Dell bios, how to decompose / mod.

Discussion in 'BIOS Mods' started by wolf69, Nov 21, 2009.

  1. Apokrif

    Apokrif MDL Addicted

    Dec 7, 2008
    542
    35
    30
    #161 Apokrif, Jan 21, 2010
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 20, 2017
    That’s exactly what I did on D430 and got recoverable brick.
    GX280 is very different - you have moved entire RSDT already and only SSDT got messed up.
    So it might be your best bet still.

    Looks like zero terminated string to me. Have no clue on consequences of borrowing tho.

    Not sure if it’s any good idea. “Learn something new” == “do mistakes”. And you can do only 2. ;)

    I was wondering, could you use DOS to flash unmodified BIOS and get ACPI report.
    And also compare file against memory?

    Good. Make sure you get good experience playing with it!
     
  2. Apokrif

    Apokrif MDL Addicted

    Dec 7, 2008
    542
    35
    30
    #162 Apokrif, Jan 21, 2010
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 20, 2017
    Another time waste…

    I did another purely educational test – modified 5100 A03 this time.
    Code:
    Table NameOEMID&TableIDAddress  LenthDescription Table  (ACPI 2.0)
    RSD PTR DELL          000FEB01    36Root System Desc.Pointer
     |
     |- RSDTDELL  5100    000FD20A    64Root System Desc.Table
     |- XSDTDELL  5100    000FD25E    92Extended System Desc.Table
           |
        00 |- FACP  DELL  5100    000FD356   244
        01 |- SSDT  DELL_ex       FFFCA2C2   172
        02 |- APIC  DELL  5100    000FD44A   114
        03 |- BOOT  DELL  5100    000FD4BC    40
        04 |- ASF!  DELL  5100    000FD4E4   103
        05 |- MCFG  DELL  5100    000FD54B    62
        06 |- HPET  DELL  5100    000FD589    56
    
    Code:
    Table NameOEMID&TableIDAddress  LenthDescription Table  (ACPI 2.0)
    RSD PTR DELL          000FEB01    36Root System Desc.Pointer
     |
     |- RSDTDELL  M09     000FD20A    68Root System Desc.Table
     |- XSDTDELL  M09     000FD25E   100Extended System Desc.Table
           |
        00 |- FACP  DELL  5100    000FD356   244
        01 |- SSDT  DELL_ex       FFFCA2F1   172
        02 |- APIC  DELL  5100    000FD44A   114
        03 |- BOOT  DELL  5100    000FD4BC    40
        04 |- ASF!  DELL  5100    000FD4E4   103
        05 |- MCFG  DELL  5100    000FD54B    62
        06 |- HPET  DELL  5100    000FD589    56
      * 07 |- SLIC  DELL  M09     000FF330   374Software Licensing Desc.Table
    * I can upload AcpiTbls report later in case somebody is interested. ;)
     
  3. Apokrif

    Apokrif MDL Addicted

    Dec 7, 2008
    542
    35
    30
    #163 Apokrif, Jan 21, 2010
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 20, 2017
    No brainer

    9100 A03 joined the club, even got W7 activated, sorry… :eek:

    Code:
    Table NameOEMID&TableIDAddress  LenthDescription Table  (ACPI 2.0)
    RSD PTR DELL          000FEB01    36Root System Desc.Pointer
     |
     |- RSDTDELL  M09     000FD204    68Root System Desc.Table
     |- XSDTDELL  M09     000FD258   100Extended System Desc.Table
           |
        00 |- FACP  DELL  9100    000FD350   244
        01 |- SSDT  DELL_ex       FFFCACBF   172
        02 |- APIC  DELL  9100    000FD444   114
        03 |- BOOT  DELL  9100    000FD4B6    40
        04 |- ASF!  DELL  9100    000FD4DE   103
        05 |- MCFG  DELL  9100    000FD545    62
        06 |- HPET  DELL  9100    000FD583    56
      * 07 |- SLIC  DELL  M09     000FF330   374Software Licensing Desc.Table
     
  4. wolf69

    wolf69 MDL Senior Member

    Jul 29, 2009
    276
    19
    10
    sounds like we are making alot of headway,have you tried another xps 400?
     
  5. sebus

    sebus MDL Guru

    Jul 23, 2008
    6,384
    2,038
    210
    Excellent news, does it mean one day we (public) can slic the older Dell PCs that could perfectly run W7, but never had any slic in even latest BIOS

    sebus
     
  6. Apokrif

    Apokrif MDL Addicted

    Dec 7, 2008
    542
    35
    30
    #166 Apokrif, Jan 21, 2010
    Last edited: Jan 21, 2010
    Crossposing here... sorry. :eek:

    Guys,
    Anybody can share Intel(R) RAID for SATA full option ROM for ICH7, please?
    I got 5.0.0.1032 (RAID0, 1, 10) only looking for (RAID0, 1, 10, 5) one.

