Lenovo Y410p/Y510p BIOS mod to enable Nvidia eGPU support

[High_Voltage]

@camwhaler I think this should be possible, as the multiplexers are controlled from the PCH, and not from EC. Might have a look into that a bit later. However, why not consider modifying the hardware? Forcing that multiplexer into a desired state is a matter of desoldering a couple of resistors.

 

Edit: For example, removing RH161 and RH171 should force HDMI output to be permanently connected to Nvidia GPU.

Edited March 23, 2020 by High_Voltage

[camwhaler]

21 hours ago, High_Voltage said:

@camwhaler I think this should be possible, as the multiplexers are controlled from the PCH, and not from EC. Might have a look into that a bit later. However, why not consider modifying the hardware? Forcing that multiplexer into a desired state is a matter of desoldering a couple of resistors.

 

Edit: For example, removing RH161 and RH171 should force HDMI output to be permanently connected to Nvidia GPU.

Hm, that's an interesting idea, I'll probably end up trying that if other methods fail. As of right now, I'd prefer to not modify the hardware and see if it can be accomplished through software. Like maybe with a bios mod or possibly a DSDT patch  but I don't have any experience with the latter.

[Fuzzilla]

Hi all.

 

Thanks for the modded BIOS v3.08.  It works well on my Y510p 755m SLI.

I was wondering if there is a version that OC's the primary 755m to 1098MHz as SVL7's v3.05 does?  If not may I request one or a patcher if possible.

[Moeinf]

hi

can i use this mod to change my SN and UUID

 

after i changed my mainboard sn is invalid and UUID is ffff... in bios

 

thanks

 

[Klem]

30 minutes ago, Moeinf said:

hi

can i use this mod to change my SN and UUID

Hi!

No this bios mod can't help in your case.

[frankat2501]

Hello, I recently refreshed my Y510p and flashed this mod rom, Thank you!

 

And im wondered, can Y510p install 2x16gb ram =32gb at this moment after flashing this rom?

 

if so, i can get some upgrades to this amazing machine!

[tecnicaemail]

Thank you very much for the Mod I did as shown in the tutorial everything was perfect, do I need to update anything else?  Congratulations on Hack 100000 note

[High_Voltage]

@frankat2501, @tecnicaemail, you're both very welcome!

 

@frankat2501 not sure about the RAM. I guess it supports 32GB out of the box, but you should double-check. Whatever works with the stock BIOS should work with the modded one as well.

 

@tecnicaemail no, if it has installed correctly, you don't have to do anything else. Everything should just work now. Make sure not to touch the developer settings that got unlocked in the BIOS unless you REALLY know what you're doing!

[tecnicaemail]

@High_Voltage

 

Thanks for the greetings you are just genius my Lenovo already with Wifi 5Ghz was horrible the original Wifi. Simply sensational community here will do my best to help. Tks

[kingdew11]

Hello @High_Voltage, greetings from Malaysia.

 

First of all thanks a lot for the hard work. I have a y410p + ultrabay egpu running amd R7 260x, and I have successfully modded the bios and EC and everything works perfectly.

 

I just have a little hiccup here - just now I was trying to get my external monitor (connected to my egpu via HDMI) to run as primary. Because I want to run the bios screen on my ext monitor, in an attempt to turn my y410p into a desktop. 

 

and I set the primary display to PEG (or PCI, I can't remember for sure). Initially it was SG.

 

What happens now is that my ext monitor is now the PC screen (primary) but it would only turn on after booting into windows. So neither the Lenovo boot logo nor the bios appears on my ext monitor (they also don't appear on my original laptop screen anymore)

 

and now my original laptop screen would not work at all, even if I extend/duplicate the screen. Also I don't see my Intel Graphics on device manager anymore. 

 

My questions are:

1) Is it safe to cmos-reset this custom bios so that I can get my internal laptop screen to work again?

 

2) is there a way to get my bios to run on my ext monitor? 

 

thanks in advance!!

 

 

 

[High_Voltage]

Hi, @kingdew11!

 

First of all, I'm glad to hear everything's been working well for you so far, and you're enjoying the mod and the adapter!

 

Yes, it should be totally safe for you to do a CMOS reset, and it should in theory return the setting you've changed into default state which will fix your issue. In case this doesn't work for whatever reason (and it really should work!), don't panic as there's always the recovery flash option. Also, if I remember correctly how the system works, you might get an image on the internal monitor if you insert the original ultrabay GPU (in case you still have it). The system will enter SLI mode which will connect the screen to the internal Nvidia GPU rather than Intel graphics.

