L702x Modded GPU BIOS

And what the difference between this one and the built in one ?

 

Oops silly me! Yep, thanks for the firmware -- I'm glad I made that mistake because I didn't realize there were drivers for the ME, thought it was all handled at BIOS level, doing some research on it now but honestly can't wrap my head around it, I will keep reading and try to! So we can overclock our CPU?!?!? that would be crazy, I will try to research more about unlocked descriptor too!

Thanks so much for all the help!!!!

 

I just flashed the unlocked A19 version 6 bios for the XPS 17 l702x. Everything went fine. I'm a total noob so please bare with me. How do I undervolt my GPU? I have a GT550m. My xps 17 is the 3d version.

 

I well, I didnt messed with the L702X GPU voltages, but sharadeos did, that is why I relased two bios per each update.

one of them just with my mods, and the other one, using my mods + sharadeos modded nvidia bioses.

the sharadeos's bioses are theorically already voltage modded, so you dont have to do anything after install

you can check the voltage details from the first post.

 

Aren't sharadeos files overvolted?

 

yep

so as for the moment, there are only stock and overvolted bioses as I can see.

it seems there are no undervolted bioses yet for the L702X,

 

Cool, thanks for the information. I'll go back to stock for the time being then. Maybe sharadeos will undervolt a bios. I love this computer and there is almost nothing out there like it, but it just gets too hot and the damn fans are always on lol.

 

@drvenom123



well, sharadeos probably will not relase more bios anymore

I sent a PM long time ago, and he said he doesnt have his L702X anymore, so we need another guy who mod the L702X GPUs and firmware.

about me, I just replicate/port the changes from my modded L502X BIOS to the L702X since both firmwares are almost identical.


@all

did you guys tested the version6 mod?

not sure if the new menus appear correctly, I dont have mentionated machine to test, so pics are apreciated ^^

 

The menus appeared correctly to me, but I switched back to the stock firmware due to the lower voltage on stock. Other than that, I ran the moded A19 version 6 and it all worked fine.

 

@followme

I am attempting to get Raid working with A19 on my L702X but seem unable to access the UEFI.
I was wondering if you could walk me through your bios settings and process to get this working.

 

@drvenom123

you can use the modded v6 with stock voltage settings (the one without sharadeos modded nvidia bioses) that is why I made two versions ^^

 

I want to release my Internal Shell Enabler tool
Some time later I will provide a dxe driver for firmware modification

How to use:
- Run external shell
- Run InternalShellEnabler.efi

Now you can access Internal Shell through F12 boot menu, no matter of the UEFI Boot enabled or not
This means - new and easy reecovery , just enable internal shell and create FAT flash drive with BIOS.CAP and PFlash.efi , and whenever you brick your system - just boot recovery mode and flash backup image

Enjoy


@BirnbaD1

Short guide:

- Enable UEFI Boot in Setup (Advanced tab, Boot options submenu)
end follow this guide





View attachment EnglishDxe.efi.zip View attachment BcfgApp.efi.zip View attachment InternalShellEnabler.efi.zip

 

awesome followme

will this method also work for the L502X to enable the internal shell?

I can test it tomorrow ^^

 

It wiil work on any dell UEFI bios as long as shell has C57AD6B7-0515-40A8-9D21-551652854E37 guid , and I can buid it for your guid if it's not

 

yeah, the L502X have the shell.efi also as C57AD6B7-0515-40A8-9D21-551652854E37.ROM

I will test it and then share it at the L502X bios mod topic if you dont have inconvenience

oh, just curious about something, my L502X have another HDD instead the optical drive, it is recognized properly on windows and bios, I use it as just Data hdd, so no problems yet, however, it does not appear as device to boot in the bios or the F12 menu.

Im curious about how to add it also to the bootable list.

oh another thing to ask.

while testing stuff, the integrated shell.efi is not as cool as some of the external ones I tested wich have more stuff.

I supose there will be no problems if I replace the internal shell executable with a bigger one, right? (if there are avalible space in the whole room, of course)

also it would be interesting to enable the internal shell without the need of running a external shell once to enable it, I mean like patch something in bios, flash it, and have it already enabled without the need of extra user interaction, It would be another great addon for future bios relases

 

You can add it using bcfg
list block devices using
dh -b -p blockio

find something like
190: DevPath (..(0x1F,0x2)/Sata(0x5,0x0,0x0))BlkIo (this how looks my record, the first hex 3 digits number is a handle)

then use
bcfg boot addh { hex order + 1 (bcfg boot dump to get current order) } {handle id} "CD-Bay drive"

Yes, as long as it fits into image
The Main purpose is to have a super easy recovery in case of trouble

this is a test app , I've built to test how it's works from shell - I'm planing to build it as a DXE driver and embedd into firmware , so , it would work right from the box


Do you know how to insert new .efi/.ffs section to the firmware ? All tools I've used were unable to do it , or required enother format
e.g. phoenix_tool requires .mod file, and I don't know how to convert it

One more thing
I've found a collection of otion rom's + intel's vbios editor with bios updates - do you interested in this staff ?

