L502X modded bioses download (GPU voltages and more!)

Hi guys!!!
I have a laptop 5742g. Topic not found with it, so ask you. I can't right to change the vbios gt 540m
Have values of 0.85 but the computer hangs and so I want to increase the voltage up to 0.87-0.9 V
You only need vbios and not the laptop's bios. I spread that I want to change: http://zalil.ru/33313831
Sorry for my English!

 

FWIW, I have the same "symptom", but I've had it since I've used this custom BIOS.

The voltage jumps to 1V whenever the GPU becomes active (say game or BD movie) and then goes down to 0.85V when the activity "stabilizes" after a few seconds. Never had any crashes or other problems, so I figured this was normal.

 

@seeker_moc

yeah, the l502x uses a UEFI phoenix bios, however at the moment I cant do anything else than voltage mods, my current tools and or knowledge dont let me go further, this is also my first bios mod.

I suggest ask to another members with better knowledge at this subject.

sorry about any inconvenience

mmm, not fully sure what you mean, but as far I understool your message,you have another laptop, and you provided a 540m vbios with 0.85v and you want increased voltage.

well, with my current tools, all I can do is switch to those options (0.83v,0.85.v,0.98v and 1V)

I modified the vbios you provided and increased the voltage to 0.98v from 0.85v.

the file is as attachment at this post, let me know if that works for you ^^

 

Thank you very much!!! The truth is, I just changed the voltage from 0.98 to 0.85, which leads to the instability of the video card. I would like to change to 0.9 or 0.92, but their knowledge is not enough.
In the first post of the topic is vbios, who can help me:
----------------------------------------------------
GT540m bios mod for L502X DOWNLOAD from mediafire / / / MIRROR by ximinez
MD5 checksum: 3C8EA4113AF36830E173B48E1A359D71
The BIOS version used: A09
this bios mod has been tested by rabbitz, sujinge9, FlipBack, squallmx, sevenofnine, knaff, micmax, airstev, Matix5, quaaak, squallmx, Hunter13040, daver160 and oburger.
2D PROFILE: 0.83v
3D PROFILE: 0.85v
notes: this is the first undervolted A09 BIOS for the 540m users, fixed many of the GPU crashes for some users (Recomended!)
----------------------------------------------------
In it it is said, that fixed many of the GPU crashes, so I'd like to get it, but can't pull himself VBIOS =(((
Once again sorry for my English.

 

@_NooB_ik
well, your vbios settings were identical than the one you pointed from the first post.

your vbios profile voltages was:

2d profile: 0.83v
3d profile: 0.85v

by default, at the xps 15, the voltages are:

2d profile: 0.83v
3d profile: 0.98v

so, reducing the voltage helped many members to fix their issues, but the vbios you gave me had already :


2d profile: 0.83v
3d profile: 0.85v

so, if overvolting didnt worked, I suggest go back to the 0.85v one and lower the gpu clocks until it stop crashing.

change the voltage helped many users to prevent crashes without lose performance, but that isn't allways posible.
so, you may need to decrease the gpu clocks.

 

Nvidia just released a new graphic driver: NVIDIA DRIVERS 301.42WHQL

Anyone tried it out yet? Any issues?

Thanks.

 

@mtan

I downloaded them today in order to try fix another issue happened with league of legends with the previus beta version of the drivers.

since I dont own a 540m GPU (my gpu is a 525m) I cant test it.
in my case, since I use a 0.83/0.83 undervolted bios, the voltage is allways 0.83v, it doesnt matter what apps I use or what power plan I use, the voltage is 0.83v for me.

 

Back to your modded .85 A09 bios. I had issues with the .85 A10, and was using the stock A10, but the .85 A09 works great, much lower temps. I am not sure what's the difference, but A10 seemed to have issues running .85.

 

Hi there, I am studying optimus right now, is there in original or modified BIOS any option to turn optimus down? Or any option for disable integrated sandy-bridge intel graphic card? Thanks.