 

This laptop has a very complicated screen switching system. Both the internal screen and the HDMI/VGA ports are connected through multiplexers which can select either Intel or Nvidia chip as video source. In non-SLI mode (when Ultrabay is empty or when a desktop eGPU is installed via adapter), the screen and the outputs are connected to Intel's chip in order to enable Optimus technology. In Optimus, frames processed by Nvidia GPU are sent back through PCIe to Intel's graphics in order to be displayed. This by the way is also what allows people to get eGPU-accelerated graphics looped back to their laptop's internal screen (only works with Nvidia).

 

Now, when the original Ultrabay GPU is installed, the multiplexers are both switched to source from internal Nvidia chip, as SLI isn't compatible with Optimus. Intel's graphics gets completely disabled, and the two GPUs get linked into SLI. What I think you've got happening right now is that you've switched your primary display to internal Nvidia chip, while multiplexers are connecting all screens to Intel's one.

 

As for your second question, I'm not sure if there's an easy way to do this, or whether it's possible at all. Some laptops will start showing boot process on an external screen by default if their main screen is physically disconnected, but from my experience with y510p, this platform doesn't do that. It could be because of this multiplexed system that the signal actually tries to appear on some HDMI or somewhere but is getting lost because of incorrect configuration... Or could be that the thing just doesn't do it at all.

 

If what you want is to get the BIOS to appear on eGPU outputs, one thing to try would be to physically disable both the Intel graphics and the internal Nvidia chip, but even then it's not at all guaranteed to work.

[kingdew11]

18 hours ago, High_Voltage said:

Hi, @kingdew11!

 

First of all, I'm glad to hear everything's been working well for you so far, and you're enjoying the mod and the adapter!

 

Yes, it should be totally safe for you to do a CMOS reset, and it should in theory return the setting you've changed into default state which will fix your issue. In case this doesn't work for whatever reason (and it really should work!), don't panic as there's always the recovery flash option. Also, if I remember correctly how the system works, you might get an image on the internal monitor if you insert the original ultrabay GPU (in case you still have it). The system will enter SLI mode which will connect the screen to the internal Nvidia GPU rather than Intel graphics.

 

This laptop has a very complicated screen switching system. Both the internal screen and the HDMI/VGA ports are connected through multiplexers which can select either Intel or Nvidia chip as video source. In non-SLI mode (when Ultrabay is empty or when a desktop eGPU is installed via adapter), the screen and the outputs are connected to Intel's chip in order to enable Optimus technology. In Optimus, frames processed by Nvidia GPU are sent back through PCIe to Intel's graphics in order to be displayed. This by the way is also what allows people to get eGPU-accelerated graphics looped back to their laptop's internal screen (only works with Nvidia).

 

Now, when the original Ultrabay GPU is installed, the multiplexers are both switched to source from internal Nvidia chip, as SLI isn't compatible with Optimus. Intel's graphics gets completely disabled, and the two GPUs get linked into SLI. What I think you've got happening right now is that you've switched your primary display to internal Nvidia chip, while multiplexers are connecting all screens to Intel's one.

 

As for your second question, I'm not sure if there's an easy way to do this, or whether it's possible at all. Some laptops will start showing boot process on an external screen by default if their main screen is physically disconnected, but from my experience with y510p, this platform doesn't do that. It could be because of this multiplexed system that the signal actually tries to appear on some HDMI or somewhere but is getting lost because of incorrect configuration... Or could be that the thing just doesn't do it at all.

 

If what you want is to get the BIOS to appear on eGPU outputs, one thing to try would be to physically disable both the Intel graphics and the internal Nvidia chip, but even then it's not at all guaranteed to work.

Hello thank you so much for the prompt reply!

Attempt to reset bios failed: 
 

I removed the backcase just to find that the CMOS is soldered - then i found another way to reset:-

Under the ram slots I found the JCMOS2 jumpers (see https://imgur.com/P7isA1O). This picture is found on other forums (for y510p) - I have the same jumpers, except that my JME1 is under JCMOS2 instead of side by side. 

So i shorted the two tabs of JCMOS2 using a wire but nothing happened - bios did not reset. I did this while powered off and without laptop battery (CMOS battery still in tact). 

