L502X modded bioses download (GPU voltages and more!)

I haven't tried any hardware mod because I think me and L502x will have more than 10 year relationship so if I mess up the hardware accidentally then I will have to live without a laptop. Thats why I haven't tried it.

I am satisfied with your underclocked bios. I think it will extend the L502x life. I am thankful to you.

I though the ME overclocking overclocking patch was integrated with the ME update of yours and SwooshyCueb. Glad it wasn't.

 

New version! Finally!

I'll install it when my Time Machine backup end and I backup some other files (not because something can go wrong, just doing it when found info about update ). Also I can say that newest available in topic Intel ME is stable on Win8.1 even in UEFI mode (as I'm using that combo daily for months).

And if needed I can take more photos of full hd display (my one) but best camera I have is iPhone 4s

Edit. OK MD5 checksum correct for 540m@0,83/0,83. Will update this post after upgrade.

 

Does enabling the older version of UEFI improve anything?

 

All seems to work properly Didn't test RAID mode yet.
@windowsappme it enables boot in UEFI mode. Useful when installing OS X. Easier multiboot configuration. But brakes some functionality from QuickSet and WiFi disable button (Fn+F2).

@capitankasar you can add me to testers of 540m v. 0,83/0,83.

 

@agalin
sure!

thanks for testing ^^

edit: added to the first post:

 

@capitankasar is it possible to remove keyboard shortcut that is BIOS level? I think about disable radio button (Fn+F2).

 

yeah, it is posible, anyway I dont know how to yet.

did you saw the fan trick at RWE?

I want to add it with another FN shortcut, for example FN+2 (not FN+F2 wich is already used)

when I say it is posible, it is because prema is doing actually this thing to their bioses.

 

Yes, I saw it. Tried writing app for that, but my programming skill is still too low for that
You have still free 2 function keys (F6 and F7) And option to remove FN+F2 would be greatly appreciated. Especially for those on default Dell Synaptics Driver which uses FN+F3 (I use newer version from L521x so don't need this shortcut).

 

well, he made it without the need of use third party software on windows.

he told me it was something about the EC regions I think, still need to figure how to make it, he didnt replied to my previous email >.<

 

Hi! First up, many thanks for the BIOS. I was really looking for that.

I have an issue with my nVidia 525M. It says: "Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. (Code 43)". Any known solution or if anyone also facing the same issue? I am on Windows 8.1 (It didn't work either on 8)

I have tried a few things after looking up on the internet but nothing seems to work. Has the card departed?

Sankalp

 

I know. That's what does RWE... But for touchpad disable button it's probably impossible
It would be awesome to gain a way to do it And option to disable FN+F2 would secure people from many crashes...

 

@iamsankalp



mmm, do you get that message after gamming?

like a crash?

I experienced similar issues while overclocking the card, screen froze, and I recive a message about nvidia controller stoped working.

sometimes disable and reenable the device at the device manager worked, but some others needed to reboot

anyway, this was caused by unstable OC in my case, so after testing I turned the OC into more stable frecuencies and it stoped happening.

I dont have windows 8, I keep using windows 7

do it happen with my modded bios?

or with all modded/unmodded?

I would try driver update , testing on other OS, and as last instance, take appart the unit, and look for some phisical damage at the GPU

@agalin

I posted today again into some of the active prema bios mods topics,I hope get some kind of reply from him.

I also downloaded one of his bios mods, I will unpack it and inspectionate it meanwhile I wait for his input.

anyway, why the need of remove that shortcut?

I mean, Function keys are barelly used normally , for example I use the volume hotkeys , and some rare times the FN +f1 for switch on external secreens and fn + f3 to lock the touchpad

but those hotkeys are usally never toggled by accident

 

I found a newer Management Engine Driver version 8.1.0.1248

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/De...eng&OSVersion= &DownloadType=

Not sure if this will help improve anything. Worth trying.

