[Release] Alienware 18 BIOS A12 Unlocked

It's finally been done ladies and gentlemen. A hacker by the scene name "pythonic" has patched my decrypted dump of the Alienware 18 A12 BIOS, patched to open all menus unlocked, I custom patched the BIOS as well to disable package C-state lock so that you can use Mac OS X on Alienware 18 without the need for a patched kernel.

Procedure:
1. If you are not already on BIOS A12, please download directly from Dell and flash. Download link here: https://downloads.dell.com/FOLDER03304100M/1/AW18A12.exe

2. Download modified BIOS here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5dGmVHDQ7iubFNnSWw0Y1NTalU/view?usp=sharing

3. Extract contents of the unlocked BIOS A12 zip file to the root of your disk drive (C:/)

4. Open a command window in admin mode, redirect to root directory (cd C:/)

5. DO NOT CLOSE COMMAND WINDOW. Put computer to sleep, then wake the computer.

6. Type the following command in and execute: fptw64 -f bios.bin -bios

7. Wait for operation to complete, then reboot into your unlocked A12 BIOS!

Shout out to AlexG73SW for getting me Pythonic's info + dump tool and Pythonic for patching the BIOS.

Lots of new options added + ability to finally change video card from BIOS and not windows.

Pythonic's donation links are here:
Paypal - [email protected]
or
BTC - 175WaQRqyk1eCmsDdRLSnttRVg7Jn7Ppgn


Enjoy everybody, this was long, long overdue.

PS: In case of soft brick for incorrect values, just do the RAM hotswap trick. Disconnect AC adapter, pop your RAM out, power on computer, allow itself to 2-beep itself until it shuts off, then hotswap RAM in before the lights cut back on. This will clear any invalid NVRAM settings.

 

I would like to WARN everybody that all mods are personal and each mod is done for particular machine. Take care, as flashing the bios modded for another machine may make your machine clone or even brick your laptop.
The BIOS provided here was unlocked for particular machine of Raidriar. I suggest to all who interested to get unlocked safe stable BIOS for your machine.

 

Is it possible to send him the M17-R1 and he unlocks it too ? Donations at least from my side will be provided.

 

Great work guys, cant wait to finish work and test it on my machine. Does the mod is compatible also with non MX cpu and gtx 780m ?

 

Many thanks to the effort of Pythonic - you have succeeded where many have failed. Good work!


Loaded this on my AW18 - it's basic specs are 4910 cpu and AMD m290x crossfire with 32gb ram. The bios works, however, first time I went in and changed a few basic settings (number lock on on boot up etc.) it bricked the pc. I ended up removing all the ram, bios battery and normal battery to do a bios clear, then it reset for me and was able to display the bios. Please note: It does default to raid after reset, so if you are not running a raid array, you will potentially need to change this as required. Otherwise, it does indeed function and many settings are unlocked.

Now for someone much more bios savvy than me to work out what we need to do and post it up here...

 

Why do You need to sleep? Is this a bug in Secure Flash or it's implementation in AW18?

 

something is weird. if you have XTU installed, make sure you remove it and delete the profiles option too when uninstalling, reboot twice, then go into BIOS, reset to default settings, then save exit, enter BIOS again, and make your adjustments. NVRAM is still an issue here.

@GodlikeRU yes there is a secureflash exploit involving sleep

 

I have now custom unlocked A12 for my 4930mx gtx 780m sli machine. Works good. I don't see any significant difference with A09 unlocked.
Any bios can be modded for particular machine and flashed. For any configuration. With few precautions...

 

I have had XTU installed previously, but it has been uninstalled for quite a while. Checked for profiles, could not see any leftover data from XTU. Thanks for the reply though.

 

Fantastic work folks...Props too all of the modders, tinkerers, and people who like to extract every ounce of performance out of their machines...Glad to see the "impossible" has finally been made possible. So what real world benefits will we see or expect to see with an unlocked bios other than the benefit to OSX ? No where close to being as technical as many users on this forum so here are a few questions. Does an unlocked bios expand upgradability for Gpu, ram, or LCD panel? Can this help achieve a higher Overclock with a 4940mx or other unlocked/overclockable chips? Since the alw18 and alw17 shared a similar bios is it possible to do the same with the alw17 bios? Lastly I think this may have already been asked but heck why not...will we now be able to make a custom more aggressive fan table?

