L502X modded bioses download (GPU voltages and more!)

update2!

it looks like I finally unlocked all menus for the l502x, you can tweak a lot of stuff ^^




I uploaded a generic (non voltage modded bios for an especific card) with unlocked features to let people test them those features (modify the new features at your own risk!)

a11 l502x generic unlocked menu bios for testing (plz give feedback!)

when this get tested enough I will add it to the first post and I will start relase custom unlocked menus + custom voltages for both cards.

 

That's great news! Please tell me there's an option to disable integrated, or choose discrete as primary

--Adeeb

 

mmm, I didnt saw that option, however I saw a lot of interesting options relating with cpu and graphics advanced configuration, it also allow uefi boot.

I am happy cause I was finally able to get ride of the dell splash screen and let it show the POST screen like decent computers

disable HT also fixed slowdowns for BF3 gamming and improved things on dolphin emulator it works flawesly at least for me ^^

more pics!









there are some others menus, but my camera ran out of space

 

It's amazing how many other options are in that BIOS, once you're able to access them.

 

yeah, I never expected all stuff was inside our xps 15 laptops, but it looks we are finally able to access them

currently looking for some people to help me testing that bios options.

I tested some of them today and all of them was ok

 

Just flashed and tested. Works perfectly. The Primary Graphics Adapter setting was the closest option to disabling integrated. Setting that to PEG from IGD did cause the intel card to be disabled, but I couldn't get my windows to switch to the nvidia card, so I ended up in basic vga mode. Ah well...

Do you think you could make an A06 version?

--Adeeb

 

@capitankasar Kudos for your efforts.

 

@CK

Congratz!! (and to all at bios-mods)

Almost as exciting as Windows 8 :thumbsup:

Had a quick fiddle with some of the settings:

I have enabled Fast Strings in the CPU settings, apparently it enables better performance? - there is hardly much info on Google and I can't be conclusive if it has any effect.

I've also changed the turbo power state duration from 28 sec to 56 seconds for my i7. (The amount of time where the CPU operates over the TDP) This is most useful for rendering and doesn't seem to effect games since they don't fully utilize the CPU.


@ adeebm

I had a quick fiddle with the GPU settings, but it doesn't support an alternate primary GPU even though it appears it could.
Selecting PEG mode was promising, but got the same result as you did

 

double post sorry

 

@all

huge thanks to all ^^

@matrix

yeah, aparently fast strings improve performance

Tech ARP - CPU Fast String

I'm also going to enable it, if someone can run a benchmark or something and tell us if he notice the difference it would be nice

@adeebm

yeah, here you have a modded a06

didnt tested it yet, use it on your own risk ^^

L502X_A06_Generic_Unlocked_Menus.rar

note: capitankasar love feedbacks a lot

 

Tested on my L502X and things seem good
Well,I don't know how the options work ...so I have no feedbacks besides the bios works OK
one of my friends just changed the frequency of the memory from 1333 to 1600 while he uses the memory of 1333
and things works good : games load faster than before

 

@fuwu1245
I have 1333 memory, and tried to set 1600 to see if it can support it, however I think it got back to 1333

what is your memory speed? (modules rated for) and what software do you use to check memory speed?

 

So the bios has been fully unlocked that's a great news keep it up capitankasar.

I may just try this fully unlocked bios and give feedback to.

 

@ricohunter

yeah ^^

it looks like we can finally get the max from our xps 15 machines

I am thinking about to start relasing new modded a11 bioses with custom voltage settings for gpu plus the new unlocked menu stuff :3

however I will wait a little until the generic unlocked bios get tested enough ^^

 

So far so good! Awesome job, thanks!

Lots of interesting options, tried setting up the RAM speed to 1600Mhz, but my Corsair sticks are rated at 1333Mhz and wouldn't change. I wonder if that's a motherboard limitation? Or maybe voltage...

Anyway, thanks again! Would be really good if we could start creating a list of what some of the options do, even the obvious ones, but especially the obscure ones. For example, what does "UEFI Boot = Enabled" actually do??

 

@pjcronje

thank you a lot ^^

well, I also have some kingston mems rated at 1333, tried set them to 1600, but it seems it doesnt work for me, other guy said it worked for him, I supose it depends on the ram sticks ^^

about uefi thing I will quote one of the post from the bios-mods forums

---

 

Successfully flashed the version 2 bios, works perfectly.

 

I tried the L502X,the 1600 memory can perfect use.

 

@capitankasar
Can you help me to unlock this bios?It's dell 1569
You can download from Drivers and Downloads | Dell [United States]

think you

 

@capitankasar
Can you help me to unlock this bios?It's dell 1569
You can download from Drivers and Downloads | Dell [United States]

think you:hi2:

 

Flashed the second version and it's fine. Changing the fan temp trip points doesn't seem to change anything noticeably. I've also tried tweaking the PTID.
Probably something to so with the TC1 TC2 and TSP values

I've increased my max RAM speed at 1666MHz at there doesn't seem to be any change; I can reduce speeds however and the bios reports the changed frequency. - pointless but it does work!

