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

[TimeWalker]

That's a bummer. It may very well be the case ..
Try just holding the Fn key on boot, if it will open up ePSA (dell's diagnostics utility) then you can't use any combinations with it.

[jkbuha]

Welcome kasar to the bios guru 'level' hehe - your contributions are just as valid and useful as all of us here - we're really happy to have you on board

@TimeWalker - you're right. Pressing Fn on boot takes me directly to ePSA. Must be another key combo then. What other keys does Dell reserve on bootup besides End?

[kasar]

I did keep reading about sb to ivy bridge support hacks on bios and I saw this.

We did all that, putting in HD4000 video BIOS and IB microcodes...it won't boot because it requires an 8 series ME firmware too.
Even sources with the internal Intel documentation tell us that it can't be done because of
the new voltage tables these CPUs use...that being said I have a chip programmer and BIOS chip motherboard socket on the way...

Someone else had the IB CPU...for the ME firmware update you only need software (I have updated the ME on my own system to the latest 7, but with ME8 it may just not boot afterwards...the programmer is to recover from bricks while testing...could pre-test ME8 on my own system and the guys with IB flash it...or may also get an IB myself next month...

source:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/hardware...ost8435171

so as far I understood, we need:

* add hd 4000 graphics vbios to the bios, (we have currently HD3000 one)
* add ivy cpu microcodes
* update ME


about ME, I am not sure exactly what it is, maybe some kind of chipset firmware, idk.

edit: just found this

Code:

The "Intel Management Engine Interface " is a part of the VPro technology of intel. This IMEI technology allows to manage your pc remotely.

I just found some interesting stuff in my bios relating ME

one of the unlocked menus talk about ME


also there is a module named: MeFwDowngrade.efi


gave also a quick read to this pdf

http://event.msi.com/mb/22nm/Bios%20ME7%...%20SOP.PDF

what do you think about this guys?

edit:
@jkbuha

thank you

[jkbuha]

I guess we could try to update the ME firmware. No harm in trying. Wonder if it's hardware dependent though - can we flash say a L521x ME firmware on top of our BIOSes?

[kasar]

I heard version 8.1 of ME is out, however not sure if doing this wrong the system can be bricked.

it is some kind of firmware wich can be in bios or not, if it is in bios, we can recover it by the recovery cd-rom image I uploaded, however if it is BIOS intependant, we can deal with a perm brick if something goes wrong.

maybe that is the reason prema said he was about getting a chip programer at this topic

http://forum.notebookreview.com/hardware...ost8435171

not sure anyway

[Paralel]

I heard version 8.1 of ME is out, however not sure if doing this wrong the system can be bricked.

it is some kind of firmware wich can be in bios or not, if it is in bios, we can recover it by the recovery cd-rom image I uploaded, however if it is BIOS intependant, we can deal with a perm brick if something goes wrong.

maybe that is the reason prema said he was about getting a chip programer at this topic

http://forum.notebookreview.com/hardware...ost8435171

not sure anyway

It will be interesting to see if you get a reply. Looks as though there are many hurdles to IB support on SB mobo's

[kasar]

It will be interesting to see if you get a reply. Looks as though there are many hurdles to IB support on SB mobo's

yeah, path to ivy bridge suuport at the l502x is not easy, but I will keep trying

PS: did you saw my message at the other forums?

I need some data from your ivy bridge proccesor ^^

[kasar]

good news. moral hazzard replied me

http://forum.notebookreview.com/hardware...ted-7.html

This thread has quite a bit of info:
Lets enable overclocking on all 6 and 7 series laptops


Lets enable overclocking on all 6 and 7 series laptops - Page 2

Please update us if you get anywhere with it.

aparently by updating ME , you also enable overclocking features


yeah, doing this probably will kill two birds with one stone (overclocking and ivy cpu support ^^)

[kasar]

just did something risky



FWUpdLcl.exe -SAVE L502X_FW.BIN

(renamed after to rom to do a quick hex edit ^^)


then flashed

FWUpdLcl.exe -f ME7_1.5M_UPD_Production.BIN



I will reboot now, to see the new FW changes, if you dont have updates from me in a while, you can expect a brick ^^

wich me luck

---

woot it worked !

i am running my laptop with updated ME

old ME




new ME ^^



I supose the next step is to flash a 8.x.x ME version, and or patch the ME file to allow overclocking ^^


I uploaded the stuff I used to update ME as a attachment to this post.

aparently the ME file is generic, this means I didnt had to find a custom ME file for my l502x, just used the one from the package from the other post ^^

[HairyCube]

With the new version of ME, will "Intel Management Engine Interface" disappear from Device Manager if you set it to Disabled in BIOS?
This is kinda curious actually...