L502X modded bioses download (GPU voltages and more!)

Thanks a lot. Those alternate locations were where I was guessing (pretty obvious locations). Thanks so much (again!) ! I'll fix it tomorrow, should be fine I hope.

I don't have hot glue though, is that really essential here?

P. S. You helped me before with bios chip replacement and descriptor unlock...

 

pleased to help, I hope you get your machine working again

oh, and if you suspect you will be desoldering and soldering your chip again, consider using a socket like I did, if you apply the alternate soldering points to the socket that also will fix your system because you only need to solder the socket once , after that, everything will be way easier.

keep me updated about your little soldering adventures

 

about the hotglue, it isnt extrictly required, however, it is recomendable to secure delicated soldering points like those against accidentall pulls.

you can also use normal glues (non electrical conductive ones) but it is way easier and better with hot glue.

 

Do I need to do anything if I disable UEFI mode in the BIOS? I'm trying to reinstall Windows 8.1 in the old non-UEFI MBR mode but I think the BIOS keeps booting the USB stick in UEFI installation mode.

I get "operation system not found" when booting the installation USB stick.


EDIT: I think I fixed it by removing the HDD in the caddy before installing Windows 8.1 For some reason this conflicts.

 

Does anyone know how to go past 780MHz GPU Core in MSI Afterburner?

 

I tried unlocking msi afterburner by doing the famous cfg edit with those values

however, it seems working exactly the same.

I also read that the msi afterburner 2.2.1 seems to have higher OC limits for some people, but i didnt checked yet.

if required you can also download another OC software, anyway, it is really strange that your GPU keep stable at 780 mhz and higher, if your GPU dont crash on those clocks, you must be really lucky.

what GPU and voltage settings you have anyway?

also, any aditional hardware or software mod/tweak?

I'm curius ^^

 

Yes I can play games at 800 MHz GPU Core no problem I'm surprised!

I'm using,

 

mmm, playing at 1V, interesting.

I has been using just 0.85v for a long time, temps were allways great with 0.85v and it seemed stable, however, I have to test again with other voltages and settings since I had to underclock the card again due some crashes.

however, yeah, with 800 mhz core, you must have performance over the GeForce GT 550M, like I said, you are a very very lucky guy

 

Some benchmarks:

i7 2630QM. GT 525M @ 800 CORE 950 MEMORY

 

NVIDIA GeForce GT 525M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-2630QM Processor,Dell Inc. 0YR8NN

 

Any chance for a 1.1V mod?

My GT 525M does 800 Mhz Core 1250 MHz RAM benchmark stable on 1V.

 

there you go


I didnt added this one to the first topic since some reasons:

http://l502x.lag.re/L502X_A12_525m_85_1.1v_Unlocked_Menus_v7_beta.rar

* 1.1v is higher voltage than default, and the heat may be dangerous if not properly cooled
* mediafire isnt working properly for me today, cant upload anything there.
* I'm focused now on the latest version (v7 beta, so I dont have the older versions arround for testing.)

let me know if the higher voltage let you archive higher speeds, if not, just rollback to your previous good working BIOS.

 

Ok the first boot was very very laggy and in GPU-Z the voltage was fluctuating from 0 to 0.98V, it's as if the GT 525M was turning off and on and off and on. In event viewer was this error:

So I restarted the laptop and reset the BIOS to defaults. This time the laptop booted and there was no lag and no error as above.

According to GPU-Z it seems the max voltage is still 0.98V

 

Do I need Intel ME FW version: 7.1.60.1193? I'm currently on 7.0.4.1197

 

yeah, sometimes, it is requires to revert to defaults, what voltage HWMONITOR reports while plaging games?

anyway, this voltage wasnt in nbitor for this card, so I had to hex edit, it may not work as expected.

and update ME firmware to the latest also doesnt hurt ^^

 

HWMonitor says 1.1V. My max benchmark stable is 810MHz Core 1250MHz RAM. I'm not sure which software gives the correct reading. nVidia Inspector, Furmark and GPU-Z says 0.98V.

Anyway I just want to say thank you so much for these BIOS mods, makes my laptop so much better!

 

probably nvidia inspector gives voltage reading based on the nvidia drivers, wich have just some precoded voltages.

and HWMONITOR report the voltage coded on the bios.

the question is, if the card is really working at that voltage or not ^^


glad you like the bios

and like I said, nice GPU you have there!, I wish mine worked like that with OC ^^

your OC is really good for a 525m, it is better than most 540m Occers are able to do.

and like I said, you may be getting 550m performance

 

I think the actual max voltage for the GT 525M is 0.98V. Anyway I'm using EVGA Precision X which allows me to set higher values than MSI Afterburner.