I saw in svl7's post, one of the modders did reset his bios using this jumping method - he did this while the computer was powered on though (see 9th comment by p00pyjoel https://www.techinferno.com/index.php?/forums/topic/3546-lenovo-y410p-y510p-unlocked-bios-wlan-whitelist-mod-vbios-mod/&page=54)

I would try this method again on AC power but if that doesn't work then i will desolder and resolder the CMOS.

About the recovery flash option: 

By this do you mean the Win+R method you included in the first page?

But now that my video does not get output onto my internal screen anymore (not even Lenovo boot logo) would this Win+R method still work?

and if it works, to which point will I be reverted to - the stock 3.08 or stock 2.07 - or would i remain on this modded bios? 

And yea it seems like there is no way to completely turn this laptop into a desktop - I don't really meddle with the bios options but later on when i swap to an NVIDIA card I'll need the internal screen to work to setup the card (install drivers etc.)

I'm only using this AMD temporarily until 2070super gets closer to MSRP hahaha - which is the whole point of this bios mod. 

Finally thanks again for this mod - I was looking for donation links so that i can get you a beer or something just to realise they are nowhere to be found! (please guide me to one if you have one)

Your effort in taking time to develop this and replying to almost every single comment really cannot be justified with words of thanks alone man. 


 

[High_Voltage]

@kingdew11 Hi and sorry to hear that BIOS reset didn't work for you. I don't remember whether the jumpers work as intended on this model. You should definitely try shorting JME1 as well before you do anything else, just to be sure. All of this with all power sources removed, of course.

 

Finally, if this too doesn't work, you can short the CMOS battery terminals for a second instead of desoldering it. Nothing bad will happen to it if you only do this momentarily.

 

Then yes, the recovery flash function I was referring to is the Win+R thing. It will work even if BIOS image is corrupted which prevents PC from turning on at all. In your case everything works fine, so it should work like a charm. By the end of the recovery you'll find yourself with a stock BIOS of whatever version the recovery file was. I think it was 2.07. Then you can update to latest original image or apply the mod again.

 

In a very unlikely event that even this doesn't work, there's always an option of reflashing BIOS using a programmer. You can usually pick up a kit for around $10, and I could instruct you how to perform the flash. Useful thing to keep around anyway!

 

I still find it very surprising that the reset didn't help, though (provided the jumper actually did reset the other settings). Not much is known about these extra settings and that's why people are highly recommended against messing with them, but I would be really surprised if some of them are somehow stored separately to others in some non-volatile memory.

 

Good luck with getting your hands on a 2070S, by the way! Now that the crypto is crashing, the market should hopefully get much better soon.

 

What about desktop conversion, in theory, if you had a spare displayport cable laying around that you didn't mind cutting in half, you could solder it to the internal screen connector and get an output this way, but I've never tried that myself. I could guide you on what to do but note that it'll require some good soldering skills.

 

Finally, thanks a lot, but no need for donations. The fact that everyone enjoys it and finds it useful is rewarding enough on its own. And after all, my contribution isn't as big as it seems: I essentially just modded the Svl7's mod to include an extra patch for Nvidia, everything else is basically theirs, including the extra settings unlock, WIFI whitelist removal, and most importantly, the clever flashing method that allows to bypass BIOS signature check.

[kingdew11]

16 hours ago, High_Voltage said:

@kingdew11 Hi and sorry to hear that BIOS reset didn't work for you. I don't remember whether the jumpers work as intended on this model. You should definitely try shorting JME1 as well before you do anything else, just to be sure. All of this with all power sources removed, of course.

 

Finally, if this too doesn't work, you can short the CMOS battery terminals for a second instead of desoldering it. Nothing bad will happen to it if you only do this momentarily.

 

Then yes, the recovery flash function I was referring to is the Win+R thing. It will work even if BIOS image is corrupted which prevents PC from turning on at all. In your case everything works fine, so it should work like a charm. By the end of the recovery you'll find yourself with a stock BIOS of whatever version the recovery file was. I think it was 2.07. Then you can update to latest original image or apply the mod again.

 

In a very unlikely event that even this doesn't work, there's always an option of reflashing BIOS using a programmer. You can usually pick up a kit for around $10, and I could instruct you how to perform the flash. Useful thing to keep around anyway!

