Tips and Tricks with modded Alienware M17x R3 A08 BIOS

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*Standard Warning - Note from NBR Moderation Team*

Third party BIOS Modifications, VBIOS Modifications and other system level tweaks (including fan control) can potentially cause damage to your system. Be aware of this before blindly flashing/installing.

If you brick your system or cause damage, chances are very high that your warranty will be useless. Know what you are doing, you are responsible for your actions.
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Hey guys, I've been playing around with the modded A08 bios and I've found a few things:

Tip #1 - Accurate 100Mhz BCLK:
As you may know, in our bios, when the bclk states that it is 9980 and yet CPU-z and ThrottleStop both show 99.7Mhz. And you have to crank it to around 100.19 to get it to read as 100.0Mhz. But doing this, the Intel XTU app will read proposed values wrong. With the modded bios, by tweaking one little thing, you can have the value in the bios match that reported by windows.

First, flash the modded bios in whichever way you want. I suggest, for 580m users to, flash the A04 bios then blind flash the A08, just to be sure in case of throttling. You will see that the first "Advanced tab" has a few more options. At the bottom, there is a "BCLK" option:

Select it.

Now go you will see:

Now for some reason, SCC does funky things with the BCLK readings so when set to zero, there will no longer be any differences between your bios BCLK and the one reported in windows.

Currently, my BCLK in my bios is set to 10000, in CPU-z it reads 100.0Mhz, in ThrottleStop, it reads 100.001

Tip #2 - Enable C7:

So the modded bios as a "Power" tab. In it there is CPU control, after selecting CPU control, there will be a few options in there:

C-states can help with SSD speeds and CPU idle activity. As you can see, you can enable C7. After doing so, The C-state buttom in ThrottleStop will read C7 instead of C6. I haven't looked into the benefits but hey, more the better right? (This is a joke and completely not what happens in the computer world.)

Tip #3 - Adjusting CPU current

The CPU's power limits can be unlocked using Intel XTU. The Package Current Limit which is measured in AMPs can also be changed but only in the bios. This does bode very well for XM overclocking. Will update this again.

I will expand this post with more things that I find. I have a 2920XM inbound and I'll bee looking for OC'ing options too. Please feel free to contribute. I want to keep this mainly about CPU not GPU.

 

Good start. +Rep. What is SCC?

 

No idea. I tried it because mine and some others' were different so I didn't think changing it would be harmful. Anyways, iXTU now shows accurate values so to someone OCD like me, it's good

 

The attachments/pictures in Post 1 aren't working here.

Edit: Thanks for the fix.

 

Thanks edited so everyone should be able to see now.

Added Tip #2, enabling C7.

Added Tip #3 teaser. CPU current adjustment

 

widezu69 +1 rep...good job

so what happens if i don't use the modded bios and i up the bclk to read 100? I currently have the stock A08 bios. Won't that work the same?

 

Upping to 10000 BCLK in the regular bios will give you around 99.8Mhz in windows.

 

How to flash to the modded A08 bios and is it helpful to a non-xm cpu user?

 

well it gives you soo many more options in the bios and let me see if I can find a link. I got it primarily to trouble shoot a graphics card, but its the most usefull with machines running optimus, cause you can toggle the IGPU on and off. Since you have the 3D model, you don't have that issue

 

@bigtonyman- Thanks. If you could give the link, I would be quite grateful.

Wanna try out new different things with this lappy. I just hope I dont damage it irrevocably. This BIOS flashing is not too risky right?

 

shouldn't be to risky, just make sure you don't touch the machine while it installs. Also don't mess with anything in the bios that you don't anything about. You could damage or impede performance if you aren't careful.

well I've looked everywhere for the original link and I can't find it I stole slicks link though i doubt he cares here ya go

 

Thanks! Added to your, SlickDude's and widezu's reputation!

 

thanks a bunch, don't be afraid to ask if you have any more questions

 

Anymore bios tips? I have done everything on the first post ^____^

C7 states give more battery life I think since it puts the cores to an even more idle state

Thank you!

 

Hi,

I'm very interested in what you have to say about throttling in this context. I'm having a "throttling" issue myself where the CPU runs only at 800 MHz and needs ThrottleStop to start working on higher speeds. Is there a hardware problem for that to happen or is it a software bug (like BIOS, OS, driver, etc.)?

Thanks in advance!

 

That is for GPU throttling. It would help if you listed your laptop specs in your sig for better troubleshooting.

 

Thanks for the suggestion! I already took action to correct the signature (lack of).

The specs are the following:
CPU: i7 2630qm
GPU: Radeon HD6970M 2GB DDR5
RAM: 8GB DDR3 1333
HDD: 750 GB Seagate 7200rpm

Everything is stock and I had the motherboard and graphics card replaced a week ago (by DELL technicians, warranty service).


Hi again.

