from a Dell desktop/server which has some/all of the Advanced menus visible? We could compare the two

2) A difference in menu items between UEFI Bios versions (my 15z didn't have any bios changes from A01 to A10 unfortunately) that we could compare?

[ArthurianX]

I just realized how limited we are with this locked BIOS.

I just bought a caddy to move my main hdd in the DVD-Writers place and placed a SSD where my HDD was, I find myself unable to boot from the old drive, going with the logic that in the boot selection menu the CD/DVD Drive refers to the second sATA port, I was wrong, when I select that nothing happens.

I am a developer, I want to keep my data and a backup on hand all the time, so I created a disk image of my SSD, that I moved on the Second HDD, and burned a recovery ISO on a SD Card, obviously I can't boot it. (you might say that I could use a USB stick, read on)

Also I made a OSX installation on a partition from my second HDD which I can start up only with the before mentioned USB stick .

So many things, so little flexibility, if I can help in any way with this, let me know!

[jwhirl06]

Any progress?

I flashed the current A10 file uploaded with great success, I was able to push my GT525M to 800MHz Core, 1600MHz Shader and 920MHz memory. Saw a large performance gain in skyrim, was able to bump the resolution up to 1920x1080 and play it lag-free. Thanks!

[jkbuha]

Any progress?

I flashed the current A10 file uploaded with great success, I was able to push my GT525M to 800MHz Core, 1600MHz Shader and 920MHz memory. Saw a large performance gain in skyrim, was able to bump the resolution up to 1920x1080 and play it lag-free. Thanks!

That's great news - thanks for the feedback which voltage bios did you use?

Guys I need some help here. Can anyone out there let me know if:

1) Someone has an original Phoenix UEFI Bios (even non-Dell) which has the advanced menu options available (CPU clock, voltage etc)

2) Someone has a Dell UEFI Bios which had different options on the next BIOS upgrade

3) Someone managed to build and run any of the PhoenixDell .efi files in their EDK (I could only run the original Intel ones)?

Much appreciated!