L502X modded bioses download (GPU voltages and more!)

the v6 version still under testing, I may also wait a little to add more features as the bios mod guys seems to be working on some stuff that could be interesting for the next version.

 

first of all thank you mister capitankasar for your excellent work on the bios from the l502x :thumbsup: . i installed it yesterday and have to say, the options i now have in the bios are great. i used the recommended 83/85 a12 version for the 540m gpu, and didn't had any problem yet.

i first saw your work about one year ago, when i was searching for a possibilty to undervolt my device for better battery performance. as i see i'm one of not too many lucky ones who don't have problems with the l502x when it comes to gaming etc.. i played a lot of games since i have my xps 15 and never had freezes or something like that. my configuration is a i7-2630qm cpu with the 540m gpu to the full hd screen, 8 gb of ram and a samsung ssd.

the reason why i decided to take your bios is another one. i buyed a hdd caddy to put my original hdd from the laptop into the optical drive bay, since the internal sata port is 6 gb/s, and the odd port has "only" 3 gb/s. i didn't wanted to have a bootleneck to my ssd. as i now have two storages installed i thought i would be nice to have linux installed on my "old" hdd in the optical drive bay. since i had many problems with boot managers on dual boot systems, i decided to make two seperate installations on the two mass storage devices i have by deactiviting the first sata port, so the installation routine from linux don't finds the windows installation on the ssd, and "don't" uses a boot manager to boot. so i came back to your bios, as i have seen on the pictures of it that is has the ability to disable the sata ports you want (otherwise i would had to remove my ssd temporarily). everything worked like i planned it, and the linux installation was successful without "seeing" the windows installation on my ssd.

it came to reboot the system and now i have my problem: it wont boot from the hdd in my caddy, and i just don't know why. i took the hdd with the linux instalation on it out from the caddy, and put it into in my external usb 3 case. now i tried to boot from the hdd connected over the usb port and it worked. the linux installtion should be fine as i'm writing these sentences over it at the moment.

maybe anyone knows a reason or a solution the be able to boot from the odd sata port. it makes no sense it doesen't works, because it's no problem to boot an installation disc over the original built in optical drive.

also would it be nice to know if there exists an explanation of all the options in the advanced menus? i didn't found something like that.

i'm very thankfull for help :hi2:

greetz georg

 

@Nuss

thanks for your comments , and nice setup you have there

well, I think the problem is that a hdd/sdd into the optical drive caddy doesnt appear into the boot priority menu options.

I also have a hdd caddy for the optical drive, and it doesnt appear on it.

I personally dont have issues with it because I have windows 7 installed on the main HDD wich is botable from the bios, and I leave the other hdd into the optical drive hdd caddy for apps, games and media (data hdd)



I never tuched that, but I think I heard somewhere people editing their boot drives in bios from external software/apps

I didnt tried those, but you can give a try to those ones

EasyUEFI - The easy way to manage EFI/UEFI boot entries!

or also give a try to bcdedit util from windows cmd

found also something wich may be interesting

windows 7 - Boot from secondary HD - Super User


note: be really carefull while editing the boot items.

some user semi bricked his laptop doing it!

http://forum.notebookreview.com/del...wnload-gpu-voltages-more-177.html#post9140819

 

It's pretty easy to boot other OS using program easybcd. It alows nearly automatic creation of bcd entries for Linux or even OS X which you can select from Windows Bootloader system selection screen.

 

Hi evereyone , sorry for disappearing (forgot my password) , capitan i need your help , my laptop survived longer than most of the others with the 540m , but now im having the same problems as most people have with this card , i found out that the bios a06 with modded voltages (2d: 0.83V 3d: 0.85V) gives me more stability but i bought a new ac adapter and the bios a06 cant recognize it , the a11 bios has a feature that increases the range of supported adaptors , what i wanna know is if its possible for you to make a a06 bios with the voltages 0.83 / 0.85 with that feature from the a11

Thanks in advance , and congrats for the awesome work

 

@DSKEAARSR 2013

well, I dont relase stuff for older versions since some time.

