I started commenting on this thread forum.notebookreview.com/hardware-components-aftermarket-upgrades/699943-how-can-i-upgrade-raid-option-rom-my-m6400-2.html#post8997458 was told to go here, but... this place seems to only accept requests for slic mods, although they do host this thread forums.mydigitallife.net/threads/12962-Dell-bios-how-to-decompose-mod/page9 which has some specific tools, but not necessarily step by step instructions, or a page 1 with detailed info... so I'm hoping someone can help me with an m6400 a12 bios option rom integration of 11.5 intel raid stuff.
Great! Since the thread is labelled 'Dell Laptop Bios' I will post my story here too. (from the same topic over at NBR aswell ) Me and several other people own Dell 1564's which won't take odd caddies. When these are inserted the BIOS hangs. Where exactly is not known sice Dell's BIOS is not giving any output but I'm sure it is when checking the 2nd disk because disabling the 2nd SATA port in the BIOS also stops the freezing. Here's the fun part: 1564's equipped with the HD5450 freeze up, 1564's with the Intel IGP work fine. I'm hoping that a new intel oprom will solve this issue so could you please have a look at my BIOS. Since unlocking is already done one the A10 version I suggest you try with that one. Already tried flashing everything between A10 and A13(latest) none fix this issue. We don't have to count on Dell's help, this laptop is EOL. I've spend a ton of money thinking this was broken parts so now I have basically 1x 1564 and another one laying around in parts. Also got 2 caddies and a ton of hdd's to test with. Darn you Dell! I wanted to keep this laptop for another 2 years at least. PS: Sorry, had to edit the useful links out because <20 posts . Bios at: bios-mods com/forum/Thread-Dell-Inspiron-1564-unlocked-A10-bios-Request-for-A13 ~Aeny
doh! of course i have to do it from dos... i thought if it worked inside windows... i did read the instructions. will try again via dos in about 4 hrs
could I try to flash this using the hdr recovery method? update: the hdr file is 2MB, a lil larger than what will fit on a floppy.
If your USB stick is formatted with FAT16 (not sure if FAT32 works or not), then you can use the HDR recovery method to flash the modified BIOS. Just extract the bios.gz => bios.hdr. Then rename the file to M64_A12.HDR (DOS 7.3 filename format) and start the recovery method.
i was trying just what u described. not sure if it was fat16 but it just sat there. my usb has a light that flashes whyen being accessed and nothing. had to pull battery... oh M64_A12.HDR huh? well I had a diff name, but I'll try that, I saw m64 with the hex editor, but I thought I was supposed to name it to NIK something... haha
Yes, you can either use the Dell name (M64?????HDR) or the manufacturer name (NIK?????HDR). Just make sure you try different USB ports (namely the ones on the back).
yeah, I tried all 4 ports. I'm not sure if that recovery mode works on this thing thru usb? Maybe I need to try a diff usb drive altogether? At this point, I'm not sure what to think. Everything so far isn't resulting in success... I guess I could see if the regular non modded a12 bios will flash using recovery mode to verify it's not the file, and then move from there.
should it be _a12 since it's using an a10 something or other? update: I tried with a12 bios... no go. It's a 128MB flash drive formatted as fat, primary partition, set active... just for s**ts and giggles, I placed another .hdr on there as is written using the -writehdrfile... hrmm... I just don't know why the read from the .gz file didn't work. I just don't think the recovery mode is accessing the usb. Update: Might that error be occuring because it's an a10.exe trying to access a a12 bios in gz format? If so, then maybe a mod of an a10 bios instead?