And about overclocking , in some other images I have seen driver called IccOverclocking - may be it worth to take a look at it

 

@followme

thanks, I will create the usb stick right now and do this

hopefully I will be able to have the new entries (shell and alternate hdd ^^)

sadly I dont know how to insert new stuff at the bios, I was just able of replace existing/old stuff with newer/custom one.

the main tool I use are phoenix slic tool and a hex editor, I also use sometimes nbitor to do quick edits on the nvidia bioses.

mmm, mod file? did you tried to rename the .rom or .efi file to .mod file? I have no idea if it will work, but well, if the app doesnt complain and you have recovery options in case of a bad flash, it can be worth of a try

yeah, you can share that collection, I can give it a view and maybe update again the intel vbios from the machine with a newer one.

however I am more interested on your latest archivements like the integrated shell and the iccoverclocking driver

I noticed some guy (not sure if was prema) managed to crossflash a bios, and get the features of the top machine working on the cheaper one.

anyway the both machines were almost identical, it was just like a lite version and a proversion of the machine, the better version of the machine would have probably just better casing and cooling plus a little more unrestricted firmware.

 

I've extracted .mod file from firmware and opened it in hex editor - it has additional header and footer sevctions around the .efi and it can contain more than one .efi image , it is similar to .ffs and may be it is one , I should give a try

it is dirrectly deppends on inserting driver into image


Enother thought - we can update firmware to support UEFI 2.3.1 specification - which means , we should be able to use newer, more advanced drivers

 

@followme

well, many of the progress brablella did, was sacrificating useless stuff to insert new modules/options

so if we are unable to add new drivers, we can use existing ones, for example computrace ones, computrace is like a trojan wich load drivers into the OS and allow it to be recovered if it is lost or stolen.

we may be able to replace the computrace modules with the overclocking ones , wich are way more usefull I think

however yeah, updating uefi to 2.3.1 would be the best choice, the bad thing is that I dont know where to start to do that, it sounds like almost a complete firmware rewrite

about you, if you were able to write a whole efi executable and make it to add stuff (internalshell enabler), you know way more stuff than me , so I'll follow you like your nickname say, hehe ^^

 

Updating means adding new interfaces (GUID's and functions) and preserving old ones , which means to support 2.3.1 we only should add differece between 2.1 and 2.3.1 which can be built from UEFI Development kit
Once we have missing parts we should embedd them into fw - and here we have a problem

And what is most demmand features for now ?
My personal preferances is RAID, FS drivers , OS x patches from the box

 

@followme
Yeah, (pretty much?) each module in our BIOS has its FFS structure. So starting with the common header, then the GUID header, and then the individual sections with their headers. I haven't got them to do exactly what I wanted, but the BaseTools from the UDK/EDK has binaries (GenSec, GenCrc32, GenFfs, GenDepex etc.) that should allow you relatively easily to generate them. Point is, even when using an already existing FFS structure, like by pulling it from another UEFI implementation, the modules have never loaded. But maybe I did something wrong and it works for you. Or maybe PhoenixTool does something wrong here; the UEFI RAID driver does load without DXE dependency, but not after adding that section.

And I may be a bit pessimistic, but wouldn't platform-specific initialization code be a huge problem in using UDK sources? EDIT: maybe the AMI sources could be helpful there. Though I haven't managed to build those. Doesn't necessarily say that much, only thing I have ever built was DUET.

About features, I say getting UEFI RAID working, OS X patches are nice, replacing VBIOS with UEFI drivers from the Inspiron, replacing the LAN OROM with the Realtek UEFI driver (which they, awesome as they are, offer as a download). Me likes UEFI drivers And with these UEFI drivers, it'd be nice to have the setting to prefer either UEFI drivers or legacy OROMs, otherwise we will have to sacrifice some of the legacy modules.

@kasar
True. Though with the IFR things, I have so far managed to find redundant space to allow for modifications. There are ridiculous amounts of duplicate condition checks in the Advanced module, and there are some empty unicode strings you can fill by taking some space from for instance "Below is reserved for RD, not DELLOIL request". And about XTU, point there is that, while I am pretty hopeful that it might open some doors, some point to start is needed, as you need to know which bytes control what. So ideally we'd find a BIOS that uses the same variable store, and also really uses them. Or someone should go kamikaze-like trying all combinations. As the store is 25 bytes large and values are not necessarily 0x0 or 0x1 that will take lots of time. So that someone will not be me

 

@brabbelbla

I know , I've generated .ffs from .efi using GenSec and GenFfs, but I cant insert it , because pfoenix requires .mod (are they the same with .ffs ?) and other tools ara fail with various exceptions

 

Yep, they are. AFAIK renaming the FFS structure to .MOD works.

