Lenovo Y580 / Y480 'unlocked' BIOS versions

[odin2free]

There is the GPU-z for the lenovo Y580

I dont know how to do a bios dump of 8.01 on my laptop

i have only looked at it while in the bios screen and was fustrated with lenovo doing what they did

BTW thank you so much for everything im going to re read all the posts in this thread to find out how to do bios dumps and such like that and see what others are going through

[parmdhoot]

Coming soon, most is ready, need to add some stuff to the first post. Can you post a GPU-Z screenshot showing your 660m? Also I could use a second dump of the v8.01 bios.

I just got a Y580 yesterday with windows 8. I am willing to help however i can. What utility did you use to dump the BIOS

[svl7]

For backup use this tool and run the backup.bat. Needs to be run as admin, and some stupid antivirus software might block it due to the PCIe driver (which would prove that a change of the AV would be a good idea )

[rumblesteam]

Just got my new Y580 loaded with my old software, FallOut 3 doesn't run (without some hack), but everything seems too. Surprising that my Memory + CPU scores 8.0 yet the Game + Desktop only scored a low 6.9 on WEI, but likely Memory WEI will change as I just got 16 Gigs of RAM to upgrade the laptop. The only issue now is that I just purchased a Crucial M4 MSATA drive for caching, but it seems like a hassle just to get it configured. Is there a way to still install the MSATA as cache without flashing the BIOS or worse re-install the system? Thanks in advance on any help.

System is with BIOS v8.01 and Windows 8 64bit

[conphusion]

I've attached a bios backup from 8.01, svl7

BIOS 5DCN90WW

EC 5DEC90WW

Thanks!

801BIOS.zip

[svl7]

First post revised, added modified v8.01 bios (unlocked, whitelist mod, 660m @ 1GHz core 3d ).

Took me a while, but 'Error 28' when trying to flash is solved. Don't know what to do about 'Error 104' at the moment. I'm waiting for feedback, especially regarding the GPU mod.

All important things are described in the first post, I will here repeat the most important points:

Currently we can only flash the modified v8.01 BIOS, not the whole firmware image. Therefore I advise you to only flash the modified v8.01 when you're already on factory v8.01. While updating from 2.0x to the v8.01 might work, I can't guarantee success. The new bios comes with a different EC version, using the new bios with the old EC could lead to issues. If someone is going to test this, please keep us informed!!

In case Lenovo puts a new bios version on their support site, let me know. For 2.0x users I currently recommend only using the 2.0x mods. Once an official 8.0x update is available you can update to it and then flash the modified bios provided in the first post.

[jovian]

Thanks for the update! Sadly I am apart of the Error 104 group. Let me know if there is anything I can help you with.

[Tmsmith]

FYI still following this thread. I'm in the error 104 group too.

[svl7]

Can anyone who doesn't get 'Error 104' please run the fpt tool with the -i flag and post the output here?

[Mojo]

Can anyone who doesn't get 'Error 104' please run the fpt tool with the -i flag and post the output here?

I updated the 8.01 BIOS according to the instructions you provided. No problems thus far, no 104 error. I have a 300 Mbps connection now using a Centrino 6205. Hooray!

I'll do this when I get home and can boot to dos. I can't seem to get the application to run with administrator privileges using runas so I'll boot from the a win98 boot disc and run it from there.

[odin2free]

Anybody else make a video for this so i can update the bios and see about getting my 6300N to work on this card...

[kozak79]

For anyone that want bios with no whitelist, here it is:

All credits goes to Serg008.

Test by me on Y480 with Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6235, BroadCom BCM94313HMGB (Combo) and Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300.

Just installed this on my Y580 running Windows 8 with no problems (from post #258). My Y580 came with Windows 7 originally and I was using the modded 2.06 firmware from the first post.

Thanks!

[conphusion]

Excellent job svl7! Works perfectly, now using my 6205. I also looked through the new bios settings, which were pretty neat, but I didn't see anything about the gfx clock - where would we be able to change that?

I would recommend Rufus and FreeDOS http://rufus.akeo.ie/ as another option for making bootable USB drives.

Also, here's the -i output:

Intel ® Flash Programming Tool. Version: 8.0.10.1464

Copyright © 2007 - 2012, Intel Corporation. All rights reserved.