 

Custom more aggressive fan table would be very welcome

 

Good news is we have access to Intel DPTF configuration in the BIOS. the thresholds were set so stupidly high.....the "hot" temp was set to 95C, Critical temp to 103C, and the min activation threshold was to 71C, ambient activator to 79C. I lowered all of these to 83, 95, 63, and 71 respectively. Fans come on much more quickly now.

 

can i reflash it with dell's A12 after flashing it with this ?

 

I checked this approach. It's using bug in early UEFI systems. UEFI fails to set write-protection to ON after sleep cycle. It IS motherboard dependent so AW can release fixed bios version. Further models such as BGA Dellienwares may be vulnerable unless bios is updated so you may want to check if write-protection is still on after sleep cycle on them.

 

Yes, you can flash any original dell bios over modded bios. But again I suggest to get modded bios for your particular machine and not to flash bios which was unlocked for Raidriar's machine if you want to avoid troubles.

So, now you finally agree that it is possible?)

 

Hey man, how can i get modded/unlocked bios for my machine ?

 

yea i had some problems windows was not working at all and getting some drivers crashes so im back on the A12 now until something new comes up

 

Yeah but it's not beating Secure Flash. Only bypassing it using bug in early systems.

 

i have a small problem when i change the intel DPTF and restart it goed back to disabled and i cant get it to work how did u?

 

i have same issue ;(

flashed back to stock a12, i think we need to ask Raidriar/ AlexG73SW for unlocked bios based on dumps from our machines because many default settings looked like set for different cpu/configuration for example non turbo flex ratio was set to 33 as default and my cpu 4800mq supports max 27

 

absolutely right. I mentioned about it. You can easily brick your laptop by changing the settings which are not applicable to your machine. I find it necessary to update the first post with this precaution. Go and get custom BIOS for your particular machine. It will be safe and stable.

indeed. I have never told about beating secure flash. We were all looking for the way to get full menu access for our A18 machines. It took some efforts to find this way. I was searching for this key despite others stating it was not possible. If your are looking for the way to beat secure flash you are not in right place I think.


Now I would like to get some experienced advice about proper setup of bios settings.
I tried playing with DPTF but all I have after lowering down temps is just throttling of Cpu starts earlier (with lower temps). I don't know how Raidriar succeed to make cpu fan running earlier.

Maybe Mr. Fox can take his dusty A18 from the shelf and take a look on it?))

 

No need. I already told told users if they brick they can use the NVRAM reset method to recover a soft brick, just remove RAM, remove power adapter, disconnect battery, turn on computer with AC adapter, wait for the 2 beeps to finish, then hotswap in RAM in between restarts to clear NVRAM and have the BIOS default settings for detected hardware. The BIOS is find to use on any Alienware 18.

Fox sold his Alienware 18 quite a while ago.

 

it's up to you, folks, but I don't see any reason for risk and difficulties when it's so easy to get unlocked riskfree bios for designated machine.

 

how do you do that ?

 

check pm

 

Just received unlocked bios for my aw18 but intel dptf still switches to disabled after every restart.

So it looks like it works only with MX cpus, same as with "Intel Dynamic Platform & Thermal Framework Driver for Extreme CPU" which is available on Dell webpage. Could someone with non MX cpu could check and provide feedback ?

 

Wow really amazing. Atleast the bypass works on the hacked BIOS...
So I think people need to flash this and NVRAM reset so that BIOS could load defaults for the selected HW. A minor issue but a huge advantage.

Also that custom patch for OS X is a bonus !!
+rep to OP for this wonderful contribution.

Edit : Alienware 17 also got the unlocked BIOS, check it out..