 

@followme

ok, tested it finally ^^

your shell enabled worked like a charm on the L502X ((







anyway, the new shell option looks a little out of the box, I supose if we add another option, it will be definitly outside the gui's box


another issue was the dh -b -p blockio command




and the command

Code:

dh

just get the machine stuck

so I finally made

Code:

dh > fs0:\EFI\dh.txt

that seemed made the trick

here is the output

Spoiler

Code:

01: LoadedImage
02: UnknownDevice
03: Decompress
04: UnknownDevice
05: UnknownDevice
06: UnknownDevice UnknownDevice DevicePath(ped(0xB,0xFFF90000,0xFFFFFFFF))
 UnknownDevice
07: UnknownDevice DevicePath(ped(0xB,0xFFF50000,0xFFF7FFFF))
 UnknownDevice
08: UnknownDevice UnknownDevice DevicePath(ped(0xB,0xB9F0F010,0xBA68F00F))
 UnknownDevice
09: UnknownDevice
0A: UnknownDevice
0B: LoadedImage
0C: UnknownDevice
0D: LoadedImage
0E: UnknownDevice
0F: LoadedImage
10: UnknownDevice
11: LoadedImage
12: UnknownDevice
13: UnknownDevice UnknownDevice
14: LoadedImage
15: LoadedImage
16: UnknownDevice
17: LoadedImage
18: DevicePathFromText DevicePathToText DevicePathUtilities
19: LoadedImage
1A: UnknownDevice
1B: LoadedImage
1C: UnknownDevice
1D: LoadedImage
1E: LoadedImage
1F: UnknownDevice
20: UnknownDevice AcpiTable
21: LoadedImage
22: HIIConfigRouting HIIDatabase HIIString HIIImage HIIFont
23: UnknownDevice LoadedImage
24: LoadedImage
25: LoadedImage
26: UnknownDevice
27: LoadedImage
28: UnknownDevice
29: LoadedImage
2A: UnknownDevice
2B: LoadedImage
2C: UnknownDevice
2D: UnknownDevice
2E: UnknownDevice LoadedImage
2F: LoadedImage
30: UnknownDevice
31: LoadedImage
32: UnknownDevice
33: LoadedImage
34: LoadedImage
35: LoadedImage
36: LoadedImage
37: UnknownDevice LoadedImage
38: LoadedImage
39: UnknownDevice
3A: LoadedImage
3B: DevicePath(00000000000000000000000000000))

3C: UnknownDevice
3D: LoadedImage
3E: UnknownDevice
3F: LoadedImage
40: UnknownDevice
41: LoadedImage
42: UnknownDevice
43: LoadedImage
44: LoadedImage
45: UnknownDevice
46: LoadedImage
47: DevicePath(00000000000000000000000000000))

48: UnknownDevice UnknownDevice HIIFormBrowser2
49: LoadedImage
4A: LoadedImage
4B: DevicePath(6042,B092BEBA0000000000000000))

4C: UnknownDevice
4D: LoadedImage
4E: UnknownDevice UnknownDevice
4F: UnknownDevice
50: UnknownDevice
51: UnknownDevice
52: UnknownDevice
53: UnknownDevice
54: UnknownDevice
55: LoadedImage
56: UnknownDevice
57: UnknownDevice UnknownDevice PCIRootBridgeIO(PciRootBridgeIo)
 DevicePath(PciRoot(0x0))

58: UnknownDevice LoadedImage
59: LoadedImage
5A: UnknownDevice
5B: LoadedImage
5C: UnknownDevice
5D: LoadedImage
5E: UnknownDevice UnknownDevice
5F: LoadedImage
60: UnknownDevice
61: UnknownDevice
62: LoadedImage
63: LoadedImage
64: UnknownDevice
65: LoadedImage
66: UnknownDevice
67: LoadedImage
68: UnknownDevice
69: LoadedImage
6A: UnknownDevice
6B: LoadedImage
6C: UnknownDevice
6D: LoadedImage
6E: UnknownDevice
6F: LoadedImage
70: UnknownDevice
71: LoadedImage
72: UnknownDevice
73: UnknownDevice LoadedImage
74: LoadedImage
75: UnknownDevice
76: UnknownDevice UnknownDevice UnknownDevice UnknownDevice
77: LoadedImage
78: UnknownDevice
79: LoadedImage
7A: UnknownDevice
7B: LoadedImage
7C: UnknownDevice
7D: DevicePath(00000000000000000000000000000))

7E: LoadedImage
7F: UnknownDevice
80: DevicePath(00000000000000000000000000000))

81: UnknownDevice LoadedImage
82: DevicePath(00000000000000000000000000000))

83: UnknownDevice LoadedImage
84: LoadedImage
85: LoadedImage
86: UnknownDevice UnknownDevice
87: UnknownDevice UnknownDevice UnknownDevice UnknownDevice
88: LoadedImage
89: LoadedImage
8A: UnknownDevice
8B: UnknownDevice UnknownDevice UnknownDevice UnknownDevice UnknownDevice UnknownDevice UnknownDevice UnknownDevice UnknownDevice UnknownDevice UnknownDevice UnknownDevice LoadedImage
8C: LoadedImage
8D: LoadedImage
8E: UnknownDevice
8F: LoadedImage
90: UnknownDevice
91: UnknownDevice
92: UnknownDevice
93: UnknownDevice
94: LoadedImage
95: UnknownDevice
96: LoadedImage
97: UnknownDevice LoadedImage
98: LoadedImage
99: UnknownDevice
9A: UnknownDevice UnknownDevice LoadedImage
9B: LoadedImage
9C: LoadedImage
9D: UnknownDevice
9E: LoadedImage
9F: LoadedImage
A0: LoadedImage
A1: LoadedImage
A2: UnknownDevice
A3: UnknownDevice LoadedImage
A4: LoadedImage
A5: UnknownDevice
A6: LoadedImage
A7: UnknownDevice
A8: LoadedImage
A9: UnknownDevice
AA: HIIConfigAccess DevicePath(00000000000000000000000000000))