 

I still find it very surprising that the reset didn't help, though (provided the jumper actually did reset the other settings). Not much is known about these extra settings and that's why people are highly recommended against messing with them, but I would be really surprised if some of them are somehow stored separately to others in some non-volatile memory.

 

Good luck with getting your hands on a 2070S, by the way! Now that the crypto is crashing, the market should hopefully get much better soon.

 

What about desktop conversion, in theory, if you had a spare displayport cable laying around that you didn't mind cutting in half, you could solder it to the internal screen connector and get an output this way, but I've never tried that myself. I could guide you on what to do but note that it'll require some good soldering skills.

 

Finally, thanks a lot, but no need for donations. The fact that everyone enjoys it and finds it useful is rewarding enough on its own. And after all, my contribution isn't as big as it seems: I essentially just modded the Svl7's mod to include an extra patch for Nvidia, everything else is basically theirs, including the extra settings unlock, WIFI whitelist removal, and most importantly, the clever flashing method that allows to bypass BIOS signature check.

Dear good sir,

Soldering a DP cable to the original video output on the motherboard sounds interesting - but would tapping each individual wires on the original wire harness be easier?
However I think the pin-outs of this socket is nowhere to be found and also we do not know what is the bandwidth limit of this video output socket -> could well be limited to 1080p 120Hz (as i'm using a 1080p 165Hz monitor)

Anyways, a little update on today's failed attempts:-

Desoldering the CMOS battery
 

So I desoldered both the terminals of the CMOS battery, then reconnected the power button then held the power button for a good while - few minutes long. This was done without laptop battery and without AC power. 

Nothing happened. A little digging on the forum shows that others who bricked their bios also similarly desoldered the CMOS battery with no success, and it is suggested that CMOS memory is also stored some place else on the motherboard, and would not get deleted even when we remove the CMOS battery. 

Win+R

 

I proceeded with this recovery method. 

- AC power off, battery removed
- FreeDOS USB into the port nearest to HDMI
- Held down Win+R, connect AC > AC power on > (still holding down Win+R) Power button On
- I think the laptop proceeded to boot to windows (which i could not see)
- What could have I possibly done wrong here? I used the same exact FreeDOS USB that i created to flash this modded bios (it was untouched since flashing the bios which was about a week ago)
- Should i insert the battery before pressing power ON (while holding down Win+R)? 
- Could it be that lenovo y410p has a different key combination than y510p? 
- Could it be that - now that my laptop is posting normally, it just boots to windows without booting through the FreeDOS even when Win+R was held down?
- FYI my hard drive containing my windows is in MBR partition so my windows was installed through legacy mode - not UEFI, and it should have boot priority over the USB even when the system is set to Legacy Support, SecureBoot Off, Support Other OS. 
- When i first flash this modded bios, i had to press F10 to get into boot manager to select the FreeDOS USB or else it would just boot into windows

Interestingly enough I tried shorting the two tabs of JCMOS2 again, this time while holding down power button to discharge (without AC, without laptop battery)
and after that i got into a bootloop, fortunately laptop boots normally again when i removed the rams and reinserted them (so the bootloop was probably caused by rams not properly plugged in)

Other steps

 

Fortunately after all these hassle I can still boot normally into windows and use my pc via the ext monitor connected to my AMD eGPU.

I can confirm that it was not my internal screen that was not working because the integrated graphics still did not show up in my device manager - which means that bios settings are still not reset.

Unfortunately I never have the SLI Ultrabay GPU.

I currently have two things in mind:

1) Now that I can still boot into Windows normally, should i just fire up the stock bios .exe file to flash the stock v3.08 bios then proceed from there?

I am worried that while flashing the bios I'd need to press certain keys like typing certain confirmation letter like "Y" - which I can not see for now.

2) Do you still have with you the y510p with this modded bios by any chance? If so can you take photos of your bios screen so that i can navigate blindly to "restore to default"?
I think this is a safer way. 

 

[kingdew11]

@High_Voltage GOOD NEWS!

Turns out it's as easy as executing the stock v3.08 exe file! my problem is solved and now laptop screen and integrated graphics are on.

I AM BACK TO STOCK 3.08!

However i noticed on the top right corner of my BIOS screen it says Rev 3.7. 

Does that mean my EC remains the modded EC? 

So if I were to re-mod my bios I only have to flash the BIOS and Skip the EC? Or just re-flashing the EC to be safe?

THANK GODD

[High_Voltage]

@kingdew11 Hi! First of all, really glad to hear that you've managed to fix the issue after all!