    I tried to flash 7.6.0.1011 full, but got hardware unsupported error during ROM loading.
    It didn’t brick mobo fortunately!

    Edit:
    Thanks to SoLoR, I got v5.6.2.1002 from D945GBO using Andy tool, flashed and it worked fine!
     
  7. Apokrif

    Apokrif MDL Addicted

    Dec 7, 2008
    542
    35
    30
    I don't have it. I prefer to compare ROM with memory minimize mistake chance.
    As I said many times, I’m not mod expert.
    I’ll take a look tho.
     
  8. Apokrif

    Apokrif MDL Addicted

    Dec 7, 2008
    542
    35
    30
    Well, all tools you (real mod experts, not me!) needed are in this thread for about a month already.
    en4rab is trying right now – I admit, he has a complex case...
    The ones I did were absolute no-brainers – 100% static mod with empty slots in both RSDT / XSDT.
    For Andy: Obviously, those cases can be easily automated. :)
     
  9. Apokrif

    Apokrif MDL Addicted

    Dec 7, 2008
    542
    35
    30
    #169 Apokrif, Jan 21, 2010
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 20, 2017
    Please check couple offsets in memory:
    * File offset 5200 should be mapped to memory one FD200 = 5200 + F8000

    You should see RSDT and XSDT exactly like this, but with corrected sums (the byte preceding DELL DXP051)
    Code:
    Offset      0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7   8  9  A  B  C  D  E  F
    00005200   E6 B3 B0 0A E6 B2 E6 84  C3 52 53 44 54 40 00 00   æ³°.æ²æ„ÃRSDT@..
    00005210   00 01 00 44 45 4C 4C 20  20 44 58 50 30 35 31 20   ...DELL  DXP051 
    00005220   00 07 00 00 00 41 53 4C  20 61 00 00 00 E1 D2 0F   .....ASL a...áÒ.
    00005230   00 00 00 00 00 49 D4 0F  00 BB D4 0F 00 E3 D4 0F   .....IÔ..»Ô..ãÔ.
    00005240   00 4A D5 0F 00 88 D5 0F  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   .JÕ..ˆÕ.........
    00005250   00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 58 53 44   .............XSD
    00005260   54 5C 00 00 00 01 00 44  45 4C 4C 20 20 44 58 50   T\.....DELL  DXP
    00005270   30 35 31 20 00 07 00 00  00 41 53 4C 20 61 00 00   051 .....ASL a..
    00005280   00 55 D3 0F 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   .UÓ.............
    00005290   00 49 D4 0F 00 00 00 00  00 BB D4 0F 00 00 00 00   .IÔ......»Ô.....
    000052A0   00 E3 D4 0F 00 00 00 00  00 4A D5 0F 00 00 00 00   .ãÔ......JÕ.....
    000052B0   00 88 D5 0F 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   .ˆÕ.............
    000052C0   00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ................
    000052D0   00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ................
    000052E0   00 46 41 43 50 74 00 00  00 01 00 44 45 4C 4C 20   .FACPt.....DELL
    There should be enough FF to insert SLIC (176) starting from 7330
    Code:
    Offset      0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7   8  9  A  B  C  D  E  F
    00007310   E8 7D FE EB 0B 3C 40 72  07 3C 59 77 03 E8 D9 FE   è}þë.<@r.<Yw.èÙþ
    00007320   5B 58 C3 FF FF FF FF FF  FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF   [XÃÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ
    00007330   FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF  FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF   ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ
    00007340   FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF  FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF   ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ
    ...
    000074B0   FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF  FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF   ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ
    000074C0   FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF  FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF   ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ
    Any differences?
     
  10. wolf69

    wolf69 MDL Senior Member

    Jul 29, 2009
    276
    19
    10
    ok how can i check it what do i need to do?
     
  11. Apokrif

    Apokrif MDL Addicted

    Dec 7, 2008
    542
    35
    30
    WinHex, HWdirect or whatever is you favorite memory dump tool. ;)
     
  12. Apokrif

    Apokrif MDL Addicted

    Dec 7, 2008
    542
    35
    30
    #172 Apokrif, Jan 21, 2010
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 20, 2017
    GX620 a11

