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

[follow_me]

well, in the case of the L502X, we use the 1.5 mb ME firmware updates

bigger ones does not install at all

as for the moment I know two types of ME firmware versions, the 1,5 mb package versions, and the 5 mb package versions.

the small ones are usually focused to laptops, meanwhile the bigger ones are usually for desktop machines wich offer hybrid functions between for example ME 7.x and 8.x versions (sandy + bridge support)

I can't test either, because I've unlocked descriptor too
my bad, I thought that there is 1,5 mb and 3,5 mb versions
We will newer find out unless we try , and in case of 5Mb ME firmware we always can upgrade bios flash chip to a bigger one

[kasar]

haha, its funy before no one had it unlocked, and when we need people to test finally some software methods everyone have it patched already

well, I know there are at least 1,5mb and 5 mb firmwares, not sure about 3 mB firmwares.

I saw them at many ME updates, the update files are exactly that size usually ^^

about the chip upgrade , it can be a interesting idea, it reminds me like the router mods to upgreade the flash memory or ram, making the posibilities higher and make them faster.

however, not sure if it will work that easy without several softmods.

I remember timewalker said there were several mentions to the phisical chip models at the firmware, so if we replace the bios chips with bigger ones, I supose we will need heavy modding.

and also we would need to change the regions sizes, start and the end of each one.

I dont know how to make all of that , maybe just buy a bigger size chip and install it on my already soldered socket, but appart from that , I follow you

[follow_me]

I dont know how to make all of that , maybe just buy a bigger size chip and install it on my already soldered socket, but appart from that , I follow you

As I understand - we need to buy a bigger chip ( I already did )
Update "Bios Region length" using fitc to a bigger size(or ME region to fit 5M firmware) , rebuild image and flash it

[kasar]

wow, what a rush

where did you bough the chip?

what is the size of your new chip?

what model did you choose?

I want to join too

also, if we test with a similar hardware configuration, the chances of success by sharing the information will be higher

[follow_me]

wow, what a rush

where did you bough the chip?

what is the size of your new chip?

what model did you choose?

I want to join too

also, if we test with a similar hardware configuration, the chances of success by sharing the information will be higher

I bought it from ebay
http://www.ebay.com/itm/251150634753

W25Q64BVSIG - 64Mbit (8MB) - I bought this one because of 2 reasons
1 - It is from the same vendor and has series we have, just double-sized (just 2 times more cells), which means it can be used as one we have , at worst case, we will have to update drivers with new device Id

2 - FITS has a profile for it , so it wold be easy to modify base part of firmware

[kasar]

thanks for the info and link

I will get some of those in a few days.

so now we basically are doubling, multipliing by two the firmware flash capability with those, huh?

if we manage to get this working with bigger ME images, this may really interesting

did your chips aready arrived?

(I still waiting my i5 cpu package, spent all my money on it, so I will need to wait a little to get the chips)

also I will probably try getting 4 of them.

from the 5 winbond chips I got, two of them are already broken, 1 of them is burned/damaged, and the other one have broken legs.

so it will be nice to have extra ones in case things goes wrong.

well, I think the descriptor also had some info about the chips, not sure, so it may require some fitc editing too.

[follow_me]

did your chips aready arrived?

Not yet, have to wait week or two

You can open your dump in FITC and take a look what other settings you have, as far as I remember , there is settings for region offsets and sizes, chip Id's , and thats all

[kasar]

I will start looking for it, anyway your chips will arrive before mine, so you will be the first one to have them to test

mmm, do you have already a external programmer to program the new chips?

did you planned to install sockets?

I think this will probably need several testings, so if you have to desolder and solder stuff everytime you flash something externally, that will have high chances to damage the motherboard, the chips can be easly replaced if you have dumps of the chip, but as for the motherboard ... well, it is a different history, and way more expensive (I saw my L502X motherboard on ebay for like 250$! not specially cheap ^^)

also, while porting the whole firmware to the new chip (suposed we modified the ids, offsets, and sizes) what we will program on the new chip with the programmer at the first time?


I meam, we will have to expand the 4 mb backup with FF or zeroes to fit a 8 mb image (my external programer software refused allways to flash a non exact image size of the chip or to flash just partial zones, it allways wanted a complete flash), and also probably will need to place the specific parts of the firmware in specific zones

so the machine will be able to boot after the flash transplant/upgreade.


edit:

what about this one?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-WINBOND-IC-C...46156955bc

this one store up to 16 MB will never have probably firmware space issues. hehe

[Florin9doi]

as for the moment I know two types of ME firmware versions, the 1,5 mb package versions, and the 5 mb package versions.

the small ones are usually focused to laptops, meanwhile the bigger ones are usually for desktop machines wich offer hybrid functions between for example ME 7.x and 8.x versions (sandy + bridge support)

Not really. 5mb is used by Q/QM series chipsets which have AMT/vPro.

[kasar]

oh, I see, then if we get the 5Mb firmware working, it may brings the unlocked ATM menu (currently not works, reboot the machine)

thx for the fix florin