[REQUEST] Dell Precision T3500 BIOS Unlock

[ITronLegends]

Ah I see does older pcs with uefi have Intel bios thingy?

[Sml6397]

Hello ITronLegends,

Intel has shipped its hardware platforms with BootGuard technologies for quite some time, possibly dating back to 2009 UEFI firmwares. My knowledge on the specific dates is fuzzy.

And while Intel includes BootGuard functionality in most chipsets, it is not always enabled and in use by the BIOS (really, I should be saying UEFI). We can determine if it is both enabled and in use by running a program called HWiNFO64. Please download this application: https://www.hwinfo.com/download/

Launch it after installation, uncheck "Sensors only" and "Summary only". One of the two windows that pop up will have a "Save Report" button near the top. Click that and upload the resulting file here. I can use this to determine whether BootGuard will present any problems. Specifically, I am looking for whether BootGuard Verified Boot and BootGuard Measured Boot are enabled. If they are both disabled, we can flash whatever mods we want.

StarPrince, this will not apply to you because you have a Dell Phoenix non-UEFI BIOS.

[StarPrince]

Hello Sml6397,

Hey, can you look at pictures on post #17

my laptop latitude 3340 has UEFI and Secure Boot, and the Intel Boot Guard is Disabled !!
i thought you didn't get any use of that... hope it is precious for our research

[ITronLegends]

I have a Samsung laptop with uefi will that work? It's from 2013 and the bios menu looks very basic

[Sml6397]

To be honest, I think I have confused bits and pieces from the two different BIOS mod requests in this thread with each other. I will sort this out tomorrow lol

[ITronLegends]

No. Sorry I need uefi and secure boot for the Dell presicion t3500 so it's fine

[anf]

Hi,
I'm new to this and I wanted to know if a mod of this bios works out without bricks. Will I be able install the same mod on my same pc (T3500) without any bricks or having to use any extra equipment?

[Sml6397]

Hello everyone,

There are many concurrent requests in this thread for different machines. I am going to outline the requests below so nothing gets confused (mostly for my own reference):

@StarPrince, this thread's creator, has requested a mod for their Dell Precision T3500 desktop, which has a specialized Dell Phoenix BIOS version A17. I - nor anyone I am aware of - can currently perform this type of mod as Dell specialized their Phoenix non-UEFI BIOS images. I am going to try to figure out how to modify this image using a picture of a BIOS menu you provided in Post #10. I am going to look at the official BIOS update (BIOS image obtained via "...A17.exe -writehdrfile") to figure this out. Before any flashing of (purely) experimental mods, we are waiting on the CH341A programmer to arrive to get a clean backup that can be used to recover the BIOS chip if it gets bricked.

@StarPrince has a second BIOS mod request, first mentioned in Post #9 for a Dell Latitude 3340 laptop with a link to an official BIOS update. Pictures of this BIOS's menus are in Post #11. This BIOS is actually UEFI and is the one that contains Intel BootGuard. Since BootGuard is disabled (confirmed in picture from HWiNFO64 in Post #17), I can begin the modding process! Even if something did go wrong, we are going to get a full backup (will give instructions in the next post) that your new CH341A can restore anyways.

@ITronLegends has a third BIOS mod request for the Dell T3500 desktop as well. You asked if you could flash the T3600 BIOS since it has UEFI support. This tends to be possible, but there is increased risk compared to normal because the system itself may not automatically be configured to work properly with UEFI, which could create a brick. I'd recommend purchasing the CH341A that StarPrince mentioned in Post #20. This way, if you take a backup with the CH341A before trying the flash, you can always flash the backup onto the BIOS chip if something goes wrong during the T3600 BIOS test. Otherwise, I will mod your T3500 BIOS as soon as I figure out Dell Phoenix BIOS.

Figuring out Dell Phoenix BIOS is now at the top of my TODO list. Thanks for the continued patience.

@anf,
Yes, once StarPrince confirms that the T3500 BIOS mod flash works, you will be able to flash the upcoming BIOS mod onto your computer without special hardware or elevated risk of bricks (every BIOS flash - update or mod - bears a very slight chance of something going wrong). Please do not flash any mods I publish for the T3500 until StarPrince confirms that it works because they have a hardware programmer if something goes wrong when flashing this experimental mod. I say experimental because it is a special type of Phoenix BIOS - Dell Phoenix BIOS, which I have never modded before.

[ITronLegends]

Ah thanks!

[anf]

Ok, thanks for the reply.