AB: UnknownDevice DriverBinding LoadedImage
AC: DriverBinding LoadedImage
AD: DriverBinding LoadedImage
AE: DriverBinding LoadedImage
AF: DriverBinding LoadedImage
B0: DriverBinding LoadedImage
B1: DriverBinding LoadedImage
B2: DriverBinding LoadedImage
B3: ComponentName2 DriverBinding LoadedImage
B4: LoadedImage
B5: DriverBinding LoadedImage
B6: DriverBinding LoadedImage
B7: DriverBinding LoadedImage
B8: DriverBinding LoadedImage
B9: DriverBinding LoadedImage
BA: DriverBinding LoadedImage
BB: DriverBinding
BC: DriverBinding LoadedImage
BD: DriverBinding
BE: DriverBinding
BF: DriverBinding
C0: DriverBinding
C1: UnknownDevice SimpleTextOut
C2: UnknownDevice SimplePointer AbsolutePointer SimpleTextInEx SimpleTextIn
C3: UnknownDevice UnknownDevice GraphicsOutput SimpleTextOut
C4: DriverBinding LoadedImage
C5: UnknownDevice
C6: DriverBinding LoadedImage
C7: DriverBinding LoadedImage
C8: DriverBinding LoadedImage
C9: DriverBinding LoadedImage
CA: ComponentName2 DriverBinding LoadedImage
CB: LoadedImage
CC: UnicodeCollation
CD: UnknownDevice LoadedImage
CE: LoadedImage
CF: UnknownDevice
D0: ComponentName DriverBinding LoadedImage
D1: LoadedImage
D2: UnknownDevice
D3: ComponentName DriverBinding LoadedImage
D4: ComponentName DriverBinding LoadedImage
D5: DriverBinding LoadedImage
D6: DriverBinding LoadedImage
D7: LoadedImage
D8: DriverBinding LoadedImage
D9: UnknownDevice
DA: DriverBinding UnknownDevice LoadedImage
DB: LoadedImage
DC: UnknownDevice
DD: LoadedImage
DE: UnknownDevice UnknownDevice UnknownDevice UnknownDevice
DF: LoadedImage
E0: LoadedImage
E1: UnknownDevice HIIConfigAccess DevicePath(6042,040000002600000000000000))

E2: LoadedImage
E3: UnknownDevice HIIConfigAccess DevicePath(6042,050000002600000000000000))

E4: LoadedImage
E5: UnknownDevice HIIConfigAccess DevicePath(6042,060000002600000000000000))

E6: LoadedImage
E7: DriverBinding LoadedImage
E8: DriverBinding LoadedImage
E9: LoadedImage
EA: UnknownDevice UnknownDevice
EB: LoadedImage
EC: UnknownDevice LoadedImage
ED: UnknownDevice LoadedImage
EE: UnknownDevice UnknownDevice UnknownDevice LoadedImage
EF: UnknownDevice LoadedImage
F0: LoadedImage
F1: UnknownDevice LoadedImage
F2: LoadedImage
F3: LoadedImage
F4: HIIConfigAccess UnknownDevice UnknownDevice UnknownDevice DevicePath(00000000000000000000000000000))

F5: LoadedImage
F6: LoadedImage
F7: UnknownDevice UnknownDevice
F8: LoadedImage
F9: LoadedImage
FA: LoadedImage
FB: LoadedImage
FC: UnknownDevice
FD: LoadedImage
FE: LoadedImage
FF: UnknownDevice
100: UnknownDevice LoadedImage
101: LoadedImage
102: LoadedImage
103: UnknownDevice
104: LoadedImage
105: LoadedImage
106: UnknownDevice
107: LoadedImage
108: UnknownDevice LoadedImage
109: LoadedImage
10A: LoadedImage
10B: LoadedImage
10C: LoadedImage
10D: UnknownDevice
10E: UnknownDevice
10F: LoadedImage
110: LoadedImage
111: UnknownDevice UnknownDevice UnknownDevice UnknownDevice UnknownDevice UnknownDevice UnknownDevice UnknownDevice
112: LoadedImage
113: LoadedImage
114: LoadedImage
115: UnknownDevice HIIConfigAccess DevicePath(6042,080000002600000000000000))