 

Yes, I think in our case Intel DPTF works only for Extreme CPUs. But indeed when I start playing with DPTF temps settings I have only more heavy throttling of cpu and I can get no any cooling improvement as Raidriar stated.
My opinion you will not loose too much without DPTF.

 

Maybe I am doing something wrong but after playing with unlocked bios for my pc I think that Advance->Thermal Configuration do not work as intended. I was playing with profile temperatures and actually it does not make any difference. It does not matter what temperature is set for particular thermal points, fan rpms are not adjusted according to that settings at all. I did even choose the lowest available temperature as starting point for high fan profile so if I understand this correctly fan should spin on max rpms all the time right after power on but it does not work like this. Fan spins according to some "hidden" plan

 

Did you clear the NVRAM ?

 

Yes i did, Ashtrix does the thermal configuration works for You and You are able to set fan on full blast ?

 

Despite having the Unlocked BIOS for AW17 since a couple of weeks I couldn't test it myself due to the work and new place...

Edit -
@Striker1234 were you able to set custom Fan tables, like raidriar ?
Striker was also not able to set the GPU fan but in his case It's a Zotac GTX 1070..

 

No worries, Give it a try when You find couple free minutes and provide feedback

 

yep i did the same problem

 

What exactly are u changing?
For fan control I believe you should go to Advanced-> Platform Thermal Configuration. Against Active Trip Point 0 & 1 Fan speed you can find [100] & [75] and as far as I understood it means % of max fan rpm, not the temperature.
Active Trip point 1 you can change temp fm <55°C> default to lower one.
If you disable automatic thermal reporting you will have access to Active trip point 0 as well.
Passive TC1,TC2 & TSP are used in formula defined by ACPI. In other words when OS will start throttling of cpu. 1, 5 are running numbers of pre-determined temps, looks like 1=disabled, 5= 39C. But I totally switched off Passive cooling policy as it starts throttling of cpu to cool it down. Active policy is using cooling fans instead.

There is one tricky point here - what device is used for cpu temp monitoring, as there are at least 3 different sensors. Setting for one may override or not override settings for others..
I think if you make adjustments in Platform Thermal Configuration then you should disable DPTF for example...

 

How can I do this ?

 

I can only perform test of 10 minutes, and no success, since the 1070 start getting hot I have to turn off the PC and continue playing with DPTF.



But what @AlexG73SW said about the diferent sensors makes me sense!

 

I have tested it all, DPTF does not work with my CPU. Maybe this is an issue with my machine so I would be really appreciated if someone with non MX cpu could test DPTF/Thermal Configuration.

 

IF intel's dptf driver installed in windows, did you try to change relative settings from window's power settings?

 

DPTF driver on DELL webpage is only for extreme cpu, so that would explain why DPTF in unlocked BIOS does not work in my scenario with i7-4800MQ

 

Ding ding, any feedback from non MX users ?

 

That feature is exclusive to the U / XM / MX CPUs we are better not to touch if we have MQ/QM machines, applies to the Windows Driver/software too.

These should help more - DPTF NBR & more documentation

In our case since the BIOS is Unlocked those options might be showing up, So that's the reason why we (MQ CPU owners) aren't able to control this setting.

Spoiler

Dell locked the fantables harder first but after complaints they patched the BIOS, updated & relaxed them a bit by allowing the 780M 100W TDP HW cool better but the CPU heatsink is 2 pipe on the AW17, which poses another issue but thanks to the fan mods and Alteast I'm glad that this Unlocked BIOS opens up new possibilites for controlling the Fan tables via Intel DPTF atleast better than nothing on the Haswell machines

 

What about Thermal Configuration options in advance menu, does it work/does not work for non MX/XM users ?

 

So now the legacy boot option for Maxwell cards (960M, 965M, 970M, and 980M) works with this?

 

Legacy option support was with Dell update on AW18, AW17 doesn't have this ability as Dell didn't update the AW17 R1 with Maxwell, Unfortunately I don't think that's happening with some Unlocked BIOS thanks to Secure Flash, can't be hacked with the current CPU power need extreme logic hacker.