After hours of ACPI specs readout and community "work" I think I've finally found a cure for my throttling issue. I flashed the unlocked A08 BIOS again, trying to figure out what can I do about the 800 MHz with my CPU. I was looking into the options of the BIOS and I've found the same option that is present in ThrottleStop 4 software - BDPROCHOT.

Bi-directional flag of something... There is a register in the processor to trigger internal ACPI mechanisms for throttling down the power consumption (via decrease in voltage or speed or both) when a digital thermal sensor signals for high temperature. Normally the register is controlled entirely by the processor's inner workings. When you enable the Bi-directional thing (BDPROCHOT = Enabled) this gives external software access to the register which can then be used for software-driven power management of the processor.

Now let's go back a little... I don't know how many times I've written this in the forums but...My Alienware was serviced a couple of days ago. It now has new motherboard and graphics card. The old ones were damaged due to hardware failure. Before the actual failure the machine was running very well, I didn't have any complaints once I got good drivers installed. After the servicing I noticed that the performance is somewhat inadequate and tried some diagnostics. I found one problem very quickly - the CPU was constantly running at 800 MHz, no matter what I put on it. I tried every single CPU burn-in test and the speed was still a constant 800 MHz. It felt like I was in 2001 again. Then I started reading the communities and I've found the ThrottleStop software. I immediately downloaded it and saw that it works. But still, it was a workaround somehow...and I really don't like workarounds. I like solutions.

Back to nowadays...When I was using the ThrottleStop tool i noticed that each time when I manually enabled the BDPROCHOT option the CPU started running at 800 MHz at idle again. When I disabled the BDPROCHOT option the CPU started running normal with speeds varying from 1200 to 1800 MHz at idle.

And now when I was playing with the modded A08 BIOS I saw the same parameter name under "ADVANCED" > "THERMAL CONFIGURATION" > "CPU THERMAL CONFIGURATION" > "BI-DIRECTIONAL PROCHOT#". I immediately disabled it and gave it a try. And voila - now the CPU works just fine, without the ThrottleStop software.

I'm still not very sure if this is the real underlying cause or not. Probably I will be 100% sure if someone here tries to ENABLE the BDPROCHOT in the BIOS and tries to run the laptop without ThrottleStop. If in that situation the CPU speed is not going up, then probably the BDPROCHOT thingy should be considered THE PROBLEM.

Cheers!

 

Very interesting VanVan... I've been following your progress in the threads. Looks like you persevered and won this battle. Thanks for the diagnosis +rep

 

@VanVan Hats off to you sir.

@SlickDude80 You as well.

 

holycow GEOCake, i just got your message lol....right back at you!

 

BI-DIRECTIONAL PROCHOT is a pretty pooey function that throttles the CPU base on what it thinks is necessary and based on the temps. It usually is fine I dunno why yours was messed up. Dunno why I didn't think of it either. Oh well. We all noobs here

 

Hi,

I am now doing some tests with the new fix. Boot time is quicker - took 40 seconds, now it takes 32-33.

It will be very interesting for me if some of you can test the CPU speed of his/hers R3 with the BDPROCHOT enabled in the modded A08 BIOS. Is anyone up for the challenge?

Cheers!

 

i'd love to help you, but i'm on an SSD so the numbers will still be faster than yours

EDIT: I'll check my laptop out tonight to see my bios settings and maybe we can run some benches and compare. but i'm pretty sure my BD Prochot is enabled

 

whats it really do? I'm willing to do it as long as I know what it does

 

No, no...you misunderstood me. I am asking you to check the CPU speed, not the OS load time. When you enable the BDPROCHOT in the BIOS you should be stuck with low CPU speeds (the lowest for your CPU actually) regardless of the load you are putting on it.

I've explained in the previous post - it enables a register in the CPU for external programs to control the throttling.

What I am asking for experimental sake here is someone to ENABLE the BDPROCHOT in modded A08 BIOS and see if his CPU is stuck with the lowest possible speed.

Cheers!

 

i can definitely do something later and post back with my results

i'm curious vanvan, did you run something like prime95 with the BDPROCHOT on? Were you still stuck at 800mhz?

 

ill go turn it on if I can find it and run some Prime95 ill post what happens in a few minutes.

 

Yes, I said it before and I'll repeat again - I tried every single testing tool available. I was getting a constant 800 MHz readout in CPU-z during testing with wPrime, Prime95, AIDA64, 3DMark, encoding, etc...

I can't wait! And many thanks again!

P.S. Look at my new signature

 

couldn't find the toggle where is it in the bios?

 

It's under "ADVANCED" > "THERMAL CONFIGURATION" > "CPU THERMAL CONFIGURATION" > "BI-DIRECTIONAL PROCHOT#".

You're tired or something?

 

I installed the modded A08 bios today and checked the BI-DIRECTIONAL PROCHOT setting, and it was already enabled and my processor is not stuck at its lowest speed.