 

@swaatkxs

thanks for the picture ^^

your memory sticks are rated for 1600 right?

about the other bios mod.

is this the one are you talking about

dell N-series studio 1569

@Matrix5

thanks for the feedback!

well, about the ram speed, I supose it just let go up to the sticks speeds or lower, but it doesnt let to go higher than the modules speed, I tried to overclock my 1333 sticks to 1600, but it doesnt let me to, I supose I will need 1600 sticks to get the computer working at 1600 ^^

 

@capitankasar
yes,you right,I use Nanya 1600MHz double 4G memory,it can perfect use,but before i flash you new bios,it can only work under 1333MHz

 

@capitankasar
i try 1569,but nothing useful i can download,so could you help me to unlock it?i only need memory configuration option。thank you

 

@swatkxs


oh, that confirms the memory setting works flawesly on the modded bios, huge thanks for the feedback ^^

about the modded bios for 1567, well I think AHMED HOSSAM posted a modded bios at the fifth post of that topic ^^

also not sure if I can help you with that laptop model, I know very little about bios, I done this unlock thanks to several members posting the info about very similar laptops getting unlocked, I just modified similar hex strings on the advanced setup module and repacked the bios.


@all

more options unlocked!






give a try to the third beta

L502X_A11_Generic_Unlocked_Menus_v3.rar

 

@capitankasar
I am glad to test your new bios,this is i can help you the only thing.^^

 

@capitankasar
Don't forget help me with my dell 1569,I want also unlock memory to1333 or 1600 even more

 

@swatkxs

thanks ^^


well, I can try to give a check to your bios, however, I'm not sure if it will be the same type of bios I modified.

if you send me the flasher folder like this http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-xps-studio-xps/632899-modding-l502x-bios-project.html
I can try to check it, however if ahmed already unlocked the bios and you are not conformtable with it, chances I unlock more options are really minimal.

why?

cuz ahmed know way more about bios than me, he has been phoenix bios modder for many time, while I just modded a little the xps 15 bios with some help.

 

@capitankasar
can you give me your e-mail address?i can send you the bios files,oh by the way ,i have tried your V3 bios,i think too many useless items and options are not good,we even don't know what they are

 

well, you can upload it to mediafire like I do, fast and easy ^^

well, I dont think that is a problem, I'm almost sure almost 1 person will take advantage about those options, and basically if you doesnt need to modify them, you ignore them ^^

in my case I just modified some options, by the other ones I leaved them untouched, but I'm glad they are there, because in future I may need to get fast access to them ^^

I dont consider them also useless, for example, last ones, one of them are intel ME (media acelerator) wich I think It have something to do with graphics and multimedia contenct.

the log options are also interesting ^^

 

@capitankasar
you right !Maybe they can be very useful
Oh,such as in boot configuration，one option maybe called UEFI boot,we can enable it to let windows loading more faster,and i tried it also with SSD ,from i touch power button to launch the desktop only need 18 seconds

 

Pretty sure Intel ME is Intel Management Engine (ME) : Intel vPro: Three Generations Of Remote Management

--Adeeb

 

There is a UEFI boot option. Have no tried it yet. But my laptop won't boot with Quick Boot enabled.

 

Unfortunately, this is based on the A11 BIOS. Both A10 and A11 BIOS likes to not run the fan at all even though the laptop is at 97C for me.

 

@Adeeb

thanks for the fix ^^

I'm still trying to figure out what the most of the options do

@Savior

do you mean black screen?

mmm, if you are unable to disable the option via the bios setup, you may need to remove the laptop top cover in order to remove the cmos battery for 30 seconds, that will reset the settings to default and will let you to boot the laptop again.


@Savior

yeah, it is based on a11 bios, however I think the procedure is the same for other versions, I also relased a a06 version with some unlocked menus.

if you tell me the bios version , gpu model, and gpu desired voltages, I can try make a custom version for you with unlocked menus ^^


@all

like stated at the bios-mods forums, while enabling the thermal sensor device on bios, it seems a new controller is installed on windows.

maybe sensor reading software like hwmonitor or aida64 can take advantage of that ^^

 

Yeah, I was able to reset the BIOS by reseting the CMOS battery. Currently testing the different BIOS settings. I don't think there is any significant BIOS setting that Dell screwed up so far. Even stuff like "disable IGD Thermal control" actually decreases performance even though intuitively it should increase performance by not monitoring the thermal situation.

I would like a A09, with .83/.85 unlocked BIOS.

 

@Savior

well, there are many interesting options like the diagnosis boot option, it allow to remove the dell logo and show usefull devices info.
also the proccesor and memory options are also quite interesting.

other options are good too but some of them arent really interesting, however is not bad to have them there ^^

oh, as promised here you have your custom bios ^^

L502X_A09_540m_83_85_Unlocked_Menus_v3.rar

feedback plz ^^

 

I wonder if we got a rich person in here wanting a lot of CPU power. A Core i7-2960XM could be overclocked, since we got CPU Flex settings unlocked like in Alienware systems, we could overclock the CPU like in those systems. There's a possibility the CPU will not be compatible. But I read that someone tried it in the XPS 17 and it worked.