I even have pending to relase a v6 version for the A12 with more stuff.

why dont you just download the advanded a12 version5 mod wtih your voltages?

http://l502x.lag.re/L502X_A12_540m_83_85_Unlocked_Menus_v5.rar

most people is happy with them.



in my case, I have a 525m, and after two years of use, I had to reduce the clocks even with hard and soft mods since the GPU degradation over the time.

before I did get 720 mhz + OC, now I can handle only like 650 mhz, specially while using BCLK OC


I suggest you to try the hardware mods discussed here, try also the fan tweaks explained at the end of the first post.

I force the fan to 100% when gamming, and I can see It makes a huge difference in performance and temps (the cpu doesnt underclock anymore due high temps and the temps stay really cool, the only con is that it is a little loud and you cant keep it forever, so it is recomended set it back to auto after gamming)

try everything I told you, and then if you keep having crashes, try underclock the gpu a little since the GPU seems to lose OC stability after months, and in the case of the 540m, it may need even to be underclocked from the stock clocks

 

Thx , i was using the a12 and having these problems and my board became more stable with the a06 version , also already have repasted , modded the fans and set to run 100% when gaming ( im not up for some heavier hardware modding , im not very good with this ) my gpu is already underclocked (612/1224/830) but im facing horrible crashes and HUGE performance loss guess this graphics card wasnt a good choice i see a ton of people having problems with 400 and 500 series even on desktops and nvidia only wants to sell their new stuff , guess i will go with amd next.

Edit : Also removed dust filters.

 

I wonder if possible to "inject" a ME region upgrade from Intel ME 7 to ME 8.1 using bios upgrade without unlocking descriptor..

 

even with unlocked descriptor we were unable to update ME7 to ME8, we tried some times in order to try add ivy bridge support, but no luck, all I got were brick my unit several times and the need of phisically remove the chip and flash it externally to return the system back to life.

 

We are stuck with 7.1 then I guess..

I see there are some newer versions after 7.1.60.1193 around:

Can't find the small (1.5mb) version for any of those.

I wonder if possible to extract the ME from a dell exe bios to see if its the small one:

Changelog:

 

yeah, unfortunely, we are stuck with 7.1 unless someone point is posible to get running me8 on our L502x

I tried check that exe file, but I dont know how to extract the flasher and the flash files, I used a trick to get L502X bios files from the exe by getting them from temporal files, but I cant get that trick working for that laptop bios, I would need someone with that laptop to be able to run the exe and let it output the files on the temporal folder.

 

Hi , i only want to know (get ready for a stupid idea ) if it is possible to replace the motherboard of this l502x with a m15x motherboard with the 6970m and if it isnt what would should be done for it to fit (buying a new laptop is not on my plans , short on money)
Also wanted to know if i buy the bottom cover (with the holes for the ports and connection) can i put my screen and top cover of my l502x?


Again sorry for stupid idea but if this works it will solve all my problems

 

@DSKEAARSR 2013

short answer: NO

long answer: it would be posible it you rework the whole case to fit the new motherboard, and there is also a lot of chances the keyboard, touchpad, screen and battery connectors differ or will need modding or cable extension to fit in the plugs/connectors

basically you would be building a new unique , rare, and modded laptop.



m15x r2 motherboard



L502X motherboard




as you can see, both of them are very different, same stuff with the case.

 

:cry:

Thanks , well id say the only thing that is left for me to do is use integrated graphics until the processor dies.

 

Sorry for yet another "briliant" idea ( i promisse this will be the last revolutionary idea i will have ) , can you program the laptop to recieve energy only from the battery?
For exemple make the laptop use only the battery while the ac adapter sends energy to it so it doesnt turn off (i already tried the reverse , removing the battery and only using the adapter , it didnt work).


