How do I flash bios to an Alienware M16 R1 AMD edition?

[Arc717]

I am trying to downgrade my bios on my Alienware so I can undervolt & overclock my CPU, and overclock my ram. I need to get to bios 1.2.2 for this. Dell doesn't allow downgrades, and their bios file is an exe compiled in c++, so I can't decompile it easily. I am wondering if I can flash the bios manually using a usb flasher. I would like to know if this is possible, and if so, where the bios chip would be. I know flashers are pretty cheap and the bios chip is 8-pin. There are two of these chips only when I open the back panel of the laptop. I'm not sure if there are any on the other side of the motherboard. Does anyone have schematics for the Alienware M16 R1 AMD edition board?

This ebay listing is my exact board (7745HX and RTX4060): https://www.ebay.com/itm/29643609440...3ABFBM6qrdhPFj

Any help is appreciated.

[harp]

It is not your model, but article explains needed steps to do bios flashing:
https://www.tachytelic.net/2021/06/r...-corrupt-bios/
How to repair a Dell Alienware Area 51 r2 with a corrupt BIOS

Bios ic is 8 pin with label who include 25xx in it. Often is marked with colored pen, a dot on ic package, but not rule, that means that have programed content.

[Arc717]

It is not your model, but article explains needed steps to do bios flashing:
https://www.tachytelic.net/2021/06/r...-corrupt-bios/
How to repair a Dell Alienware Area 51 r2 with a corrupt BIOS

Bios ic is 8 pin with label who include 25xx in it. Often is marked with colored pen, a dot on ic package, but not rule, that means that have programed content.

I can find a tutorial for that, I haven't been able to identify the bios chip. I'm not sure what side of the motherboard it's on, as I can only access the back side that has the ram slots easily. I took a few pics of the motherboard, not sure which of those 8 pin chips is the bios, if it's either of them. I need help identifying the actual bios chip itself.

[Aleixpaolo]

Hi , Arc. please can you post the second photo with more resolution? exactly this part please

[Arc717]

The first & third photos are close ups of the second one. They are pictures I took zooming in on chips that have 8 pins and could be the bios chip. The motherboard has a backside I cannot access unfortunately without taking apart the whole laptop. Its the side w/ the cpu & gpu. The side you see is the ram side. Idk if there are more 8 pin chips or not on that side. Was hoping to see the word "BIOS" next to the chip.

[Arc717]

That part you are looking at is in the first photo with better resolution btw, I forgot to mention that.

[Aleixpaolo]

In the motherboard look for a reference board number, this will help. the reference could be like that --> DAONJJMBAGO rev.G

[Aleixpaolo]

the two chips that are visible are not bios chip,unfortunately, for sure you will need to disassemble the pcb. Good luck and remember to discharge yourself of static electricity before disassembling.

[SMDFlea]

You should be able to downgrade the bios,then afterwards if you turn off capsule updates it shouldn`t update the bios through microsoft update

[Arc717]

I was afraid I've have to take the whole thing apart. I will look for a way to flash bios through software mods first. If that fails I'll take apart the laptop and look for that bios chip on the other side of the board and flash the bios manually that way.

Dell strictly blocks bios downgrades for Alienware. They slowly remove features like overclocking/undervolting so systems run slower and hotter, forcing people to buy new ones. It's their way of making people spend more money. BIOS downgrades are not allowed. I could not even force the system into BIOS recovery, it would just boot manually. Going into F12 boot menu also does not allow you to flash bios to an older version.

I looked into decompiling the bios .exe file, but it is written in c/c++ so decompiling that and recompiling it to remove the version check is not really tenable without a lot of programming expertise. I am asking around a few bios modding sites for help, if that fails I will have to flash it manually with a programmer.

[piernov]

Dell started disallowing undervolting on all their supported BIOS a while ago for security reasons. In case of security patches, Dell often disallows downgrade to previous versions once the BIOS has been upgraded. You interpret that however you want, but there are actual security implications and Dell thinks a lot about corporate customers that may worry about that.
There is a possible undervolting exploit for Intel CPU, none for AMD that I've seen, but either way there's not much reason to leave that door open, especially since it's a laptop and that these days CPUs run very close to their limits right out of the factory already.

I also personally think it's not very wise to mess with that on a laptop. Even on a desktop it does not make a lot of sense to mess with these settings anymore, and when you do it's extremely easy to cause the system to become unstable. And on a laptop it's much more likely to cause actual hardware damage.

Anyway, one thing that might work is using the BIOS Recovery mechanism, but I suspect this will also not allow downgrades on recent systems.

