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

[Crawler45]

Just went and tried to connect an external display through HDMI. The CD seems to be running at first but the beeping starts up again a few seconds later. Then all processes die out.

I used the command line in windows:

winflash.exe /BIOS /EC /SA /SV /CVAR /BBL file.WPH

[Crawler45]

Some progress.

I disconnected the battery as well as the optical drive and loaded up a USB flashdrive with BIOS to recover. No beeping. The computer is currently running with the main power light blinking. Hopefully it is in the process of recovering.

I'll keep you updated

[jkbuha]

i don't think it's recovering though - i recall the power light blinking as being an error on bootup.
if after ~5min you don't get any progress, try initiating recovery again (usb/cd inside, finger on right arrow, release 0.5sec after inserting power) and see what happens.

[Crawler45]

Had to get some sleep before trying to repair this laptop.

Anyways, it seems like you're right. It is not booting from the USB stick. It just runs the fan and that's it (no beeping noise).

However, when I plug back in the optical drive with the CD created with the ISO image that kasar uploaded, the system starts to beep 6 times.

I'm kinda out of options now, don't really know what else I could do.

[nebster]

Just to make sure, your laptop turns on by itself? You don't press any other button but the right arrow?
Also, try placing the USB drive in different USB ports just in case.

[TimeWalker]

The 6 consequent beeps are VBIOS related .. so it must be the new Intel VBIOS that new models don't seem to like very much.
Two cases in a row with same behavior is kind of sad.

@jkbuha
As promised here are the kexts for Audio (10.8.2 though, if you need for 10.7 - I can share as well)

Layout is 28:

Code:

Method (_DSM, 4, NotSerialized) { Store (Package (0x06) { "hda-gfx", Buffer (0x0A) { "onboard-1" }, "layout-id", Buffer (0x04) { 0x1C, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00 }, "PinConfigurations", Buffer (Zero) {} }, Local0) DTGP (Arg0, Arg1, Arg2, Arg3, RefOf (Local0)) Return (Local0) }

Edit:
Uploaded for 10.7 as well.

[thorbsd]

@kasar

Sorry to hear about your laptop. It takes a lot of guts to get that deep in just to try to push your system a little further! I really hope that the replacement chip will get you up and running. Worst case scenario, the laptop is toast. It's an expensive lesson, but please don't let this discourage you. Your curiousity, passion, and obvious talent are not something anyone wants to see disappear. Keep up the great work!

For everyone else, how hard is it to get a copy of OSX loaded on the 15z? Is there anything that doesn't work correctly? I've only briefly started looking into what is needed and I'm definitely a little confused.

[kasar]

@thorbsd

thank you.

well, I am being now very optimist with the new programer and sockets installation in the motherboard and programer.

just waiting for the new chips to flash and test, I hope that will bring my xps back to life and to modding path again

before it died my l502x was the only one with unlocked descriptor , I want to keep that


thanks, I hope motherboard replacement will not be neccesary, it would be really expensive and I would have to install all the hardware mods again.

[TimeWalker]

POC regarding wake issues in OSX has been confirmed by me today. There's no need to backport PlatformSmm anymore. Everything is purely DSDT-related. You will see an explanation here at some point. Basically memory region allocations are to blame.

And I've figured why I had brightness control issues - VBIOS v2137.0 from Lenovo's isn't playing very well with my Dell. I have reverted to using 2130 from Inspiron 17R SE and it has fixed the problem for good.

---

The VBIOS issue I've encountered regarding brightness may be the cause of two recent brick cases with 15z.
So @jkbuha it's worth reverting a Dell-verified (?) VBIOS for Intel.

P.S. still no refund from pledgie. :|

[jkbuha]

hmmm. i'll change it to the old vbios then. I need to understand why this issue happened as it will affect any future vbios patching. it's working fine on my 15z, so this is quite a strange issue.

re: pledgie - the donation did never reach my account as by that time my bank started blocking all incoming payment from paypal - could you just check when it originally left your account so i'll send an email to pledgie/paypal?