116: UnknownDevice LoadedImage
117: LoadedImage
118: UnknownDevice LoadedImage
119: LoadedImage
11A: LoadedImage
11B: LoadedImage
11C: LoadedImage
11D: UnknownDevice
11E: LoadedImage
11F: LoadedImage
120: LoadedImage
121: LoadedImage
122: UnknownDevice
123: LoadedImage
124: LoadedImage
125: LoadedImage
126: LoadedImage
127: UnknownDevice
128: LoadedImage
129: LoadedImage
12A: UnknownDevice LoadedImage
12B: UnknownDevice LoadedImage
12C: LoadedImage
12D: LoadedImage
12E: LoadedImage
12F: LoadedImage
130: UnknownDevice
131: UnknownDevice
132: LoadedImage
133: UnknownDevice LoadedImage
134: UnknownDevice
135: LoadedImage
136: LoadedImage
137: UnknownDevice
138: LoadedImage
139: LoadedImage
13A: UnknownDevice
13B: LoadedImage
13C: LoadedImage
13D: UnknownDevice
13E: LoadedImage
13F: LoadedImage
140: UnknownDevice
141: LoadedImage
142: LoadedImage
143: UnknownDevice
144: LoadedImage
145: LoadedImage
146: UnknownDevice
147: LoadedImage
148: LoadedImage
149: UnknownDevice
14A: LoadedImage
14B: LoadedImage
14C: UnknownDevice
14D: LoadedImage
14E: UnknownDevice
14F: UnknownDevice LoadedImage
150: LoadedImage
151: UnknownDevice LoadedImage
152: LoadedImage
153: UnknownDevice UnknownDevice LoadedImage
154: UnknownDevice LoadedImage
155: UnknownDevice
156: UnknownDevice
157: LoadedImage
158: LoadedImage
159: LoadedImage
15A: LoadedImage
15B: LoadedImage
15C: UnknownDevice
15D: LoadedImage
15E: UnknownDevice UnknownDevice LoadedImage
15F: LoadedImage
160: LoadedImage
161: LoadedImage
162: LoadedImage
163: UnknownDevice
164: LoadedImage
165: LoadedImage
166: LoadedImage
167: LoadedImage
168: UnknownDevice UnknownDevice
169: LoadedImage
16A: UnknownDevice UnknownDevice UnknownDevice UnknownDevice UnknownDevice UnknownDevice LoadedImage
16B: LoadedImage
16C: LoadedImage
16D: LoadedImage
16E: LoadedImage
16F: LoadedImage
170: LoadedImage
171: LoadedImage
172: LoadedImage
173: LoadedImage
174: UnknownDevice
175: LoadedImage
176: LoadedImage
177: LoadedImage
178: UnknownDevice
179: PCIIO DevicePath(PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1C,0x3))

17A: UnknownDevice USBHostController2 PCIIO DevicePath(x0)/Pci(0x1C,0x3)/Pci(0x0,0x0))

17B: UnknownDevice
17C: PCIIO DevicePath(PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1C,0x4))

17D: PCIIO DevicePath(x0)/Pci(0x1C,0x4)/Pci(0x0,0x0))

17E: PCIIO DevicePath(x0)/Pci(0x1C,0x4)/Pci(0x0,0x2))

17F: PCIIO DevicePath(x0)/Pci(0x1C,0x4)/Pci(0x0,0x3))

180: PCIIO DevicePath(x0)/Pci(0x1C,0x4)/Pci(0x0,0x4))

181: DevicePath(00000000000000000000000000000))

182: PCIIO DevicePath(PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x2,0x0))

183: UnknownDevice
184: StdErr ConsoleOut SimpleTextOut UnknownDevice EDIDActive EDIDDiscovered GraphicsOutput DevicePath(ci(0x2,0x0)/AcpiAdr(0x4C4DB74))

185: PCIIO DevicePath(PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1F,0x0))

186: UnknownDevice DevicePath(ci(0x1F,0x0)/Acpi(PNP0A05,0x0))

187: UnknownDevice DevicePath(ci(0x1F,0x0)/Acpi(PNP0A05,0x1))

188: ConsoleIn SimpleTextInEx SimpleTextIn UnknownDevice UnknownDevice DevicePath(PNP0A05,0x0)/Acpi(PNP0303,0x0))

189: UnknownDevice UnknownDevice DevicePath(PNP0A05,0x0)/Acpi(PNP0F03,0x0))

18A: UnknownDevice UnknownDevice DevicePath(PNP0A05,0x0)/Acpi(PNP0C09,0x0))

18B: UnknownDevice
18C: LoadedImage
18D: LoadedImage
18E: LoadedImage
18F: LoadedImage
190: UnknownDevice
191: LoadedImage
192: PCIIO DevicePath(PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1,0x0))

193: LoadedImage
194: LoadedImage
195: LoadedImage
196: UnknownDevice UnknownDevice UnknownDevice UnknownDevice UnknownDevice UnknownDevice UnknownDevice UnknownDevice LoadedImage
197: PCIIO DevicePath(PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1C,0x0))

198: PCIIO DevicePath(PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1C,0x1))