 

thanks

will give it a look later ^^

 

@capitankasar when you enable UEFI and use FN+F2 it will crash whole system, not depending on OS used - even in BIOS config.

 

even at the bios setup?

hows that?

mine work fine everywhere (uefi setting disabled anyway)

 

It happens ONLY in UEFI mode.

 

It's an older issue for me. I am encountering this for past some time and I get that all the time both with modded and unmodded bios.
I have tried rebooting, and a few things but it doesn't work. nVidia inspector shows nothing- it probably assumes there is no nVidia device attached.

Please check attached images.

 

Also, Fn+Function Keys. All are working for me. I'm on modded BIOS and UEFI. Let me know if i could help.

 

@iamsankalp

mmm, to be honest, that doesnt looks quite good ...
as last resort, you can try reinstalling the OS, however I know that can be time consuming and frustrating, so you can also try an alternative windows 7 installation on a usb drive, just for testing it after installing all drivers, and after tests keep using your previous hdd installation as normal, this would help to identificate if it is a hardware issue.

and if it is, all you can try is motherboard replacement, or take appart the unit and check for blowed components that could be replaced if you have electronic knowledge.

@iamsankalp

thanks for the input, I was starting to think It was a global issue

well, I will test mine anyway on next reboot to see if it happens to me also.


@agalin

mmm, did you replaced the wireless card for another one?

do the wireless card works fine?

did you tested if it happens with the wireless card removed?

did you tested load bios setup defaults and then reconfigure only the options you really need? (sometimes while entering and messing to much with some of the advanced menus, the config become corrupt and need to load setup defaults configs and reconfigure it again.)

 

Thanks for your prompt response. I'll try getting a live usb for Windows 7 and update your further.

 

Found a driver update solution

https://kickass.to/driver-pack-solution-14-r410-final-supports-windows-8-8-1-rtm-t8866939.html

I got around 16 devices with outdate drivers. I think this will give stability and performance to our laptop considering dell don't update the drivers.

I wonder which laptop manufactures updates the drivers even for their older model laptops.

 

7.19 GB ..

must be a huge package ^^

well, dell drivers from the site were really out to date last time I checked, that is why I update directly from the intel, nvidia and the specific part site, they dont add as much bloatware as dell add, and also the drivers are up to date, nvidia even let you download the current betas

 

Have stock card (Intel Centrino Wireless 1030n). Not tried with removed one.I did BIOS reset many times as I often flashed other versions at some moment. Card works fully normally. Both on Windows and Linux. Even in monitor mode (aircrack-ng). I know about dangerous sections and don't use them Actually my config is: UEFI enabled, power save for SATA1 disabled, Fast Strings enabled, some boot entries disabled.

@iamsankalp are you sure you have enabled UEFI in boot settings and Windows installed in UEFI mode? It's probably possible to install Windows in legacy mode when both are enabled. If enabled, is it possible for you to install Dell Quickset?

 

it seems the card its at the good status.

try anyway unplugging and plugging it.

to access the card, you only need to remove the small door from laptop back, the one for ram upgrades. (3 screws from the door + 1 or two screws from the card itself)

in my case I have the stock card intel wifi link 1000

and have also working monitor mode for aircrack-ng in both windows and linux working fine.

mmm, thats really weird, I saw some people complaining about function crashes on UEFI based installations due partial UEFI support from dell in the bios.

but none of them had those crashes at the bios.

what is really weird, is also that it happen only to some people and for others its all ok.


for example, it runs fine for iamsankalp

could it be due the GPU model? well, that does not make sense at all

to be honest I dont have idea about what is going on, all I can do is guessing based on your info.

 

Worth it. Yes, it has all the latest drivers of all devices possible. It downloads fast since its seeded well :thumbsup:

This package will work for any laptop or desktop. Awesome indeed.

 

Ok. Did some tests. And actually it DOESN'T crash in the BIOS
Also it work properly (disables WiFi) on Linux 0_o
Crashes on Windows and on OS X (it doesn't matter that OS X can't use WiFi - only BT from this card).