Edit : If this is not possible , is there a way to force the old a06 bios to reconize my 180W ac or do i need to do some modding in order for it to work?
If the bios doesnt reconize the adapter it will set my processor to 800mhz and no changes that i make to increase the speed works

 

@capitankasar Just one more weird question, lol. Could the computer get a video crash because of ram memory? I mean, my laptop was stable as a rock with very high overclock (740/1480 [Processor and all other stuff are repasted]) and now it's crashing a lot. I changed my memories for faster ones (Kingston HyperX 1600mhz) and they get really hot while in game, almost 100ºC, and I don't really think that my GPU degraded. Oh yea, and now it's crashing even with stock clocks.

 

can you help me to have my own logo. I am not a computer geek. i just use your links and forums. i Have made a grey scale image as prescribed. i am using 540m graphics with A12 advanced features with 80/83 volt. can you make a custom logo for my bios?

 

Good morning fellows L502X users (here is 10:40 AM GMT-3 ^^)
I'm using this flashed BIOS MOD:

Custom voltage moded A12 bios mod for gt540m with advanced menus for L502X DOWNLOAD from mediafire /// MIRROR by ximinez
MD5 checksum: 022D368DE178C92DF012CFD3143AE49B
BIOS version used: A12
this bios mod has been tested by Doixdd shrikant, zulqar, abhizok, NeoMesal, daver160, dakhan89, victorluan,gilipollas,FlipBack,felipeap92 and thenriques45.
2D PROFILE: 0.83v
3D PROFILE: 0.85v
notes: Voltage modded A12 BIOS for gt540m with a nice set of extra options,plus native speedstep and updated CPU microcode,intel vbios update to v2137 and sleep FIX for OSX, handle the new options carefully!Recomended!

Well, i done the step by step program, used MD5 and all..flashed sucesfully and everything, but when i'm not using the Card, it shows correctly the 0,83 volts, but when i play a game (like ACE Comabt) it goes to 1V

I'm using GPU-Z to check the voltage during gameplay ^^..is it faulty or a bad monitoring program?

What is happening?..can anyone give me a clue?
thanks in advance!

 

@DSKEAARSR


well, we didnt modded anything related the chargers W, and didnt saw any other similar mod, so even it would be usefull or not, I dont know how to do that.

@senthil61

I'm srry, but I cant take custom logo requests, it took its time to calculate the correct sizes and numbers to get my logo working, so I cant take those requests, and make a single bios

if you want to do it by yourself, here is how to:

the logo module name is 0C7F41A9-0A6F-43F6-A0D9-1E2D01DBD7BE_4_1122.ROM (A12 bios) for the L502X and as for the L702X is 0C7F41A9-0A6F-43F6-A0D9-1E2D01DBD7BE_4_1130.ROM

both modules are exact the same in those laptops, this mean if you sucesfully create a custom logo for one of them, you will be able to create a custom logo for the other laptop by just rename the file and reintegrate it at the other bios.

about the procedure to create your own logo

here you have instructions about how to make it.

post 9555689 at page 263 of this topic

following pages also contain usefull info, included the exacty photoshop settings of the image I had to save the file.

if you are able to create the logo file but you dont know to reintegrate it after, you can post your custom module, and I can reintegrate it back to a bios, for example, a beta of the version6 of the bios mod with your desired voltages for your GPU.


edit: I attached the current three modules and pictures currently working, Mine, KPAX7 and original dell splash screen, might help since I made my modded logo from KPAX7 modded module instead dell one.


@Felipe Selli

might be a driver reporting issue.

did you tried HWMONITOR?


what HWMONITOR reports while gamming?

