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

[kasar]

@timewalker

made a bootable usb disk with the same contents of my recovery cdrom.

tested the stand alone usb stick and it was bootable.

tried put recovery with A12, A07 and A06 files at the same usb (one file per test obiusly)

none of them was able to boot the usb via the f12 button while doing the recovery boot.

it just let me to select "removable media" at the menu, but none of them booted the same usb drive.

didnt tried with another usb stick on another port anyway.

I think I will stick to the cdrom method for the moment ^^

[TimeWalker]

When the RAW capsule F33E367F-41D2-4201-9CB7-AFA63DCCEEC9 gets compressed into BIOS1.WPH you have to adjust the checksum of it as well.
I believe the algo is the same as for the regular module, I might be wrong though .. what I know for sure that it has to be corrected.
If I was to use the patcher on an extracted F33 capsule it would patch properly ..

[nebster]

@TimeWalker
Oh yes, sorry, I forgot that files have checksums. I am already re-calculating the checksum though... Have you got an example?

[TimeWalker]

@nebster
Uhm, personally no... but you could take a peak at what @CodeRush is doing.. I believe he adjusts the RAW CRC.

@kasar
A04 Boot manager:

Notice the USB entry and the + sign by the HDD entry.

Main section says the following:

However HDD is present in the boot order:


With A07 and later there's:
- no USB entry in the Boot Manager
- no + sign by the HDD entry in the Boot Manager those HDD can't be booted
- no HDD listed in the boot order

[kasar]

got the same for both a06 and a07 capsules

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If its just a matter of inserting the licence block into dsdt then its a piece of cake operation. You just search your dsdt by guid, get the apropriate rom file pass it through iasl with -d -2 arguments, add the Name(LUCD licence block in the root of your table and recompile it without optimizations. Rename to proper guid and reflash your bios with changed module.

mmm, I think I will need a little help with this.

I think I never messed with the dsdt (nor even know exactly what it is.)
same with iasl, so help would be apreciated here. ^^

[TimeWalker]

@kasar, here you go, buddy.
Turns out LUCD has to be nested on PCI0.LPCB after all ...

I had to comment something out though ... because someone doesn't necessarily follows APCI Specification...
Why declare something inside the methods,args are being passed from outside the method (4 input arguments: Arg0, Arg1, Arg2, Arg3)
And why have something after the conditional (if Arg0 equality is met) returns something ?

Code:

Method (_DSM, 4, NotSerialized)  // _DSM: Device-Specific Method
                {
                    If (And (BRID, One))
                    {
                        If (LEqual (Arg0, Buffer (0x10)
                                {
                                    /* 0000 */   0xF8, 0xD8, 0x86, 0xA4, 0xDA, 0x0B, 0x1B, 0x47,
                                    /* 0008 */   0xA7, 0x2B, 0x60, 0x42, 0xA6, 0xB5, 0xBE, 0xE0
                                }))
                        {
                            P8XH (Zero, 0xF5)
                            Return (NVOP)
                            /*Arg0
                            Arg1
                            Arg2
                            Arg3*/
                        }

                        If (LEqual (Arg0, Buffer (0x10)
                                {
                                    /* 0000 */   0x75, 0x0B, 0xA5, 0xD4, 0xC7, 0x65, 0xF7, 0x46,
                                    /* 0008 */   0xBF, 0xB7, 0x41, 0x51, 0x4C, 0xEA, 0x02, 0x44
                                }))
                        {
                            Return (NV3D (Arg0, Arg1, Arg2, Arg3))
                        }
                    }
                    Else
                    {
                        Return (0x80000002)
                    }
                }

Also I'm not sure if the key will actually work.. as It has been explained in Lucid Logix Virtu thread over at MDL. I have integrated a keyset from GA-Z77-D3H if it matters.
P.S. oh, DSDT module posted is from L502x A12.

[jkbuha]

Morning all

@TimeWalker - great work on enabling a long troubling (sleep) problem for 15x users! +1 rep added!

@TimeWalker/kasar - if it helps my A12 bios natively can load the USB & HDD capsules from recovery. In fact I can run OSX straight from recovery (unlike win7/8)

@kasar - let me know if you manage to run Lucid Logix through TW's DSDT patch - I'd like to see what benefits we could get from this

@nebster - great progress mate!

