M18x Unlocked BIOS Modification Info

Give me a minute, i'll clear out the files in the first post and upload the ones im using right now, after a test to make sure they are all working OK.

The structure file does not automatically load up once you find the right offset. You have to load the structure library (which you have, I can see "BIOS Structures" in your screenshot in the structure pane)

Then, once you have the right offset highlighted, you have to manually press the green "plus" icon next to "BIOS Structures" and select VSS_Setup, which should have a green check mark next to it. This will populate the structures area with all the values.

Give me 5 minutes to upload the updated stuffs

[Edit: OK, uploaded. In the new bios.hsl I marked the registers for Intel IGP frequency/VID override and all the memory timings registers. Tested platform.ini and bios.hsl and both are working a-ok here]

I'll look into Hex Workshop's bookmark scripting language and see if I can set up the bookmark file to automatically locate and lock to the right offset for the VSS_Setup register, that should eliminate the need to search for it and apply the structure library manually.

 

hummmmm, seems i was missing a few steps out of "da" manual...

ok. working now.

 

Let me know if I can make anything more clear in the first post, if I missed any steps, etc. I'd like it to be as easy as possible

Not that what we are trying to do should be too easy, there needs to be learning curve involved to stop people from frying things

BTW; setting Azalia_Internal_HDMI_Codec to 1 and Primary_Display to 0 enables Intel Graphics, flipping them to 0 and 1 enables dedicated graphics. Tested to make sure the switching works OK when set via flash, it does. Just in case someone's Fn buttons are broken or they don't have access to Windows+OSD.

 

ok...so now im confused....what is the ctrl E for?

and each time i click on something on the right...all the settings on the left change.

 

What ctrl-E?

You may have chosen to add VSS_Setup as a floating structure rather than locked to the offset you searched. Should look like the following screenshot when you add it (your offset will be different, likely every time you do it)

 

and i keep flashing, but i dont think anything is taking...

 

I noticed that if I used a BIOS that InsydeFlash does not validate as good, it won't actually flash it. The way you can tell it's flashing is if you get an actual, drawn progress bar (if there's no progress bar displaying, it's not really flashing)

I noticed if I dumped the BIOS any other way than using InsydeFlash it would not flash it, even without modification. Some bytes at the beginning were missing (so it was corrupt)

 

So far no luck with getting rid of 580ms' throttling, right?

 

Don't know. I don't have one to test with, and those that do, haven't tested yet as far as I know

I haven't yet experienced that type of throttling with my 6970m xfire setup, or i'd already be testing

 

No option from your list seems like the one responsible for the throttle. Hmm...

 

No, I doubt it would be a known option (I wouldn't know it if I haven't yet had a chance to test it)

Check the Unknown fields. There are a few with values such as "80" which could be 80C. Another at 75, one at 100. From what I hear the 580m's are set to throttle at 80C, so that's certainly a good candidate for changing

 

More infos re: BCLK, restored BIOS defaults then flashed a BIOS where I had BCLK set to value xyz, it remained at the stock speed of 99.xxx MHz. So BCLK is definitely set somewhere independently of these BIOS registers, and your BCLK won't be affected regardless what you set in the BIOS setup table.

 

Cleaned up the instructions in the first post a bit. The following should take you right to the Setup Register Store rather than having to parse each one:

* Click Edit - Find and search for Type: Hex Values, Value: AA557F00070000000C0000007F
* With the first byte of the sequence selected (AA, where the search result drops you off), click the green "plus" icon in the Structures pane. Highlight VSS_Setup, set it to "Locked Document/Offset" and press OK. Hex Workshop will now apply my M18x structure template to the data, allowing easy visualization and modification. You should see a green checkbox next to VSS_Setup and VSS_Generic just before adding the structure, indicating validation passed.

 

I like to say thanks to everyones help and efforts here, but i got lost back on page 3. So i'll sit back now and wait for someone to crack the bios. Especially the 580m throttle issue.