 

I was also thinking to offer you to just run the stock flasher from Windows, but figured it shouldn't work as by touching the jumper (and then even resoldering the CMOS battery) you have surely reset BIOS settings, and the default setting for "Allow BIOS flash back" is "Disabled". Because the mod is already based on the latest BIOS version for this PC, this setting should have prevented you from flashing any earlier version or the same version of BIOS. So, this means that either you didn't actually reset your BIOS settings even after all these manipulations, or there is something else that I'm missing out.

 

Hmm, now that I think of it, I remember that if BIOS flash back is disabled, it should reboot into flasher's UEFI executable, but then refuse to actually flash and just say the flash back is disabled. Yet somehow, it seems to have flashed anyway... Just checked my own guide from the first page again and it says you can just flash stock 3.08 if you don't like the mod, without mentioning that you have to change the option. So maybe I've changed the default setting for flash back to "enabled" because it was too annoying to change it every time when flashing different versions during developing. What a lucky coincidence!

 

As for Win+R, sounds like something definitely went wrong. The reason I recommend using a USB drive with an LED in the original guide is that you can figure out whether the PC is actively reading the drive while getting firmware files from it for recovery flash. This way you can always tell if it's doing the thing or not.

 

The recovery flash system itself doesn't rely on booting anything from USB flash, by the way. It's much more primitive and works on a hardware level (could be managed by the EC I suspect). It has to be that way in order to be able to fix a corrupted BIOS image. How it works is that here's a small file among others on the flash drive called Yx01.bin, unrelated to DOS or the mod files or anything. This is a specifically-formatted and specifically-named file containing full BIOS dump that the recovery mode is going to look for in the root of any connected drives and flash its contents into the BIOS.

 

It might be that Y410p would look for a file with a different name, or that the key combination for entering recovery mode would be different, but I have no idea how this could be possible as both Y510p and Y410p share identical BIOS and EC firmwares. Instead, it probably just didn't like your flash drive, or it has to be a different USB port for Y410p specifically...

 

OK, anyway, you're thankfully back on stock 3.08 now. The revision number doesn't really mean anything from what I remember. You can check both BIOS and EC versions listed next to each other on the main BIOS screen. There should be no problem for you now to apply the mod again, and even if the EC version did indeed not change, I'd flash it again anyway just to be sure.

 

What about modding an external screen in place of laptop's monitor, yes, reuisng the monitor cable shouldn't be a problem. However, the stock screen uses LVDS interface rather than embedded displayport (eDP) (which it gets from eDP to LVDS converter chip), although original eDP signals are also present on the connector for some reason. I suspect that the converter chip might have to be disabled or desoldered in order to use those, though. The pinout of the connector can be found within the full laptop's schematic on page 35, you can get it here. What you could do is buy a spare screen cable (like $5 on Aliexpress), take it apart and then using a needle you can remove metal contacts with wires from their original locations and put them where eDP contacts are instead, then splice a displayport cable to these wires. IMHO sounds like a fun little project to try! And I'm sure it'll handle a high refresh rate monitor no problem, displayport is displayport after all...

 

EDIT: Displayport on that connector has 2 lanes, and if I'm right and it's Displayport v1.2, you should be able to get enough bandwidth for 1080p@144Hz at least. I wonder how one would go about splicing this into a 4-lane DP cable, though. I guess you can just leave the extra two lanes unconnected and it should still work.

Edited July 16, 2021 by High_Voltage

[kingdew11]

@High_Voltage

Sorry for the late reply - just recovered from some post-vaccination side effects!

So a couple hours ago I just re-flashed this modded bios without any complications and yeah backflash was enabled by default - thanks for this brilliant move!!

However I do realise that my AMD driver crashes (which causes game crashes) more often when I am on the modded bios as compared to stock 3.08 (because i still get crashes on stock bios just less frequent like twice in 10hours - and I was crashing a few times each hour when on the modded bios) 

I do not know whether there is direct correlation or not, or the crashes are purely by chance - It could be other causes - maybe the lenovo ultrabay adapter (LUA) isn't tightly secured (as I had to disassemble and reassemble everything when modding bios) or it could be this Sapphire R7 260x's inherent issue. 

