The First M17x R2 BIOS mod. Need suggestions for future mods.

ah well, if it's not interesting then ok. At least we know now.

What the biggest gpu we could put into the R1? Just curious, again lol

 

4870s

The 5870s were hit or miss it seems, I had a pair for a few weeks and was able to make absolutely no progress with them.

 

Man, I wish I knew how to edit BIOSes and stuff, would make for a good summer project

 

even with the bios modded? If that's the case, it's meh lol

 

The goal of the modded bios that we were given was never to add GPU support, that was a wishlist feature for later haha

 

Great work guys.
I just thought to ask if this kind of modding can be done for Dell's servers, particularly for PowerEdge 6850. I'm interested if there are options hidden in their BIOS to switch/change the primary display from integrated video card to an added PCI/PCIe one.

Thank you,
conn0r

 

If the the R2 ends up taking a pair of 6970s not sure why the R1 wouldnt?

Not really sure what your asking but does the motherboard of your server have a PCI/e slot if yes I would think that you could plug a gfx card in and get it to work with out a mod, or not?

 

The R1 is an older design. Also an nvidia chipset....not universal like the intel nehalem chipsets haha

 

I guess i need to pick up a couple of 6970s to throw in my beast. Any suggestions where to buy?

 

The server has got few PCIe slots but the graphics cards in them would not initialize by BIOS. Other kind of hardware - like network or SCSI cards are all right, though.

Normally a motherboard would disable onboard video card when a dedicated one is present but not in dell's servers. Another possibility could be that the graphics hardware is somehow blacklisted by BIOS.

Anyway Dell's BIOS is difficult to crack as it uses different compression algorithm and I thought that maybe if you guys have figured out how is this working on laptops than maybe it will be easy to mod their server's BIOS-es as well.
conn0r

 

Would have been nice what about gtx 470m then?

Dell seems to be the cheapest at the moment $400 each or around that I heard, part number is V9XKH, you just gotta convince them to sell it to you

Wish I could help you there. TheWiz could probably make it work? They probably didn't worry about including support for other graphic cards, as most people wouldn't need that capability

 

Nothing newer than the 4870s has been shown to work in the R1, ATI or NVIDIA the bios support is not there for anything newer than 4870s (GTX 285m also does NOT work)

 

Has any modding/code change been done to alleviate the "Plugged in, not charging" issue. I know this has to be a "software" thing, just don't know if the BIOS actually "controls" this or just relays the info from some other dedicated firmware system. As for what I do know, Dell uses a 3rd conductor on it power supplies. This serves as a communications feedback from a memory chip (DS2501 eeprom in many models) within the power supply. This is how Dell identifies Power supplies as "certified" or "official".

For me, I often unplug and take it into the bathroom (kill two birds ...) and read. When I plug back in, it says "plugged in, not charging". When I reseat the battery (while still in Windows), this resets this to charging for a few seconds or so, but to "fix" it, I have to power down, remove battery and power brick, hold power button for 20 or so seconds, then restart. At least this is Dell's prescribed procedure. This is a major PITA.

I understand that Dell uses this as their mechanism for proprieterizing the power brick market for their laptops. Now the rub comes in when this signal is non-present. Why the heck would they cut the performance and refuse to charge the battery? Why would running the computer at half speed ensure that the power is good? If the customer is smart enough to know his power supply is good, then he should be able to override it in the BIOS. This, however, is not in the consumers best interest, but in Dell's scam interest to sell more power bricks, laptops, or even motherboards. Dell has a history of this crap, even with their servers (apparently Dell power supplies would "blow" non-Dell replacement motherboards)

Sorry for the ranting, but is this even possible? Can the string that is sent from the communications be searched in the source code base? Can it be JMPed or BRanched out?

This guy actually pulled the chip from the brick and relocated it in the laptop itself:
“Dell AC power adapter type cannot be determined” solution

Another expose article:
Inside the DELL AC Power Adapter - A mystery revealed | The Laptop Junction

 

Uninstall OSD and problem solved. Only 2 of the media buttons will not work the Spaceship and Odometer. You can use the stealth mode indicator to make sure stealth mode is off.

 

Does this make the message go away or does it eliminate the problem?

 

Thanks for those links!

If I still had my electronic workshop I would probably build a station to reprogram/copy the data from a working DS2501 chip onto a new one.

THEN, I would build a small "adapter" where it would hold the newly programmed DS2501 chip and would allow you to plug in ANY power adapter into the input end --- allow the power to flow through while adding the powersupply check data from the new DS2501 chip to the laptop on the out end.

Would acutally be quite simple other than the fact you would have to build a new "adapter" for each style/range of laptops.
I know for a fact that multiple laptops in a range use the same DS2501 data to identify the correct adapter. (for example... my brothers inspiron 1710 came with a 90w adapter, but runs great on a 130w adapter I had from an xps line)

Hmmmm, thinking thinking

D.

 

I thought about this too. Froogle shows 13 bucks for the chip. As for the power jack, I see people selling the female end of it (to solder onto MB) for 20ish dollars. Haven't seen the male end though (needed). Then there is the design of the female end for this "adaptor". And then the variance of power requirements. What would you get to power an m18x and yet standardize the input connector?

Anyway, I thought a BIOS mod in firmware/software would be more ideal, after all this is one of those "extra" functionalities that if all the common folks knew about, they would rather do without anyway. It only benefits Dell. Maybe there is a nice website that lists all the strings that come out of these DS2501s and could be searched or crossreferenced some kind of way within the BIOS code base (if it is even in there).