 

yep, for that reason I just sticked with the voltages supported in nbitor, hex edit the voltage had no guarantees of working ^^

in my case, the GPU crash way before than reaching the max msi afterburner limit, so it is good for me, the interface and looking of the app is nice.

 

Is there a way to increase the max frequencies in the BIOS? Maybe this will allow MSI Afterburner to go past 780 Core and 1170 RAM.

 

I think it is software limitation, not bios, keep in mind that egva precission keep you set different values, and it doesnt seems to have any special "magic" that msi afterburner have, just different limits ^^

 

Thanks, well I found my max benchmark stable using EVGA Precision X. 850MHz Core and 1250MHz RAM. Any higher and Valley benchmark crashes. This is indeed faster than the 550M

 

what about games?

I remember mine were also stable on some benchmarks on some higher clocks, but while gamming, buzzing sound, and freezes, forcing me to hold power button 5 secs to completly turn off the machine.

 

I crashed in a game just now, so I'm sticking to 800 MHz core 1250MHz RAM.

 

Signed up here to be able to say THANKS for this great work, you deserve it. After 3 years my L502X not crashed anymore!

My nightmare started 3 years ago while was playing Modern Warfare and laptop crashed with the usual buzz noise. Thought was due game but the issue gone worst and worst across time... last times my laptop was useless to play any game. Even crashed playing things like Quake 3 or League of Legens, both aren't suspicious to demand so much resources.

Tried formats, lot of drivers, cleaned filters, repasted gpu and cpu... and nothing. Also used various softwares to test and check my machine and all was right. Temps never gone up to 82ºC in estress tests and never got a crash doing it... but playing i never got temps over 72ºC but got instant crashes everytime. Even got crashes at low temps like 55ºC. Always repaired by myself my machines since 15 years ago, but this damned laptop won me.

Now it's solved and i can't understand how, because the point is "lees volt, less heat" but my laptop never was overheated.

I like to learn and i'm more curious than a cat, so... anyone can reveal me this mistery?

As i said THANKS, you maked my day with your great work.

 

glad to know it worked for you too

well, to be honest, since I was starting this project, I was just playing with the voltages to archive higher OC or have lower tems, and with certain voltages, I started reciving messages from many users asking that voltages fixes their crashes for some reason

I supose this laptop may hust have not enough cooling or voltage settings by default.

also the gt540m is most times just a bad overclocked gt525m

 

Well, time to time things about computers, which should be accurate, turns really esoteric hehe

About cooling and settings by default... well, if software outputs are credible, my temps were those i meant in first post, and voltage for videocard was 0.95V.

I want notice, my laptop has a gt525m, forgot mean it in my last post.

Thanks again, you resurrected this damned laptop

 

oh, so, you have a gt525m instead the gt540m?

thats weird, usually people with issues are the ones with gt540m, glad to know this fixed your laptop anyway.

what voltage settings you are using?

 

There is bios mod i'm using (it's the recomended one):

GT525m bios mod for L502X

BIOS version used: A09
2D PROFILE: 0.85v
3D PROFILE: 0.85v

At the moment still working pretty nice, but i'll try advanced one with same voltages when i'll have some time for that.

 

oh, that are the same voltage settings I use
the laptop acts very stable and low temps, you should test the latest version with unlocked menus and other stuff, you probably will like it

 

Yeah i'll test it for sure but first, i'm attempting to solve another issue related about how connect an old vga monitor to my laptop.

Sadly, my external Full HD screen was fried in last week tempest :/

 

Easiest way is to buy Mini DisplayPort > VGA or HDMI > VGA adapter. First is better as doesn't need Nvidia running on. Using cheapest one I could find and works flawlessly.

 

I'm using also a Mini DisplayPort to VGA and I can say it works nice, I use it daily at home since I dont like the integrated screen resolution too much ..^^ (yep, it is the crappy "hd" screen)

this plus usb mouse and kb converts this laptop to a desktop like

 

Hey, capitankasar.
Yesterday I install your moddified bios A12, 0.830, 0.850 for gt540m.
And everything is perfect,
the temperature is 10Celzius lower than on the stock BIOS.
And that is on overclocked gt540m to (765/960/1530).

One thing happend, and that is, the laptop just turns off and first the black screen came up and after 5 sec its turn off.
I press the power button and he is up, on the lockup screen and I just type my password and everthing i on, I mean if I played game the game was on and every other program that was turn on. I am using windows 8.1 ultimate 64x.

So my question what to do about that?

That happened to me twice, first was after I overclocked gt540m to (700/910/1400) and tested with MSI afterburner.
and the other time was today while playing Need for speed rivals,but I overclocked my gt540m even higher (765/960/1530). Bouth times the temp of GPU was around 76-80 Celzius. And my CPU temp was around 85-88 Celzius. I dont know what is going on, and what to do with that.

