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14" Dell Latitude E6430 - Performance Upgrades and System Mods


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50 minutes ago, carrretero said:

Thanks for your reply, timohour.

No, there is no problem with my current BIOS, I just wanted to have the laptop up to date so I tried to flash the A18 version and it did not work. I believe the BIOS versions are released for a reason and they bring certain improvements to the system, performance-wise, too, maybe. It is just strange that BIOS  simply ignores any update attempt, so I am simply curious.

Also, at every cold start, there is a message in the BIOS log saying: "Power On - Not Applicable".  Apart from that there is no problem with anything at all.

 

And thanks also for letting me know about the msata slot. I will investigate more about the mini pcie and M.2 possibilities.

 

 

Could you post your ME Firmware version reported in your BIOS?

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19 minutes ago, timohour said:

Could you post your ME Firmware version reported in your BIOS?

 

If it's the Intel Management Engine version then the BIOS is showing the 8.1.0.1265 version 

 

While looking for the ME information, I maybe happened to find out why the update does not work - I noticed there is a line in the BIOS system summary saying "Signed Firmware Update is enabled" just below the BIOS version. I am now having a look at this online  and it looks like more people are having or used to have troubles updating BIOS because of this.

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8 hours ago, carrretero said:

 

If it's the Intel Management Engine version then the BIOS is showing the 8.1.0.1265 version 

 

While looking for the ME information, I maybe happened to find out why the update does not work - I noticed there is a line in the BIOS system summary saying "Signed Firmware Update is enabled" just below the BIOS version. I am now having a look at this online  and it looks like more people are having or used to have troubles updating BIOS because of this.

 

A12 is supposed to have upgraded the Intel ME firmware management version to 8.1.30.1350 as stated here.

 

Could you check if you can take a backup of your full BIOS using fpt?

 

Check this thread on how to do this. Try to backup and report if it completes or if Error 26 occurs.

Edited by timohour
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12 hours ago, timohour said:

A12 is supposed to have upgraded the Intel ME firmware management version to 8.1.30.1350

 

My BIOS version is A11

 

12 hours ago, timohour said:

Could you check if you can take a backup of your full BIOS using fpt?

 

I tried to backup BIOS using fpt and it reported Error 26

So I went on and did the pinmod. This is an iGPU laptop so I didn't have to disassemble it, yet it was still it a bit difficult to access the chip which is hidden under the case but accessible from the side. I managed to reach the pins 5 an 9  with a modified paper clip, or a piece of wire if you like, in the form of a fork. I bent the wire and twisted the two arms against each other so that the fork would be stiff enough. I sharpened the points of the fork so that they would not slide away from the pins while inserting the battery and switching the laptop on. I might have been a bit too careful here but I recently managed to short-fry a chip on a motherboard only by  disconnecting the LCD cable from the MB while I forgot  to remove the battery first. 

The pinmod worked and I could save the backup copy of the BIOS image. 

Edited the dump file and reflashed it and yes, after a cold start the flash descriptor remained unlocked!

I tried to flash the A18 BIOS one more time just to try if unlocking the FD had some influence on the BIOS update but no, it still did not work, which I expected. 

But now I see I can actually flash anything with the fpt tool so, in theory, if I had a dump of the A18 version, I could flash it this way.

Also, I could maybe modify the BIOS Update Flag manually because that is what I understand might be failing (the flag not set by the BIOS update program) - according to the document "Dell Client BIOS:  Signed Firmware Update" where the BIOS update mechanism is described.

Or to set re-set the BIOS' sfuenabled variable  to off and see if that might solve the issue.

Anyway, happy to see my E6430 survived the pinmod, that everything seems to work well, and the laptop is free now and opened to new possibilities.

Thanks for your guidance and the tutorials and all your efforts!

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I tried to flash the E6430_OC.bin ME section. I received a warning saying that the write area does not match the file size (file size shorter) and whether I want to continue. I chose yes and the flashing process passed, I did not restart the computer though to see the results, given the ME version is different from the original one in the A11 BIOS I did  not want to run into complications, I thought it might be better idea to flash the whole E6430_OC.bin file with BIOS portion included. 

It was not possible, the error I received:

 

error 280: failed to disable write protection for the BIOS space

 

tried to reflash my own dump with the same result.

So on this computer all sections are writable except the BIOS area.

BIOS lock they call it.