This isn't a very big issue for me but just out of curiosity, I don't suppose this mod is only Nvidia-stable and not AMD-stable, right? To my understanding this modded bios only added an Nvidia Patch, and not replacing stuffs - so that should not be the case

I have tried:
- different psus - currently upgraded to a Corsair RM750
- different amd drivers
- UMA only/discrete graphics
- enable/disable intel graphics
- underclocking w Afterburner

Unfortunately I do not currently have another GPU to test it out - but I am guessing this is probably R7 260X's problem (from what i googled). 

_______


As for the external monitor - I went through the schematics just to find that the multiplexers are really complex! Haha

the connector gets LVDS signal from the PS8625 converter chip (page 34) but also outputs eDP to someplace - you were suggesting I harvest the eDP signals here, right? But I do not know where do these signals originally go to hmm

and PS8625 also has eDP inputs (probably from the chip on page 38 and in turn from CPU on page 8) and eDP outputs. 

I just do not get why does my connector outputs eDP signals and not sure if I can just use these eDP signals to directly power my monitor - considering that what get send to my internal LCD are the LVDS signals. 

I was thinking either -
a) harvesting eDP signals from PS8625  - but would need very careful soldering; or 
b) from the chip on page 38; or
c) to use an LVDS to HDMI/DP converter - but just to realise that the LVDS pinouts are not the generic 30pins LVDS -
so I have to find out the what each LVDS pins do and match them to an HDMI/DP
unfortunately, they are again labelled with non-generic names - only "LVDS A1 NVS", LVDS B1 NVS" etc - which isn't helpful haha.

It seems that this project would not be as easy as Ive previously thought! 

 

[High_Voltage]

Hi, @kingdew11!

 

Good thing you're feeling better!

 

Can't say anything definite regarding the crashes. I don't think anyone has tested this mod extensively with an AMD card before, mostly because AMD card users don't need the mod at all in the first place. Still, as you have guessed, I can't imagine what part of the mod could be the reason. It's definitely not one of the changes I made for Nvidia compatibility (can describe in more detail what exactly I've done there if you're interested). Might be some of the Svl7's stuff, but still very unlikely.

 

If I were you, I'd flash back and forth between the stock v3.08 and the mod several times to make sure there is a correlation. Alternatively, try to reassemble your hardware setup, ensuring to blow some compressed air in all of the connectors and plugging-unplugging them several times, and see if this affects the frequency of the crashes. Trying a clean Windows install might also be worth trying.

 

Finally, if the mod is indeed causing more crashes, you could maybe just stick to the stock BIOS until you manage to get a better card. Or, try Svl7's original mod if you have an aftermarket WIFI card for example. (will also be interesting to see whether Svl7's mod is causing more frequent crashes too)

 

What about LVDS and eDP modification, as you have correctly discovered, the internal panel connector (JLVDS1) has both LVDS and eDP signals. The panel, however, only uses LVDS, and eDP is left unconnected. I suppose it was routed there to allow manufacturer to use different panels.

 

If you look at the plastic plug on the panel's cable, you'll see the spots corresponding to eDP pins don't have any wires in them. But wires and their tiny crimped contacts in such connectors can be taken out using a small needle, so you could in theory obtain a sacrificial spare panel cable from Aliexpress and reassemble it to connect to eDP pins that we need.

 

Now, the eDP signal coming to those contacts is in theory the same one that goes to the PS8625 chip. But I believe that two things can't be plugged in the same eDP at the same time. So, in the end you might end up having to desolder the PS8625, for example.

 

Now, let's trace the eDP starting from the connector. We start with EDP_sthsth_CON, which connect to EDP_sthsth_C through a group of capacitors CT30-CT35 on Page 34. You will first of all need to check if these are installed. Now, the EDP_sthsth_C is the main source signal which comes directly out of multiplexer on Page 38. At the same time, EDP_sthsth_C connects to EDP_sthsth through another group of capacitors on Page 34 (CT14-CT19), and this EDP_sthsth goes to our PS8625.

 

So, my theory is that you'll find CT30-CT35 not installed, and what you'll have to do is to remove CT14-CT19 and install them in CT30-CT35 locations. This will simultaneously enable eDP on panel connector and disable eDP supplied to LVDS chip. Alternatively, in case both groups of capacitors are present, you'll just have to desolder CT14-CT19 to ensure eDP isn't going to be connected to two signal sinks at the same time. Finally, who knows, maybe leaving the PS8625 connected won't hurt (as long as the LVDS panel isn't plugged in, otherwise you'd get EDID conflict), and all you have to do is to wire up a spare connector with wires matching eDP pins.

