Dell Inspiron 530 / 530s v1.0.2 Experimental Unlocking & Upgrading Project

[1234s282]

Hello Everyone

You may remember sometime ago when we excitedly discovered that the Dell Inspiron 530 and 530s used a standard Award bios instead of the silly unique format that Dell normally use. This meant that , in theory , we could open this
bios for modding and unlock all the hidden settings , just as we can with any other Award bios.

So we opened it up.......................

And discovered a goldmine of hidden settings!!! - seems Dell took a retail Foxconn board and switched off all the advanced settings to produce their OEM board. This somewhat lazy approach goes in our favour!

Theres all sorts of great things hidden in here , including a whole menu called "Fox Central Control" which contains many advanced CPU features. There is also the PnP/PCI Configuration tab , advanced power management features
and overclocking (in the form of Frequency / Voltage Control menu)

However

We frantically unlocked all these options and ended up with a mega mod. However , unlocking all these settings broke something down the line and everyone who tested the bios reported failure.

We then removed the mods to save everyone the frustration , effort and money

Now today i decided to revisit it , as the mods generated quite a lot of attention from members. I noticed that Dell had released a new version (v1.0.2) and felt inspired to take another try at it!

Features We Hope For In the Final Version Of This Mod (In Order Of Preference)

1. All Unlocked Settings Including Overclocking
2. Updated RAID / LAN / Video ROMS
3. Updated CPU Support (Although this ones questionable as to whether we can do it!!)

Because rushing through and unlocking everything broke the old and the new bios , we are going to take a more methodical approach this time around. While we didnt flash it , when we reopened the file for modding it refused to

open which suggests something got corrupted.

So , calling all Inspiron 530 / 530s owners who dont mind testing..........

This project will be done one step at a time to try and isolate the cause of the corruption.

Disclaimer

As with all of our bios mods , by choosing to flash this BIOS you agree to accept the worst possible scenario that the mod will brick your motherboard , rendering it inoperable. Whilst recovery is available to try it doesnt always work! If
this motherboard has a removable bios chip (DOES IT?? PLEASE CAN SOMEONE CONFIRM??) You can post it to us and we will reflash it free of charge , just pay for the shipping both ways.

Build 1 Released!

Im happy to announce the initial build for this project is available for testing. Build 1 has just the "Fox Central Control" tab unlocked. Within this menu are some "Display Only" (ie uneditable) options called "Superspeed" , "Current CPU
Frequency" , "Current FSB Frequency" , "Current DRAM Frequency" and a submenu called "DRAM Configuration" which contains all sorts of things relating to RAM such as "DRAM Timing Select" , "CAS Latency Time" , "DRAM RAS#
to CAS Delay" , "DRAM RAS# Precharge" , "Precharge Delay" and "System Memory Frequency".

As with all updated builds that will follow , progress will not continue until the previous build has been flashed and confirmed by at least one person.

Download: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/747181/Dell%20In...34s282.zip

Hopefully we will be able to master this extremely popular machine

Good Luck!

1234s282
Administrator

[Richsanto89]

I'd like to help this project but i don't have this machine

[Devilman]

Unfortunately I don't have this machine

[cyberpark]

Hi, I think I'm missing the message.
If I have saw early, it might be helpful.

I had DELL inspiron 530, but sold to unknown person.
so I can't help you.

I have replaced the mainboard.
the mainboard is Foxconn G33M02 Socket 775 Motherboard
it is identical DELL oem Foxconn

Foxconn G33M02 has their updated bios, and Dell support has their the bios.
but I have exchanged bios or tried other one.

but I have DELL vostro 200, it is also Foxconn G33M02.
if you make Build 1 Released for vostro 200, I will join to be testbed.

[1234s282]

Thats really interesting , so the Inspiron 530/530s/Vostro 200 all use the Foxconn G33M02?

Does that mean you could flash the retail Foxconn bios to the board? Have you tried this?

Il look at the Vostro 200 bios tomorrow and report back , will be great if you can test!

Admin

[cyberpark]

Inspiron 530/530s/Vostro 200 have the Foxconn G33M02.
but these dell bios has different. so I think it might have different chipset or something.

I haven't tried Foxconn flash on Dell vosto 200. but it might be risky.
there are few trials on internet. but I can't find it has successful.

for example. The G33M02 OEM board uses 2MByte (16Mbit) BIOS while the Foxconn retail G33M board uses a 1MByte (8Mbit) BIOS.

Command or filename not recognised or Bios does not support AFU...

http://forums.pcpitstop.com/index.php?/t...ios-issue/

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/2453...ed-updated

I tried to flash Inspiron 530 bios to my vostro 200. but I don't think it works. it said that different system id, fail to update.

[1234s282]

Well part of your problem in that error is that the retail foxconn board seems to use an AMI bios but the Dell OEM board uses Award , so you need awdflash.exe to flash it , not AFU as thats for AMI!

If you could test it would be appreciated

[cyberpark]

I have replaced broken Inspiron 530 mainboard from ebay.
It doesn't matter retail version or oem version, just need to fix the PC.
after It has powered on, it show up dell 530. so I thought it is exact same mainboard.

I think it would be big risky to flash award mainboard with ami bios flash. sorry.

[actionpie420]

hey i have an inspiron 530 with the G33M02 mobo in it. and im interested in helping you out with this but i guess id like a little reasurance and a little more understanding.

[1234s282]

Hi Actionpie

Would be much appreciated if you could offer to test these things!

Just before you try anything , can you take a look on your motherboard and find the BIOS chip? Id like to know if its soldered onto the board or if its in a removable socket. If its removable then we can reflash the chip if something goes wrong.

There is a big risk in this so a word of caution is in order. Please read all the Award Recovery guide at www.bios-mods.com

I look forward to a reply

Admin