Dell XPS 15z (L511z) BIOS modding (UEFI booting, Nvidia GFX replacement, Advanced Menus, Native Speedstep) and more!

Hi guys, I wanted to know if once installed modded bios I could go back to the factory settings?

I have a xps l511z with these features:

GRAPHICS: NVIDIA GeForce GT 525M 2GB
PROCESSOR: 2ND GENERATION INTEL CORE I7
BIOS: A12

@jkbuha - Can I use your Bios? Any kind of problems?

 

I have not tried it yet, but I will check it out. UEFI booting is definitely faster than traditional BIOS booting. Do you think it would be possible to modify the Windows 8 boot logo with the Dell UEFI boot logo? I read that the image is now put into some table called BGTR in the UEFI?

 

Probably but I'm not entirely sure how to do it
I'll search around and will keep you posted.

How are you getting on with the modded bios?

 

Doesn't seem to be any issues with the modded bios. You can go back to factory settings by flashing a standard bios, or loading default settings in the bios setup.

Let me know how it goes!

 

Yes, you're right. I might have to do a clean install of Windows 8.
I have not done a clean install, just upgraded from Win 7 to Win 8 (purchased and upgrade key due to Microsoft offer). I did switch the Legacy Boot and I get a mirror showing all booting options, if I chose the hdd is not working. I enabled it back on the Legacy boot and is working fine.
Even without the UEFI, booting is very fast. I would like to have the UEFI boot feature working, just to see the difference.

 

Great job

You have a guide to see the advanced features of the bios?

 

I couldn't resist flashing a different BIOS, I've been running this for about a week now, and had now problems with stability or battery life.

I haven't noticed any improvements either, but those are harder to quantify than blue screens.

 

congrats on making the jump atook
try experimenting with some settings such as CPU fast strings, and max turbo time etc - you should see some noticeable improvements in performance.

with UEFI boot enabled you can enter overclocking FSB options - so far I've only managed to boot into OSX with UEFI - looks like I'll have to reinstalll Win8 and Linux to enable overclocking on either OS unless someone can show me an alternative solution

 

Flashed this just now, now I am getting 2 beeps when I turn it on. if I unhook the battery cable I get 6 beeps. Thoughts? Did I toast the board? The flash completed successfully, the system rebooted, and then nothing.

 

You will have to do a BIOS recovery probably. Read up at BIOS-MODS...

 

I have tried that, I downloaded the pre-built ISO that was on BIOS-Mods, it is in the system, but I cannot seem to get the system to kick into the Recovery mode. I have tried just about every iteration of time/plugging in the AC Adapter that has been listed, still no luck. Any Suggestions?

 

It was tricky for me as well, but once you get the timing right it will be easier later on.

So...

0) Power off laptop
1) Unplug laptop and keep it unplugged for about 30sec
2) Press Right Arrow Key and keep it pressed
3) Insert Power cable
4) About 0.5s later release Right Arrow Key
5) If you get the timing right the laptop should power up by itself. If not you need to restart the process from 1).

 

@Daniel: can you please tell me is the ACPI options can fix problems of quickset on windows 8?

 

I just flashed the file in the first post using the same command etc...

It got to 100% then come up with an error and said it was restarting and now all the fans are on full speed, no reponse to any button and cannot turn off or do anything. Looks like a brick? Any ideas?

 

Hey Marky looks like your laptop encountered an error while flashing. Thankfully we have found the way to enable recovery mode on the xps 15 and 15z (you *do* have a 15z right?). I posted how to enable recovery mode a few posts back - you will also need the 15z recovery cd or USB we described on bios mods forum or elsewhere in this topic.

I'm not near my laptop this weekend so can't post you the iso file here but with a quick search you'll be able to find and download it, and you'll be back to normal operation in no time! Let me know how it goes and if you need any help!

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

yeah, do everything like jkbuha said, about the ISO file for the 15z is here

http://www.mediafire.com/?36xadbbn4a8udxd


the procedure for the l502x is almost identical except the iso file and hotkey, but the procedure is almost identical, instructions can be also found in the modded bioses topic from my sig
(make sure you use the correct iso file for the 15z, else it may be worse! )
happy recovering ^^

 

Cheers capitain. Makes you wonder how Dell support managed failed flashes like this in the past before we showed up


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

Thanks guys, gonna try this now. Yep, have the 15z... the only reason I was flashing this is I have been having trouble with my USB ports (since my brand new Transcend USB Flash Drive died yesterday), and I am wondering if I have shorted or fried something.. seems like a lack of voltage as drives are not detected at boot, and when booted it will not support a removable DVD drive (for a test)... it was all working fine before the Transcend borked yesterday

I was hoping the new BIOS might have some options in, or at least breathe some life into that side of the brick...