 

Not for the XPS15 at least, for either BIOS (original or modded)

 

what kind of issues did you had with the A10 version?
crashes or temps only?

 

It seemed like I was getting display timeouts, like my desktop would lock up and become unresponsive.

 

uploaded two more bioses.

* A09 gt525m 0.83v/0.85v (I'm currently testing its performance/stability on games with some OC)

* A10 gt525m 0.83v/0.85v

if you want another version not present in the list, just let me know, also feel free to leave feedback of already existing bioses

 

I haven't had to use this fix yet, I just got my computer back from Dell. My warranty just ended and I figured I'd be screwed if it happened again, but seeing this has put my mind at ease. Thank you. Dell should probably give you a job, since you seem to do what they can't.

 

well, I didnt had any crashes with stock config, however I noticed messing with voltage improve the OC and also help to decrease the temps, so it basically helped a lot to optimize my lappy any maybe some others too.

in the case of gt540m user, well the crashes are a problem for many people ,i'm glad this helped people with that.

well, I am unemployed at the moment, but I highly doubt about dell will pick me xD


thank you

 

Hey guys,

What is the best way to test my overclock? 3DMark Vantage?

Thanks

 

@rackers

for other cards, tools like OCCT worked fine
however, with this laptop, I found that some clocks I though they were stable after hours of testing with OCCT crashed after 20 minutes in some game.

for that reason I suggest to test OC in games, if they dont crash after hours, great!, else lower the clocks and/or try a different voltage setting

 

And if you have a DX9 game, run that as well; sometimes they are more likely to cause a crash (for unknown reasons)

 

yeah, you are right.

relating my tests, I found that dead space 2 really hate overclock

it crash with 685 core speed, but I can keep playing hours skyrim with 720 core and maybe more without crashes.

I switched to 0.83v/0.85v on my 525m, 0.83v while gamming crashed more often on higher clocks, however it is Ok with 0.85v

now I making a list of games and max stable clock for it on my card.

I just want to get the max juice from my GPU

 

Hi,

first of all thanks for this Thread ! Good Work

I dl'ed the A10, 0,83/0,85 Bios für 540m.

I tried the 1v for Oc'ing but it was unstable. With 0,85v I COULD oc... very easy to 775/975.

Gaming was perfect, no problem at all. BUT... in Windows the VDDC jumps to 1 V ... (remember with the 0,85 bios) and i will have a driver crash within 5 minutes just at surfing or just idling in windows. In games as i said it works.. start vddc is 1.. then it jumps to 0,85 and works rly fine with the oc'ed mhz !

I'm confused and dont know how to fix it... it cant be, that the games running good but in windows i get driver crashes ala (kernel blabla, have to restart driver)

Maybe some help ? I read about this before in the thread, but they had not my issues with crashes.

Temperature is NEVER over 70.

Greetings

 

@kaanyr

thanks for the feedback and your comments ^_^

also added you to the first post.

well, relating those issues,I'm almost sure they are not bios related, as the procedure were the same for both cards and it ran fine for some other people.

anyway I also double checked the voltages of that bios today:





they seems correct.

I suspect it is a nvidia drivers related issue, maybe driver version v 300+ and later drivers.

I heard about lot of issues with the new drivers, also I am experiencing some FPS drop on some games with the new drivers, I'm thinking to rollback to previus 296 drivers or wait for the next version of the drivers hoping they will fix it.

well, about the crashes, It happened to me before.

if you are at the desktop, make sure you have no apps using the nvidia card, you can check at the task bar the nvidia gpu activity icon, make sure no apps are using it, for example I had problems with windows live mail and firefox, crashing when they ran with nvidia gpu.

make sure you set intel graphics for those kind of apps.

it will be more compatible and will run fine.

another trick you can do is:

if you are running msi after burner, you can lower the clocks on desktop by switching the profiles.

you also can make msi afterburner switch to higher clocks in game by going to settings -> profiles

then pick a low clocks profile for the 2d profile, and the high clocks one for the 3d profile ^_^

you can also put hotkeys to switch between those profiles

for example

 

thx for answer

the Problem with running windows app at Intel gpu is that i have a 24' monitor connected with the xps 15, and i tink the monitor only runs with the gt 540m ! correct me when im wrong.

