Unlocked M15x BIOS

Ahmed Mossam at bios-mods.com has uploaded an unlocked BIOS for the M15x, based on the Dell version A09.

A very big thanks to him for his work!!
Here's the link to the original thead: M15x BIOS unlocking request

I have flashed this BIOS and the system works just as with the regular BIOS, the only difference is that there are several new menus accesible in the "Advanced" tab of the BIOS:

-IGD - LCD Control Sub-Menu
-SATA Control Sub-Menu
-SATA Hard Drive

The performance options have new sub-menus as well:
-Plaform Thermal Configuration
-Clarksfield QPI-Sub-Menu
-Clarksfiled Memory Sub-Menu

Unfortunately there are apparently no hidden frequency ratio options in the bios.


Each of those has a couple of further submenus. Check out the pics of the screen in the spoiler for all details:

Spoiler

Not every of the new options will be useful though, e.g. enabling eSata port multiplying won't do any good since the PM55 chipset doesn't support this feature.
I haven't tested all the new options yet, but I'll definitely take a closer look at them.



Instructions for flashing:

- Download the unlocked BIOS files, they can be found here.

- Download the BIOS A09 executable file (R293649.exe) from the Dell driver site and extract it and copy the files to the root of a DOS bootable USB drive.

- delete the following files W6702M.A09, W6702MB.A09.bin, W6702MB.A09 from the USB drive

- extract the .zip archive with the modded BIOS files and copy the three files to the root of your USB drive

- rename the modded files (W6702M_SLIC.A09, W6702MB.A09_SLIC.bin, W6702MB_SLIC.A09) to W6702M.A09, W6702MB.A09.bin and W6702MB.A09


-Shutdown your system and boot from your USB drive

-Type

Code:

fa.bat

and hit enter

-follow the instruction on the screen, after the flashing is finished, the system will shutdown itself

-restart your system and don't do anything, it will restart a couple of times before it will boot into Windows, don't worry.
​

Everything at your own risk of course, I don't take any resposibility for bricked mobos. Crisis information should be available at bios-mods.com in case you mess up totally.

Hope some of you guys test this as well and give some feedback.
Again, a very big thanks to Ahmed Hossam from the bios-mods.com forums for modifying this BIOS.

 

Nice job svl7, thanks for the news!

 

very nice! ... eagerly awaiting more details =D

 

Ohhhh Emmmmm Geeeeee!
thanks for the news!

 

Thanks a ton svl7! Can't wait for further news o.o +rep for you (probably won't mean much though lol)

 

Great news, +rep svl7

Have this BIOS non dell 6970m cards support? It'd be great to not to have to use hwinfo anymore.

 

nice! is it possible to deactivate the fan check at startup?

 

Thanks, svl7. Flashed modified BIOS (and EC 1.18) without issue. All is working well post-flash. Lots of new settings, most of which have no meaning to me at this point. Research (or guidance) will be necessary. +Rep when allowed..

 

Sorry, can anyone post the file as the attachment here? Thanks.

 

Thanks guys, I haven't tested most of the settings yet, and as The Rev said, I don't know all of them. Some will definitely not work (as eSata port multiplying) but I'll definitely take a closer look at the new performance settings. Also you always have a little description of the options at the right side of the screen which may help you to find out more. I have to do some research myself.

Was flashing the BIOS about four times yesterday night and always reporting back to Ahmed and waiting for a new version until it finally worked, he made me stay awake until he got it working, hahah so I didn't have much time for testing so far.


Edit: Please leave some feedback at the bios-mods thread as well, I'm sure they'd like to know that their work is appreciated by others as well.

 

@ svl7 Thanks for sharing the info. Did you ever consider the risks involved in installing a bios modded by a third party? Bravery medal and +1 rep point awarded to you.
I'm interested to try this out, however a detailed description of all unlocked settings would be needed and the benefits evaluated prior to any risk taking.