@all

I am sorry if I am a little away those days, I'm currently have less time and also I'm working with another projects like building a custom openwrt box with custom software and hardware.

here you have some pics of it.

http://i.imgur.com/IuOyyqp.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/QTithaJ.jpg

anyway I will try return to the version 6 of the bios mod and relase it soon for both L502X and L702X laptops

 

It worked like a charm!...thanks a lot! Thanks Capitankasar!
I gamed like 3 hours..no crashes yet ^^ (it was crashing every 15 minutes)
Capitankasar...you are awesome!..do not let anyone says otherwise!
And big thanks to all in the forums and the Bios testers!

 

Good night fellow users!
Ahhh it's me again, another noobish question
I can update my video card drivers normally right?...
Or, since i used the custom BIOS can happen any crash?
will the voltage continue to be the modded one?

Thanks in advance!
Continue with the good work ^^

 

@thenriques45

How's it going with those copper heatsinks? My PCH "Northbridge/Southbridge" you guy's have one too. It overheats like made while cpu and gpu are hitting 65C.

So I'm going to use them on my PCH to keep it below 100C... Latest version of aida64 detects the pch temperature and it gets crazy hot. At least for me my GT540M is at 780mhz and 1.120v hex modded. I do see a significant increase in gpu performance with a high TDP alone. It could be 40-50W now.

Anyway cya man

 

@Felipe Selli

you can use any nvidia driver, this bios is just a original bios with several mods, but the computer is the same, so feel free to install the latest one from nvidia site.

dont download the ones from dell site since they usually are older than the ones from nvidia site.

the voltage should keep the same, since the voltage is modded/tweaked at the GPU vbios, not at the drivers.

thanks

 

please help forget bios password help to remove password

 

@ahmedshiko

I dont know about any software methods for uefi bios removal, and remove the battery not works since it is stored at the bios chip as non volatile info.

I may be wrong anyway, if there are any software methods for uefi bios, plz let me to know.

but there are hardware methods of course.

I sucesfully disabled bios password once from my machine, but I did desoldering the bios chip phisically and flashing a non password dump.

if you feel capable of following the programmer building and flashing from the first post.

I can provide you a non password dump to flash when you got everything ready.

 

the incoming version6 of the L502X bios mods is having some progress

raid feature is starting working properly thanks to Brabbelbla's help



setting this option to raid, will unlock the raid options at the hdd configuration



for ata and ahci users, the raid options will remaing unselectable unless you change the sata operation mode to raid.


as for the moment, this is the changelog for the next version

also, on the version6 relase, there will be a clean from many older versions from the first topic, since there are so many and it is confusing for most users.

I will relase 3 initial bioses for the version6 modded a12 L502X

* non voltage modded
* 525m voltage modded 0.85v/0.85v
* 540m voltage modded 0.83v/0.85v

I will focus on those, since they seems to be ones with better results, better temps, and the ones who help most for people experiencing GPU crashes.

 

Nice I'm interested if it's true that RAID mode can make SATA controller faster for SSD Drive when using Intel Rapid Storage Driver (I've read it on the web )

Also... Why no 540m@0,83/0,83? :/ I'm Successfully using it for long time...

 

well, I will include too a 0,83/0,83 for both 525m and 540m v6 versions

I think the version6 is already ready to be relased, I just need to make different voltage versions.

however, first, I also will make another modded version for the L702X users, there were more users interested on raid over there since the L702X natively have two hdd bays plus the esata and the posibility of replace the optical drive with a hdd caddy like some of us does at the L502X, that include a max of 4 HDDs (maybe even more if they use some kind of minipcie to sata adapters, but not sure about that.)

about the first post, I think I will remove the just voltage modded versions (without advanced menus) since they arent sexy anymore.

also will remove the older versions and will just let the a12 v6, that will make a big clean up, at the post.

anyway of course I will leave the older version files on mediafire, and a link to the main folder.

but I will not continue support officially the older versions since it will be a headache, maybe I will consider doing a exception for a11 since it is the last version wich work for egpu, it seems dell broke something on the a12 version for the egpu users, but well, I cant do anything about that, specially without a egpu equipement to test.

 

ok, new versions are at the first post.

