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

[TimeWalker]

-dumplock

Platform: Intel® HM67 Express Chipset
Reading HSFSTS register... Flash Descriptor: Valid

--- Flash Devices Found ---
W25Q32BV ID:0xEF4016 Size: 4096KB (32768Kb)


Lock Settings.
=======================
Host CPU master: 00 00 0B 0A
ME region master: 00 00 0D 0C
GBE region master: 18 01 08 08
FPT Operation Passed

1 byte differs for me in comparison to your L502:

Code:

0000000:  XPS       Vostro
0000103:  08     |    48

[jkbuha]

Here's the difference between XPS 15x and XPS 15z:

Code:

diff L502X.HEX L511Z.HEX
< 0000100: 82d6 2008 0f01 0000 0000 5600 0000 0000  .. .......V.....
> 0000100: 82d6 2008 0f01 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  .. .............

< 0000130: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 3e03 0000  ............>...
> 0000130: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 3e83 0000  ............>...

< 0000df0: 1f47 0000 1520 1520 ef40 1700 0520 0520  .G... . .@... .
> 0000df0: c220 1600 0520 0520 ef30 1600 0520 0520  . ... . .0... .

< 0000e00: ef40 1600 0520 0520 ef30 1600 0520 0520  .@... . .0... .
> 0000e00: ef40 1600 0520 0520 1c31 1600 0520 0520  .@... . .1... .

< 0000e10: c220 1600 0520 0520 1c31 1600 0520 0520  . ... . .1... .
> 0000e10: ffff ffff ffff ffff ffff ffff ffff ffff  ................

< 0000ef0: ffff ffff ffff ffff ffff ffff df0c 0000  ................
> 0000ef0: ffff ffff ffff ffff ffff ffff df08 0000  ................

So quite a bit it seems..

[kasar]

oh, I forgot to attach my dumplock too

Intel ® Flash Programming Tool. Version: 8.1.10.1286
Copyright © 2007 - 2012, Intel Corporation. All rights reserved.

Platform: Intel® HM67 Express Chipset
Reading HSFSTS register... Flash Descriptor: Valid

--- Flash Devices Found ---
W25Q32BV ID:0xEF4016 Size: 4096KB (32768Kb)


Lock Settings.
=======================
Host CPU master: 00 00 0B 0A
ME region master: 00 00 0D 0C
GBE region master: 18 01 08 08
FPT Operation Passed

the lock settings seems the same for all of us.

even it seems the flash device is the same (W25Q32BV)

it shouldnt be hard to modify the descripor, not sure if timewalker posted something about how to modify the file before , not sure.

the hard part is to flash the modified descriptor.

mmm, any chance this 4 kb file contents into the bios file to flash?

in that case it could be altered from there, but not sure.

[jkbuha]

Tried it kasar a couple of weeks ago - flash descriptor is read only.
We need another way in, most likely through (i) flashing the BIOS+ME regions together in winflash (ii) unlocking the ME at boot-up through a key combo.

[TimeWalker]

I've mentioned the idftool a couple of pages back, but now I read this:

ifdtool will now dump access permissions of system components to
certain IFD sections:

Found Master Section
FLMSTR1: 0xffff0000 (Host CPU/BIOS)
Platform Data Region Write Access: enabled
GbE Region Write Access: enabled
Intel ME Region Write Access: enabled
Host CPU/BIOS Region Write Access: enabled
Flash Descriptor Write Access: enabled
Platform Data Region Read Access: enabled
GbE Region Read Access: enabled
Intel ME Region Read Access: enabled
Host CPU/BIOS Region Read Access: enabled
Flash Descriptor Read Access: enabled
Requester ID: 0x0000

FLMSTR2: 0x0c0d0000 (Intel ME)
Platform Data Region Write Access: disabled
GbE Region Write Access: enabled
Intel ME Region Write Access: enabled
Host CPU/BIOS Region Write Access: disabled
Flash Descriptor Write Access: disabled
Platform Data Region Read Access: disabled
GbE Region Read Access: enabled
Intel ME Region Read Access: enabled
Host CPU/BIOS Region Read Access: disabled
Flash Descriptor Read Access: enabled
Requester ID: 0x0000