 

mmm, did it had buzzing sound before shutdown? it could be your gpu is unstable.

anyway, if you appear directly to the windows screen, it may be that you have the fast boot option enabled in bios, or that the bios logo or diagnosis screen doesnt appear.

try reset bios settings to default or reflash if problems persist, and ensure the GPU is stable on games.


when the laptop turn off?

on gamming? system iddle?

 

Thanks a lot, agalin and capitankasar.

Just the issue i meant, were about HDMI >VGA adapter and nvidia working all the time but also i wasn't sure about work flawlessly trying a Mini Display > VGA. I'm not hardware expert so as Miniport links to intregated videocard and it linked to nvidia maked me think if could be some kind of delay. After read your comments seems Mini Display will work nice.

Capitan, crappy is be enough polite talking about stock screen... shame on Dell

 

I dont remember about buzzing sound.

First time was after I run 3Dmark11 AFTER!!! I was just waiting for results and start to watch at them and screen go black and just turn off.
Second time was during the game Need for speed rivals...

About fast boot i DONT have anabled that. I know that for sure.

The thing is I get that in different conditions....
If it keep going I will lower the overclock and make my bios settings default.

 

mmm, then, it seems GPU related, what was your previous stable voltage and OC settings?

 

Ok, before yesterday I was on official dell BIOS A12 so 0.830 idle, and 0.980 at full capacity.
With stock GPU settings.
I just played NFS Rivals for half hour, and my temperature reach 79 Celzius. (751/960/1502)
In BIOS i did all that you suggest except fast boot. And I dont have this Firmware Installed.

 

mmm, try install the latest modded bios with unmodded GPU and play with your previous clocks, and check if it crash with that.

or keep using that bios, and lower your GPU clocks, memory clock also may be so high, try play with stock settings, if stable one or two days, go up, and keep like that.

what you mean with you dont have firmware installed? are you talking about intel ME firmware?

 

I dont get this latest modded bios with unmodded GPU? Explain please, because I install your latest bios modded, from first page.
About firmware yes it refer to intel ME firmware, do I need that, maybe?

 

there are modded bios with stock voltages for users who dont want to mess with the voltages and let them just enjoy the enchancements (ther first one , aka the one with this checksum D632733550C7F89A6421DA92EA9E2855)

oh , the ME firmware, well, it isnt bad to update it, I updated it, and it is working good, I dont see a reason to not update it

 

Hello capitankasar

I did more serious test using your moded bios A9 2D 85V / 3D 85V at stock clocks (don't have enough balls to test OC since something is wrong on my machine). Used 3Dmark and HWiNFO to do it. Also tested it doing my usual things as play some games, around a dozen tabs opened in browser and videochating on Skype because never got a crash doing stress test but got instant crash running any game.

I got same clock max speed using both Bios (Stock A9 Bios and your moded A9 bios): GPU Clock 600 / Shader Clock 1200 / Memory Clock 900

About temps, decrased around 3-7Cº in moded Bios than stock Bios. As an example, with 38% GPU load, using stock Bios i get around 75ºC and using yours around 69ºC.

I have seen HWiNFO has problems with Dell EC Sensor and make my laptop suffer a little crashes like a soft version of big crashes i got playing under stock Bios. Weird thing is if i disable EC Sensor, GPU Clock max speed decrease to 584 instead 600... not reach 600 until i enable EC Sensor again. Shader and Memory clocks doesn't care if i enabled or disabled EC Sensor, are on 1200 and 900 always.

What do you think about it? Crashes on non OC and non overheated machines could be related to Dell EC Sensor? Has your moded Bios i'm using changes (apart volts) related to Dell EC Sensor?

Maybe are dumb questions but i'm not hardware expert like you hehe

As you can see, i still trying to know why i get these crashes under stock Bios

Thanks in advance.

 

mmm, I didnt messed with the EC sensor, it is untouched in bios.

why not going directly to the a12 version?

a09 is a bit old, and also isnt modded like a12 is ^^

mmm, not sure why your gt525m keep crashing, it is usually more stable on stock clocks than gt540m.

but well, it could be that your GPU is some kind of damaged, this modded bios improve things some times, but not allways

installing the a12 85/85, and then if still crashing, try downclocking the GPU core and memory a bit until it stop crashing.

and if it keep crashing even with underclocked GPU, ......that is not good...

 

Capitankasar,
First thing I did is instal Intel ME firmware and everything is ok.
after two days playing games, and overclocking, underclocking...
I test every change of graphic card with MSI afterburner and MSI Kombustor ( maybe that is the same but I have more options to test with MSI Kombustor- Donut test v2).