 

yeah, that would be nice.

hehe, I wish I had at least some money for a decent i5 proccesor, but it seems that I have to stick with my i3 for a while ^^

well, I supose that will work also on xps 15, is that just too little people will take advantage of those processors, anyway now they can with those bios I guess ^^

 

it seems that uefi is working on another unlocked laptops.

can someone confirm this on the unlocked l502x bios?

I dont have any usb stick laying arround right now >.<

 

@capitankasar,

if you can, add a menu for voltage of vga in modded bios, it will be better than creating various modded bios with fixed values, if you create just one allowing to us change the voltages, will be better for all of us xD

[]'s

 

@willerson

hehe, I wish I could add new stuff ^^

however, I can only unhide stuff wich is already there.

also, the nvidia gpu vbios is just being send to the gpu everytime the computer boot, for that reason I needed to disasembly the complete bios in order to access that.

but sadly there is no way of doing that via a bios menu >.<

you need to modify the video bios file for that


you are right, and since the main topic was originally designed for voltages I dont know how to manage it now to add new unlocked bioses ^^

I supose I will also add them sorted by GPU and voltages, but first I want to ensure the unlocked bioses are completly unlocked and will be no more changes, so I can start uploading them like normal bioses to the first post ^^

 

@capitankasar

First.. hello, am new but i've read a lot of your stuff, excelent job ! many thanks

Now.. if its possible to make A11 bios for 540m with
2D profile : 0.83v
3D profile : 0.85v
And all unlocked options from beta3, if there are all of them
The CPU is i5 2430 , 1x4 GB RAM if needed...


I'm also tested the A11 bios for 540m ( the one recommended at the 1st page ) and i dont know why but it goes to 1.0v in 3D profile. The 0.85v must be the max limit of voltage right ?

Thanks !

 

@gabroveca

thank you so much ^^



there you go

L502X_A11_540m_83_85_Unlocked_Menus_v3.rar


use HWmonitor to test check the voltage.

well, some users reported the same, must be some kind of driver related stuff.

it may jump to 1v for some seconds like some people reported, however it should go to back to 0.85v in game.

feedback plox plox plox ^^

 

@capitankasar,

no problem then, i just ask you something, could you can create a A11 stock bios with all the things that you have found for me, i dont want to change the voltages by now, i will test it after i get better results with modded bios xD

thanks for your effort xD.

[]'s

 

@capitankasar

Thanks a lot man !

You're right, it goes to 1.0v for a while, but when in game or other 3D app it goes to 0.85v and to 0.83v in 2D.
HWMonitor is kinda bugged or dunno, it freezed few times so i used GPU-Z, it works great.
Everything is unlocked.

Thanks again, ill' subscribe your thread for future upgrades

 

@capitankasar,

I did try this and its working fine: L502X_A09_540m_83_85_Unlocked_Menus_v3.rar
But what ever version i use after A06 it broke sleep o.s.x function as you may know I did tried L502X_A06_Generic_Unlocked_Menus.rar from few page back but it dose save options in bios but wont take any effects like i change to PEG didn't work and other option like HT etc. but with A09 V3 all option dose work but sleep broke and laptop is cool so again I need A06 V3 so i can have full advantages whenever possible..

I have:
L502X / GT540M / i7 2630

and looking for:

L502X_A06_540m_83_85_Unlocked_Menus_v3

Thank you so much!

 

@gabroveca

glad to know it works ^^

about the hwmonitor freezes with the new bios, I found the cause.

for some reason while viewing some of the new menus for example thermal settings one it crash at the program.

to be able to use it do following.


go to bios, load default settings, save, restart and quicly press f2 to enter bios again, and set ONLY the few options you want, try stay away from the thermal menus and any other you dont need to modify, I think going into the thermal menu bug monitoring software for some reason even just viewing it, so you will need to load bios defaults if you entered into the thermal menu and you want to use monitoring software.

I dont know why, but that worked for me ^^


@zulqar

mmm, I modded the A06 menus with the same changes as the latest versions, the hex strings were the same, but didnt tried it yet

here the bios you requested

L502X_A06_540m_83_85_Unlocked_Menus_v3.rar


feedback plz ^^

 

It seems to be good.

Is it just me, or the fan settings does not seem to be obeyed.

 

obeyed?

do you mean the fan settings not work?

well, some of those settings may not work at all, like the fastboot setting, (you already reported that setting fast boot setting to enabled cause a black screen and make clear cmos required in order to get the machine usable again)
probably will be similar with other options.

a lot of testing is needed, and when you notice something is not working fine, you probably will need to restore default values via setup option or via the battery option.

I am thinking about to make a internal switch at the laptop main expansion door, so I can reset easly the cmos while testing the bios settings.

edit: swatkxs told me the thermal configuration option works, the fan spin more frequently,and cpu temperatire is lower,but it make more noise.