 

Thanks!

Then I guess BDPROCHOT is not the cause for my problems.
Well, there you go...now I'm more than 99,99999% sure that it is hardware related problem

Kind Regards,
Ivan

 

Well if you have a work around, no reason to fret any more. Get on with your life. Get BF3, plays some Arkham City. Enjoy!

 

PROCHOT# is a signal within the CPU that is set off when the thermal sensors reach the throttling temperature which is typically around 100C. PROCHOT stands for processor hot. When this signal goes active, it tells the CPU to lower the multiplier and voltage to reduce the core temperature. BD PROCHOT stands for bi-directional PROCHOT. What that means is not only can the CPU decide when it is too hot but having this enabled also allows an outside signal to be run to the processor which tells the CPU to slow down when something else on the motherboard is too hot.

If turning off BD PROCHOT blocks this outside signal and everything is fine after that then that means there is a problem with whatever is triggering this signal. The CPU is fine. You would probably need to talk with an engineer at Dell high up the chain before you could ever find out what else on the motherboard is using the PROCHOT signal. It could be a signal from the GPU or perhaps the voltage regulator is running too hot. Maybe the heatsink on that is not properly attached.

Here is the register that contains this information. If you and a few other users read this register from the CPU and post your results, you will probably see that when you are throttled back to 800 MHz, the PROCHOT signal is going to be active on your CPU and not active on a normal working laptop.



This register is officially called the IA32_THERM_STATUS register and is located at 0x19C. You could use my MSR Tool if you would like to read the contents of this register.

MSR Tool
http://www.mediafire.com/?myjkxzkzzmd

Run the program, enter 0x19C in the MSR Number box and then click on the Read MSR button. Post that info so I can have a look. Finding out what's going on will probably be a lot easier than finding someone at Dell that you can talk to that will understand all this.

Edit: Register 0x19C contains information for each individual core. Register 0x1B1 contains information for the entire CPU package. Read each register and post a screen shot of the MSR Tool showing the contents of this register. There should be a clue in the lower bits of one register or the other compared to a properly functioning laptop.

 

I'd upload the data but I can't get the program to download

 

Follow the link and click on the green box that says Download.

 

this is what I get when I click on it

 

refresh the page and try again?

 

Bummer. Came down instantly for me. Sorry.

 

I bet 2 bucks that its the browser that BigT is using

 

just used both chrome and Firefox and it didn't work. Guess I'll pull up internet explorer and see if it works.

Edit: Fixed it. turned out I never reset the date after I had to reset the bios on Tuesday. Setting the proper date made it work

 

Now all we need to see are some results of a properly working laptop compared to a laptop that is being permanently throttled.

 

here is a screen shot of what I get. Seems like there is several different modes though because it you hit read MSR repeatedly, different EDX and EAX codes appear each time. here is an example of what happens after I click it once.

 

The upper bits in the EAX register contain temperature data so that data will constantly change as the CPU temperature changes.

The important number is the 8 at the far right end of the EAX register. That is equivalent to bit[3] being set. You can go back and read about this bit in the picture I posted. That confirms that the PROCHOT bit has been set by an outside source. Hopefully someone else with a properly functioning laptop will run this test so you have something to compare to.

 

I'm sure his laptop is just fine. Mine on the other hand is not. Maybe I should try?

This is the result:







NOTE: This is with BDPROCHOT BIOS option set to DISABLED. I will further test this with ENABLED tomorrow.

 

Okay, I set the option to where I can do an overclock to my CPU in the BIOS but options are all grayed out. I have tried several things but when I turn that option on the CPU overclocking feature is grayed out and I am not able to select anything.

So I downloaded Intel Extreme Tuning Utility and the options to overclock are grayed out in that software also. I know it is going to be an option of some kind, but I can seem to figure it out.

 

Maybe the bios is disabling the overclocking? why not install the modded bios?

 

I do have the modded bios installed. I was able to do CPU overclocking with the stock BIOS and when I installed the modded BIOS I was able to do CPU overclocking. But, when I did a reset on my BIOS now I am not able to get the right options in order to get to where I can raise the FSB frequency again. There is so many options in the modded BIOS it is crazy confusing now. hehe

I was able to disable the Intel GfX card and turn on C7 which is nice though. I just cant overclock my CPU anymore hehe.

 

If you dont have the extreme chips, there's no point. The multipliers are locked, and the most you can increase is by like...1-2%. The effort and risk just for that minimal improvement is not worth it.

 

I know these scores don't mean much, but I do think it is a little odd. With the unmodded BIOS I was scoring a 7.6 on the WEI on CPU and with the modded BIOS I am now scoring a 7.5. I know the WEI does not mean much but I am wondering if something in the modded BIOS is not slowing my CPU down now. I hate when crap like that happens... It might not matter but it just bothers my OCD.