Unlock bios DELL 640m

[megaman]

Hi there,

could you please unlock the phoenix bios A10 for the laptop DELL INSPIRON 640m? The bios is here:

ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/bios/MX61_A10.EXE

I've just reemplaced the LCD and the inverter. Nevertheless, the brightness level is low, like level 3 and 4 on a full working LCD. It seems that the generic LCD panel I bought is not in the whitelist, so I think that unlocking the bios might help.

I know that "unlocking the bios" has nothing to do with "adding to whitelist". Anyway, the extra options might come in handy before attempting to mod the bios itself, since the risk of bricking is at least 15% higher.

Thank you.

[AHMED HOSSAM]

i think that the brightness level could be set by the DSDT mod not modifying the setup utility .
i will see what i can do in the DSDT and reply to you in a couple of days .

[megaman]

Thank you very much. I really appreciate it.

[AHMED HOSSAM]

i have tried several times to extract your bios file from the exe but it seems like its special dell bios not standard phoenix which can`t be extracted from the exe file .
there is a command for extracting hdr file from the exe and i have done this but i don`t knew how to modify the hdr file as its special dell bios not like other phoenix bioses .
i`m so sorry for this .

[gabiz_ro]

LCD is LCD inverter is inverter. You can change them one by one.
Can't you use old inverter?

[megaman]

Thanks anyway, Ahmed. You did your best, I'm sure.

And gabiz_ro, I got the old inverter, and I tested, and the problem remains the same. I can't get full brightness, the Diagnostics applications reports no problems at all, no inevrter problems, no LCD problem. There also no "funny noises" that lead me to think some wire is not connected properly.

Anyways, I think i'm gonna dissamble the panel again and check the connections one more time.

By the way, the 32 pin cable that connect the motherboard with the LCD panel didn't fit quite well in the new LCD I bought. So I had to cut the thingies that "lock" the connections. Those thingies were plain metal stuff, so no data is coming through them, and the 32 pin wire itself carry only image info (no brightness control whatsoever, I suppose, since the imagen has no glitches), so I like to think that had nothing to do with my problem.

Any suggestions out there? Maybe reemplacing the wire (I think is called "the ribbon").

[gabiz_ro]

I don't know what board is used in 640m
But in many Dell's brightness is controlled via SMBUS.

Still working brightness controll?
Still have old LCD? just disconnect CCFL (lamp) from actual display and insert into new inverter old CCFL lamp,test again brightness and brightness controll.

With old display all was working fine? (except broken LCD I think,reason for replace)
What's the reason you change display?

[megaman]

The brightness control still "working" trought the special keys [fn] + [up] and [fn] + [down].

And by "working" I mean "they still change brightness at some level". Example:

pressing keys [fn] + [up] ... [up] ... [up]
Level of bightness (on a 100% working LCD): 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Level I get : 3 3 3 4 3 4 3 4 3

I sill got the old LCD panel (1440x900) and the old inverter. I changed it because it start to buzzing, then it turned it off. So the old lamp was dead.

I bought a new LCD panel (1280x800) and a new Inverter, and now I can't get full brightness.

Now that I think of it, I read somewhere that the LCD resolution is "hardwired" on the motherboard, so maybe, and just maybe, the new LCD with different resoluction might be causing the trouble.

Nevertheless, your idea of change the old-LCD-old-lamp by old-LCD-new-lamp seems quite plausible. I'm an engineer, but not very skilled with my hands. I think it might be risky, I could destroy for good both panels.

Fun fact: I imported the new one from china, and I got to pay taxes and excesive Fedex cost. That doesn't had nothing of fun.

[gabiz_ro]

Buzzing then off could be end of life lamp and then dead inverter,or inverter damaged itself.
You may check them to find if both are dead or one of them still working.

First ,easy,method.
Remove bezel,disconnect lamp from inverter, (most of them is one pink and one white wire to one plug) connect lamp of old display to new inverter.
Check for buzzing sound,it may be or not,present.
Check brightness controll.

Second
replace new inverter with old inverter.they must be compatible.and test new display with new lamp.
Singe you use same flex cable or you called ribbon,they must have same wiring at motherboard side and lamp plug is same.

On few Dell's on schematic I see there are two variants for inverter,called M05 and M07 depending on that some components are present or missing from board.
That's could be one reason.
You may try to find by model printed on both of them if are compatible.
Also you may try to find one working inverter,same part number like old one.