199: UnknownDevice ExtendedSCSIPassThru EfiAtaPassThruProtocolGuid UnknownDevice UnknownDevice PCIIO DevicePath(PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1F,0x2))

19A: DiskIO UnknownDevice UnknownDevice BlockIO DevicePath(ci(0x1F,0x2)/Sata(0x0,0x0,0x0))

19B: DiskIO UnknownDevice UnknownDevice BlockIO DevicePath(ci(0x1F,0x2)/Sata(0x1,0x0,0x0))

19C: UnknownDevice USBHostController2 PCIIO DevicePath(PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1A,0x0))

19D: UnknownDevice USBHostController2 PCIIO DevicePath(PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1D,0x0))

19E: LoadedImage
19F: LoadedImage
1A0: UnknownDevice
1A1: LoadedImage
1A2: LoadedImage
1A3: PCIIO DevicePath(x0)/Pci(0x1C,0x1)/Pci(0x0,0x0))

1A4: LoadedImage
1A5: DevicePath(6042,0B0000002600000000000000))

1A6: PCIIO DevicePath(PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0))

1A7: PCIIO DevicePath(0x0)/Pci(0x1,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0))

1A8: PCIIO DevicePath(0x0)/Pci(0x1,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x1))

1A9: PCIIO DevicePath(PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x16,0x0))

1AA: PCIIO DevicePath(PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x16,0x1))

1AB: PCIIO DevicePath(PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1B,0x0))

1AC: PCIIO DevicePath(PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1C,0x5))

1AD: PCIIO DevicePath(x0)/Pci(0x1C,0x5)/Pci(0x0,0x0))

1AE: PCIIO DevicePath(PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1F,0x3))

1AF: PCIIO DevicePath(PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1F,0x6))

1B0: UnknownDevice
1B1: ConsoleIn UnknownDevice SimpleTextInEx SimpleTextIn USBIO DevicePath(0x3)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/USB(0x2,0x0))

1B2: SimplePointer USBIO DevicePath(0x3)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/USB(0x3,0x0))

1B3: UnknownDevice
1B4: USBIO DevicePath(x0)/Pci(0x1A,0x0)/USB(0x0,0x0))

1B5: USBIO DevicePath(x0)/Pci(0x1D,0x0)/USB(0x0,0x0))

1B6: DiskIO BlockIO USBIO DevicePath(0x0)/USB(0x0,0x0)/USB(0x1,0x0))

1B7: ShellInterface ShellEnvironment2 LoadedImage
1B8: DiskIO BlockIO DevicePath(,MBR,0x07F2837E,0x800,0x32000))

1B9: DiskIO BlockIO DevicePath(0x07F2837E,0x32800,0x253FB800))

1BA: DiskIO BlockIO DevicePath(R,0x490B2686,0x800,0x57545000))

1BB: SimpleFileSystem DiskIO BlockIO DevicePath(,MBR,0x0217934C,0x3F,0x1F05B9))

1BC: Shell ShellParameters SimpleTextOut ShellInterface LoadedImage
1BD: EfiUserCredential2ProtocolGuid
1BE: UnknownDevice
1BF: UnknownDevice
1C0: UnknownDevice
1C1: UnknownDevice
1C2: UnknownDevice
1C3: UnknownDevice
1C4: UnknownDevice
1C5: UnknownDevice
1C6: UnknownDevice
1C7: UnknownDevice
1C8: UnknownDevice
1C9: UnknownDevice
1CA: UnknownDevice
1CB: UnknownDevice
1CC: UnknownDevice
1CD: UnknownDevice
1CE: UnknownDevice
1CF: UnknownDevice
1D0: UnknownDevice
1D1: UnknownDevice
1D2: UnknownDevice
1D3: UnknownDevice
1D4: UnknownDevice
1D5: UnknownDevice
1D6: SimpleTextOut 

those are the parts wich should be related with what you said

Code:

19A: DiskIO UnknownDevice UnknownDevice BlockIO DevicePath(ci(0x1F,0x2)/Sata(0x0,0x0,0x0))

19B: DiskIO UnknownDevice UnknownDevice BlockIO DevicePath(ci(0x1F,0x2)/Sata(0x1,0x0,0x0))

1B6: DiskIO BlockIO USBIO DevicePath(0x0)/USB(0x0,0x0)/USB(0x1,0x0))

1B8: DiskIO BlockIO DevicePath(,MBR,0x07F2837E,0x800,0x32000))

1B9: DiskIO BlockIO DevicePath(0x07F2837E,0x32800,0x253FB800))

1BA: DiskIO BlockIO DevicePath(R,0x490B2686,0x800,0x57545000))

1BB: SimpleFileSystem DiskIO BlockIO DevicePath(,MBR,0x0217934C,0x3F,0x1F05B9))

mmm, not sure wich one I have to use to create the bcfg boot addh command


another thing is that the integrated shell doesnt seems able to load some efi executables, thats why I needed to load the integrated shell, and then, load the external shell, wich is bigger and seems able to run those efi executables properly.