 

Interesting... I powered up and it booted anyway! Should I reflash again? I had a dig around the BIOS and can see the extra options, however it didnt seem to make any difference with my USB problem at boot...

 

did you boot via recovery mode or just switched it on? Check your bios settings to see if they've gone to default in which case the bios may have reset the nvram. Also you said that the laptop couldn't be switched off before - how did you get it to turn off?

I'd suggest you still reflash to ensure all the bios modules are correctly updated. At least you know now how to recover!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

@jkbuha

yeah, I am also curius how they were able to recover the bad flashes, if they were able at all ^^

maybe they had some kind of magic cdrom or usb stick like those.

anway our cdrom is like homemade one, using a crappy small version of win xp with minimal services to flash and the BIOS.cap file, wich seems incomplete but at least functional to boot the cdrom.

it seems our best option for now to recover UEFI BIOSES based bad flashes ^^

 

I just let the battery go flat, then plugged in the power and switched on! I'll do a reflash and report back!

 

OK I downloaded again the file in the first post and flashed again with the same 'verify block returned error' at 100%....

Currently waiting for the battery to go flat again

 

well, in my L502X, the battery does not have to be removed or emty in order to make the recovery mode to work, it is even recomended to have it fully charged to prevent acidental powerloss while flashing the bios.

did you tried without let the battery emty at the 15z? (yeah, I know the 15z battery is internal and cant be removed unless you take appart the whole machine.)

 

I didn't try the recovery as it booted up OK, I just did a normal flash again using winflash and got the same error. Do you suggest I reflash from the recovery then? As I understand it I need to power off the laptop and then go through the steps above to get into recovery.. of course I cannot do this if the laptop won't turn off....

 

well, thats true, I forgot.

I remember when the machine is stuck for some reason, I hold the power button 5+ seconds and it poweroff easly, however when it was bricked that trick didnt worked for me and had to disconect charger and batteries to poweroff the thing.

its really annoying the 15z have a integrated battery, It would be nice at least make some kind of switch to cut the battery power from the system.

so yeah, you dont have many options then to turn off the machine, just wait the battery dies, or take appart the machine and phisically disconect the battery connector from the motherboard

(I have to admit I preffer the L502X over the 15z one, removable batteries, subwofer, better cooling, extra minipcie slot, ability to use a hdd caddy, etc)

 

I got a BSOD when I booted off the BartPE CD. However, it looks like it was the version of winflash (Phoenix UEFI WinFlash 1.4.75.0-0.3), as I used the one off the recovery iso to flash that image (A11?) and it was OK, then I used it again to flash the modified A12 and all OK....

I am wondering though if I can pick your brains given that you have huge experience with this BIOS. As you may have seen on my other thread, my USB ports will not boot anything from BIOS (though the flash drives are detected on both of the USB 3.0 ports). This happened around the same time that my Transcend Flash Drive died. However I can use these ports fine once I have booted up. Even the original windows 8 boot media USB will not boot now...

Also, I have just installed a Seagate Momentum XT hybrid drive, which is not working properly when I use a mini-xp bootable media (from DVD as this is the only thing that will boot). As the drive is using the onboard SATA controller, any idea why this would not work (I can write files, but when I reboot into windows they are not there..) - OK this is due to windows 8 "fast startup" feature which hibernates all the partitions... gggrrrrrrrr!!!!

Sorry to ask here, but got no answer in my other thread, and it all seems BIOS related...

Thanks in advance,

Mark

 

@marky9074
mmm, so as far I understood you:

1 - fixed your flashing issues by using a different winflash version to flash the modded A12

2 - you seems unable to boot anything from usb , however all your usb ports work fine on windows.

3 - you have a new internal drive wich doesnt work with mini-xp portable installations


well, as for the issue trying to boot usbs from bios, it may be related you are triying to boot uefi stuff from normal boot, or viceversa, I would check bios options carefully , also devices priority and other stuff.

check also if the BIOS recognize your usb devices, sometimes it add you as removable media, and sometimes it add them as hdds, so it would be nice to ensure the boot devices priority os correct, your usb device should be over the other devices at the BIOS list

 

Yep, that's correct - fixed flashing issues by using the winflash version off recovery iso and flashed modded A12

Issue with internal drive was due to windows 8 not shutting down because of "fast startup" option. Once I disabled this I could write to the drive in Mint Linux and from mini-xp portable, so I think that is fixed now...

