Hello Bios Mods Forum!
I have spent the last day trying to get my trusty old Dell D530 to run a T9500, it is not on the supported CPU's list but I thought it would be fun, I have a lot of these laptops and they fit my needs perfectly. I've never edited a bios in my life, but I do a lot of hex editing to unlock airbag units for cars and immobiliser data etc.
So far I have worked out how to extract the bios rom file from the Dell exe's, in hdr format with the header.
Worked out how to swap one of the microcode entries to match my T9500.
Worked out how to modify the checksum to be correct.
Got updating the bios via dellbiosupdate in linux sorted.
I can make the self installing windows EXE with DCCU.
But it won't boot
It does nothing, just powers up and HDD activity light flashes in 2 pulses quickly.
I've had the cpu in and out of a couple of D530's, with various alterations to the microcode. 1 dimm fitted, front or back, battery in/out, hdd etc.
Here is a CPUz of my mainboard:-
[
attachment=11109]
My bios files look like this with intelmicrocodelist.exe :-
Code:
E:\>intelmicrocodelist d530_a10.hdr
Intel Microcode List ver0.4a
CPUID=6F4 Rev=28 2006/04/17 CRC=30DD8681 Off=1E6D6 Size=1000 Plat=0,2,4,5,6,7
CPUID=6F5 Rev=38 2006/07/25 CRC=6333B559 Off=1F6D6 Size=1000 Plat=7
CPUID=6F9 Rev=83 2006/09/28 CRC=85B7E1DF Off=206D6 Size=1000 Plat=7
CPUID=6FA Rev=92 2007/03/13 CRC=13ED7841 Off=216D6 Size=1000 Plat=7
CPUID=6FB Rev=B3 2007/03/14 CRC=54AD9B80 Off=226D6 Size=1000 Plat=7
CPUID=6FD Rev=A1 2007/03/13 CRC=020EA887 Off=236D6 Size=1000 Plat=7
CPUID=10661 Rev=33 2007/03/16 CRC=9E99CC48 Off=246D6 Size=1000 Plat=7
E:\>intelmicrocodelist d530_a10a.hdr <<<<< MY EDIT WITH CHECKSUM 10a
Intel Microcode List ver0.4a
CPUID=6F4 Rev=28 2006/04/17 CRC=30DD8681 Off=1E6D6 Size=1000 Plat=0,2,4,5,6,7
CPUID=6F5 Rev=38 2006/07/25 CRC=6333B559 Off=1F6D6 Size=1000 Plat=7
CPUID=6F9 Rev=83 2006/09/28 CRC=85B7E1DF Off=206D6 Size=1000 Plat=7
CPUID=6FA Rev=92 2007/03/13 CRC=13ED7841 Off=216D6 Size=1000 Plat=7
CPUID=6FB Rev=B3 2007/03/14 CRC=54AD9B80 Off=226D6 Size=1000 Plat=7
CPUID=10676 Rev=60F 2010/09/29 CRC=8FE1A1C7 Off=236D6 Size=1000 Plat=7
CPUID=10661 Rev=33 2007/03/16 CRC=9E99CC48 Off=246D6 Size=1000 Plat=7
E:\>intelmicrocodelist d530_a10b.hdr <<<<< MY EDIT WITH CHECKSUM 10b
Intel Microcode List ver0.4a
CPUID=6F4 Rev=28 2006/04/17 CRC=30DD8681 Off=1E6D6 Size=1000 Plat=0,2,4,5,6,7
CPUID=6F5 Rev=38 2006/07/25 CRC=6333B559 Off=1F6D6 Size=1000 Plat=7
CPUID=6F9 Rev=83 2006/09/28 CRC=85B7E1DF Off=206D6 Size=1000 Plat=7
CPUID=6FA Rev=92 2007/03/13 CRC=13ED7841 Off=216D6 Size=1000 Plat=7
CPUID=6FB Rev=B3 2007/03/14 CRC=54AD9B80 Off=226D6 Size=1000 Plat=7
CPUID=6FD Rev=A1 2007/03/13 CRC=020EA887 Off=236D6 Size=1000 Plat=7
CPUID=10676 Rev=60F 2010/09/29 CRC=8FE1A1C7 Off=246D6 Size=1000 Plat=7
Here are the selection of standard and modified bios files, and the injected microcode :-
[
attachment=11110]
And these are the instructions for resolving the checksum for the bios :-
Code:
Select block 54 to 200053 and calculate crc32 checksum of it.
Apply NOT to the crc32 checksum, then reverse the order of bytes, e.g. 01 02 03 04 = 04 03 02 01
This reverse order checksum is stored here:- 200054-200057
Now select 54 to 200057, and calculate crc32. If correct checksum, crc32 = ffffffff.
Also crc32 of the whole file = ffffffff.
My CPU is stamped on the front:-
Intel '06
5808B317 SLAYX
FF80576 T9500
2.60 / 6M / 800
(I think this is a cpuid=10676)
My mainboard chipset is a GM965 which is noted to support the T9500 cpu.
Both CPU's have the same FSB, TDP, and pretty much the same spec otherwise except:-
the old 65nm Mermon runs 1.075V-1.250V
the new 45nm Penryn runs 1.000V-1.250V
My RAM is PC2-5300S-555-12-E3 so that only runs at 166.6mhz - could this be a problem? I don't think so but I'm no expert.
Dell bios's are a pain I'm getting the impression....
But can anybody help me push this any further towards success