 

Spoiler

This is what I've been trying to tell you guys back in the days of the 'plugged in not charging' , that's why Dell were replacing motherboards too along with the charger.

They knew exactly what they were doing !! That's why I wanted to find a way around it asking here for even a broken charger to test my 'theory'.
I'm pretty sure that if we replace the chip in the 330W PSU with one from the R1/R2 PSU it'll work in the last mentioned systems.

 

I am hoping for some BIOS mod/hack like:

Code:

  if [string from chip does not validate]
    call showStupidErrorAndNotChargeBattery
  else
    call functionNormally
  endIf

could be changed to:

Code:

  if [string from chip does not validate]
    call functionNormally
  else
    call functionNormally
  endIf

edit:
I saw folks on page 7 and 27 asking about this, but didn't see anything else about it.

Great thread BTW, Thanks to TheWiz and goodstone for this.

 

Exactly, a bios mod to remove/bypass the check would be ideal as opposed to building an "adapter".

I know I mentioned this in one thread or another when this bios mod first came out, never heard anything about it again.

Now that the m18x came out and we find that the 330w wont work on the r1/r2 m17x there should be a way to compare the 2 bios' and see where the psu check is residing and at least be able to change it to allow the 330w (preferable disable the check).

Here is to hoping

 

Here's an idea: put the 240w chip inside the 330w PSU. Those should be built into the PSU itself.

 

Anyone have pictures of the chips? Something I'd be interested in seeing, though I don't have the soldering skill to attempt it.

 

Follow these 2 links that hoofhearted originally provided
The first link has the best info IMHO


Inside the DELL AC Power Adapter - A mystery revealed | The Laptop Junction

“Dell AC power adapter type cannot be determined” solution

 

Hello,


just an update. TheWiz looks like he is back on project m17x again. I have sent him a private message concerning the success of installing the 69 cards into out units. I have therefore asked him if he can look into removing the power check function in the bios so that the m18x 330w psu can be used.

I will let you guys know if this can be possible. Hopefully more work has been done in recompiling the bios so more in depth changes can be done

 

i've been running the modded a10 bios for about 2 weeks now. glad to hear he's back at it - i know the project seemed to be on hold there for a bit

 

Same thoughts I had. I spoke with him via pm a few days back at his forum. He said it's a n interesting thought and will be looking at the code to see if the Dell adaptor instruction code can be circumvented and patched much like the 5% bios overclock was.

 

For me, I am just interested in removing the power check. It serves no good purpose IMHO. What would really be sweet is that if this mod is possible, then develop it into a 'generic BIOS patcher" utility that would work on other Alienware and Dell BIOSes. Not sure of the complexity of the algorithm used, but if it is a simple comparison to a known database of power signature strings, then it should seem dooable. There are probably many old laptops out there that have life in them, but because of this 'artificial' limitation and natural wear or breakage on this third conductor, makes people replace them for this reason. To me this is unethical and uninnovative money in Dells pocket which I feel is undeserved.

 

TheWiz has got a provisional date for next release 30th june.

This mod will include,

White list removal for wifi cards,
Overclock value for nonxm/xm cpu to 15%,
Investigation into removing power check function to enable ati 6970's to work to there full potential.

If there is anything else please do not hesitate in letting me know.

Ant

 

Awesome Thanks for the stupendous update goodstone.
Can't wait to try it out.

Cheers.

 

Nice, +1 Ill definitely test it as soon as i make time. Ill test with a 520m/540m and a 720m. Ill get with Thewiz on it. Havent had time to respond to him yet.

 

Cool. Thanks for the update. Can't wait.

 

Great News!

 

!!!SWEET!!!

Can't wait - And I'll be ordering my 6970's around the 30th of June too!!! YAY

 

Cool man great stuffs.
Can't wait to hear how you go with them as well.

Cheers.

 

great news, thank you all for working on it

 

What does the Whitelist Removal for the WIFI cards do? Will this affect me putting in a Bigfoot Killer Wireless N card?

 

You still want that m18x? Or you gonna upgrade your R2 to an almost m18x like the rest of us!

 

What it means is that with the whitelist removal list scrubbed you can now install cards that Dell decided to hardware restrict on the R2 should now all work with the correct drivers.

 

I want both LOL ehahahah

hehe Nah I will probably try and stick with the R2 for as long as possible or get rid of one if I can and then look into the M18x when some newer GPUs become available.

I'll let the M18x cook for a while longer yet.

Cheers.

 

We need a GPU whitelist removal.....

 

You hit the spot

 

Big time scook

 

I second this!!! FTW

 

That's going to probably be a lot harder than a wireless card whitelist removal.

Maybe this means I can finally use my Intel 6300 wireless card (from an HP laptop) in my 17x.

 

^^ I am excited as well! I am purchasing a Bigfoot Killer wireless network adapter from Aikimox, and this was one of my major worries. I also would like to see the GPU whitelist removal.

 

Definitely!!

 

+1, this would be great

 

Is there already a new date for the next release?

 

Hello,

Just an update from TheWiz....

RE: Alienware M17x-R2 A10 BIOS Unlocked OC Options
Hi everyone,

This is still being developed for a more stable version two and we haven't finished deciding the best features to add and remove for version two. Please have a bit more patience as we explore our options furhter.

Thanks,
TheWiz

 

Thanks for the update goodstone! Much Appreciated.

Cheers.