USB boot issues seem to have gone away since disabling the "fast startup" option (however I don't see how this is related). But I still have a slight issue in that some of my USB flash drives are too slow to fire up. If I crtl-alt-dell from POST they get discovered in BIOS on the second boot (as a USB removable drive), but never the first. If I could somehow implement a delay so that they would be detected it would be great

I also noticed in the BIOS that when you use the -/+ to alter the boot order the + does not work?

 

well, that makes sense, the fast boot option from the unlocked options seems to just check the minimal stuff and boot directly the OS, thats why it boot faster

I personally dont use that option, I also preffer the diagnosis screen instead, I just love to see how the machine detect every device at the startup ^^

also the modded screen makes the machine to look like a small desktop machine, instead show the crappy OEM logo screen without showing what is going on at the system.

well, as for the + and - option, it may be related you are using the keyboard integrated laptop, so you may have to use the FN or alt key to combine with that and get it working.

in some other machined it is F6 or f7, or f5 and f6

in my L502X it works fine, and I belive both machines bios is quite identical relating user interface

 

Sorry I must have confused the issue. I meant 'Windows 8 - Fast startup" feature not the BIOS "Quick Boot". It seems that in Windows 8 even if you 'Shut Down' it still hibernates all partitions/disks, therefore they are not accessible from another OS (Linux/Mini-XP etc)....

I have the BIOS "Quick Boot" disabled, but still it fires up too quickly for the USB flash drives to be detected on the first cycle (if I Ctrl-Atl-Del they get picked up on the second)...

 

You're right.. it was the function key (F6 I think) to alter the boot order

OK, I enabled the boot diagnostic splash screen which must have been just enough of a delay (ms?) for the USB flash drives to be picked up!! It's not pretty, but at least I have a workaround. I am gonna ditch these Transcend sticks and get something else. Seems that Transcend emulate a USB floppy, which can't help.

Update: The delay from the diagnostic splash screen only helps when I plug into the USB/eSATA port. When I plug into the USB 3.0 ports it is still the same..

 

yeah, I got confused with the fast boot option with the bios, I also dont have windows 8, so I didnt messed with it yet ^^

well, I may also didnt noticed about the usb delays because I usually plug everything at the esata/usb combo port ^^

other ports, I use them for external mouse and keyboard while I am at home plus a external screen (totally desktop like)

 

Hey guys (or gals). Digging through the threads about the modded 15z bios, maybe my question will end up being irrelevant. Does anyone know if Dell limited the CPUs that the 15z bios will recognize? If so, does this unlocked bios defeat that limitation? Haven't even started looking at different procs (currently running the largest i7 Dell offered stock) or thermal issues yet, just want to know my limiting factors before digging into research.


Thanks all!


Anthony

 

Hey is there a tutorial for this? I have downloaded the file and the utility but not sure exactly what to do with the dell utility temp files? Thanks.

 

Hey Anthony - not sure that the bioses are cpu-limited. Besides any newer bios update should (in theory) bring updated code that would recognise more CPU families. So in theory you should be fine.

@bigel - the howto is briefly explained in the first post. You should be fine with these, but if you need more info just hop over to the bios mods forum as the topics are more relevant there.

 

I'm unable to find this howto- I would like to make this change (I am using your A12 bios, BTW, without trouble at all)

 

It's in the first post of the bios topic I had created. Quite easy to do but let me know if you need any help!

 

I reverted back to original Bios, the fan always on under modified one, now the fan seldom starts only over 60 degrees, before over 50.
Laptop on idle mode fan was always on, under original bios seems to work better in this view.

 

Flashed bios from the first post, without errors. Able to enter BIOS, doing changes there.
However when booting windows 7 x64 , laptop showing initial logo screen, waits couple of secs and simply restarts, even in safe mode
when trying to boot in recovery getting blue screen. Any suggestions?

 

after repeating boots several times ans resetting bios settings to default in between, in one boot it waited unusually long time but finally loaded. I wonder what did help.

 

Hi,
It seems that I bricked my XPS 15Z.
I started a week ago with flashing the BIOS to the version in this thread page 1, all worked well

Later I found in this forum BIOS versions A12 pre-configured and tested by some people with different settings (volt modding etc...) . I flashed 2 more times, first time went well but the second time didn't go well.

Black screen, high winding fan, CAPS lock light on, .... bricked

No immediate panic as a lot of information can be found here and in other forums, however after trying 2 days several things, I must admit I'm running out of options.

so far I tried following things :

- created a usb stick with mini dos version and a clean BIOS copied on to it. -but it won't boot from that and I believe no USB ports are detected on boot, as the usb stick has lights but none light up.
- created a bootable cd with the ISO provided by capitankasar (p7 #66) but it seems it won't boot from that either.

Let's hope it's my mistake but can someone confirm the procedure that I'm using is correct?