I have posted a request over at bios mods as well and await their work and hopefully someone will come out with good news soon.
http://www.bios-mods.com/forum/Thread-DELL-M18X-A03-BIOS-THROTTLE-REMOVAL-GTX580M-SLI



If the M17X 580M can be done i'm pretty sure its only a matter of time for the M18X to enjoy its full potential.

 

No worries bar-code, it's only in the rough stages right now. Research and learning, and proofs of concept

Speaking of proofs of concept, BIOS Logo mod was super easy thanks to EzH20 - get the specific version 2.1.0.13 - use InysdeFlash + my platform.ini to dump your bios. Rename M18xR1.bin to M18xR1.fd, load it up in EzH20.

Once loaded, go to Components - Logo... there you will see under "Image Information" both the .bmp intel logo and the .jpg alienware logo.. I posted specs earlier for the image ratio etc. Simply feed the jpg image to EzH20, hit patch, then File - Save, and you can now flash your modified .fd!

Here's a quick photo I grabbed with my cellphone of my test modification

 

So as said. ezh20 2.1.0.13: ezh2o2.rar

 

Leaving the shutdown/reboot options aside, there is another difference.

platform.ini from the 1st post:

Code:

[Region]
BIOS=0

platform.ini from the 7th post

Code:

[Region]
BIOS=1

(the same setting is in the original platform.ini)

When I tried to dump by current bios using the 1st-post .ini, it did not work. The one from the 7th post did.

Can you please specify which exactly .ini you are working with, or perhaps update the .ini in the first post? Tinkering with the BIOS is tricky and I'd like to be 100% sure we are on the same page on everything. Thanks.

 

Hey hey Nice work! Im waiting patiently for your success here!

 

Well done, thanks for that. As it seems it's enough to identify the yet unknown option and then simply change it's value and we are done. The thing is: which option is the one?

 

Nice job Da_G! +rep if I can

I can confirm that happens on my M18x on A02 and A03 stock bios. That's with Hyperx 1600mhz ram... I usually set xmp 2. If XMP profile is set it is reset if you have to change the baseclock ie.. set immediately then set at reboot press F10 to save and enter. System reboots but fails to show display, resets and boot up properly... press F2 though and reset the XMP profile press F10 and enter and at next boot the setting sticks unless you make a baseclock adjustment again. So don't worry that is normal behavior of stock bios too.

 

Does anyone else experience the "can't shut down" issue after using InsydeFlash, or the "internal keyboard and mouse stop working" issue?

I've taken to always flashing with an ext kb+mouse and no battery, so I can pull the mains to reboot, what a pain when you are testing hundreds of options..

@0x29A: How odd that the one with BIOS=0 isn't properly dumping the BIOS, i'm definitely using that config, and it's definitely dumping for me every time With BIOS=1, it was overwriting some areas of the flash it didn't need to to apply the VSS registers, so I set it to 0 for faster flashing (faster is important when you are on flash 120 of the day)

Since that's not a concern for anyone else but me probably, i'll swap the .inis and call it a day

[Edit: OK, the platform.ini in OP is now the same as post 7]

I also updated the bios.hsl with one i've been testing with, after each Unknown value that I tested I added any effects I observed by flipping that bit. I renamed a few of them after observing their effect (one unknown bit causes the BIOS to ignore any user-set TRL overrides, but still uses the TDP overrides)

I found the current limit register somewhere but lost it (not the lock register) - It's probably set to 0 for "used fused CPU default" - I managed to change it to 37 but forgot what bits I set, oops, at least we know it's in there for sure, no more limits to turbo at all then once we track it down

 

Da_G, don't rush. We all are patiently following you. I managed to change my logo too, btw. Take time. We have all the time in the world, don't we?

edit: Btw, I flashed to A03 because of the logo today and GPU fans seem to function a bit differently. Seems like the laptop stays cooler than it used to on A02. The punchline is: if you are still on A02, update your BIOS. There are changes.

 

Has anyone successfully modified any registers yet? Interested in getting some feedback about how it went.