I think I will replace directly the internal shell from the firmware with the external one, external one is bigger, but with some luck I will manage to get it inside if enough free space avalible like Brabbelbla said

here you can see the difference on both shells





mmm, also running directly the bcfgapp.efi crash the shell with the following error:




@Brabbelbla
"Below is reserved for RD, not DELLOIL request"

well, that was the first things I replaced

I think I added something like

"Unlocked options below, handle with care!"

wich is a little more usefull for people hehe ^^

mmm, yeah, I think I see what you are asking, basically to edit the cvars to match ones from a similar machine with extended features.

my brother machine is an ivy bridge machine instead our sandy bridge systems, however, he have now fully xtu support with prema bioses he downloaded from here:

[BIOS & MODS] Prema Mod / Latest stock BIOS

aparently, prema mod patch several regions, bios region, ME region and EC region.

it would be interesting to analyze.

I am open to test stuff, I have many recovery options, included hardware options, so let me know what to do, and I can be the kamikaze

 

@capitankasar

you should load EnglishDXE.efi before running my version of bcfg , I'll fix this soon but for now ..

and use enother version of shell - this one is dmazar's , as a bit buggy and has awful dh output

 

You have to load EnglishDxe as a driver. I'd say it is handle 19B. If you want a shell which is stable but has some more options than built-in, use this one. I took a first look at the Prema BIOS, didn't see the variable store, but didn't really search outside the setup module. You can try replacin stock with the modified shell already, I think. Space is not that much of a problem.

 

A good one, but I don't know why but it lacks bcfg. In fackt it is there , but disabled
I've tried to rebuild it 30+ times , all other commands are enbled , bcfg is not - it is why I've built stand alone one
And as far as I remember it requires EnglishDxe too

I can rebuild it without this requirement , but it would be bigger size (or I just need to chenge compiler to ICC)

 

well, I think executed englishDXE.efi already, you can check the previous screenshots.

or I am missing something else? like a parameter or something else?



oh, thanks for the stable shell Brabbelbla, I will make a bios with this one and post back if it works.

oh, and well, since the new shell may not be too much to test, can I ask you the details about how did you added the wireless menus?

like the required hex strings to be modified at the advanced setup module.

then I will make several changes and test

(the machine and me take its time to reboot, flash, and test )

 

@kasar
Yes, but you tried to execute it as an application, you have to load it as a driver. So "load EnglishDxe.efi". I am surprised it didn't return an error. I have to say this shell is the most stable you can get and can do far more than stock, but it is the "old-style" EDK shell, instead of the new UDK shell. The UDK shell supports some fancy new commands like setvar and bcfg. But @followme built bcfg as application (awesome), so that one is covered.

About the wireless menu... I'm afraid it is not so simple anymore. If you take a look at your IFR extract, after the Miscellaneous Devices reference, so starting at offset 0x30938, there are four hidden settings without options. Those are the wireless settings. To turn them into useable settings, you have to add a total of 14 option operators (8 for the wireless switch setting, the 3 others are just enabled/disabled). Those option operators are not so difficult, just take one as a reference and edit the string IDs and the option's value. String IDs are not difficult, they just count up from the start of the unicode string section. However, to add the options, you need space. You can again move some option operators from settings that never will be used (AMT settings?) to circumvent this, or, like I did, eliminate redundant condition checks. But for the last thing you will need the IFR extractor working or be able to read them yourself.

 

@Brabbelbla

oh, so I had to type "load" before

hehe my bad ^^

yeah, since it didnt returned any error, I suposed it was fine.

I will try again tomorrow after adding the new shell to the firmware.

well, those seems not simple like you said, to much mess just for disable some settings everyone want to get working.

it it would be for adding overclock options I would mess with it for sure.

so as I can see unlocking isnt easy anymore and from this point it require to kill/sacrifice existing options in order to add new ones, I dont like that a lot, that could be considered for some important options like we did for raid, but not for every single random option.

 

And all of that stuff you guys are talking about just flew way over my head. So, is there anything cool that I can add to my xps 17 where the cdrom goes? I never use my cdrom and I feel like it is pointless just being there? Can one add an extra hard drive on there or something?

 

@drvenom

that was exactly what I made with my L502X

yeah, you can replace the optical unid with a hdd caddy and put another hdd in there

Cheap 2nd HDD Drive Caddy Adapter for dell xps 17 (l702x) Free Shipping

so with this, you would be able to have a max of 3 internal hdds/ssds instead just two ^^

 

But take in mind - ODD port is SATA II , and actual speed is less then internal hdd's connected to
Actual speed is arround 185-200 MB/s
And it has negative impact on built in audio - you will hear noise and clicks from built in speakers (not so loud , but noticeable in complete silence)
You've been warned !

 

oh, didnt knew about speed decrease.