 

Do you think I can flash and run ME 8.1.30.1350 on A11 BIOS which originally carries  ME 8.1.0.1265?

And does anyone know how this BIOS lock (it only prevents prevents BIOS prom being updated nothing more) can be removed and where it comes from?

 

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4 hours ago, carrretero said:

And does anyone know how this BIOS lock (it only prevents prevents BIOS prom being updated nothing more) can be removed and where it comes from?

 

It is bypassable but I can't remember how. There's no need to flash the BIOS anyway though.

 

For Dell systems you need to modify your own ME FW dump or else the ME FW will be crippled. You can try modding it yourself and I can look over it. I can mod it but I have a lot of other stuff going on right now.

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I'm trying to get eGPU working with my e6430. So far I always end up with code 43 in the Device Manager and no output to the display connected to eGPU HDMI port.

- e6430 with 5200M dGPU, 8 GB RAM, SDD, HDD

- Bios A18

- EXP GDC V8.4d ExpressCard version + Dell DA-2 PSU

- GTX1050 Ti 4 MB

- Windows 10 64-bit

- Nvidia drivers 376.19

 

Windows sees the eGPU and drivers install without errors. So far I have tried: removing all Nvidia drivers with DDU and re-installing the driver. Disabling dGPU with eGPU Setup 1.3. PCIe compacting with eGPU Setup 1.3, always hangs when asked to press ENTER to return to the menu.

 

Any suggestions how to get the card working?

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20 hours ago, Khenglish said:

 

It is bypassable but I can't remember how. There's no need to flash the BIOS anyway though.

 

It is variable 0x40.

 

6 hours ago, ast said:

I'm trying to get eGPU working with my e6430. So far I always end up with code 43 in the Device Manager and no output to the display connected to eGPU HDMI port.

 

Any suggestions how to get the card working?

 

 

Disable fast boot in BIOS. Try to boot with the eGPU connected and powered prior to boot.

 

Edited by timohour
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18 hours ago, timohour said:

Disable fast boot in BIOS. Try to boot with the eGPU connected and powered prior to boot.

 

 

Hi,

 

Fast boot was already set to slowest setting. I have tried connecting eGPU at all possible stages always having the same issue with code 43. I have tried sleep + wake and all the usual tricks without any help.

 

I noticed that Device Manager does not show any memory areas for the eGPU in e6430. I tried the setup on Dell e6220 and immediately got picture (internal screen went blank, external monitor connected to eGPU working already at BIOS level). However when I tried to install Nvidia drivers in Windows 7, I got the code 43 on that computer too and eGPU is working as generic VGA device.

Edited by ast
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18 hours ago, timohour said:

It is variable 0x40.

 

 

Correct, I found out already looking into the IRF file based on my A11. I did not see you already answered that!

Thanks!

So the BIOS lock I disabled using GRUB command setup_var 0x40 0x0, after I checked the BIOS lock value using setup_var 0x40 and received 0x01 (BIOS lock enabled). 

Now the command is returning 0x0 (BIOS lock disabled)

BIOS update installer still does not work but I tried to reflash my own dump .bin file using fpt and it passed so  BIOS is writable now.

But now I'm missing a clean A18 .bin dump file. Can't find it anywhere. 

I'm thinking of flashing the entire E6430_OC.bin published here. Do you think it is a good idea?  It has exactly the same length as my A11 dump so there should not be a problem right?

 

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It would be a good idea to include your system setup in your signature.

 

3 hours ago, ast said:

 

Hi,

 

Fast boot was already set to slowest setting. I have tried connecting eGPU at all possible stages always having the same issue with code 43. I have tried sleep + wake and all the usual tricks without any help.

 

I noticed that Device Manager does not show any memory areas for the eGPU in e6430. I tried the setup on Dell e6220 and immediately got picture (internal screen went blank, external monitor connected to eGPU working already at BIOS level). However when I tried to install Nvidia drivers in Windows 7, I got the code 43 on that computer too and eGPU is working as generic VGA device.

 

On our laptop TOLUD is set automatically if it detects an eGPU prior to boot. You could try and set it manually lower using UEFI variables to check if the problem persists.

 

1 hour ago, carrretero said:

 

Correct, I found out already looking into the IRF file based on my A11. I did not see you already answered that!

Thanks!