 

EDIT: By the way, to locate components on the PCB easier, you can download a boardview file. Just search for "Lenovo Y410p boardview", I just tried and the first couple of results let me get a file without registration. Now, this particular one is in .tvw format, so you'll have to "obtain" a copy of Tebo ICT View to open it.

Edited July 25, 2021 by High_Voltage

[kingdew11]

2 hours ago, High_Voltage said:

Hi, @kingdew11!

 

Good thing you're feeling better!

 

Can't say anything definite regarding the crashes. I don't think anyone has tested this mod extensively with an AMD card before, mostly because AMD card users don't need the mod at all in the first place. Still, as you have guessed, I can't imagine what part of the mod could be the reason. It's definitely not one of the changes I made for Nvidia compatibility (can describe in more detail what exactly I've done there if you're interested). Might be some of the Svl7's stuff, but still very unlikely.

 

If I were you, I'd flash back and forth between the stock v3.08 and the mod several times to make sure there is a correlation. Alternatively, try to reassemble your hardware setup, ensuring to blow some compressed air in all of the connectors and plugging-unplugging them several times, and see if this affects the frequency of the crashes. Trying a clean Windows install might also be worth trying.

 

Finally, if the mod is indeed causing more crashes, you could maybe just stick to the stock BIOS until you manage to get a better card. Or, try Svl7's original mod if you have an aftermarket WIFI card for example. (will also be interesting to see whether Svl7's mod is causing more frequent crashes too)

 

What about LVDS and eDP modification, as you have correctly discovered, the internal panel connector (JLVDS1) has both LVDS and eDP signals. The panel, however, only uses LVDS, and eDP is left unconnected. I suppose it was routed there to allow manufacturer to use different panels.

 

If you look at the plastic plug on the panel's cable, you'll see the spots corresponding to eDP pins don't have any wires in them. But wires and their tiny crimped contacts in such connectors can be taken out using a small needle, so you could in theory obtain a sacrificial spare panel cable from Aliexpress and reassemble it to connect to eDP pins that we need.

 

Now, the eDP signal coming to those contacts is in theory the same one that goes to the PS8625 chip. But I believe that two things can't be plugged in the same eDP at the same time. So, in the end you might end up having to desolder the PS8625, for example.

 

Now, let's trace the eDP starting from the connector. We start with EDP_sthsth_CON, which connect to EDP_sthsth_C through a group of capacitors CT30-CT35 on Page 34. You will first of all need to check if these are installed. Now, the EDP_sthsth_C is the main source signal which comes directly out of multiplexer on Page 38. At the same time, EDP_sthsth_C connects to EDP_sthsth through another group of capacitors on Page 34 (CT14-CT19), and this EDP_sthsth goes to our PS8625.

 

So, my theory is that you'll find CT30-CT35 not installed, and what you'll have to do is to remove CT14-CT19 and install them in CT30-CT35 locations. This will simultaneously enable eDP on panel connector and disable eDP supplied to LVDS chip. Alternatively, in case both groups of capacitors are present, you'll just have to desolder CT14-CT19 to ensure eDP isn't going to be connected to two signal sinks at the same time. Finally, who knows, maybe leaving the PS8625 connected won't hurt (as long as the LVDS panel isn't plugged in, otherwise you'd get EDID conflict), and all you have to do is to wire up a spare connector with wires matching eDP pins.

 

EDIT: By the way, to locate components on the PCB easier, you can download a boardview file. Just search for "Lenovo Y410p boardview", I just tried and the first couple of results let me get a file without registration. Now, this particular one is in .tvw format, so you'll have to "obtain" a copy of Tebo ICT View to open it.

 

Yeah would definitely do some light cleaning and also some mountings to ensure the LUA is well connected. For the eGPU and bios - since everything is stable-ish now I'd stay as it is till I get my hands on another gpu - before trying other methods. 

 

The monitor: thanks for the detailed explanation man! Now I get it - multiplexer eDP signals split into two - one to the PS8625 converter through capacitor 14-19, the other to the JLVDS1 connector through capacitor 30-35. 

 

I also noticed the same for eDP HPD from multiplexer - splits into two - one directly to PS8625 and the other to JLVDS1 through a resistor (shown at the bottom of pg. 34). 

 

Not sure what is the resistor for and not sure if this is important - perhaps to sync the voltage to something else? Would only find out with experimentation. 

