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

[fuwu1245]

@jkbuha
Will you make a modified BIOS for L502X ? Just like what you said in your post
"I've also modded the speedstep module for anyone who boots OSX 10.5-10.8 (no need for patched AICPUPM, no changes for anyone who uses Linux/Windows only)"
Thanks

[jkbuha]

@jkbuha
Will you make a modified BIOS for L502X ? Just like what you said in your post
"I've also modded the speedstep module for anyone who boots OSX 10.5-10.8 (no need for patched AICPUPM, no changes for anyone who uses Linux/Windows only)"
Thanks

Hi fuwu - as i don't have a L502x I don't think it would be a wise (safe) option. What I've done as a next best option is attached the modified module for someone who has a L502x (kasar/someone else?) to do this himself/herself. That way you can be assured that the integration process is properly done. I don't want to take any responsibility for anyone bricking their laptops by mistake - already two people in this thread have done so, by flashing a L511z bios in their L502x machine!

Hope this makes sense, and you can understand why I don't want to do this myself

[kasar]

well, I can upload the L502X PowerManagement2.efi file, wich is the one I think you modded for your laptop.

I noticed the filename and content is quite similar, but the name and size is a bit different.

if you can modify the file like you did for that one, I can reintegrate it at the L502X bios and upload it for fuwu1245.

I uploaded the module (pending to be moded)

edit: the size seemed the same, I will reintegrate the file.

but I cant guarantee it will work.

---

ok

here is the link

http://www.mediafire.com/?06yumobbun4zpdc

is the a11 l502x bios modded bios with the module jkbuha uploaded.

to flash the L502X bios, run the FLASH_the_modded_bios.bat

ask y, and click ok on following messages.
system will reboot and flash.

voltages and everything else is untouched.

let me know if it works

[fuwu1245]

@kasar @jkbuha
I tried
and nothing works on my laptop
It is 10.8.1 using the original AICPUPM
I decide to give up and go back to use 10.7.3's AICPUPM
Anyway Thanks
Sometimes people should have to learn to give up

Well ,BIOS is a horrible thing for me....

[jkbuha]

Pity fuwu - worked like a charm on my 15z. One less problem to worry about
I'm assuming you deleted the kernel cache before deploying the original kext?

Don't give up - as per Ahmed's quote!

On this related info - has anyone any updates to offer me on the location of the (encrypted) VSS table in the PhoenixDell BIOS? From my side I've actually decompiled the vmware efi bios to see if we can test hack this emulated BIOS but unfortunately it doesn't have the VSS tables encrypted, so it's actually much easier to change! All we need is some insight on the way Dell structures its encoding tables, so any help is appreciated!

[humanitybg]

humanitybg - use my latest A11. They have the GT525 rom (not the 540/550) but will allow you to overclock more and have faster & cooler performance. Games on Win8 run very smoothly at full res.

As kasar said, follow the instructions carefully in the first post!

Thank you for the response! I've downloaded your BIOS1_AA_SLIC_UV bios, all was well until I wanted to find the file to view/patch. I downloaded XSearch in order to do a hex search inside my sub-DUMP folder. I got a lot of results. I even see the same files name you listed has the NVIDIA string it. I am really noob-ish at doing this and kind of need guidance with this task. Do I have to patch only one of the files? Can I use the file you said contains the NVIDIA string? Thank you in advance for being patient with me.

I have added a snip with my search results.

Cheers,
-d.lesov*

[humanitybg]

Okay, I managed to get a bit ahead this time! (YAY!) Turns out I got so many results because I wasn't using a proper filter. After discovering that converting to HEX is actually case sensitive I managed to get only 3 results (far better than over 50 lol!). Now if I'm understanding the next step correctly, under the Phoenix Tool/Manufacturer I select "DELL" then press Advanced => Mark all the options with "modification" in them and press DONE, then press GO without touching anything else. I get an error at this point stating "Invalid Firmware Volumen Header." I'm stumped at the moment. But at least I managed to move forward. I could't not patch any files because of this error. Any ideas? I've attached images of my search results and of my ADVANCED SETTINGS tab from Phoenix Tool. Thank you for your patience

[jkbuha]

Hmm interesting error. This is what I do to enable BIOS modding:

1) extract BIOS1.WPH file
2) run PhoenixDell on this file
3) run PhoenixDell on the largest extracted file in my case: (F33E3...)
4) mod/replace NVIDIA bios (64k file, in my case 8C8BAE...)
5) Click Go on PhoenixDell (I've also ticked Extract modules while verifying) - F33E3...SLIC.ROM is created
6) rename F33...SLIC.ROM to F33....ROM (overwriting previous F33 file)
7) Click Go on PhoenixDell on BIOS1.WPH to replace the F33...SLIC file

Hope this helps!

[jkbuha]

Hello everyone - Since the creation of this thread I have waited 9 months to tell you the following:

STOP PRESS WE HAVE NOW ENABLED ALL HIDDEN MENUS ON THE XPS 15Z (L511Z)!
LATEST A11 BIOS IS COMPLETELY OPEN WITH ALL OPTIONS ENABLED!

All menus are now available including UEFI Boot, Graphics Card selection, overclocking/volting and much much more! There's sooo many options I'm not even sure as what to modify

HACK HOWTO:
The irony of course being that we just needed to change one byte, offset 31BC9 in 15z A11 Bios, from 00 to 01.

I'll be back in a while to tell you how to do it on your own machines, including credits to who helped me massively in this, and upload the 15z modded bios to this thread, but for the time being try and see if you have the following byte sequence in your XPS 15 / 15z BIOS:

1) Find your AdvancedSetup efi module
2) offset 0031BC0: 00 29 02 29 02 0A 82 45 8A (00) <- change to 01
3) re-pack with phoenix tool and good luck!

Please report if (i) you manage to find this byte sequence, and (ii) if you do - if you enable all menus!

We'll be doing a post-analysis (how and why) very soon!

Here's to a new chapter for unlocked PhoenixDell UEFI Bioses!

[kasar]

whoaaah!

that is amazing :o

this made me really happy

going right now to test if I can relase a modded one for l502x

since the machines are similar, there are some chances the files will be similar ^^

if not, you can allways tell me what procedure you got so I can reproduce it.

do disable hyperthreading is part of those options?


seriusly nice work mate!

you really deserve a cookie hehe

edit:

are you talking about this module right?

PlatformSetupAdvancedDxe.efi
l502x module is 278 kb

can you upload your modded module so I we can check it?

edit2: I was able to find those hex values at offset 0003040 ^^

I will try to flash the bios with the modded module, lets cross fingers for l502x users