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what module it uses ?? is usb or ps2?

Not sure Florin - how do I check?

[TimeWalker]

It's weird .. I guess your model didn't have any changes to Boot Manager as ours did... here's the changelog I was able to scoop:

* A12 10/26/2012
Fix issue when system resume from S4 automatically after upgrade to windows 8.

* A11 8/13/2012
1.Modified the rule of reading adapter watt.
2.Modified BIOS setup menu browser refresh interval.
3.Update thermal table v1.7f

* A10
???
* A09
???

* A08 1/10/2012
1. Fix battery insert-detected issue.

* A06 10/14/2011
1. Intel Rapid Start Technology (iRST) is enabled for systems which have:
(1)SSD Storage
(2)8G iRST partition
2. Fix DP audio & Array MIC will loss function after resume from iFFS mode
3. Fix Boot menu disorder and F2/F12 no function to Setup/Boot Option.
4. Fix a battery will pop up warning message symptom.
5. Removed a patch to prevent SUT hang during POST: XHCI HandOff code change for Win 8

NB:
1. After upgrading to A06, never downgrade Bios to A05 or older version, otherwise system BIOS will crash and can't boot again.
2. Upgrading to A06 will cause Setup Menu load-default

* A05 8/16/2011
1.Can't Coldboot to USB3.0 ODD when CD/DVD is set as first boot device in BIOS setup
2.Enter S3 then flashing BIOS in Windows, it will go to S3 after shutting SUT down
3.In Win8 system Bios does not correctly implement XHCI Handoff - the update is for embedded USB3.0 controller
4.Thermal table is updated to Rev. 1.7d
5.Code change - Send out ejection SCANCODE (0xE009) when MFG_ON and ACPI_ON
6.Unused USB port #5 is disabled

* A03 6/3/2011
1. Updated PXE Boot Rom for REMBO server issue
2. Fixed some unexpected partitions appear in Disk Management with 750GB HDD
3. Correct battery capacity info in DSC report
4. Factory issue - can’t charge battery after running GET_MAC tool

* A02 5/24/2011
1. Turn Color Engine ON as default after load defaults in Setup Menu

* A01 5/23/2011
1. Update PPID to SMBIOS type 2
2. Solution-sync: NVIDIA dGPU loss
3. SUT hung up when resuming from S4 and inserting USB device into USB3.0 port

* A00 4/11/2011
Initial Release

Note that A05 changes are almost the same with V3450 and L502x as of A07 (same USB3.0 ODD, XHCI handoff and S3 sleep after flashing). But then see the Nota Bene in the A06 changelog .. I think they have just rewritten the BIOS as of A06 hence most 15z units came with A07 from the factory. Which explains why we have issues and you don't .. because Dell didn't ditch your machine ...

Also there's your iRST mystery .. it seems like only your model supports this feature because it was enabled in A06.. hence your BIOS is slightly bigger in size in comparison to L502x

---

@jkbuha
It's definitely PS/2 .. as all of our machines have ITE IT8518E EC chip.

[nebster]

@TimeWalker
I have checked and it should modify the checksum:

Code:

Sanity check:
Header checksum: A6B1
Header checksum: A6B1

Rebuilding file...
New header checksum: 94B1

Can you check you are running the latest binary?

EDIT: That was for the L702X A19 BIOS

[Mohamed Khairy]

Morning all

@TimeWalker - great work on enabling a long troubling (sleep) problem for 15x users! +1 rep added!

@TimeWalker/kasar - if it helps my A12 bios natively can load the USB & HDD capsules from recovery. In fact I can run OSX straight from recovery (unlike win7/8)

@kasar - let me know if you manage to run Lucid Logix through TW's DSDT patch - I'd like to see what benefits we could get from this

@nebster - great progress mate!

---

what module it uses ?? is usb or ps2?

Not sure Florin - how do I check?

you using apple/voodoops2mouse.kext or alpsmultitouch.kext to make it works ?
so it will be ps2
as i nearly didnt find any touchpad on notebook with usb interference except than apple one's

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better to paste dmesg of ubuntu