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carrretero

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carrretero last won the day on December 9 2016

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  1. 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.
  2. 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?
  3. 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
  4. 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...
  5. 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?
  6. 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?
  7. My BIOS version is A11 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!
  8. 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.
  9. 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.
  10. Hello everyone, I am new here and I have a question. I live in Spain. I recently bought an E6430 via eBay from the USA. It works great, however I am unable to update the BIOS from the A11 to the latest A18, or any other version. I tried everything I could think of including Flashing from DOS, flashing with Admin privileges, resetting the BIOS by removing the CMOS battery... Everytime it only reboots with no sign of even trying to update. The E6430A18.exe works correctly under both DOS and Win10 - prepares the package for flashing and reboots automatically and then nothing - only another normal restart. Asked at the Dell Community Forum, got an answer from a Dell Technician saying he would not recommend updating BIOS on a machine that is out of warranty (?!) as there is a risk of bricking the system which didn't really answer my question and there was no other input. I came across this page that actually looks very interesting and I will later have a closer look but first I would like to have this resolved. Also I was trying to find out whether msata SSD could be used in the empty 1/2 mini slot under the WWAN slot, I did not get a definitive answer to that on the Dell Forum either. If this is not the right place to ask I apologize, but it actually looks like the right one where people might have answers to these questions. Thanks in advance for any kind of help. Regards
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