 

mmm, then it seems an OS (win and OS X) issue.

well, I finally talked with prema, he is giving me a hand with the hotkeys thing, as for the moment first we need to figure if it can be done on this laptop.

I'm also investigating the posibility to archive higher BCLK clocks, I got a max of 5% with XTU, however, at the early bios moddings steps, jkbuha managed to get a 125 mhz bclk using clover loader (compared with mine wich is just 105 mhz)

I was unable to get clover working on legacy boot, required for most of our windows installations, so I'm looking for a firmware alternative to change BCLK straps & DMI/PEG ratios wich should definitly help.


i keep u guys updated.


about overclocking, sadly only GPU overclocking is avalible for all users, BCLK overclocking require to flash an ME patch, wich require overide the descriptor security, and as for the moment, I have only two ways to bypass it, desoldering and reprograming bios chip externally, or bypassing the descriptor by add a jumper on two chip legs (info at the first post) however this last step is untested and would require someone to test.

I already have the descriptor unlocked, so It would be useless if I test it.

it would be nice if someone want to give a try to that hardware mod, just soldering a small piece of wire to those pins is required, anyway that chip is small, so some skills would be needed, there is a chance that there are easier alternate soldering points near the chip.

if someone is interested on unlocking overclock on his machine and unlock its machine to flash future advanced mods wich require descriptor bypass, testing that simple hardware mod would be highly apreciated, no chip desoldering needed or messing with sockets or programmers are required like I did.

 

Another interesting find.

Modded Drivers

https://www.facebook.com/modpgd?fref=nf

Warning : Beware, I have no way of knowing if they are legit. Use at your own risk.

 

@windowsappme

mmm, that site doesnt inspirate a lot of trusth

did you already tested them?

 

@capitankasar I know it's probably not real, but I feel that your modified splash screen made boot process quicker 0_o Without enabling Quick Boot or something like that.

 

@agalin

lol

well, it happens for me, but I think it is just because I am so excited when I see my custom logo booting up, but the loading time would be probably the same.

well, my logo size is a little smaller than dell's default one, but that wouldnt probably speed things up.

 

Hi Chris89, sorry to take that long to answer. Busy life you know?

So, as I said on the video, I don't really think that the copper heatsinks made any significant change to the way my videocard works. I still can't overclock because the crashes became umbereable. But, at the default clock I never saw a single crash since I repaste for the second time and installed the heatsinks.

So, maybe they are making the diference, but I still think the repaste is the one responsible for the more stable scenario.

 

Hello Captain.

I just installed the V6 bios and everything is working as it should. Awesome job as usual.

Thanks for the bios ;-)

 

@thenriques45

glad you liked it ^^

 

I think I found a bug. When I disable usb powershare, sometimes when I switch on after i shut down the pc, the usb ports are found to be disabled. I need to uninstall and install the usb drivers to the usb devices to work.

 

@windowsappme

do that happen also with a non modded bios?

I dont remember modified anything related usb powershare, and that was already an option in the stock bios.

 

Hey! Tried out the new 0.83v/0.85v and it works fine. Thanks a lot for this

Though playing games for a few minutes now causes my laptop to freeze. I already tried downclocking the GPU and playing with the fan at full speed but looks like that doesn't help anymore.

 

@CrysisX

did you experienced similar crashes with stock bios? did it crashed more frequently with other bios?

you can try other voltage settings bioses or underclock the GPU a little more, (including GPU memory speeds)

 

Stock bios is even worse! It crashed at the main menu for some games I underclocked it a little bit more and it seems to be okay for now though I think I might have to grab a new charger or something.

 

oh, well, then the custom bios improves it like it did for many people, its just that for some people, it did not fixed it fully, making underCLOCKING required as complement of the custom bios.

so yeah, sadly it seems your only fix is underclock, or try the voltage regulators cooling suggested at the first post.

and yeah a charger with more amps also may help.

