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

[kasar]

yeah, that is correct, what about to a intermediaty step?

I mean follow_me were able to load the integrated shell by pushing F10 key during the boot proccess, it may be posible do the same thing to load the module.

for example to load overclock modules hold the O key or any other custom key we set during the boot proccess, that could be temporal until the modules get fully integrated and automatized in the bios without the need of loaders or hotkeys.

[follow_me]

@Timewalker - thanks for the clarification

@jkbuha

Thanks... hmm are there any more reliable methods to remove a soldered CPU?

No, there is no other methods , because it's not supposed to be removed , to do it you need a serious soldering equipment. preheater, infrared soldering station with good temperature control, etc


@kasar is right, you can't change CPU multiplier , unles you have Extreme edition.With locked multiplier, you can change only frequencies

1) What do you mean by unlocking ICC Profiles (via fitc?) - is there an additional procedure to be applied to ME?

I mean that fitc has an option under ME->Configuration-> ICC Data ->ICC Profile X -> Clock range defenition record Y

There you can find "SSC Change Allowed Mask" option , if it is disabled ME will ignore any request about clock change

We have 2 profiles built in , and both have this option unlocked ... so we don't need to make any changes to ME configuration

Did you manage to boot via second HDD/SDD in CD-bay (as opposed to only first - I recall our SCT2.0 only allows primary HDD boot?) or does the custom boot record allow this?

Yes, I was able to boot both UEFI and Legacy mode, all you need is correct boot record

And I've also managed to build all modules from 016s, including ICCOverclocking. Relatively easy to do for anyone with a basic knowledge of Visual Studio. Both VS2008 and VS2010 work nicely with the TianoCore base.

What do you mean by "build all the modules" ? AFAIK you can build it one by one , not all of them at the same time because of missing build system, or we are talking about different sources , then I want yours

For (ii) the software already exists (it's XTU and/or CCTWin.exe) but as I've had to re-boot in legacy mode I suspect the efi has been purged from memory

No, it doesn't , you can't call any UEFI services , but if you have direct memory access , you can write a driver which will poll certain memory address and make ME requests if it is changed, but if you have a direct memory access you can request frequency change through ME interface directly

In theory we can use this method to recover from most bricks (ME notwithstanding).

I've tested this method in practice couple of times - everything is working like it should

[jkbuha]

No, there is no other methods , because it's not supposed to be removed , to do it you need a serious soldering equipment. preheater, infrared soldering station with good temperature control, etc

Thanks. A quick google around shows that some local suppliers fully support (and guarantee) their removal so to your point you do need some serious gear.

@kasar is right, you can't change CPU multiplier , unles you have Extreme edition.With locked multiplier, you can change only frequencies

Just caught this now. Are we sure that only the XM (as opposed to M or QM) can be unlocked?

I mean that fitc has an option under ME->Configuration-> ICC Data ->ICC Profile X -> Clock range defenition record Y

There you can find "SSC Change Allowed Mask" option , if it is disabled ME will ignore any request about clock change

We have 2 profiles built in , and both have this option unlocked ... so we don't need to make any changes to ME configuration

Yes I subsequently found this out messing through FITC. It's just the Change Allowed Mask option, which we knew about anyway. I thought that with another ICC Profile we would unlock the multiplier, but that is wrong.

What do you mean by "build all the modules" ? AFAIK you can build it one by one , not all of them at the same time because of missing build system, or we are talking about different sources , then I want yours

I see what you mean - no I built them one by one. I followed the UEFI build instructions; first build the edk2 environment, then build each module separately through the dsc file or command line script. No the build.bat script does not work directly

[kasar]

even without the unlocked multiplier cpus, there may be posible to at least tweak the turbo limits per core count.

for example, my brother have a unlocked prema bios on his new laptop, and, he is able to boost the turboboost limits using XTU.

so in other words, being able to do that for all cores, it would be like a small or not small at all overclocking

cant wait to see those xtu modules working

[follow_me]

even without the unlocked multiplier cpus, there may be posible to at least tweak the turbo limits per core count.

for example, my brother have a unlocked prema bios on his new laptop, and, he is able to boost the turboboost limits using XTU.

so in other words, being able to do that for all cores, it would be like a small or not small at all overclocking

cant wait to see those xtu modules working

@kasar
a brief inspection of the sources for XTU showed that XTU is defined in CpuPEI module, and I dont know is it possible to safely replace it, each fail means desoldering and flash reprogramming ( I don't have "easy flash remove" mod yet )
If you want to try , I can rebuild CpuPEI module for you , but I neet to know what processor do you have , and what shoul I set for the limits(non_turbo_ratio is UINT16 turboratio is UINT32 )

[kasar]