- Power off laptop, disconnected the battery
- Unplug laptop
- Press Right Arrow Key and keep it pressed
- Insert Power cable
- press power button
- release Right Arrow Key

questions I have are :
- is the "Right Arrow" key the correct button to use on the XPS 15Z or is there another key combination?
- is the ISO image still the one to use or is there an updated version regarding version A12
- do I have to try the above procedure with the battery connected or disconnected?
- how long should I wait when the "right Arrow" key is released, 5 min, 10min, 30min?

Any help is welcome.

Thanks,

stoffg

 

the power secuence is wrong, you dont have to press the power button, by relasing fast the arrow right button, the laptop should boot automatically in recovery mode.

about how many time the right arrow needs to be hold to be relased , is like 1 second, you have ot relase it fast after you plug the power cord, there are detailed instructions at the modded bios topic of my signature, they are for the L502X, but the recovery mode is very similar for the 15z, only the recovery key and iso file differs, everything else at the recovery process is the same.

 

ok thanks for the quick reply capitankasar.

few more questions :

and should I try that with the battery connected or disconnected?

it seems I can't find your detailed instructions on the modded bios ( you have written so many threads)
can you link it here?

the iso file I'm using is L511Z_bios_recovery_by_capitankasar.rar

Is that the correct one?

Tx for your reply.

 

mmm, as far I know the battery cannot be removed easly at the 15z, so do it with the battery in.

yeah, that is the correct iso file,

you have to extract it from the rar archive and burn the iso file to a cdrom or dvd, cdrom preferible


yeah, I am usually active at this forum.

well, the topic is here

http://forum.notebookreview.com/del...modded-bioses-download-gpu-voltages-more.html

check the first post and look at the the bios recovery section.

anyway, like I said, that topic is for the l502x,so dont download any file from there, use the iso.


well, I will quote the recovery part

 

thanks for the crystal clear answer.

I tried the above key sequence a million times now but no luck. The machine just won't boot, any other key combinations that maybe do the job?

 

mmm, well, Jkbuha told me the recovery key for the 15z is the right arrow key, if that doenst work, I dont know, you can try the END too, but if the right arrow doesnt works, then there is something wrong.

well, relating the time required to boot in the recovery time, it is very exact, jkbuha had problems at the begining due dont relase the key in time.

for the l502x, it is basically , disconnect the power cord, hold the END key, and after connect the power cord again, you have to relase the button, I usually do like 1 second or less and it boots fine in recovery mode.

you can talk to jkbuha for more specific details relating the 15z recovery proccess

 

ok thanks already, I'll talk to jkbuha.

 

Hey guys - here I am. Sorry for not checking in sooner but for some reason i'm not getting notebookreview post alerts anymore...

Sorry mate to hear you have bricked your 15z. Only last week was I congratulating you on the successful mod of your laptop!

I have a few questions to give me a better idea of what went wrong:

1) What bios file did you use that bricked your laptop? Did my 15z modded bios file work well?
2) What command line instructions did you use?
3) Have you tried to completely discharge your battery?
4) Have you tried to open your 15z and remove the battery jumper cable from the motherboard?
5) Before this brick, did you ever manage to successfully boot your laptop **in recovery mode**?

jkbuha

 

Hi jkbuha,

Thanks for the reply and raising the questions since I had to look up which BIOS version I flashed.

The error is on my side

1) Your version worked perfectly. - The one that bricked it is :

Custom A12 bios mod for gt525m with advanced menus for L502X DOWNLOAD from mediafire /// MIRROR by ximinez
MD5 checksum: 467D4BFF9878A02D6FF2161A14279995
BIOS version used: A12
this bios mod has been tested by carpal
2D PROFILE: 0.83v
3D PROFILE: 0.85v
notes: voltage modded A12 BIOS for gt525m with a nice set of extra options,plus native speedstep and updated CPU microcode, handle the new options carefully!
http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-xps-studio-xps/635536-l502x-modded-bioses-download-gpu-voltages-more.html

I think I must have been sleeping as I didn't read L502X I only saw A12 BIOS for gt525m. so yes basically I'm a i**** who didn't read properly!

2) I ran the flash_the_modded_bios.bat file as described in that thread.
"the once you ensured the file is OK,then extract it with winrar, and run the
FLASH_the_modded_bios.bat file."
The other version I flashed (and was working) was from command line with winflash.exe /BIOS /EC /SA /SV /BBL "BIOS1_A12_SPEEDSTEP_UV_FULLMENUS_INTEL.WPH" command.

3) no - but I'm trying to out as we speak
4) yes, tried that - I opened it so and it's still open so no problem to try out stuff that way
5) no never tried to boot up in recovery mode

Hope the above helps a bit.