Yikes! Computer won't boot at all. Do you know what I need to name the original hdr file on a usb drive so it will take? EDIT: I ran the original 1535_A06.exe with /writehdrfile and it spit out 1535_A06.hdr. I was able to use this file as-is to recover my laptop. After the shock wore off, I extracted your patched HDR file and flashed that. This time, my laptop did boot, but no video was shown. I don't have an external monitor to test with right now, so I flashed the original BIOS back again. Any idea what went wrong with the patched BIOS?
Maybe you could pull the working VBIOS from the Inspiron 1525 BIOS? That laptop has similar hardware and was released before the Studio 1535, but it actually got the update. dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/19/driverdetails?driverid=R246843
Thanks for that, it flashed perfectly. Unfortunately, the included VBIOS is from 2007 which pre-dates the memory corruption bug fix. Are you only using PhoenixTool to do this? I originally thought you would need something more like the Intel BMP tool (incidentally, if you know where I can find that, I could really use it). For any future Studio 1535 users who stumble across this thread, here's one I made with a VBIOS pulled from the Latitude D830 A13 BIOS. sendspace.com/file/twcegk Did you have to do anything besides replace the one ROM file in the DUMP folder? I ask because although this one flashed correctly and runs fine on my laptop, GPU-Z no longer shows a BIOS version.
Correct, all I'm doing is using AndyP's PhoenixTool to upgrade the SLIC to v2.1 and replace the 09_16.ROM in the DUMP folder.
Unfortunately neither the 1588 VBIOS nor the 1566 (Inspiron 1525) VBIOS solved my issues. In fact, they seemed to get much worse! Desperate, I began searching for all Dell laptops with GM965 chipsets. And then I stumbled across the holy grail - the Inspiron 1318. Not only does this laptop have an even newer VBIOS (1653), it actually has an officially supported Windows 7 driver for the chipset! I pulled the 1653 VBIOS from the Inspiron 1318 A06 BIOS, and I've been running it with no issues so far. I've been stress-testing my laptop by opening 30+ tabs in Google Chrome to get my memory usage as high as possible, running streaming videos and Direct3D games to make sure the GPU is also using a lot of memory, and randomly hibernating. From reading through several Linux bug trackers, it looks like hibernation is key here for the memory corruption (and the Linux kernel has patched around the VBIOS bug). If anyone was still having issues even with the 1588 VBIOS (as one of the Vostro 1500 users in this thread did), the 1653 VBIOS may be the key. This one also is correctly identified in GPU-Z. Here's the BIOS I'm currently running: Dell Studio 1535 A06 BIOS with Intel Crestline VBIOS 1653 Code: sendspace.com/file/cei8ud And here's the VBIOS itself: Intel Crestline (GM965) VBIOS 1653 for Dell Code: sendspace.com/file/ut8lpg Much thanks to everyone who helped diagnose and correct this issue over the years. There is no way I would have solved a problem with a five year old laptop right now if not for the modding community.
unable to find anywhere the modded bios 1500_A06 with intel 1588. Dear sir, the modded bios 1500_A06 with intel 1588 seems to have disappeared from this world, none of the download links i tried worked. Could you please re-post it somewhere? i would really like to bring this laptop back to life with win7. i nearly pulled off what's left of my hair because all my clean installs of win7 went south after a few days. i suspected memory corruption, but all the ddr tested fine. Thanks to you, i now know why this laptop keeps tumbling every few days. (by the way, this beast has no battery, so does your modded bios accept the /forceit switch?) many thanks in advance phil
Getting back from a road trip and trying to finish up the Vostro. Can this BIOS be flashed from Windows like the original A06 or do I have to boot from DOS? Also, I have heard that the Vostro 1520 is the same as the 1500, except for the case color. There is an A08 BIOS for the 1520, marked "1520A08-32_64.exe". Any thoughts on this one?
If you are already on A06, you will need to flash from DOS. It appears from online schematics, that the 1500 shares the same design as the 1520 (discrete graphics)...but both have different BIOS types. - Vostro 1500 uses Dell HDR type - Vostro 1520 uses Phoenix WPH/ROM type I don't suggest you try to cross-flash anything unless you have an EEPROM writer and are comfortable doing the flash/erase process.
Thanks for the follow-up... I built a bootable USB DOS and flashed the BIOS you provided. Flashed fine, and all seems good. I have Win 7 Pro x64 installed. I looks like the first time it goes into suspend (like from inactivity), the screen blanks and won't come back. I was hoping this BIOS would take care of this, but it appears the problem remains. Any thoughts?
Sorry to bump this old thread, but I recently acquired an old Vostro 1500 and have been struggling against these same issue (Windows validation, BSODs, corruption when copying large files) and after much Google-ing I ended up here. Unfortunately, neither of the two old Vostro 1500 A06 links posted above work any more. Does anyone have still a copy of the file(s) they can make available again?