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

[TimeWalker]

I'm positive I have the latest build. The checksum is off 100%.
Here's what the header looks like for the BIOS1.WPH when compressed after applying the patchset:
http://pastie.org/5350637
The last two bytes are what I assume for integrity check. And for my applied patchset they are in fact wrong.
You can reproduce this by taking your original BIOS1.WPH and changing these bytes to anything you desire -> the result is that capsule will not be possible to decompress.

The first byte should always be 0xB1 because the header crc doesn't change .. but 0x16 is correct ... and those will indicate capsule's integrity.
If I open up the output capsule with HEX editor and swap 0x56 with 0xB1 the capsule can be decompressed thereafter. So the algo is a little bit off somewhere.

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Also fun fact .. the modules the app has presumably patched are gone .. if you decompress the capsule there aren't:
CFEF94C4-4167-466A-8893-8779459DFA86 - PlatformSetupAdvancedDxe.efi
F7731B4C-58A2-4DF4-8980-5645D39ECE58 - PowerManagement2.efi
in the PhoenixTool's output any longer.. they're completely absent.

In fact not only these modules are absent but whole lot other modules too ..

[nebster]

Oh, that's very weird! I'm trying it on the A19 BIOS for the L702X and it correctly patches the files. If I don't update the CRC32 checksum in the GUID sections then it outputs exactly the same file as PMPatch.

Is the file you're trying it on the same as you posted before? If not, could you upload a copy of the original BIOS?

[kasar]

@timewalker

thanks again for the DSTD patch!

rep added.

I will make test BIOS with current mods and the modded dstd and PlatformSmm.efi

I will also check if some string customizing worked for the flasher (C8AB0F4E-26FE-40F1-9579-EA8D30D503A4_0_6.rom)

[kasar]

mmm, just a small note, may be usefull for someone.

while trying to make a modded bios1.wph file with the different size modules and the custom flasher I noticed something wrong while flashing.


when the system rebooted and the flasher was suposed to appear at the screen, the screen remained black for more than two minutes.

no beeps, no aparently activity.

so turned off the machine by holding down 5 seconds the power button.

turned the machine on, nothing appeared at the screen but I got some kind of weid beep codes.

turned it off again, removed AC, and battery, waited for a minute, and plugged them back

the beep codes keep apearing and got a black screen.

I remember something similar happened while first time I flashed just a modded nvidia vbios and didnt had any kind of recovery, so I removed the optical drive with the second hdd.

then powered on the machine and it was fine, turned off the machine and pluged back the optical drive with the second hdd, and it was fine.


so aparently if the flasher fails to load and the beep codes appear after restarting, the only fix is remove the optical drive.

not sure if the recovery method also helps but I didnt tried it yet when this happens.

aparently temporally removing the optical drive is the fix.

will keep trying to flash the custom modules.

I think this failed because I unticked the "preserve module size" from the phoenix tool, but not sure how I have to integrate different size modules then.

[TimeWalker]

My platformsmm had different size as well and it reintegrated with no issues. I usually only check no slic and allow user module replacement ..

Sent from my LG-P500 using Tapatalk 2

[kasar]

thanks ^^

ok, will try those options

[TimeWalker]

Oh, that's very weird! I'm trying it on the A19 BIOS for the L702X and it correctly patches the files. If I don't update the CRC32 checksum in the GUID sections then it outputs exactly the same file as PMPatch.

Is the file you're trying it on the same as you posted before? If not, could you upload a copy of the original BIOS?

nah, not the same one.. the one I've uploaded earlier was just for the sake of demo
in the attachment are bios and the patchset i'm trying to apply to it.

[gamerX1990]

Can this unlock method apply to unlocking other bioses.?

[kasar]

@gamerx1990

yep,I supose there is a lot of chances other uefi bioses will be compatible with this method ^^

[TimeWalker]

Actually the chances are close to none. AMI Aptio and ALASKA-based bioses are not really getting anyway from the still waters of being factory-locked.
Even newer gen Dell-Phoenix Tiano (Inspiron 17R and R SE) laptops don't have EFI_IFR_SUPPRESS_IF documented by Phoenix inside the modules.
Lenovo laptops don't even have additional menus within Advanced Setup module ..