 

Hey kasar

It's good to see you're still working on these BIOS mods :thumbsup: long after Dell has stopped providing updates themselves. I've flashed the most recent 540M 0.85v BIOS and it works great!
(TBH I had to hold my breath this time since I haven't flashed the BIOS in a while now)

Nice touch on the logo too, I think I'll be turning my laptop off more often now

Cheers
NeoM

 

@NeoMesal



thanks ^_^

yeah, I keep working on bios stuff, and thanks to the bios-mods I make many progress, there are a lot of smart people there.

also, a few weeks after I relased the v6 version, they found an extra menu with wireless, lan and bluetooth options hehe, so there will be probably aditional updates in some time.

 

Cool stuff

Yeah, I'm sure they don't call the site bios-mods.com for nothing eh? :thumbsup:

Do you know what those hidden settings you mentioned might do yet? OC the LAN module?? Faster internetz?! (jk )
Those settings look interesting (because I don't have any use for RAID... yet)

Oh and I think I'll change my service tag to CPKASAR

(gotta a maths test tomorrow so I better dash!)

 

haha, yeah

the skills from those guys are amazing, I feel most of times like a noob there ^^

but well, most of them are really helpfull and friendly and we work as a team.

haha, well, I still focusing on unlocking OC menus, but that doesnt seems posible yet, the only way to OC the L502X for now is to flash my ME firmware patch and OC from XTU moving the BCLK slider, it just OC like a max of 5% without getting unstable .... but well, any extra free performance options are allways welcome , specially when it OC all intel GPU, CPU and ram speeds at once ^^

I may test to archive higher overclock by decreasing the ram speed from the unlocked ram speed options , and then raising the BCLK a little more.

I also just bought a used I5 2430M for just 25€
it will arrive at home in few days, finally I will have the turbo feature on my machine
and that will let me to play with XTU a little more in order to get the max of it.

cant wait for it ^^


haha, that service tag stuff gave me some crazy ideas, I didnt changed mine yet, but I supose I can set funny names

the machine would be even more modded/ customized

another thing I will test when the new proccesor arrive and I take appart the machine, is investigate a suspicious port I found some time ago.
I suspect I can add another usb port (adding another one plus my already modded internal usb mod will bring the machine even more expansion room ^^)

will keep u guys updated about the mod results.

it would be as easy as connecting the data + and data - I found at the motherboard datasheet to a usb device ,also will require to get 5 volts from the motherboard.

anyway, since I already have a second internal hdd, a extra internal usb device, and a incoming i5 wich may take more power than my previous crappy i3, not sure if I will face some power issues....

I will test when the proccesor arrive and I take appart everything, it looks like I will have to pick again the soldering iron

 

That's pretty cool of them, are there any others on the bios-mods forum that own an l502x?

I don't think Dell had OCing in mind when they made the BIOS, you'd probably have to rewrite the whole thing yourself to get OCing menus

Nice pickup on the I5, although your HDD might start to feel slow afterwards (it's a never ending cycle! ).
Generally I've found that the highest 'real-life' turbo you can reach on these things is about the second highest turbo speed (so a nice 2.7GHz for your i5) because background tasks tend to limit the single-core turbo ability (well that's what happens to me anyway). But I mostly use CAD programs so I chug away at 2.6

I think I'll pass on this magic port you've found, since I almost melted my motherboard last time with the USB mod And my XPS is my sole computer now.

Do keep us posted on your upgrade! :thumbsup:

 

@NeoMesal

well, not sure, however I am pretty sure at least one of them have a L702X and also jbuha have the 15z, those laptops are almost quite identical relating bios estructure.

so replicate the mods found are easy.

yeah, that is sad, the overclocking strings are definitly at the bios modules, but it seems the interesting stuff got removed, so is probably not as easy as just make some hex edits, we would have to rewrite the module like you said.