Platform: Intel® HM76 Express Chipset

Reading HSFSTS register... Flash Descriptor: Valid

--- Flash Devices Found ---

EN25Q32B ID:0x1C3016 Size: 4096KB (32768Kb)

EN25QH16 ID:0x1C7015 Size: 2048KB (16384Kb)

--- Flash Image Information --

Signature: VALID

Number of Flash Components: 2

Component 1 - 4096KB (32768Kb)

Component 2 - 2048KB (16384Kb)

Regions:

Descriptor - Base: 0x000000, Limit: 0x000FFF

BIOS - Base: 0x180000, Limit: 0x5FFFFF

ME - Base: 0x001000, Limit: 0x17FFFF

GbE - Not present

PDR - Not present

Master Region Access:

CPU/BIOS - ID: 0x0000, Read: 0x0B, Write: 0x0A

ME - ID: 0x0000, Read: 0x0D, Write: 0x0C

GbE - ID: 0x0118, Read: 0x08, Write: 0x08

Total Accessable SPI Memory: 6144KB, Total Installed SPI Memory : 6144KB

FPT Operation Passed

[elcaballo]

svl7, being part of the "Error 104" group, I am wondering if using a newer version of Intel Flash Programming tool would solve the problem. Maybe it is due to a bug in the Intel tool. What do you think?

When looking at the Lenovo driver matrix for the Y580 (Drivers and software - IdeaPad Y580 Notebook), it looks like they released the version 8.1.0.1248 of Intel Management Engine Interface. I don't know which version of the flash programming tool is provided though.

Thanks!

[Mojo]

my stuff, as promised~

[svl7]

Ok, thanks for the help guys, I've looked at some datasheets and I'm pretty sure I found the cause of 'Error 104'. For those who experience this, grab this file, and use the included fparts file instead of the original one. This should do the trick.

I already added the instructions to the first post, but I would appreciated if someone can confirm that it really works as expected.

Excellent job svl7! Works perfectly, now using my 6205. I also looked through the new bios settings, which were pretty neat, but I didn't see anything about the gfx clock - where would we be able to change that?

I would recommend Rufus and FreeDOS Rufus - Create bootable USB drives the easy way as another option for making bootable USB drives.

I modified the vbios, if you have a 660m you should have a new default clock and higher overclocking limits. If you have a different card please post a GPU-Z screenshot.

Rufus is great, freeDos as well, but I'm not sure whether the fpt works with freeDos... does it? The only problem with rufus is that it requires an image in order to create a bootable drive, the HP utility can handle a folder with all the necessary files in it.

[jollsn]

will be possible to change something in bios so to have nvidia as main graphic? to have full options for nvidia..?

[svl7]

Those options are there, however I really don't know whether they're implemented hardware-wise.

[jollsn]

Once I tried to disable intel graphic in bios and got just black screen.. I have vnc server installed so I could reflash bios by another pc to take screen back, I'm not afraid to change something about it, but I dont know what.. If you give me something I can try it..

[svl7]

Well, theoretically if it is possible hardware-wise then it should work like this: In the 'Video Configuration' of the advanced menu choose 'PEG' as 'Primary Display' then go to 'Internal Graphic Device' menu and set the 'Internal Graphic Device' to 'disabled'. Save and exit.

I don't have a system to test it myself, no idea what happens when doing this, but if it works it will disable the Intel HD and only use the Nvidia.

[jollsn]

This was the thing I did and got black screen.. Here is written that y580 uses optimus technology, so nvidia is behind intel graphic, all display connections are linked to the intel graphic.. But I hope there is something how to bypass this issue.. If it is possible some extra modification of bios.. maybe some modification of vbios of intel graphic..

[svl7]

That's not a software issue, it's bound by the hardware. Optimus uses the Intel HD as output device to bring the picture to the screen, and not the display hardware of the Nvidia GPU (that's also why Optimus can't work on an internal 3d screen...the Intel HD doesn't support 120Hz output yet). So using only the Nvidia card requires muxing it directly to the display. As this costs a bit more due to additional parts, most vendors don't do this. The Lenovo Y580 apparently isn't capable of doing this either... Some systems which can do it are the more recent Alienware notebooks, and possibly some of the Dell Precision series. I don't know of any regular mid-end notebook which can do this.

[jollsn]

Ok.. This is exactly what I didnt want to hear.. This is end of my searching of solutions about nvidia.. It is sad that they put this great graphic card which you cant use on 100%.. Optimus is just wasting of technologies... Thank you so much for explain..

[odin2free]

well dangit i dont even have a usb to use..my phone iphone wont let me use it as a usb drive at all....i just want to do this so i can use the dang card time now to hunt for a usb stik just to do use the card and maybe clock my memory to proper specs

[svl7]

You can do it old-school and use a CD...