 

Thank you. Of course I considered the risk involved, but I should probably be able to desolder and reprogramm the BIOS chip, though I haven't tested my programmer with this certain chip yet. But anyway, someone has to test it after all And there's no big change in the BIOS, it only makes the locked menus available, so it's not as dangerous as it seems. It's a matter of discovering and relinking the hidden menus.
The biggest work has been done by the people who cracked the M17x r2 Phoenix BIOS in the first place.

I'll take a closer look at some options as soon as I find enough time and will keep you posted about my findings.

 

It's too big (6.29MB) to post as an attachment in the forum.

Get it here: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27614611/ALIENWORE M15X UNLOCKED BIOS.RAR. Dropbox is proving to be very fast, easy and useful. If you haven't tried it, it worth looking at for large file transfers without the hassle of the large file hosting sites.

 

Not like I still have it, but for the others, would unlocking the BIOS void your warranty?

Can't wait to hear about what performance boosts we can give our machines with the new BIOS.

 

Hi. What exactly can I change with the unlocked BIOs?

 

Take a look at the screenshots in the first post.
I'm still testing, I just did a couple of tries with the QPI frequency, and unfortunately changing it doesn't seem to affect it, at least not according to CPU-Z.
I set the QPI to 6.4GT/s, which equals 3.2GHz, but the QPI is still at 2.4GHz (which is 4.8GT/s)... anyone else tried to mess with the QPI so far?

 

Haven't gotten into anything yet beyond a review of the new settings. Going to take time. Sorry.

 

No problem, I don't have much time either atm, at least not for a lot of testing.

 

You have an eprom programmer. In most cases ic's or eproms are surface mounted and a general soldering kit will not cut the mustard. Have had my Royel PCB kit, which co$t$ an arm and a leg and weighs more than the M15x , for a few years now. Most of the time I get slack and find the easier option of swapping out the pcb.

 

Yes, exactly, every single component on the mobo is SMD. I've got a hot-air station for desoldering SMD parts, that's also how I fixed my 6970m after flashing an experimental VBIOS on it. Desoldered the chip and reprogrammed it, see here for more details, at the end of the article is also a small picture of my soldering setup.

 

can I use this to overclock my 720QM i7? If so how do you do it? Thanks.

 

There are unfortunately no BCLK options in the BIOS, not as in the M17x r2 BIOS...

There are QPI frequency options available in the unlocked BIOS, I've tested this quickly, but it doesn't seem to work....

 

The Revelator
Thanks for the download link. + rep when allowed.

 

I want to try the unlocked Bios from M15X.

I try to find in other sites, but all the links are down, or the file is corrupt.

So, if you have it, can you restore the link?

Thanks

 

Do those temperature shutdown limits work? Could be a solution to the system shutting down randomly...higher the temp limits!

 

So, is this bios useful to oveclock 740qm, or would be any improve in perfomance of the cpu/memory/cache?
And please, upload modded bios to NBR site like attachment.
Best regards.

 

was 95C the default throttle trip point for the CPU?
I can see another possible benefit here by changing the HIGH fan trip to get a bit more cooling earlier.

 

Nice find!
Although, really? Green? Could not have chosen blue or red?

 

I get error 404 following your link. Will you please upload it again?

Thanks

 

keep the updates coming, hoping that this would at least help with shutdown issues. +rep

 

Great work Svl7. Could you post out some info's regarding what the option does?
Like what is QPI and others? Thanks.

 

Hey all, here's an updated link (not sure if it's already here, was on a slow connection so didn't check each page)..

I went and registered on biosmods and then found that his original link didn't work anyway. He posted a mediafire link - maybe worth updating the first post with this link since it works and doesn't require registration

ALIENWORE M15X UNLOCKED BIOS.RAR

EDIT: Bios installed - working fine - Nothing really made any difference (didn't try the Isoch mode or changing QPI link speed - since it's unlikely to run higher anyway).. But the one super-useful thing is the fan speed - I set mine with the same maximum but pushed the lower modes up a bit so the machine stays quieter longer but still goes frantic when it actually needs to. It means that the processor runs at around 50ish instead of 45ish when low load - but who cares?

Worth trying just for that