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

[determo13]

@all
Happy new year indeed! Who knows what it may still bring in taming our BIOS'es

@determo
IIRC, the only actual thing required for RAID to be possible was editing the value of an option (/adding an option with value 0x02) for SATA Operation. To make an array bootable you need to follow the procedure as you already found, with bcfg (either using the shell I attached, or the vanilla shell with @follow_me's app version). Kasar's edit seems correct. What may be the issue is the RAID ROM itself. I found that pretty much any if not any other version than the stock one causes issues. I don't know if Kasar has previously updated it, might be the problem.

@follow_me
A while ago, I thought you were trying to find a way for added modules in the BIOS to load, as they don't, grrr. Have you ever succeeded there, or did you achieve some progress? Another thing was the graphics resolution, where I actually discouraged you a bit, but I am curious anyway.

EDIT: about the module loading, I have seen that, according to the UEFI specification, the boot manager should support driver entries as well, for instance from some ESP, although your bcfg app hanged when I tried that before. Maybe it could be a way to go?
EDIT2: about 'my thing', the UEFI RAID driver, I haven't tried anything anymore, but maybe there is a lead. Maybe. A lot of maybe. I found that, according to DXE dependency section of the driver, the UEFI RAID driver publishes some protocol that in the Inspiron 7720, which has the UEFI driver builtin, is present in the module PlatformPciDxe, and not in ours. But then, I do seriously worry about exchanging that module, as it seems to me PlatformPciDxe isn't just some random unimportant module and the Inspiron version comes from a newer codebase, I guess.

Hi there! and happy new year to you too! 
Well the issue is not really in adding boot option, but in creating actual RAID array itself
@followme stated 

First of all you should enable raid as your SATA operation mode 
then you sould see a Raid Configuration utility banner right after power on 
You should enter config utility by pressing Ctrl+i , and setup your disks to be used as array

But there is no Raid Configuration utility at the power on.... Ctrl + i does not bring anything, so question is how can it be fixed? 
Can l502x be modified to bring up that Raid Configuration utility? 
Please help! 

[Brabbelbla]

As I said, a different OROM version might be the issue. Kasar probably knows best whether he updated it or not. [His last version obviously had a newer OROM, don't know about the earlier ones]

[kasar]

well, I just updated the raid rom on the last file I posted on this topic, on the all other relases on the nbr topic I use the default/stock RAID rom and just the modified advanced setup module to let the RAID option to be selected.

so I dont think that is the issue.

anyway, I remember I'm using (dont affect other versions) an app I ran from the efi shell wich enabled the internal efi shell by pressing a hoykey (F10)

that shortcut enable app has been posted on this topic previously.

so it could be posible to make something like that also for RAID utility.

else, it should be at least posible to extract the RAID utility from the BIOS and rename to something like RAIDUTIL.efi and place it on a usb stick and run it from there once so the raid can be configurated.

if someone confirms me wich file it is, I can extract from the BIOS and upload it here.

edit: I didnt found any other RAID reference in the modules name than I changed on last page.

so I will upload both modules, stock and updated one.

edit2: ok , nevermind, it doesnt work it seems those arent exactly efi exevutables, so renaming them to efi and trying to run them from the efi shell doenst work

[Brabbelbla]

Nope, it is just a traditional option ROM, run through the CSM. I once experimented with a real UEFI driver (https://www.bios-mods.com/forum/Thread-U...7#pid70577), but never got it working. That was the 'my thing' in my previous post.

Did you actually ever see the OROM being run, yourself?

[follow_me]

@follow_me
A while ago, I thought you were trying to find a way for added modules in the BIOS to load, as they don't, grrr. Have you ever succeeded there, or did you achieve some progress? Another thing was the graphics resolution, where I actually discouraged you a bit, but I am curious anyway.

EDIT: about the module loading, I have seen that, according to the UEFI specification, the boot manager should support driver entries as well, for instance from some ESP, although your bcfg app hanged when I tried that before. Maybe it could be a way to go?

I've got some success with modules , but there was a problem with inserting new ones into image , all apps I've used were unable to rebuild image after new module insertion. I think I will have to write utility to rebuild ours image, but I don't have much spare time right now 

about my bcfg - it was ported from recent shell version and it is requires EnglishDxe.efi to be loaded before it can be used 

Did you actually ever see the OROM being run, yourself?

I did, actualy I was able to boot it and even installed system on this array, everythig is working as it should except TRIM for my multi-ssd setup 

[kasar]

Nope, it is just a traditional option ROM, run through the CSM. I once experimented with a real UEFI driver (https://www.bios-mods.com/forum/Thread-U...7#pid70577), but never got it working. That was the 'my thing' in my previous post.

Did you actually ever see the OROM being run, yourself?

CSM?


oh, and I never got that menu working.
Intel rapid storage menu deosnt looks avalible for me.
everything related raid I saw was the aditional menu in the hdd menu when I selected the RAID option instead ATA and AHCI



@follow_me

relating TRIM, did you tested any of the modded roms from this topic?

http://www.win-raid.com/t7f13-AHCI-amp-R...dules.html

[Brabbelbla]

@kasar
The CSM: Compatibility Support Module, for providing legacy functions in a UEFI BIOS. And what do you mean by 'that menu'? If you mean the menu in the pic in my post, of course, it was just an experiment replacing the legacy RAID OROM with a real UEFI driver and adding references to its form on a setup page.

The way it should be, when the RAID option is selected, on every boot the Intel RST splash screen like below should show, allowing you to configure RAID. Also never seen that one?

[kasar]

with this menu, yes, I mean that menu

also I never got able to access this previous screen, I didnt tried yet, but if determo13 asks it doesnt works using my modified, it probably will not work for me either.

[determo13]

Yes the intel RST splash screen would not appear...
here is the options I have in BIOS and the load screen


boot menu
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5ecoUy...sp=sharing

hdd, once saved and restarted NO SATA devices will be available......
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5ecoUy...sp=sharing

Tried to enable/disable all options available etc....
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5ecoUy...sp=sharing

and here is the boot screen
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5ecoUy...sp=sharing

Just a though, no disrespect, but maybe @kasars custom logo does something with the RST splash screen?

[kasar]

cant see your images determo13

anyway, I dont think the custom logo or custom diagnosis screen does anything with that.

I just replaced text on the diagnosis screen, and on the normal boot screen just replaced a image.

the logo module is also exactly the same the L702X uses, so all I did for the L702X was just replace it and it seems also working for the L702X users.

(hex compared both L702X and L502X unmodded logo modules and they are 100% identical.)

anyway, I replaced some stuff on other modules like the security tab adding more options and the ability of change the asset tag and disable/reenable the computrace once set.

the module I most focused is the advanced options tab. wich have many changes compared with the original one.

anyway I followed all of the steps discused on this topic to unlock the hidden menus.

relating the L502X and L702X differences, the only important difference relating raid, is that L702X have two internal hdd bays and the L502X have just one.

anyway both units can have an aditional hdd by replacing the optical drive with a hdd caddy.

I'm using one of those caddys since the optical drive is almost useless for me, I just use it some rare times to burn discs via a esata adapter wich I plug on the right usb/esata combo port.