Razer BIOS Mods - Potential to Unlock All Hidden Options

Did you see anything in there that looked like a TDP value of 90 watts?

 

I was more looking for the voltage control to the GPU. The GPU TDP of 90/100 is largely determined by the vBIOS, but if you put a higher TDP vBIOS, it gets voltage throttled. So I was hoping the voltage control was in the EC, and could be altered to allow higher voltages with the higher TDP vBIOS, but then I got distracted looking to do manual fan control via the EC, so maybe I'll return to this and try to focus on the GPU voltage control

 

I have a feeling for some reason the cards VBIOS is controlled by the EC somehow, no matter which BIOS I try ( https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/) this RB15 2018 won't accept anything but its default VBIOS.

 

Which gpu do you have?

EDIT
I see you have the 1070 and tried a lot of vBIOS, do you have a list of the ones you've tried? I know the MSI GS65 was limited to matching the size of the vBIOS. Looking at techpowerup, the Razer has a 232kb size with Device Id: 10DE 1BA1 Subsystem Id: 1A58 2000. There are two vBIOS which match the size and Device Id and would be the most likely to work. If you tried those ones, then I'm not sure there is anything you can do. I don't have the 1070, so not much I can do to help with any of this.

https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/204907/204907
https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/215198/215198

 

I'm sure I gave those exact 2 a go and they would show Error 43 after full DDU and multiple reboots ...

I know another user on here was able to hardware flash his RB15 1070 to unlock the power/thermal limit, I've got pics of which chip to read/write also but other users were saying this is dangerous and has a high chance to burnt out the mosfets.

 

ah i see, do you mind helping me out little more what is the memory ratio in bios setting? like tras, tcwl ect. Im using hyperx kingston 2666mhz 16x2 gb ram and its stock cl is 15 and manage to lower it to cl 14. do you mind sharing your setting in the bios?

 

Ram overclocking is completely dependent on the chips you have. My settings won't help you. You should see your memory overclocking looks like below. if you follow the link to @hackness memory overclocking tutorial from the first post, it'll help you figure it out. But Memory Ratio is going to be the place to start.

 

ok i see where memory ratio is and and i just tried 13 and didnt boot and had to go back. i am not sure where to begin. This was my previous setting
link: https://imgur.com/a/WBBLdIA

 

You need to test one step at a time, 13 would be 3458MHz. I don't believe the blade can support this speed. Ram overclocking is fine tuning, not big jumps

 

I'm on 3458mhz CL20 rock solid on this RB15 2018 - 3200mhz CL18 is possible but yields slower memory read/write/copy times with the exact same latency so it's clear which is better.

 

Good to hear that speed works, but doesn't negate that jumping from 10 to 13 without testing 11 and 12 is not how memory overclocking should be performed.

 

low cl lower speed vs high cl higher speed which is optimal for overall battery life and performance?

 

Check this out: https://www.crucial.com/usa/en/memory-performance-speed-latency

Highest speed then lower CL IMO.

 

was able to overclock thanks! might try lowering the cl again.
https://imgur.com/a/kwqxXwP

 

@stranula, it's really quite a bit easier than I thought it would be when I was investigating this. For some reason the idea of simply replacing an existing menu didn't even cross my mind before. This is great, it works and you and the people you credited made my day.

Great that the whole overclocking menu works, including all the voltage controls and so on. I love using ThrottleStop, but this is just as good, except for the profiles ThrottleStop provides.

 

Yeah, I thought it would be difficult as well until coming up with that idea. Glad it worked well for you.

 

is there a guide to increase the graphics power on the razer blade besides msi afterburner?

 

Depends what you want to do, and which laptop you are on. BIOS won't give you anything to do. Flashing vBIOS with a higher TDP can improve performance.

 

i have late 2019 2070mq razer blade with 240hz display (9th gen cpu model)

 

Hi, I studied with interest the topics about the BIOS mod / BIOS unlock. My Razer Blade 17 Pro Early 2019 laptop has a pretty locked down BIOS with many options unavailable or hidden.
Through reading and learning, I managed to locate and enable the overclocking and memory sections in the BIOS file via AfuWin64 and AMIBCP.
When flashed, however, those menus don't show up. I literally do not see any change. I tried the hex edit but I really don't know what I am doing there. Do not want to break things badly.

Could someone knowledgable help me with that issue? I would love to have the overclocking, performance, CPU and memory options available.
My main goal is to be able to select the memory profiles for memory overclocking and to be able to modify the CPU and Cache Vcore offset for undervolting.

Original Bios: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1qQRNoAmgS2afb3HsWtRlEoAU4FoacVl6

My attempted mod: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1lFG_1HdbwiS-QZEzcsoZpAp-7QE4Tcby

Thanks,
Alex

 

The hex edit is precisely what will get it to display the overclocking menu. Try the hex edit again and follow the tutorial closely. You're just a BIOS update away from having to do it again, so it's not bad to know how to do it yourself. You're only editing the menu, so as long as you don't offset any bytes, you can break stuff, but the machine will still work, as you don't touch any of the rest of the BIOS. It might lock up when you visit the specific menu you hex edited. If you do offset anything (for example by pasting in new bytes without replacing the same amount), that's where you can potentially run into bigger issues.