another option would be sacrifice other options in order to add space for the new options, like we did with the raid option (removing baud rate 9600 option, quite useless normally)

well, to be honest, that i5 price was really cheap, I'm start thinking it was a dangerous choice, since I cant say I trust the vendor fully ..... but well, the price was really amazing, and I needed a CPU upgrade so badly, so I decided to upgrade ^^

we will see if I wasted 25 eur on a fake or faulty product or if it is was definitly a nice choice (I never saw an i5, specially mobile ones under 100€ ...even used ones )

theorically the i5 is the 2430M

wich have two cores like my i3, but the base clock is 2,4 ghz instead 2,1 ghz, and it also have turbo boost up to 3.0 ghz

anyway,I noticed is posible to control the turbo with software, my brother even pushed his laptop over the max turboboost limit with intel XTU (he have full options in XTU anyway, and mine only have bclk changeable for now, dont sure if there will be extra options when I plug my new turbo CPU)

well, anyway, I am pretty sure the base clock will be 2,5 instead 2,4 because my bclk overclock wich push the whole system now

I also may be able to get some control of the turbo with aps like throttlestop or maybe XTU if I am lucky, the unlocked bios options may help too.

I just want to get highest performance on the new cpu, making both cores over 3 ghz if posible (great for software like Dolphin emulator wich I use a lot)

I will also clean the heatsinks and repaste since I think I am thinking of pushing the system a lot hehe, and the heat will be there for sure ^_^



haha, well, this usb mod will be way easier than previous one, the new soldering points are not near any critical component and have easy traces to soldering


here is a quote to a older post, when I started planning the new usb mod

I am pretty confident this will work, however, I am worried about two things:

* I noticed that the motherboard had two resistors at the usb lanes wich are not present (r718 and r719, and I dont know its resistor value..), probably will need them in order to get the usb device detected and working.
* the power consumition may exceed the laptop capabilities and blow internal voltage regulators since I already modded another usb mod and added an extra device, so I may need to add custom voltage regulators and wire them from the main power to the new usb device.

 

@kasar
Ah, I see those text strings now. I noticed before that the variable store XtuNv7 is being defined in the IFR structure. It is used nowhere now, but I'd say chances are high that overclocking/tuning options for XTU are stored there. So if we can find out what bytes define what, overclocking might be nearby. What machine does your brother have?

 

@brabbelbla



well, my brother have a Clevo p370m

it is a high performance laptop, two slots for dedicated GPUS with SLI support, and it have installed two internal hard drives,1080p screen... etc, it is basically a little beast, the machine cost aprox 2000€ compared with mine, AKA my old but main functional L502X machine wich cost me arround just 600€ when I bought it

he is using already one of prema's modded bioses, and while using XTU have everything unlocked or almost everything. (my L502X just have the BCLK slider unlocked at the XTU software thanks to the ME patching I did)

however, the Clevo p370m bios setup menus have very little stuff compared with our advanced setup module unlocks on the L502X and other laptops at the 15z topic.

first time I saw it, I was a little disappointed that a 2000€ high performance machine had less options than a just multimedia laptop like it is the L502X (comparing non modded bioses only, if we compare modded bioses, the difference is even higher.)

anyway, while reading your post, it seems you have some interesting ideas relating unleashing the overclock ability in our mid range machines

as allways I am open to test stuff, let me know what I can do

 

@capitankasar sorry for the maybe irrelevant reply or whatevs..

i'm just a random stranger (noob too) who was trying to find a fix for the L502x hang/crash (the one with the weird sound, whatever you may call it).

and here you are.. Thanks a lot sir!

L502X GT 525M, i used your 0.85 0.85 MOD and it worked out perfectly. the temperature drops are insane too..

i still have a problem with League of Legends and fps drops in game, but i think it was a recent patch by the game that causes the problem..

Anyways, im just an anon here who wants to thank you.. )

P.S. been dealing with this problem for 1 year now. I read that it was a motherboard problem. Voltage distribution problem across the motherboard WHEN the laptop is plugged in. I may not have been able to completely eliminate the problem (since i think, the fps drops are like minicrashes)