I has been using mine for many time on my L502X, and did not noticed any noticiable slow speeds, it even seemed faster than the main hdd in some stuff (maybe just because the main hdd is loading all the time OS stuff), will need to check the transfer speeds with any software anyway.

as for the audio, what is the cause of that? just curious

anyway, as for me I didnt noticed anything weird on mine relating audio clicks.

the only issue I have with my second hdd caddy for ODD is that the activity led from the caddy never worked (I noticed some caddys have leds, while others doesnt have, well mine have but doesnt work ... )

 

You can imagine my surprise, when I heard a clicking sounds (like HDD's ones) from a laptop where all the drives are SSDs
As I understand - reason is in bad HW design, they didn't counted that anyone will use it for third drive, and noise from the working HDD/ODD is same loud as this clicking noise (which is present only if the)

Speed limits are not noticeable if you don't use massive data transfer (copy lots of data), there is no delay or etc ...
But ! It is important for some SATA ||| SSD drives bacause of firmware issues with SATA|| mode (infinite sleep. etc ...)

BTW Waiting for Kasar's mod v7 with shell enabled from the box

 

well, in my case, I dont use SSDs, I stick with HDDs, they are cheaper and they offer more space at lower cost(their speeds are slower anyway, but I can deal with it ^^), so probably I will not notice many difference in speeds relating sata 2 and 3

also, as you mentionated it, I remember some days I heard clicking sounds from the laptop, I moved my ear near the laptop and I assumed the sound were comming from the optical drive hdd caddy, but I could be wrong and they came from the speakers, will try to mute sound next time or check if it come from speakers

 

muting will not help - because it is on electrical level

 

then disconnecting phisically the speakers would be the only way (or a way more easier way, plugging headphones into the system and check if the sound come from there I guess ^^)

anyway, its weird it happen with the HDD/SSD and not with the stock optical drive while spining/reading/writting disks. it could be due a higher power consumition? not sure.

 

I assume it's because of bad data-line shielding for ODD lanes

 

so where is this new bios ?i dont see it on front page

 

here

I also was thinking about create a new topic since this one is created by sharadeos, however since I dont post too much updates and since they come out at the same time I post at the L502X modded bios topic, It may not be usefull at all ^^

 

ty, tobad i cant test raid now, since i dont have empty ssd's atm, but i wonder howmuch performance will incrase, i mean 1 ssd is already fast , and for the stuff i do i dont think i need to hurry with it either lol,

upto now i used caching for speed witch let me reach upto 4k in speed


tobad the gpu is so dam slow , in games i only get like <30fps in oc mode, atm i run it 820/1010 via nvidia system tools, works well though, sometimes the driver crash and it revert to stock but thats all to it, it don't happen offen just once in a while,

its nice it have raid 5 and 10 to but the 2 ports will slow down the raid array, the odd sata port is sata 1 and the esata is sata 2 while the internals are sata 3

SATA I (revision 1.x) interface, formally known as SATA 1.5Gb/s, is the first generation SATA interface running at 1.5 Gb/s. The bandwidth throughput, which is supported by the interface, is up to 150MB/s.

SATA II (revision 2.x) interface, formally known as SATA 3Gb/s, is a second generation SATA interface running at 3.0 Gb/s. The bandwidth throughput, which is supported by the interface, is up to 300MB/s.

SATA III (revision 3.x) interface, formally known as SATA 6Gb/s, is a third generation SATA interface running at 6.0Gb/s. The bandwidth throughput, which is supported by the interface, is up to 600MB/s This interface is backwards compatible with SATA 3 Gb/s interface.

though i wish you could do something about this fan speedstep, this is the most anoying part in the bios, on anh low and high function, cant even controll the fan itself on temp or pwm based yet its an 3 pin fan so pwm most likely wont work but if i only was able to controll speed with speedfan i would be happy

 

@WesleyNL
It will be faster approximately 2 times
I have RAID setup of 2 OCZ VTX3 max iops - the speed is about 800-1100 MBytes/s

 

i know that lol, i know what raid does, but tihng is what goods will it do , it might be nice for live hd recording or encoding and stuff , but i dont think a game needs it , or watch anime, read a manga and stuff

another question @ capitankasar

do you know where the hidden sata connecotros are on the board ?, cuz im intressed into soldering cables to it for more hdds since it shows more ports in bios that there is vissible, same for memory though but that i cant mod sadly, if i had the right tools i would make it 4 port memory instead 2

 

@WesleyNL


mmm, never investigated about that.

however, I supose it would be as easy as locate the sata chip, and its pinout.

then check wich pins are being used, and the ones being unused, you would have to solder wires there.


as for the moment, I just focused on getting more usb ports, but I think the same history will be also for sata.

 

i have a question, did you guys happen to change anything gpu related? , bcuz the driver keep crashing while im web surfing , i didnt had this before i used the latest ver 6 a19 bios

 

@WesleyNL
Do mind that as the HM67 chipset supports only two SATA-III ports, the potential new ports will be SATA-II at best.

 

i rather get more sata ports, bcuz i use alot hdds and sata makes it easier to use them ,

also do you guys happen to change anything gpu related ?, bcuz the driver keep crashing when i have it oced like i alsways had , and im only websurfing

 

i dont mind that , since normal hdds dont go fasterthen sata2 anyways even if they are sata3, but for a hdd sata works best and is stable and faster then using a usb port

 

why more usb ports ? do you have that many usb devices ?!