Working with Johnksss trying to get the TDP limits lifted for his 2920xm, it's flashing OK and they show lifted in ThrottleStop, but he's running into an apparent 85W wall, using exact settings that allow me to maintain 99W and surpass the built in thermal limits. Trying to track down the reason that's occuring, it doesn't make too much sense that identical (bit-for-bit) register setups would result in different TDP limits on the same BIOS.

Could be that there is some throttling information stored outside of the Setup register (there are a handful of other registers in VSS)

 

I'm going to attempt it if i can follow it all and let you know if the register worked.

 

Good luck!

Find a Laptop

Interestingly, while not listed on the compatibility list here, there are hidden settings in the BIOS for Intel Anti-Theft activation, recovery, etc. Perhaps leftovers from other Dell BIOSen.

 

I wonder if it has something to do with the ES CPU vs. retail. I can certainly maintain higher wattage output for a period of time, however the system begins to throttle and eventually shuts itself down due to excessive heat, and I don't dare raise the thermal triggers any higher than I already did or my desk will catch on fire Note that thermal throttling has already kicked in in this image and I am being CMod throttled just after I hit the (raised via BIOS mod) thermal throttle trip point of 100C.

Take a screenshot similar to this one if you can.

 

My Oh My! those temps are maxing out badly, are u using the Dual CPU COOLER!

 

Yes, that's with the dual heatpipe cooler, if you do the math on the wattage output vs. johnksss, it's normal.

99W / 88W = factor of 1.125x
now we take his highest core temp of 92c, 92c * 1.125 = 103.5C

If we assume linear cooling performance and linear ramping of waste heat vs. TDP output, my cooling is ever so slightly better than his (or the same, accounting for the CMod throttle )

I'm running the unit directly on a desk-top with about 3 inches of clearance behind it, which is my typical computing environment. I didn't remove the bottom cover or make any other attempts at enhancing cooling beyond repasting the CPU/GPU heatsinks when I first got the system. The Dell/Alienware engineers tested the system and set the TDP limits where they did for a reason, I imagine it's just under the top end of what the chassis can handle at maximum workload, and now i've shot past those limits, it's no surprise the heat is outstandingly high

 

Well it works my first flash was successful so i'll change a few things and experiment more later.
stock new value
shutdown temp 100 105
low fan speed temp 55 30
high fan speed temp 70 40
throttle on temp 85 95
enable c7 0 1
turbo PWR limit MSR lock 1 0
long duration time limit 56 112
short duration power limit 99 120
long duration power limit 80 99







*the long term power limit stayed above the default 80w so it works for three of us so far or its not working on 0x29?
*fan settings didnt seem to work at all
*your recommendation for using external keyboard is important... i always use external mouse but I really needed the keyboard to since the internal keyboard did stop working while i was editing.

 

Glad to hear it worked out OK residualvoltage!

Have you tried stress test via Prime95 Large FFT/OCCT to see how long it will stay at TDP higher than the 80W limit? It should be able to stay there indefinitely, but I don't have adequate cooling to test that.

Re: Fan settings, I think the EC is largely controlling this, the EC firmware is not dumped by InsydeFlash but is contained in the stock A03 BIOS updater... after we map out the whole setup area (so there are no unknown registers) i'll look into modifying that

0x29 modified the logo, not sure if he tried to do any registers or not. I'm doing some research into the setup forms used by the BIOS, a better method than dumping + modifying registers is to patch the SetupUtility directly, patching out the check for "show this form?" that results in it being hidden, so we have a 'generic' hacked BIOS that anyone can flash rather than needing to modify your own dump.

I'm curious, did your system power off normally when you flashed and shut down? Mine goes through the system shutdown process, and turns off the display, but never actually powers off, I have to cycle power manually (even holding the power button doesn't do it)

 

Yes I have to manually remove battery and power and plug back in to complete the process but then then the system works normal

 

test 1


test 1 pic2


test 2


test 3


test 4 no shhutdown at 100 celcius


test 4 3750mhz minimum at under 105 celcius throttles above 105 when set to 105celcius

 

Props to you all for doing this, I am WAY too busy to get into it for the next few weeks, but if you guys get a modded bios with better fan profiles, I will give you all one of my organs

 

been doing a little testing on this and found that the fan control does not work.
mine kicks in on high at exactly 87C no matter what.
and low is something like 72C.
and at about 90C to 92C... gpu 1 fan kicks into high gear making you think the cpu fan hit another high gear.

the power limits dont work either. you can unlock them but you cant seem to harness the unlocked power.