@follow_me

yeah, I'm Interested

my cpu is the i5-2430m

http://ark.intel.com/es-es/products/5345...o-3_00-GHz


mmm, not sure about the limits, in my case, this proccesor have a max of x24 multiplier without turbo

with two cores, it can up to x28, and with one core it can up to x30

my goal was try force two cores to x30, or even more if is posible to go over that x30 turbo limit for this proccesor.

if you mean about "safe OC" limits, lets try starting with x35 or x34 for turbo.

and about the non turbo ratio, I supose it will be x24, I think we cant set it higher due the locked multiplier.

not sure if those are the ratios you are talking about.

anyway, did you checked that a "unmodded" CpuPEI module, is like the one I have? I mean, if the modules are so different, chances of brick the unit will be higher, however yeah, I'm open to test it

everything related to overclocking and boost the machine even more is my main goal

----------------

ok, more info.

I checked my bro's laptop, he have a 3840qm

http://ark.intel.com/es-es/products/7084...o-3_80-GHz

and he is able to edit the turbo ratios like this

1 core - up to x42
2 cores - up to x41
3 cores - up to x40
4 cores - up to x40

relating to the intel ark page

3.8 ghz seems the max posible for this proccesor (at least without modifications) x38 multiplier.

but, it seems that he is able to push the turbo limits over that, even for all 4 cores.

not sure what is the max posible limit, if it is cpu locked in the chip, in some module or whatever.

Editing those sources seems interesting, if we get one of those compiled modules running on our systems, the chances of modding and unlocking would be way higher than just hex editing ^^

[follow_me]

anyway, did you checked that a "unmodded" CpuPEI module, is like the one I have? I mean, if the modules are so different, chances of brick the unit will be higher, however yeah, I'm open to test it

@kasar
I've checked Intel's reference sourcess for this module.
It is prety much unified, and each cpu initialized by it's own initial data , which has all the limits, frequences, etc .. defined for each processor
But , I don't know where to get this initial data within ours image , so - the only way is to hardcode values for ratio limits
But there is another problem - I don't know are this values plain numbers or some kind of mask. I thought about that because non turbo multipliers are represented by 16 bit unsigned integer (which means 0-65535 values) and turbo multipliers as 32bit unsigned integers. In case of plain numbers 8 bit (0-255 values) integer is enough to encode all the possible multipliers.

[kasar]

oh, that doesnt seems good, mmm, what else I can provide?
I was really interested to test that.

mmm, what about to just replace the cpuPEI module from my bro's laptop modded bios on mine?

may that unlock something?

his laptop is ivy anyway, not sandy like mine, that may generate incompabilities relating the modules, anyway, I heard ivy motherboards are able to run sandy cpus without issues at all, I also heard they even run them arround 10% faster than on normal sandy mobos.

[follow_me]

oh, that doesnt seems good, mmm, what else I can provide?
I was really interested to test that.

mmm, what about to just replace the cpuPEI module from my bro's laptop modded bios on mine?

may that unlock something?

his laptop is ivy anyway, not sandy like mine, that may generate incompabilities relating the modules, anyway, I heard ivy motherboards are able to run sandy cpus without issues at all, I also heard they even run them arround 10% faster than on normal sandy mobos.

@kasar
If you remember we have one QM67 motherbord which runs Ivy , i think it is possible to port that changes.
Pei module fro your brohers nb will not make any difference, because it uses some settings to initialize CPU, those settings are storred somwhere , and we dont know where

[kasar]

yes, I know that in at least qm67 it is just firmware limitation the thing wich imposibilitated ivy to run.

probably the same stuff with hm67

however we come back to the same history

me7 would be needed to be updated to me8, and also probably many of the bios code would be needed to be altered or entirely rewrited.
I tried replacing the me7 with me8 , but the system did not boot, or when it boot it became stuck on some point.
did not had success on that.

mmm, getting back to subject, while trying to replicate what my bro is able to run n his laptop, I guess we need to run some xtu modules wich are not present in our firmware.

I saw a case of two laptops with basically the same hardware, but different case, cooling and price, one of them was being sold more pricely, and it had more stuff, the other one was more like cheap and had worse cooling.

I think I read somewhere some time ago in some of the prema bios mods topics, someone crossflashed (flashed the bios from the cool laptop, into the crappy one, and it worked and turned the crappy laptop into the good one unlocking all stuff)

so another posibility is that if we find another laptop very similar or if posible almost identical in hardware , but with cool firmware stuff, and we try to cross flash or at least "port" some of the stuff, it would be interesting to be tested.

anyway, being able to compile your own source modified code is also interesting.

I am just a little shorts of ideas, you guys seems to be better while messing with the code and modules, I am more like the guy with a modified laptop waiting for some dangerous flash tests