 

My trouble was actually the step before.
BIOS Binary Extraction and Interrogation
I could not find any string 'memory overlock' or 'memory overclocking'. And then I got stuck because, in the tutorial, when it comes to the menus, the steps refer back to this section.

 

Looks like your links are truncated and don't work because of that. Could you edit your post with working links so I can take a look at it?

 

silly me.. all corrected, thanks for the heads up

 

Well, for some reason UEFI Tool doesn't find "memory overclocking". It does find "overclocking" just fine though and reveals you the correct image to extract - the one in the "Setup" menu section where all the menus, options and toggles reside.

If you have further questions (but frankly, with that tutorial you likely shouldn't), PM me to avoid flooding this thread.

 

I'll give that a shot tomorrow. Thank you for pointing me the right way!

 

Good to see people stepping in to help here. I haven't looked at the BIOS in question, but if UEFITool doesn't find memory overclocking, makes me wonder if it isn't completely unavailable. Good luck with the mods, let us know how it works out for you.

 

I've looked into the IFR and the whole overclocking menu is there, including the memory overclocking. Can't say why UEFI Tool wouldn't find it.

 

I've sent you a PM

 

was reading otimization for 8750h and got stuck on the firs step. any idea for razer blade 15 9750h model to disable cfg lock? that option is not available in bios and i already have overclocked the memory and cpu voltage trick

 

If changing the cfg lock options to USER in AMIBCP doesn't work, then just enable them the same way as described in the first post of this thread. I've got it enable on my Blade 15 mid 2019, so its definitely doable.

 

not sure why but even if i change in the AMIBCIP and change cfglock to user and flash the bios i do not see any option for cfglock. Hence i cant even change it in the bios. If i change the failsafe to Diabled and optimal to disabled it doesnt seem to boot. any idea why?

 

You will need to follow the first post in this thread to enable the option by changing the "suppress if"s that are relevant to the option you want. Itc definitely be done, just follow the instructions carefully and you'll be able to do it.

 

when you say first post on the thread, do you mean this http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...f-your-razer-blade-w-no-pl-throttling.827919/
or are you talking about the original post

 

looking through the ifr, cfg lock doesnt have suppress if
only have
Setting: CFG Lock, Variable: 0x6F0 {05 91 B6 03 B7 03 B9 01 01 00 F0 06 10 10 00 01 00}
0x359A0 Option: Disabled, Value: 0x0 {09 07 04 00 00 00 00}
0x359A7 Option: Enabled, Value: 0x1 {09 07 03 00 30 00 01}

 

Do you have the options above the CFG Lock set to user also? So on Power and Performance, you need CPU - Power Management set to USER. Then on CPU- Power Management you need CPU Lock Configuration set to USER.

 

Thank you very much for putting so much time and effort into this Razer BIOS mod. I'm positive I could've never figured it out without this guide.

I already modified my BIOS .rom file according to this post, and everything went smoothly. However, I will say, I get a serious case of flop sweat as the image is being burned back into the BIOS with AFUWINGUIx64. And that leads me to my question:

If, for some unforeseen reason, the BIOS write fails or the write works but the BIOS won't boot, is there a standard ways -- say, booting from USB -- to recover a cooked BIOS image?

I don't doubt that following these instructions will work, but I always like to have a "get out of jail" option.

Thanks!

- Dave

 

One more follow-up question, if I may.

My primary interest in following these instructions is to be able to set the Core Voltage Offset to 0 (disable Razer's pre-shipped -100mV undervolting). Currently, I'm using the Intel XTU service in Windows, but it's a bit of a race condition between the undervolting reset and a BSOD before the XTUOCDriverService runs.

Standing on the shoulders of greatness, I made further modifications to my BIOS .rom file:



(alternate location of image: https://photos.app.goo.gl/N2fPnW9ZQhAfaBMk9)

Does anyone see any problem with being able to reach this menu on a Blade 15 Advanced (mid 2019)?

- Dave

 

@ViperGeek, as I've written a few pages back, you're only editing the menus here. Nothing is happening to the other parts of the BIOS. Just don't offset any bytes, because that will offset everything in the menu after it, and that's something I'd not like to try. Theoretically there should be automatic padding done by UEFITool when assembling the rom back together to preserve the byte locations for all the other modules in the BIOS, but I'm not so sure about that. Better make your edits in a way that doesn't add, but only changes bytes.

As far as I know there's no BIOS flashback on Razer laptops. Or at least no known key combination and BIOS file on a flash drive way. Razer themselves may have their ways without pulling out hardware flashers.