I finally decided to keep older versions , but I decided to hide them inside an spoiler to prevent confusion due a gigant post.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/del...html]download version6 bioses from first post

feedback plz, specially if someone decides to create a raid with this mod.

 

Wish someone can post a photo of the FULL HD screen and how it looks with fonts. I want to upgrade 1366x screen to full HD.

Thanks captain for the update. Will test now although I don't use RAID.

 

I did install it and it works fine.

Is there any setting in bios to increase the performance of the Intel HD for better browsing performance?

What is Express charge?

 

@windowsappme

thanks , let me know if you have any issue with the new update.


about the screen

all of the people who owns a xps 15 with the full hd, talk about how good is it, I personally also have the 1336 screen, wich isnt specially good.

I would update the screen and CPU on my machine, but well, dont have a work right now (spain and its economical crisis ^^) so no money for upgrade.

anyway, if you want to upgrade, all you need is the screen and the fullhd cable


Dell XPS 15 L501X L502X 15.6" Full HD Cables V73D3
Amazon.com: AU OPTRONICS B156HW02 V.5 LAPTOP LCD SCREEN 15.6" Full-HD LED DIODE (SUBSTITUTE REPLACEMENT LCD SCREEN ONLY. NOT A LAPTOP ): Computers & Accessories


about the looking of it, I found this on the net

 

doublepost

 

@windowsappme
oh, you posted faster

well, appart from fast strings wich improve the windows score from hd graphics a little, I dont know about any other setting, you may want to play with the memory sharing value or some options from the intel bios, however, I didnt noticed any other option wich is significally interesting for intel graphics.

the xpress charge, I guess it is some kind of option to charge the laptop faster, by default it is enabled on the laptop.

standard charge I guess it will take longer to charge the laptop, but it will consume less energy, it is may a candidate to testing for the people having crashes on the charger mode.

 

You posted twice to negate it.

Thanks for the screenshot. Yes, currently I want to upgrade but same, only when I get enough money for it

Yes, I am changing settings and checking. Nice bootscreen.

 

oh, my bad

my connection is not the best and sometimes it get stuck on the forum, I took a while to upload all the new bios files ^^

oh, thanks for the bootlogo, the dell one wasnt sexy for me

 

How do I find the orginal source for this?

Intel ME firmware update for L502X DOWNLOAD from megaupload link provided by SwooshyCueb
Intel ME FW version: 7.1.60.1193

I know its uploaded to megaupload but I want to verify it with the original.

 

you will have to ask SwooshyCueb for that, he is the one wich found and provided the update.

I dont know where he got that update, where doing google search, I only get the 5MB version of the 7.1.60.1193, wich is not compatible with the L502X (L502X needs a 1,5MB update file)

 

I noticed my Skype crashing twice. Now COM surrogate crashed. Not sure if its bios fault or the Intel ME update I did. On Win 8.1

Just send a message to SwooshyCueb.

 

mmm, what version are you using?

well, I didnt tested the latest ME update from the topic or installed windows 8.

anyway keep in mind, after each bios flashing, your bios settings will be reseted, there may be something you want to configure.

also if you are running a custom voltage version, check with HWMONITOR that 2D and 3D voltages are correct

 

I reverted back to Intel ME FW version: 7.1.52.1176 and everything seems to be working fine.

On the BIOS front, I had flashed

Custom voltage moded A12 bios mod for gt540m with advanced menus for L502X DOWNLOAD from mediafire /// MIRROR by ximinez
MD5 checksum: A0DAB7E7FB91BA9E2CD64C3E76D048F3
mod version: version 6
BIOS version used: A12
this bios mod has been tested by Not tested yet
2D PROFILE: 0.83v
3D PROFILE: 0.85v
notes: Voltage modded A12 BIOS for gt540m with a nice set of extra options,plus native speedstep and updated CPU microcode,intel vbios update to v2137, sleep FIX for OSX,computrace unlock ,serial tag changer and RAID, handle the new options carefully!Recomended for GT540M users!