    In case anybody interested... ;)
    Code:
    Table NameOEMID&TableIDAddress  LenthDescription Table  (ACPI 2.0)
    RSD PTR DELL          000FEB01    36Root System Desc.Pointer
     |
     |- RSDTDELL  GX620   000FD203    64Root System Desc.Table
     |- XSDTDELL  GX620   000FD257    92Extended System Desc.Table
           |
        00 |- FACP  DELL  GX620   000FD34F   244
        01 |- SSDT  DELL_ex       FFFD8815   170
        02 |- APIC  DELL  GX620   000FD443   114
        03 |- BOOT  DELL  GX620   000FD4B5    40
        04 |- ASF!  DELL  GX620   000FD4DD   103
        05 |- MCFG  DELL  GX620   000FD544    62
        06 |- HPET  DELL  GX620   000FD582    56
    
    RSD PTR DELL          000FEB01    36Root System Desc.Pointer
     |
     |- RSDTDELL  M09     000FD203    68Root System Desc.Table
     |- XSDTDELL  M09     000FD257   100Extended System Desc.Table
           |
        00 |- FACP  DELL  GX620   000FD34F   244
        01 |- SSDT  DELL_ex       FFFD8847   170
        02 |- APIC  DELL  GX620   000FD443   114
        03 |- BOOT  DELL  GX620   000FD4B5    40
        04 |- ASF!  DELL  GX620   000FD4DD   103
        05 |- MCFG  DELL  GX620   000FD544    62
        06 |- HPET  DELL  GX620   000FD582    56
      * 07 |- SLIC  DELL  M09     000FF4D0   374Software Licensing Desc.Table
     
  13. Apokrif

    Apokrif MDL Addicted

    Dec 7, 2008
    542
    35
    30
    First brick...

    Messed up Dimension 5150-E510 – got a complete brick.
    I did very same steps. I was so sure I do every right so I didn’t even check rom size after editing.
    Postmortem analysis showed, during SLIC insertion rom size increased 374 bytes – i.e. instead of overwriting FF bytes I insert extra bytes… Well, what’s done is done. Good lesson for myself. :(
     
  14. truthinjection

    truthinjection MDL Member

    Aug 27, 2009
    247
    46
    10
    Ouch. That makes losing a $50 NIC seem OK by comparison. What are your restoration options for that PC?

    -tij-
     
  15. Apokrif

    Apokrif MDL Addicted

    Dec 7, 2008
    542
    35
    30
    #175 Apokrif, Jan 22, 2010
    Last edited: Jan 22, 2010
    IMO, 0%. It's not even try to spin floppy. CD spins when disk is inserted - I guess, internal CD firmware it does it.
    It died just few days before its 5th birthday... :(
    Better learn on somebody else mistakes, our own are quite painful... sometimes...
    $50 NIC... Never counted actually, how much my overconfidence cost me already? o_O

    There a good thing also - nobody will ask me do to any mods! :biggrin:
     
  16. andyp

    andyp SLIC Tools Author

    Aug 8, 2008
    1,673
    2,572
    60
    Not needed for SLIC. I was playing around with Nvidia SLI.

    Andy
     
  17. Apokrif

    Apokrif MDL Addicted

    Dec 7, 2008
    542
    35
    30
    Search and destroy…

    I was going back and forth (about adding SATA oROM to Optiplex series.
    All hardware is there, but how to tell BIOS to load it?

    Racheously we need to find unused CMOS bit, make sure we can set them in BIOS menu, modify BIOS loader to read the bit and load oROM.

    Another way will be… to replace PXE/RLE whatever oROM!
    Optiplex with Broadcom NIC has two separate PXE and RLE and they can be enabled/disabled independently.
    Could we replace one them with SATA?

    Before I brick it, question to experts: What/where are the pitfalls there?
    I guess, I better try on D430 first, if it has ICH# chip. I hope it does.
     
  18. Apokrif

    Apokrif MDL Addicted

    Dec 7, 2008
    542
    35
    30
    Andy,
    Sorry, I meant to ask, can they be modified/discarded safely? :rolleyes:
     
  19. Apokrif

    Apokrif MDL Addicted

    Dec 7, 2008
    542
    35
    30
    Andy,
    I have all programs ready:
    1. extract / insert HDR from / to exe (you have it too, but mine are quite different)
    2. extract all modules (need a header map, build manually )
    3. list / replace / insert / delete modules (only chained, not chain type detection yet)
    4. uncompress / compress modules.

    #3 is not posted, to keep away beginners, experts modders can do it manually easily. :rolleyes:

    They only missing piece is patching uncompress module (you have it)
    Do you want to integrate into your tool somehow or should I post everything as it?
    I’m leaning to the first option, obviously – I don’t feel answering endless questions (because nobody reads readme /FAQ) and hiccup every time a mobo got bricked. o_O
     
  20. woolfie

    woolfie MDL Novice

    Jan 4, 2010
    3
    0
    0
    #180 woolfie, Jan 22, 2010
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 20, 2017
    Interested? Very! :)
    Fake or true? Tested? Working? Activation ok? Download link? Tell us please!!!