So the BIOS lock I disabled using GRUB command setup_var 0x40 0x0, after I checked the BIOS lock value using setup_var 0x40 and received 0x01 (BIOS lock enabled). 

Now the command is returning 0x0 (BIOS lock disabled)

BIOS update installer still does not work but I tried to reflash my own dump .bin file using fpt and it passed so  BIOS is writable now.

But now I'm missing a clean A18 .bin dump file. Can't find it anywhere. 

I'm thinking of flashing the entire E6430_OC.bin published here. Do you think it is a good idea?  It has exactly the same length as my A11 dump so there should not be a problem right?

 

@Khenglish should quote on this, since he does have more experience in modding and reflashing BIOS parts.

 

Personally I don't think it is a good idea. If anything goes wrong you may brick your laptop.

Edited by timohour
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E6430_OC succesfully flashed! 

No issues.

No improvements either, except the ME is now upgraded to 8.1.30.1350.

The BIOS version now is A12.

XTU overclocking does not work.

This is a Windows 10 machine, so maybe that's why.

I will try with older version.

I would still like to have the dump bin file of the the A18 BIOS.

All this really is fascinating...

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15 hours ago, carrretero said:

I would still like to have the dump bin file of the the A18 BIOS.

 

Finally I managed to merge two dump bin files of the E6430 A18 BIOS (U52 and U53) found on BadCaps forum. 

Flashed it successfully and it works showing the correct version in BIOS setup (F2).

The computer, the  BIOS setup and Windows all run as usual, no issues.

Only abnormal thing I noticed so far is when I try to run official BIOS update (E6430A18.exe) it reports "A18 Installed (Dell System Latitude E6430)" and below  "NO MANIFEST ON SYSTEM" instead of  a description of the current BIOS. Seeing this I canceled the update. I guess it would not update or downgrade anyway and I also think if anyone else uses this A18 dump I am posting below he/she will probably not be able to downgrade/upgrade BIOS using Dell's BIOS executable packages anymore.

I am posting it in case someone might need it.

Here you can find the A18 unmodified dump - E6430A18.bin:

 

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AjaEcDdJEUMjxnVuUt1VTbbMuQEu

 

Here you can find the modified A18 dump with Flash Descriptor unlocked and BIOS lock removed - A18UNLCK.bin:

 

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AjaEcDdJEUMjxnRS0BTwUGwkeBlO

 

 

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On 11.12.2016 at 1:14 AM, timohour said:

It would be a good idea to include your system setup in your signature.

 

On our laptop TOLUD is set automatically if it detects an eGPU prior to boot. You could try and set it manually lower using UEFI variables to check if the problem persists.

 

Thanks, added the specs to my signature.

DIY eGPU Setup V1.3 shows TOLUD 2.74 GB so it should not be a problem. it also shows that both dGPU and eGPU have been assigned memory areas. I tried playing with different options, currently my startup bat does set Gen 1 link for eGPU, does eGPU compaction with dGPU ignored and then disables eGPU. With this eGPU takes pretty much the same memory areas normally used by dGPU.

 

if I try to initialize the eGPU in Setup V1.3 then addresses get somehow messed up.

 

Still no picture to external monitor and always Code 43 in Windows. I tried lspci -vvvv in Windows and it shows the following. For some reason it shows the memory areas as disabled. Could be because of code 43 or maybe is the problem itself?

 

04:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GP107 [GeForce GTX 1050 Ti] (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
        Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. [MSI] Device 8c96
        Control: I/O- Mem- BusMaster- SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR+ FastB2B- DisINTx-
        Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
        Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 18
        Region 0: Memory at f1000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [disabled]
        Region 1: Memory at e0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [disabled]
        Region 3: Memory at d8000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [disabled]
        Region 5: I/O ports at <unassigned> [disabled]
        Capabilities: [60] Power Management version 3
                Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1- D2- AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0-,D1-,D2-,D3hot-,D3cold-)
                Status: D0 NoSoftRst+ PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-
        Capabilities: [68] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
                Address: 0000000000000000  Data: 0000
        Capabilities: [78] Express (v2) Legacy Endpoint, MSI 00
                DevCap: MaxPayload 256 bytes, PhantFunc 0, Latency L0s unlimited, L1 <64us
                        ExtTag+ AttnBtn- AttnInd- PwrInd- RBE+ FLReset-
                DevCtl: Report errors: Correctable- Non-Fatal- Fatal- Unsupported-
                        RlxdOrd+ ExtTag+ PhantFunc- AuxPwr- NoSnoop+
                        MaxPayload 128 bytes, MaxReadReq 512 bytes
                DevSta: CorrErr+ UncorrErr- FatalErr- UnsuppReq+ AuxPwr- TransPend-
                LnkCap: Port #0, Speed 8GT/s, Width x16, ASPM L0s L1, Exit Latency L0s <512ns, L1 <4us
                        ClockPM+ Surprise- LLActRep- BwNot- ASPMOptComp+
                LnkCtl: ASPM L0s L1 Enabled; RCB 64 bytes Disabled- CommClk+
                        ExtSynch- ClockPM+ AutWidDis- BWInt- AutBWInt-
                LnkSta: Speed 2.5GT/s, Width x1, TrErr- Train- SlotClk+ DLActive- BWMgmt- ABWMgmt-
                DevCap2: Completion Timeout: Range AB, TimeoutDis+, LTR+, OBFF Via message
                DevCtl2: Completion Timeout: 50us to 50ms, TimeoutDis-, LTR-, OBFF Disabled
                LnkCtl2: Target Link Speed: 8GT/s, EnterCompliance- SpeedDis-
                         Transmit Margin: Normal Operating Range, EnterModifiedCompliance- ComplianceSOS-
                         Compliance De-emphasis: -6dB
                LnkSta2: Current De-emphasis Level: -6dB, EqualizationComplete-, EqualizationPhase1-
                         EqualizationPhase2-, EqualizationPhase3-, LinkEqualizationRequest-

 

Unfortunately I don't have any other power supply or GPU card to try.

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So I did the following mods on my E6430 i5-3320M iGPU 8GB laptop. Fist I went back to my original A11 BIOS to avoid too much mess.

 

I did the E6430UCME mod, I applied all the modifications to my original ME and reflashed. This should have enabled the Reference Clock slider in XTU but it did not. I tried two different XTU versions on Windows 10 1607. Is there something more I can do to make it work? 

 

Then I did the iGPU oveclock which works fine!

 

And for the 1-core and 2-core multiplier, if I understand it right,  I have these 2 UEFI variables 0x25 and 0x26 that I want to set to something higher that the stock x33 (hex value 0x21) and x31 (hex value 0x1F)  values. What surprised me is  that  both of these variables by default are set to 0 (checked using setup_var 0x25 - returns 0x00).

So should I set those variable's values to say x37 (hex 0x25), x35 (hex 0x23) respectively? I there something more to set in order to see Turbo Clock go beyond 3.3GHz?

And which version of XTU gives the best results?

 

 

 

 

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On 12/13/2016 at 3:08 PM, carrretero said:

So I did the following mods on my E6430 i5-3320M iGPU 8GB laptop. Fist I went back to my original A11 BIOS to avoid too much mess.

 

I did the E6430UCME mod, I applied all the modifications to my original ME and reflashed. This should have enabled the Reference Clock slider in XTU but it did not. I tried two different XTU versions on Windows 10 1607. Is there something more I can do to make it work? 

 

Then I did the iGPU oveclock which works fine!

 

And for the 1-core and 2-core multiplier, if I understand it right,  I have these 2 UEFI variables 0x25 and 0x26 that I want to set to something higher that the stock x33 (hex value 0x21) and x31 (hex value 0x1F)  values. What surprised me is  that  both of these variables by default are set to 0 (checked using setup_var 0x25 - returns 0x00).

So should I set those variable's values to say x37 (hex 0x25), x35 (hex 0x23) respectively? I there something more to set in order to see Turbo Clock go beyond 3.3GHz?

And which version of XTU gives the best results?

 

Nicely done with iGPU. How far did you go with the iGPU OC?

 

Unfortunately, fully unlocked multipliers come only with extreme chips (39X0XM) and partially unlocked with the upper 4C cpus (37X0QM, 38X0QM). Everything else can only take advantage of the ~5% you can achieve with the BCLK OC

 

 

Edited by timohour
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On ‎12‎/‎14‎/‎2016 at 3:01 PM, timohour said:

How far did you go with the iGPU OC?

 

 

I experimented a  bit with the multiplier, not so much with the voltages. 

This is a i5-3320M processor.