As for decompiling… that won't get you anywhere. BIOS upgrade is performed by the currently running BIOS itself (that's what the "capsule" mechanism is about), and the downgrade check is part of that. As for changing the version of the older BIOS, I doubt that's possible either as most of it is signed nowadays but I could be wrong.

[Arc717]

Fair point, though I don't think corporations are buying Alienwares. Also ram overclock is disabled. It is available in the earlier bios, but got taken away in the later ones. I don't think that's done for saftey, but to encourage spending on newer models.

You are right about BIOS recovery not working on newer systems. I cannot even enter bios recovery using the CTRL+ESC method while plugging in the power cord.

I don't want to harm my system, it's just a shame I can't speed the ram up. I may just leave it as it is, not sure it's worth it to bother trying. If I find a modded bios on a few other sites I was looking at, I will take it, if not then I guess I'll just leave it be.

[Keith1341]

By chance were you able to indentify the bios chip? I was trying to do the exact same thing you were, and downgrade the bios to 1.2.2. Except now I get the dreaded 2 red 2 blue power light blink, and the m16 will not post. I'm going to guess the bios chip needs to be reprogrammed now?

[Arc717]

I did not. I looked on the backside of the motherboard (the side with the ram. You see this side immediately after removing the back panel). There are only two 8-pin chips on this side that are candidates for being the bios chip, and neither of them are it. The bios chip is definitely on the other side of the motherboard. Flashing it will require a half hour of disassembly, and more of prep. I also learned some bios updates change the microcode of the cpu, and I have no idea how to flash that. I leaned those two things and stopped trying to flash bios after that, since I cannot flash cpu microcode bios to downgrade. I am trying to get bios version 1.13.1 for AMD unlocked right now to access hidden bios menus, but I'm not having much luck.

Can I ask, what did you do *specifically* to brick your M16?

Edit: If you post a pic of both sides of your motherboard in high resolution (and zoom in on the 8-pin chips) Aleixpaolo may be able to identify it. A serial number of your motherboard also may be somewhere on the side of the bios chip.

[piernov]

The microcode is not flashed to the CPU (or at least not that I've heard of yet), it's just an update that's loaded on-the-fly when the BIOS starts (the operating system can do it too). However what's also flashed when you update the BIOS is the EC, and a mismatch between BIOS and EC firmware can cause issues.

Also the SPI ROM that holds the BIOS is most likely this:

[Keith1341]

What I did was I loaded the BIOS_IMG.rcv 1.8.0 onto a USB and did the CTRL-ESC key combo while plugging in the machine. I then got to the screen where I could select update bios. I selected that, and it then proceeded to go to the screen where it shows its going to "upgrade" the bios from 1.10 (what it shipped with) to 1.8. The progress bar showed it progressing, and when it reached 100%, it said that it was successful. Then the system rebooted on its own, and here we are.

EDIT: I know I'm most likely going to have to completely disassemble the machine if there is any chance of saving it, which I am completely comfortable doing.

[Arc717]

I had my Alienware shipped to me with bios 1.10, but not knowing any better I immediately updated to bios 1.12. That CTRL+ESC key combo is blocked on bios 1.12, so do not go past 1.10 if you ever want to downgrade using that method.

What were you trying to go to 1.8 for? I know Smokeless_UMAF a usb bootable menu unlocks AMD bios, but it does not work past 1.2.2 from what I read. Is there anything specifically you wanted on 1.8.0?

[Arc717]

piernov Here are two closeup photos of that chip you think may be the bios chip. It is 8 pin but I think it may be too big and too flat to be the bios chip. Also, what would the EC look like? Is that some chip like the bios I would also need to flash separately?

I am a bit hesitant to do a full disassembly of the motherboard still. If you have the same model as me Keith1341 could you take your motherboard out and post a high resolution pic of the other side so we could locate the bios chip? I have M16r1 AMD 7745HX RTX4060.

[Keith1341]

I had my Alienware shipped to me with bios 1.10, but not knowing any better I immediately updated to bios 1.12. That CTRL+ESC key combo is blocked on bios 1.12, so do not go past 1.10 if you ever want to downgrade using that method.

What were you trying to go to 1.8 for? I know Smokeless_UMAF a usb bootable menu unlocks AMD bios, but it does not work past 1.2.2 from what I read. Is there anything specifically you wanted on 1.8.0?

I was trying to slowly work my way back to 1.2.2 so I could use the Smokeless_UMAF, just as you mentioned. I've got the 7845hx/4080 variant. Once I get it disassembled, I can add a pic of the other side of the mobo.

[Arc717]

Alright cool, yea we're basically trying to do the same thing on very similar motherboards. I'll go after you since I don't want to risk bricking my system and yours is already bricked.

Hopefully we can find the EC chip, since I think piernov is saying that may need to be flashed too, and I have no idea what it looks like.