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

[TimeWalker]

I really have no idea what is the actual file we should be using, and I'm having a hard time testing myself as I have no flash drives with activity LEDs.
It's either:
- FvRecovery.fd > BIOS.cap
- 7000 from 7z > BIOS.cap (read above)
- First part of the fw (F33E3 ...).ROM from BIOS1.WPH (extracted /w Phoenix Tool) > BIOS.cap ... but I highly doubt it's the one.
We can verify the contents needed in the recovery file by looking at successful recovery report from Insyde bios users.. since the UEFI spec is somewhat similar between these two and most of the things are inherited from EDK.

Optionally try executing smbiosview command in shell and look for your motherboard model number. (you can dump the command output by doing smbiosview > smbios.txt and it will appear in the /BOOT folder on your flashdrive)
Take your FvRecovery.fd file and rename it as blablaX64.fd .. as well as blablaX64.bin .. plane blabla.fd and plane blabla.bin ... where blabla is the model number you got from smbios output. I have copied an example how this model number might look on one of the previous pages.

[krzysio30]

Hello everyone I made test with bios for Dell XPS l702x and also working

[TimeWalker]

what the flipping heck is going on with messages in this thread ...

[Fawar]

no fawar - the instructions are not as per those guidelines. they are as per the first post in this thread. I'm going to make it extra special easy

go to the winflash folder that was created when you last flashed your bios. if you dont have one, download an original 15z bios and double click on it to start. don't flash the bios, instead copy the winflash folder that was created in your temp folder to another directory, eg: c:\winflash. copy the new hacked bios to this folder, go to c:\winflash and run the following instruction: winflash.exe /BIOS /EC /SA /SV /BBL "BIOS1_A11.....WPH"

Seems easy enough but hmmm, where is the temp folder created? (When retrieving the winflash from half-installation process)

I though it would be next to the .exe or in c:/temp
but it does not appear?
The last bios from dell are the A11 right even if they recommend thee A6? which is quite wierd.

Btw why is this ''instructions'' way easier and shorter than the one in the first post?

[TimeWalker]

Dell has had their support site's engine updated and now it does all sorts of weird thing .. suggesting arch versions of BIOS is one of those..

The temp folder is created in your User's AppData .. Press Windows + R and write %APPDATA% ..hit OK..
It will open up Roaming folder, go back one catalog and open Local/Temp/WinFlash - these are your flasher files.

You probably shouldn't be updating BIOSes if you can't figure this by yourself. No offence intended.

[Fawar]

Dell has had their support site's engine updated and now it does all sorts of weird thing .. suggesting arch versions of BIOS is one of those..

The temp folder is created in your User's AppData .. Press Windows + R and write %APPDATA% ..hit OK..
It will open up Roaming folder, go back one catalog and open Local/Temp/WinFlash - these are your flasher files.

You probably shouldn't be updating BIOSes if you can't figure this by yourself. No offence intended.

We would not do a thing if we were not learning anything. BTw I knew the existence of APPDATA and how to access it, but forgot that there was a temp folder somewhere in there

SO before the flash process here is what i got :

A folder on desktop named WinFlash containing

BIOS1.WPH
BIOS1_A11.WPH
environnement.dll
FVRecovery.fd
OemSlp20.efi
Slp20.pfae
winflash (compiled html)
WinFlash (application)
WINFLASH (configuration settings)
WinFlash.sys
WinFlash64.sys
WinFlashUI.dll

SO if those a re right i should be going wit the command line :

eg: c:\winflash. copy the new hacked bios to this folder, go to c:\winflash and run the following instruction: winflash.exe /BIOS /EC /SA /SV /BBL "BIOS1_A11.WPH"

Removing the multiple ''dot before wph'' since those should not be there else the location would be wrong?
eg: c:\winflash. copy the new hacked bios to this folder, go to c:\winflash and run the following instruction: winflash.exe /BIOS /EC /SA /SV /BBL "BIOS1_A11.....WPH"

[jkbuha]

Yes Fawar, but seriously - DON'T flash this bios. I'm really worried you're going to brick your laptop because from the questions you're asking you're not completely familiar with what you're doing.

If you really want to proceed, run winflash.exe /BIOS /EC /SA /SV /BBL "BIOS1_A11.WPH"

[TimeWalker]

I guess you are somewhat right .. some people try to learn on their own, some on the other hand ask tons of questions and learn from responses. Everyone has their way ..

If your WinFlash folder is on your desktop then why in the world would you be trying to execute it from C:/winflash ?
It's as simple as changing directory. do cd and drag your Winflash folder from the desktop into command line window .. it will write down the path for you. Hit enter - it will change directory ... and then proceed with the flashing command.

[Fawar]

I guess you are somewhat right .. some people try to learn on their own, some on the other hand ask tons of questions and learn from responses. Everyone has way ..

If your WinFlash folder is on your desktop then why in the world would you be trying to execute it from C:/winflash ?
It's as simple as changing directory. do cd and drag your Winflash folder from the desktop into command line windows .. it will write down the patch for you. Hit enter - it will change directory ... and then proceed with the flashing command.

loll i had not look at the path directory jbhuka had given me.
Well it would not have worked and i would have seen it XD

I feel like you don't like me try to learn by asking questions

Yes Fawar, but seriously - DON'T flash this bios. I'm really worried you're going to brick your laptop because from the questions you're asking you're not completely familiar with what you're doing.

If you really want to proceed, run winflash.exe /BIOS /EC /SA /SV /BBL "BIOS1_A11.WPH"

Well, from the point i got the right folder, with the right items and the right command in the right directory.

Is thre something that could go wrong, is there something that i will need to choose once i call the command to flash my Bioses?

[jkbuha]

TimeWalker - I was chatting to DoiX on the mac forums and something just crossed my mind.
Do you have the original XPS 15z recovery DVD? We could try to initiate recovery using the usb drive, which may trigger reading the files from the dvd?

---

Well, from the point i got the right folder, with the right items and the right command in the right directory.

Is thre something that could go wrong, is there something that i will need to choose once i call the command to flash my Bioses?

No - just sit back, cross your fingers, and pray

Seriously though - an error may occur when flashing the bios that we haven't seen yet on your machine, which may put your laptop into a non recoverable state, and since we don't yet have a recovery method which works you will not be able to recover your laptop. That's why TimeWalker and I are very concerned that you may not have enough experience to recover your machine should something go wrong. It's important to remember that we're playing with $1000-$2000 worth of equipment here, so it wouldn't be a cheap mistake

Hope that makes sense.