I will try the solution with the profiles. Think it will work. EXCEPT in tab to windows then i have again crashes i think... was so yesterday.

greetings!

ps: i use firefox too, maybe its responsible for my crashes

pps: tried yesterday 296.10.. didnt work either. just 4info

 

@kaanyr

it depends, Intel is directly connected to the internal screen, and the minidisplay port.

the only device directly connected to the nvidia gpu is the HDMI port as far I know.

I have a minidisplay to vga adapter and I use it to connect my external 1440x900 screen.

like the integrated screen, it go through intel graphics, but it can take advantage of the nvidia gpu is you configure it for apps like games, about the hdmi port, it doesnt use intel graphics, just nvidia GPU I think.



yeah, firefox is known to crash with nvidia gpu, I run it with intel gpu, it run a bit slower but its ok for most of pages ^^

to select wich graphics device take control of the app, go to nvidia control panel and browse firefox.exe



then select integrated graphics and apply changes.

you will need to close and start again firefox to apply the changes.

check also gpu activity to know if there are another apps using your nvidia gpu



I'm sorry for the spanish language at the screenshots

 

Poorly i cant use the intel chip for apps. It is HDMI and all programms i open on the big monitor run by the gt540m.

I tink i can work with the profile manager of Afterburner or the integrated multi display power saver of nvidia inspector..

i will try and report if i have a solution.

Still tinking its crazy.. gaming is np with the oc speed, but idling in Windows doesnt work

 

@kaanyr

yeah, I have to admit it is a little weird setup, and its very curius gamming its ok, but it crash on desktop.

mmm, since you are using the hdmi output as primary display, I am not sure if setting the intel gpu as preffered graphics will have effect at all, you can try, however since you are using the hdmi it may not be usefull at all.

well, there is another posible fix, but it involves some little money (less than 5$ anyway ^^).

you can get one of those minidisplay adapters.

I have minidisplay to vga adapter.

but in your case I would pick minidisplay to hdmi


Amazon.com: Micropac MDP-HDMI-MTL Mini Displayport HDMI 1.3B Adapter: Electronics

if you get hdmi from that adapter instead from the stock nvidia hdmi port, you will probably will be able to select again wich apps you want to run with intel , and wich ones you want with nvidia.

just an idea ^_^

edit:

by using this adapter, you probably will get no sound from the hdmi cable, so you may need to get the sound from the minijack headphone conectors to rca.

lke this one:



this will allow you to connect the audio to the tv or your favorite sound system

 

mh, no solution until now...

still crashing on desktop, gaming works. Profile manager is too slow it crashes after a few seconds on desktop after closing game or tabbing out. its creeeeepy!

 

Change that value to 775/900. The memory generally doesn't need such a heavy overclock and could lead to problems.

I also suggest a full uninstall of Nvidia drivers and reinstalling or installing the Dell generic if the doesn't work <-- *shudder* they are quite old.

The $5 adapter fix is a good option - because it will also reduce heat/fan noise when only the Intel GPU is powering the external display

Cheers!

 

dont work :/ maaaah, this sucks i know the graka can be better... but the driver still crashes on desktop.

 

try getting the adapter, that isnt really expensive and probably will fix the issues , it will also let you play your favorite using nvidia card ^_^

I'm using one of those adaptors most the time and it works perfect

mine is minidisplay to vga, but hdmi should work the same

as for the moment, you can use MSI afterburner profile hotkey switching as temporal solution

(switching high and low GPU clocks with hotkeys )

 

thanks for the ideas

For now i work with the profiles, activating oc'ed only in games.. and it works
I'll test the adapter by time.