I havent so any problems with test, no lines that not suppose to be there or any lagging at all.
My Laptop did not crush since last time I tell you.
I overclocket my GT540m to: 770/960/1540. the temp after 5 min of MSI kombustor reach 80 Celzius. Every test I ran for 5 minutes, is that enough?
During test or playing games, my fan works at 35xx rpm, and as I reach 77 Celzius he start to work on 45xx rpm. Is it possible to change the temp on which fan will turn to 45xx rpm.?
Because after he turn to that speed my temp remain constant (77-80).

Thank you for BIOS and everything in advance

 

5 minutes is too little

also keep playing games, specially your favorite ones, that is the best way to test if it crash or not, I remember to ran some Kombustor tests, the system didnt crashed, and while gamming, crash after few mins.

so yeah, play your fav games for hours is one of the best ways to test the stability ^^

 

Sorry my english isn't enough good capintankasar, my native languaje is spanish not english.

Your A9 moded Bios works really fine i only get crashes using any stock Bios from Dell.

As using stock Bios or your Bios my clocks works stables at same speeds, and temps are enough good using any of both bios (3-7Cº diference, my latop can work at 100% and never is overheated). I asked you about EC Sensor because i can't understand why stock Bios crashes my laptop.

I don't need underclock because your moded Bios solved my crashes, it's about me trying to understand why i get crashes using stock bios

I will test A12 for sure but is full of features i don't know what they are, and now haven't time to play with it... that's the reason why i'm using your A9 at the moment.

Out of the subject of this post (and sorry for that)... do you know any miniDP>VGA adapter which works over 1080p?


Thanks!

 

dont worry, my english isnt perfect too ^^

also ...my native language is also spanish , but lets keep english on this forum, at least on the public section

for private messages its ok ^^

well, aparently your GPU doesnt like the default voltages , anyway, you can move to a newer modded version wich have the same modded voltage settings you are using ^^


well, about the reason of the crashes, it isnt crearly yet, there are some things wich have been discussed.

* less heat gives extra stablility
* less power consumition may help if the crashes are caused for insufficient power.
* less heat may keep the voltage regulators more stable, someone user said it could be related voltage regulators, he added heatsinks on them, and it seemed to be way more stable.
* other posible causes ....

the a12 bios contains more stuff from official updates, but specially, it have more stuff from me, custom logo, unlocked setup menus, newer intel vbios, newet microcode updates, and more
like I said, give a try later if you have time, some settings like fast strings on cpu unlocked options give extra performance specially to intel graphics, it get improved windows score ^^

mmm, not sure about miniDP.

I am happy with mine, I use it with a 1440x900 screen, but I also connected to a 1080p screen once without any issues.

not sure about higher resolutions, but since it was just 3$ or 4$, you can try it

 

Hey capitankasar

It's good to know, you speak spanish too... that can make things more easy if anytime we can't understand each other speaking english.

Yeah i know you maked A12 with same voltages as i'm using but i need understand the new features before start to touch things and make a mess again lol

About crashes well... as my temps were right and clocks ran stable maybe is about voltage regulators. Using your Moded Bios voltages are 100% stable but using stock i got fluctuations between 0.947 and 0.952... i did not worried when saw that because i had not idea about voltages since tryed to use your mod and readed a bit about voltages, frequencies and so. Anyway that Dell EC Sensor is creepy haha who knows...

And about miniDP i found what happens. Seems miniDP adapter can use RBR or HBR (High Bit Rate) cables. Also, seems miniDP>VGA adapters use RBR so 1080p is top resolution could be reached. miniDP to HMDI can use HBR cable and get 4K as top resolution or manage 4 1080p screens at same time via multiestreaming. Really disapointing... my gt525m, my monitor and laptop miniDP supports 2560x1600 but adapter not because cable.

Thanks a lot for your help

Muchas gracias!

 

Hello capitan

Today i tryed your A12 moded Bios 2D 85V / 3D 85V. I'm using default Bios settings, and running same software and games used to test A9 2D 85V / 3D 85V.

The good news are max temps decreased around 3-5ºC with stock clocks, which run stable. As an example doing same stuff with around 38% CPU load, i got Stock Bios 75ºC, A9 moded Bios 69ºC, A12 moded Bios 65ºC (it's curious A9 and A12 works with same voltages...).

And now bad news... my machine works slow than using stock Bios or your moded A9. Need 5 seconds more to load Windows (Win 7 Pro 64bits), desktop loads slow too, and always all icons are reloaded... also any software loads slow and games runs slowed too... even open a window in OS run slow. It's like all run "delayed". I didn't got crashes, and clocks, voltages and temps are stable, just machine run "delayed".