The iGPU multiplier on this CPU is set to 22 (0x16) by default, as is the 0x170 variable. The actual maximum iGPU frequency is the multiplier x 50Mhz. Thus the stock frequency on this one is 1100Mhz.

With unmodified voltage (0x171 variable set to its default 0x0) and multiplier set to anything higher than 29 (0x1D)  the system will hang immediately under the XTU 5 minutes stress test.

With multiplier set to 29 (0x1D) - 1450Mhz, first the stress test failed after a few seconds and the second test  hanged the system after ~3 minutes.

With multiplier set to 28 (0x1C) - 1400Mhz, first the stress test failed and the second one passed with maximum temperature of 83C.

 

With voltage modified (0x170 set to 0x05) the first test passed with multiplier set to 29 (0x1D) - 1450Mhz, with the temeprature's maximum of 82C .

 

So it looks like the voltage increments make the system more stable at higher frequencies and possibly the oveclocking could go much higher when paired with adequate voltage.

If I will have time for that I might investigate this volatge-frequency relation further.

For now it looks like, at default voltage, the system would tolerate the iGPU to be overclocked up to 1400Mhz, while 1350Mhz might be the highest stable setting.

 

 

Thanks for letting me know about the unlocked multipliers, I won't waste time on that anymore. Maybe one day I come across one of those i7s.

Anyway, great machine this E6430.

Edited by carrretero
The reply window did not work right in my Chrome, so now i'm editing it in Edge
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Just ordered my e6430 with an i7 3720QM off ebay for $320 CAD. About to order my EXP GDC BEAST 8.0 as well and I just wanted to check if anyone's tried connecting the eGPU through the expresscard slot and the x2 mPCIE slots and checked to see what kind of performance difference it caused. 

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Hello. Need help guys. I am stock. I have big problem with bios. I spend two days already. 

The deal is.

I have Dell Latitude E6530 (he is the same like E6430).

I had bios version A12. I need to upgrade bios to A13. I red that I need to downgrade to A03 than write A13. After successful downgrade I went to bios to switch SATA to AHCI. After apply this I got black screen. I wait 20 minutest and nothing changed. I turned OFF and On, and laptop didn't boot. I opened case to remove CMOS battery and I saw that battery cords are damaged. I live in small city. There is no Dell service. Local service found image of same laptop model and flashed it directly into bios chip. After this laptop boots normaly. But I can not upgrade or downgrade bios.

I have same serial. but other mac address.

Off bios runs well but after restart nothing happens. Under Windows 10 or DOS (pen drive) nothing works to write bios.

I downloaded FPT from Noob section and i have backups of large bin and small bin. With UEFI Tool I check large bin and all regions are read/write.     

Here are screen shots of OFF flash utility

 

How I can update my bios? I need this version (A13) for OS X. Only this version runs perfect with Mac OS.

PLS help me. There is no information in Internet about my problem ((((

Capture.PNG

Capture2.PNG

Edited by Oleksii_S
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4 hours ago, Oleksii_S said:

Hello. Need help guys. I am stock. I have big problem with bios. I spend two days already. 

The deal is.

I have Dell Latitude E6530 (he is the same like E6430).

I had bios version A12. I need to upgrade bios to A13. I red that I need to downgrade to A03 than write A13. After successful downgrade I went to bios to switch SATA to AHCI. After apply this I got black screen. I wait 20 minutest and nothing changed. I turned OFF and On, and laptop didn't boot. I opened case to remove CMOS battery and I saw that battery cords are damaged. I live in small city. There is no Dell service. Local service found image of same laptop model and flashed it directly into bios chip. After this laptop boots normaly. But I can not upgrade or downgrade bios.

I have same serial. but other mac address.

Off bios runs well but after restart nothing happens. Under Windows 10 or DOS (pen drive) nothing works to write bios.

I downloaded FPT from Noob section and i have backups of large bin and small bin. With UEFI Tool I check large bin and all regions are read/write.     

Here are screen shots of OFF flash utility

 

How I can update my bios? I need this version (A13) for OS X. Only this version runs perfect with Mac OS.

PLS help me. There is no information in Internet about my problem ((((

Capture.PNG

Capture2.PNG

 

 

I had a similar problem too with a 6530. The system bricks when going various large BIOS version number upgrades when crossing the v13 barrier. I had to revert twice with a programmer. I submitted this info to Dell with no response.

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