Don't confuse a bricked BIOS with simply not booting due to messed up settings. In the latter case you'd do a CMOS reset by disconnecting the the battery and the CMOS battery on the motherboard and pressing the power button a few times and waiting a few seconds. In the former case, you'll likely get nothing from the machine, even after doing a hundred CMOS resets. That's where you'd get help from a professional, or a soldering iron and a little tip, or, if you don't want to solder, a little clamp for the BIOS chip on the Blade 15 (really nothing special about it), and a Raspberry Pi with software, or a special programmer (comes with the clamp I linked there). The chip also has an enlightening data sheet that says which way to clip the clamp on or where to solder which wires.

 

Thank you very much for the detailed and informative reply, @No0B. I really appreciate you taking the time to explain and clarify the mitigated risk of editing the menus vs. other types of corruption. I've read so many stories about RB users simply applying a BIOS update and ending up with an expensive coaster. Call me paranoid, but I wanted to ensure my extracurricular edits weren't going to result in an RMA ... or worse.

Gotcha. Several other posts from non-Razer laptop owners mentioned reverting back to a backup copy of their BIOS. I was curious if we had the same safety net.

ACK. I'm hoping to avoid both cracking my two-week-old laptop open to pull the CMOS battery and finding a local tech or returning it to the factory. But given the information you shared above, I'm much more confident -- barring any acts of God or the power company -- about reflashing my BIOS.

- Dave

 

That's perfectly understandable, given your machine is only a few weeks old and a bricked BIOS would cost you some money to RMA.

You're in luck that this is a laptop. It has two power sources, so if one fails, the other can keep going. Given your reassembled BIOS ROM isn't botched, is precisely 8 Mebibytes in size (8.388.608 Bytes as reported by Windows), and is verified successfully by AfuWin, you shouldn't face any problems. Make sure to exit XTU and other apps that may modify the BIOS at runtime and also close their services and background processes, since they theoretically could reserve writing rights to the BIOS chip while you're about to flash. Not very likely, but technically a possibility. Also make sure the machine receives power via the power adapter because, while flashing, power saving features are disabled and you'd generally want to rule out the battery as a factor for stability reasons while the flashing process is going. The rest is explained in great detail in @stranula's guide.

 

Thanks to my newfound confidence after reading @No0B's reply, I flashed my updated menu .rom file, and successfully uncovered the OC Performance and Processor voltage menus:




Unfortunately, it looks like I only managed to uncover/modify the CPU Cache offset, and not the CPU Core offset:



Does anyone know where I may have gone wrong?

Both Intel XTU and ThrottleStop services are disabled (although still installed) and so shouldn't be messing with my settings.

- Dave

 

I am just seeing these posts from the last few days. I'm glad that No0b was able to help you out. I am looking into your question about core vs cache offsets now.

*UPDATE*
I looked into it and my RB15 acts the same way. I couldn't find any way around it

 

Thanks for researching this idiosyncrasy for me. Guess I'll stick to ThrottleStop run early in the boot sequence for now.

If anyone's conquered this issue, please let me know.

- Dave


Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

@stranula any ideas what this new setting is under Memory Overclocking? It says its only available in 1T mode but I'm not sure what pushing it up would achieve/potentially break.

 

As far as I am aware 1T is the better setting to have

 

@amihail91, to keep the memory stable at higher clock speeds and/or tighter timings, you can adjust the command rate to set how many times the CPU's memory controller will send the same command to the RAM to lower the chance of the data being corrupt when written to RAM. So a 1T command rate is preferrable for speed (although high clock speeds with tighter timings can outweigh the speed penalty of a command rate higher than 1), but it's not as stable, depending on your other settings.

 

Is there any point at all messing with this setting? Is lower than 3 CMDs recommended?

 

Not really. The amount of performance isn't worth the testing involved. Be aware that Razer didn't implement a good CMOS recovery method in the new machines. At least nothing that we know of. You'll need to pull the CMOS battery if the system goes haywire to a point where it can't boot into Windows.

As @stranula wrote, yes. 1T would be optimal, since then the memory controller would only wait for a single clock cycle before assuming that the data given to the RAM is valid. But your memory overclock (if you changed the clock speed or the timings) maybe won't hold. The factory RAM in my 2018 Blade 15 (two 8GB Samsung M471A1K43CB1-CTD - they're pretty bad as far as RAM goes) can hold 2800MHz with main timings being 18-18-18-40 (CL, RCD, RP and RAS respectively) and an RFC of 440 with 1T command rate at 1.35v. My specific sticks seem to not be very good. Raising the voltage does not improve anything in my case.

For stability, I'd usually choose a command rate of 2T, just to be absolutely sure. For example for friends' or family systems where I know they'll never bother with stuff like that.

 

Appreciate the in-depth reply!

Here's what I was able to get on the RB17 Pro 2019, it's been stable for a good few weeks now.