 

the power limits are working for me on my OEM 2920XM. Even the time limit for short can be extended over 56 seconds

 

Fan control is probably handled by the EC as I mentioned earlier, although there is a 0-100 setting for the fan speed at low/high that might work. Haven't tested that enough yet.

Power limits seem to be working fine for me, for example if I open throttlestop, set to 105/115 for short/long, I will max out somewhere around 99.3W. If i then use ThrottleStop to turn the values to say, 50/50, I max out at 50W. So the register unlock is definitely working, and the TPL setting in ThrottleStop is also working. I think there are some more components to it though, thermal throttling, current limiting, etc. when you get to the top end of the scale, blocking us from going past that for the moment. But the power limits themselves are working just fine.

 

these were my stock bios records so we should be able to go beyond that. No dice just fans on max with hwinfo.

 

hummmm, then try this.
set everything in the bios to max. then boot to windows and run your test. and show me what you get then.

and i think the oem max is 100 watts while the es isn't. ergo the 100 mhz increase and the 25x multiplier...speculation of course.

so those are your scores from the other forum?
your mw?

beginning to see where the es is lacking now...

 

Yes MW86 Okay just which one should i max out? these are the precise settings i used to get those scores

wprime 1024m 4.296 GHz 8 thread 186.295 sec 104.8 41 41 41 41 0 flex 55 sec short limit

wprime 32m 4.401 GHz 5.663 sec 104.8 42 42 42 42 0 flex 55 sec short limit

both at 80watts short 99 watts long fans on max

http://forum.techinferno.com/alienware-m18x/1039-official-m18x-benchmarking-thread.html#post12083

 

im thinking it's an es thing. this would make perfect sense. you can run 4 cores at 39x to 40x
while an es chilled can only max 39x under certain circumstances....still trying to feel that out though

 

How John do you get a 46 47 48 49 50 multiplier? are you using the bios register?

 

When you say set everything in the BIOS to max, you mean without modification? You want to see what the OEM 2920xm pulls @ max w/normal BIOS limits?

I wouldn't be able to run that test as the system shuts down within a few seconds at a full load. That was one of my motivations for lifting the thermal shutdown limits in the first place

With the thermal limits raised I could do it though, but i'd have to modify the BIOS.

 

but if you'd like me to run a test which settings would you like set
power limit short and long, power time, flex vid(voltage 0-25), 1-4 turbo multipliers, etc

 

yes the wprime scores were long before i started joining you guys in this bios mod. the other screenshots were showing the bios mod are working for me can you set over a 45 multiplier and how?

 

for example...flash your fans on max all the time and let me know if that works.

i just use software, but you can probably flash that...i would watch the bclk though

 

@Johnksss: Nope, the fan triggers don't seem to have any effect. As I mentioned before, they are controlled by the EC, rather than from BIOS. There are some fan speed registers that probably have no effect, also.

Eliminated Unknowns 39/40/41 in the .hsl just now, turns out that Long Duration Power Limit, Long Duration Time Window, and Short Duration Power Limit are all 16 bit values rather than 8 bit, which accounts for those 3 unknown bits. This means they have a maximum value of 65535 rather than 255. Man, that's alot of watts! Also, Long Duration Time Window appears to only take effect if divisible by 2. Odd values result in reverting to the stock value.

 

is this what was happening to me?

 

Doing a bit more testing, the setting labeled "Thermal_Monitor" works to disable Intel's TM1 and TM2 (see attached screenshot)

@Johnksss: Hmm, no, I don't think so, but you could try modding with the updated .hsl to see, after I upload it

 

will do...now that i understand the bios file.
i was trying to change the 8x to 16x for gpu(link speed), but so far...no go.

and im also thinking that amps lock is one of the unknown bits...just have to figure out which one and how to read it.