FLMSTR3: 0x08080118 (GbE)
Platform Data Region Write Access: disabled
GbE Region Write Access: enabled
Intel ME Region Write Access: disabled
Host CPU/BIOS Region Write Access: disabled
Flash Descriptor Write Access: disabled
Platform Data Region Read Access: disabled
GbE Region Read Access: enabled
Intel ME Region Read Access: disabled
Host CPU/BIOS Region Read Access: disabled
Flash Descriptor Read Access: disabled
Requester ID: 0x0118

Also, ifdtool -u /path/to/image will unlock the host's
access to the firmware descriptor and ME region.
ifdtool -l /path/to/image will lock down the host's
access to the firmware descriptor and ME region.

fancy, right? now ... either find a compiled version or compile it ourselves
https://github.com/XVilka/coreboot/tree/...il/ifdtool

actually no, they seem to have changed the repo:
http://review.coreboot.org/gitweb?p=core...5d42bfb947
Change listed above is dated: Fri, 9 Nov 2012 19:59:42 +0200 (18:59 +0100)
Fairly recent, really!

Code:

static void print_usage(const char *name)
{
    printf("usage: %s [-vhdix?] <filename>\n", name);
    printf("\n"
           "   -d | --dump:                      dump intel firmware descriptor\n"
           "   -x | --extract:                   extract intel fd modules\n"
           "   -i | --inject <region>:<module>   inject file <module> into region <region>\n"
           "   -s | --spifreq <20|33|50>         set the SPI frequency\n"
           "   -e | --em100                      set SPI frequency to 20MHz and disable\n"
           "                                     Dual Output Fast Read Support\n"
           "   -l | --lock                       Lock firmware descriptor and ME region\n"
           "   -u | --unlock                     Unlock firmware descriptor and ME region\n"
           "   -v | --version:                   print the version\n"
           "   -h | --help:                      print this help\n\n"
           "<region> is one of Descriptor, BIOS, ME, GbE, Platform\n"
           "\n");
}

[kasar]

awesome find timewalker!

rep added!
I must get a compiled version of that awesome software o.O

[TimeWalker]

I can only compile for GNU :|
Maybe @nebster can assists us with this, since he compiles his EFI-Modifier the same way I would guess (gcc -O2 -g -Wall -W)

[TimeWalker]

I've compiled it but it acts weird .. won't let me save anything to anywhere:

Code:

usage: C:\ifdtool\ifdtool.exe [-vhdix?] <filename>

   -d | --dump:                      dump intel firmware descriptor
   -x | --extract:                   extract intel fd modules
   -i | --inject <region>:<module>   inject file <module> into region <region>
   -s | --spifreq <20|33|50>         set the SPI frequency
   -e | --em100                      set SPI frequency to 20MHz and disable
                                     Dual Output Fast Read Support
   -l | --lock                       Lock firmware descriptor and ME region
   -u | --unlock                     Unlock firmware descriptor and ME region
   -v | --version:                   print the version
   -h | --help:                      print this help

<region> is one of Descriptor, BIOS, ME, GbE, Platform


C:\ifdtool>ifdtool.exe -x bu.bin
Could not open file: No such file or directory

Maybe someone can get it to work ..
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2573233/ifdtool.rar

[nebster]

Here you go.

Haven't tested it though! Required a slight patch to make it compile on windows.

EDIT: Oops, didn't see you compiled it @TimeWalker

---

@TimeWalker Aren't you using the ifdtool wrong? It is trying to access bu.bin to extract it. Does bu.bin exist?

[kasar]

thanks for the compilation guys

added rep to both of you ^^

I noticed timewakers file is 56 kb
and nebster's one is 171kb

also since timewalker reported issues with his version I will try nebster's first


edit: oh, im curius, did you compiled for win32 or win64?