 

oh, so it was the ME update and not the bios, well, like I said I didnt tested it, I am currently running the overclocking ME patch for the 7.1.52.1176 and not sure if it will work on the newer update.

thanks for the feedback, I will add some info to the first post about windows 8.1 and the 7.1.60.1193 version.

 

Just a noob question :

If I flash my bios, does that mean ' the entire previous bios is erased completely' ?

For example, I revert from this bios to dell default by download the default bios from Dell ftp site and running it.

Does that mean every single date of this bios will get deleted? Or should I revert by using the revert option given in this bios?

Thanks

 

@chrismt

yup

the previous bios will be overwritten with the new one.

however, you can allways flash back the previous bios.

for example, all my modded bios packages includes a original bios from the same version

example, modded a11 bios includes also a a11 original bios
and
modded a12 bios includes also a a12 original bios

the procedure to be flashed is the same, however you need to execute the flash_original_bios.bat instead the one from the tutorial.

you shoulnt worry about that, you can allways return to older bioses , doesnt matter if they are original or modded , and modded version is like the original one, but includes some fixes and extra features.

what bios version are you running now?

 

Sorry cap. I found the problem and it was the latest Intel HD driver 15.28.22.64.3517, whenever I opened an imagine with Windows Photo Viewer and move it to my right or left to use the new win 8.1 feature of making it stick to the left or right, I got a Com surrogate crash. I reverted back to old version of Intel graphics and its fixed now.

 

mmm, so after all, it wasnt the new ME update?

 

No. I had installed this new update from Intel recently as well. I overlooked it. Sorry again.

You wrote :

Intel ME firmware update for L502X DOWNLOAD from megaupload link provided by SwooshyCueb
Intel ME FW version: 7.1.60.1193
notes: newer Intel ME firmware update for L502X, stock Intel ME firmware for L502X is 7.0.4.1197.
to update the ME FW, start update_Intel_ME.bat file, and then restart the machine to run the new FW , note, I didnt tested this one by myself, SwooshyCueb did and had good results, however this may not be compatible with the previous overclocking Intel ME patch I relased for the machine.

Does this mean once I install 7.1.52.1176 provided by you, this newer version can't be installed since it won't be compatible?

Thanks again. Curious mind.

 

@ windowsappme

ok, I will edit the first post again then ...^^


relating the text I wrote, I mean:

when I relased the overclocking patch from ME, it made it from the 7.1.52.1176 update.

I will enter in more detail, while you download the ME overclocking overclocking patch, it flash the entire ME region, included a protected part where the advanced ME config is stored.

in order to enable overclocking, I had to tweak some of that configuration.

so basically, the ME patch is a 7.1.52.1176 installation from the SPI chip plus its config.

about when I say that the new ME upgrade may not be compatible, is that the settings I tweaked were from previous version.

when the new version get installed, it will be installed over the old one, theorically it should keep the configuration, but I didnt tested it yet.

I would test it, but ME firmware bad flashes or bricks are worse than regular bios bricks, because with ME region bricks, my recovery cdrom doesnt work, and it forces me to remove phisically the chip out from the mobo and flash the last working backup (and my chip sockets are becoming weaker due the excesive use, so I try keep it as the last resource.)

 

So what you wrote above will only apply if I have patched my laptop with this file 'L502X_OVERCLOCKING_PATCH_BY_CAPITANKASAR.rar' and I have done the hardware mod?

I haven't done the hardware mod. Just use your custom bios and the ME upgrade.

 

exactly.

yeah, it is a shame that as for the moment there arent software ways to enable overclocking for this machine, but well, I continue looking for other solutions than desoldering the chip.

I posted another hardware solution at the first post wich involve bridging two pins of a chip, but well, those pins are tiny, so I think there also little people will try the mod.

I think only two or three people appart from me installed the overclocking patch.