Greetings

 

A11 released today....waiting for its mod...

 

Just received an RSS that the "A11 Dell Dell XPS L502X System BIOS" has been released.

1.Increased the adapter support range
2.BIOS setup menu browser refresh interval

Nothing that major

Drivers and Downloads | Dell [Australia]

EDIT: Gots beaten!

 

LOL...nevermind

 

oh, thanks about the new version hint ^_^

edit:

grrr, I cant download the file at the DL site.

this time I even cant find the file directly via the FTP folders >-<

the dell guys are the nuts hehehe xD

edit2

what they mean with "Increased the adapter support range"?

are they talking about external screens compatibility or what?

 

did any of yous manage to download the A11 bios yet and could upload it somewhere else as im having the same problem as capitankasar

 

Same here, can't get it either. A bit to early perhaps?

Not quite sure; but I read somewhere, for example, the Apple displayport to VGA was not compatible with the L502x? It might address this type of issue.

 

@matrix5

mmm, it could be.

anyway I'm using right now this adapter and it works fine (well, mine is a cheap 5$, generic adapter, not the expensive apple one, that coluld be the issue?)

well, sometimes I have to plug in the adapter twice to make it work (very rare days anyway), maybe they fixed that with this bios?

well, I wrote to dell using the web form asking them that the a11 bios link was dead, waiting now for an answer.

however I noticed more website issues, for example, got php errors while trying to log in using my dell account.

 

can the gpu also not be referred to as an adapter in some cases perhaps it could be a fix for the gpu since it is a widespread issue for the lockups heres hoping anyways, no doubt this new bios combined with capitankasars bios modding we will be able to squeeze even more performance out of our xps 15

 

He he, lets not get our hopes up

 

It could be that your "cheap" adapter has some lose internal contacts, requiring you to occasionally fiddle with it to get it to work.

I bought my adapter from Monoprice for $14, and I have never had a problem with mine not working. Then again, I don't know if your problem might be because your adapter is required to convert the signal from digital to analogue, whereas mine does not?

Just my $0.02

 

just letting yous guys know yous can now download the bios if you select the download manager option mine downloaded and all

 

I can also confirm that option is working now. Thanks for pointing it out!

 

@all

I still unable to DL the file, tried the mentionated method too, but still out of luck



im sure I selected the file but still no way to dl it

at least for me, the dell site is a little buggy and even the user name doesnt appear near the logout button like it did before


well, if someone can upload the file somewhere, It would be nice and I would be able to mod it, or at least try it

I dont think mine have some lose internal contacts, the issue only happen some rare times after rebooting or at system start, sometimes it show a rare small image at the laptop screen, but after check again the video options or just repluging the adaptor it works again, however replug is faster than reconfig options ^_^

it happen just arround like 1/9 times I start the computer, so not a big issue for me

 

Is the download manager in IE9? Because it doesn't work in firefox (I found that out the hard way )

 

yep, I was trying on Firefox

there has been a while since I used IE.

I will try again ^^

thx

edit: it seemed to work

I got the file ,probably tomorrow I will relase the first A11 modded bios.

I think I will focus first on undervolted versions, since they seems the one with better result for most ppl

feel free to request your voltage settings for the A11 bios like previus ones ^_^

 

here is the direct link from dell ftp

ftp://ftp.dell.com/FOLDER00550780M/1/L502XA11.exe

 

looking forward to it capitankasar

 

* added 4 modded 525m bioses for the A11 version ^_^

currently uploading the 540m ones

edit:

finished uploading 540m ones too

added also four versions for 540m at this time ^^

plz give feedback


edit2: thanks for the link sugaraddicted : )

 

0.83/0.85v 540M A11 seems to work just fine. Can't claim to see any differences

 

Tested 0.83v/0.83v 525M A11....seems to be working great and is stable too...thanks capitankasar