 

Out of interest whats this bios default set for? I'm thinking of picking up a 2nd hand A18 with a 4940MX processor atm would this bios flash no problem onto it? Only reason I'm considering this is while I'm still using my M18X its twitchy with windows 10 sometimes on startup when it comes to initialising the GPU's since the 980m's werent originally for that machine.

The one im eyeing is €1900 for a 2 1/2 yr old A18 which is compatable with my 980m's and currently has 880m's in it. Just want to be sure this unlocked bios can be installed onto it and boot without issue before I buy that machine.

Also wondering if its worth it too switching my M18Xr2 for a A18 instead.....

 

Its a ghost forum here these days? V_V

 

AW18 can't work with Pascal HW due to the eDP requirement, Plus the 980Ms aren't capable of running Max OC in that machine due to the mobo hardcap on max 330-440W but it runs the SLI without hitch ( Still there are some issues with Fans I guess) vs the M18x R2. Next is the unlocked sBIOS on the AW18 gives you options to run the SG/dGPU modes control and CPU overclock control, Fan control if you have an MX chip with the help of Intel DPTF as you can read in this thread, And Raidriar modified the sBIOS making it capable of running the Hackintosh as you can see it on the OP.

M18x R2 on the other hand has the capability to run the Pascal HW due to the Panther Point PCH on Ivy Platform, Well the M17x R4 runs it.

Next up IMHO the M18x R2 - Avenger Mark II is a legend - It's a memento of the Alienware corp which is dead now, Just keep it, the 980M SLI on that is a hassle hit or miss, but single shines, Maybe the 1070 or 1060 can run on it with the help of Optimus/Intel FDI. A collectible, I'd surely get one in the future..

As for the Price, Try the NBR marketplace for the AW18 you are interested in, Would help if you want to get one for good price at Price check subforum.

Edit : Updated the Pascal MXM compatibility

 

If I decide on getting anything past the 9xx series it will involve a completely new laptop at that point. Im nearly tempted to skip the 10xx series and maybe even the 11xx series that will come out and maybe upgrade to a new machine entirely once the 12xx series rolls round in 2 or 3 years. The M18Xr2 has served me well for 5 years it's just beginning to show its age at this point since its having trouble handling windows 10 sometimes which seems to be down to the graphics cards and video drivers (looks like at times it fails to initialise the cards sometimes during a cold bootup) not to mention other occasional hiccups. Also has a nuisance bug atm with the latest update where the wireless will detect the wifi but clicking the next button after password entry just does nothing no matter how much I click it. Prolly needs a reinstall again or something (even though I only installed a dual boot OS setup last week! Ah well least windows 7 works though it likes to be a pest in its own ways.....)

Realistically I'm only eyeing up the A18 because Raidar managed to get someone to FINALLY unlock the bios so certain things could be changed to fix issues like thermals and because If I do get this it would be a 2 1/2 year old machine that could tie me over for another few years. In addition I've those 2 980m's that would work better with the a18 since it got bios support and Win 10 support and the M18X only got it in legacy due to the nice guys here reverse engineering the modules from the A18. Really wanted a new 18 inch machine but atm it seems 17 inch is the max and anything else is BGA crap aka junkware. I honestly dont even bother overclocking my laptop tbh as I prefer to keep it in good condition not to mention I mainly just have the one 330w supply anyways so Im stuck at that regardless just want a working machine for gaming thats less..... tempermental.

Basically I wonder if with this unlocked A18 Bios that we can set the machine to sort the reported thermal problems that this machine had (ie can set the fans to come on at the right time) and maybe work properly and smoothly with existing hardware. Im not interested really in pascal mobile at this point since as I've said any newer cards for mobile gaming in the future will involve a new system anyways that isnt BGA.

 

I wouldn't bother with the Alienware 18, it was a piece of **** machine from day 1. M18x r2 is getting old, still serves my needs just fine, but definitely not worth upgrading in this point in time. I will probably be moving to a desktop from here, between Clevo's games and BGA options everywhere, nothing I find is convincing any more.