 

If I succeed in changing the signal path from multiplexer-LVDS to multiplexer-eDP panel connector, I'd then need TX0 +-, TX1 +-, HPD, +5V and a ground. A total of 7 wires, right?

 

I guess my biggest challenge with this is the soldering and desoldering part to remove PS8625 and/or remove/replace the capacitors. Would YouTube some how-to guides cause I've never done such tiny solderings haha. 

 

Oh and yeah, by any chance do you have any idea what does eDP Aux do? Since we're probably leaving it out. 

[High_Voltage]

@kingdew11 Hm, well spotted on the eDP HPD! This is actually a hot plug detect pin, we might not even need it depending on what we do. That resistor is specified as zero Ohms, so basically a jumper.

 

What about what pins we need, I think yeah, it's TX0+-, TX1+-, HPD (maybe), and AUX+- (EDIT: and ground, of course). Pretty sure any kind of power isn't necessary. AUX diff-pair, however, is. I'm pretty sure it is used to read out the EDID information from the screen (stuff like supported resolutions, refresh rates, etc.).

 

Soldering is going to be tricky. I'd suggest you find some scrap boards to practice with first. Get yourself some good 60/40 solder (with lead), I'd recommend 0.5mm diameter, with rosin core, or any flux core you can get, just not fluxless. Factory-made PCBs are all soldered with lead-free solder nowadays, which has higher melting temperature. So, for desoldering stuff like capacitors, it is always a good idea to dilute existing solder on the pads with some 60/40 stuff, it'll melt easier.

 

Also, for desoldering chips, you can get a hot air soldering gun, like one of those no-name "858D" stations, they're incredibly cheap! It'll also work well for small individual components if you're not confident enough with soldering iron or don't have a good enough one.

Edited July 25, 2021 by High_Voltage

[kingdew11]

@High_Voltage

 

Thank you so much!

 

Honestly I did not even expect you to reply to this old thread when I first posted. Was just trying my luck!

 

Thank you for all the tips and guidance all along. Will keep you posted once I attempt this little project in the future. 

 

You da champ!! 

[High_Voltage]

@kingdew11 No worries at all! I should also thank you for this interesting discussion!

 

I've signed up for email alerts for this thread when I started it, and even now it doesn't feel like a chore at all to reply and help people from time to time. Quite on the contrary, really happy to see activity here despite the platform being so old.

 

As for your project, good luck, and keep us updated! You might even want to start a separate thread about it, but I'd appreciate if you mentioned it here as well.

 

P.S. I just realised today that there could be a simpler method to let you get rid of the internal screen. If we assume that that BIOS setting you changed really switched the startup graphics to Nvidia (while multiplexers connect everything to Intel), you could just force the HDMI port multiplexer (PS8271 on Page 37) to stay permanently in Nvidia mode, which could be accomplished by removing just 2 resistor jumpers (RH161 and RH171 on Page 19).

[3.8jake]

I did the 3.08  bios mod no issues.  I tried in the cpu overclocking menu to change base voltage offset from 0 + to 50 - and  I have been unable to get this to boot ever since.  I tried different ram, holding win+r with just the crisis bios on the root of a fat formatted 4gb drive.  I also tried fn+r fn+b waiting about a min to release.  I tried holding f2 when powering on for about 7 seconds then 9  f9 f10 no luck.  I tried shorting the cmos 2 pins under the ram every way I can think of and no luck.  I also put in different ram that was different size and vendor (4gb vs 8gb) no luck.  I just get a blank screen with the keyboard backlight on.  I also removed the expansion bay, the ssd, and the wifi adapter.

[High_Voltage]

@3.8jake, strange, you're the second person already reporting that the Win+R recovery doesn't work...

 

Does the flash drive you're using have an LED light? Do you see any kind of read activity indicated by the LED blinking? Do you insert the drive into the correct USB port?

 

Also, what size USB drive are you using? If it's one of the new high-capacity ones, maybe you could try something older, like 4 - 8GB range?

[3.8jake]

@High_VoltageI tried using the 4gb thumbdrive that I used to program the bios mod as the recovery and another 4 gb drive that was formatted as fat and with only the recovery bios.  Both drives have activity lights.  Does it matter which windows key you need to press?  I put the drives in the usb 3.0 port closest to the HDMI output.

Edited January 16, 2022 by 3.8jake