Dell XPS 15 9575 2-in-1 LA-F211P rev 1.0

[hoaca388]

Re: Dell XPS 15 9575 2-in-1 LA-F211P rev 1.0

Got a Dell XPS 15 9575 (LA-F211P) brought in that apparently died after a BIOS update. Unit is pretty lifeless, although the rails etc all look to be up, so yeh, looks like corrupted BIOS.

I've taken the BIOS chip off and dumped it, which I've attached here. Perhaps the guru's here could cast their eye over it overnight? Not sure how to rebuild it just yet with Dell's recovery BIOS.

I haven't tried any of the donors here just yet, as it's a PITA pulling out and putting this board back in.

S/Tag is 8TCK5Q2, E/Code is 19188873722.

Dell XPS 15 9575 2-in-1

[reformatt]

Re: Dell XPS 15 9575 2-in-1 LA-F211P rev 1.0

Still no life. I did do some buzzing around on the board, and found what I think is the 2nd MOSFET shorted (don't have a schematic but its PQ113). I did replace but still lifeless. My assumption is that this FET failed during the customers update. Apparently they had some battery issue and were on phone to Dell (and they asked to update the damn thing which is when it failed).

It has a MEC5105 EC in it, and judging by it's behaviour I think the original BIOS is ok, but the EC needs to be reprogrammed. Can't find any info on it on whether it needs programming or not.

[reformatt]

Re: Dell XPS 15 9575 2-in-1 LA-F211P rev 1.0

Ok it's working with this BIOS https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showpo...37&postcount=9

However, when I go to update it from Dell's most recent update, it starts updating the EC code of the BIOS, and shuts down around 77% of the way through. Don't know if this is a bug in the update, or a crook EEPROM. Will try Dell's earlier BIOS updates.

UEFI tool does show the EC region so the MEC gets it from the main BIOS chip and doesn't need seperate programming.

[reformatt]

Re: Dell XPS 15 9575 2-in-1 LA-F211P rev 1.0

So the donor BIOS was V1.7.1 with EC V1.0.36. The V1.20 update has EC V1.0.42. This is in region 1700000h - 1750000h.

So I tried an earlier version V1.14 and that went through ok. I also noticed that there are 2 USB PD controllers flashed in the process. When the donor BIOS was originally tried, the WIFI adaptor was not present and USB devices weren't working on the daughter board on the RHS. After a successful flash, that's all working again. Tried up to V1.19 and went ok.

Seems the V1.20 BIOS update from Dell has a bug. But I've spent way too long on this now to test it out. So just avoid it for now. BTW, the BIOS will alert you that there is no service tag present, and will allow you to set it via BIOS setup.

And this all started with user contacting Dell about a battery issue - presumably PQ113 being shorted I guess. Far out.

[TheAdamSVK]

Re: Dell XPS 15 9575 2-in-1 LA-F211P rev 1.0

Hi, I see you have also an XPS 15 9575, I would like to ask for a favour if possible. Im asking whomever that owns a working XPS 15 9575 as that is my only choice except a motherboard replacement which is expensive "solution".* Could you please send me per email or somewhere on Dropbox a dump image of you BIOS ?*

I received a forced BIOS update and after that is my XPS with No Post / No power altho the motherboard itself has power/electricity so it's not dead (tested via electrical engineering tools). I just need a ROM file / Bios dump file from a working XPS 15 9575 so I can hard flash it onto my XPS a make it run again. Otherwise I have also a dead 2000$ machine on the table.*



The easies and safest way to create a bios dump file is via this software (tested)

majorgeeks.com/mg/getmirror/universal_bios_backup_toolkit,1.html

Many thanks for help in advance !*

[SMDFlea]

Re: Dell XPS 15 9575 2-in-1 LA-F211P rev 1.0

The easies and safest way to create a bios dump file is via this software (tested) majorgeeks.com/mg/getmirror/universal_bios_backup_toolkit,1.html

That software will not make a full backup,for that you need to use an SPI programmer.You can post your backup to badcaps then in a zip or rar archive and someone will help.

BIOS guides, methods, resources and tools - https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=103526

1. How to dump and flash - https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showpo...40&postcount=2

[TheAdamSVK]

Re: Dell XPS 15 9575 2-in-1 LA-F211P rev 1.0

Thanks for feedback.
As I mentioned I need the Bios dump from someone who has a working XPS 15 9575. Mine is simply not working. I need the dump file so I can hard flash it directly on my bios chip via the SPI programmer. Or do you know a way how to extract a ROM file from the Bios.exe file on Dell Product Support page ? Because the .exe file has approx 19MB size so it looks like it's compressed as the BIOS ROM file should be about 32MB in size.

[SMDFlea]

Re: Dell XPS 15 9575 2-in-1 LA-F211P rev 1.0

Or do you know a way how to extract a ROM file from the Bios.exe file on Dell Product Support page ? Because the .exe file has approx 19MB size so it looks like it's compressed as the BIOS ROM file should be about 32MB in size.

Yes - https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showpo...5&postcount=12

Thanks for feedback.
As I mentioned I need the Bios dump from someone who has a working XPS 15 9575.

Yes,as verified by @reformatt at post #23 - https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showpo...37&postcount=9

[hoaca388]

Re: Dell XPS 15 9575 2-in-1 LA-F211P rev 1.0

Thanks for feedback.
As I mentioned I need the Bios dump from someone who has a working XPS 15 9575. Mine is simply not working. I need the dump file so I can hard flash it directly on my bios chip via the SPI programmer. Or do you know a way how to extract a ROM file from the Bios.exe file on Dell Product Support page ? Because the .exe file has approx 19MB size so it looks like it's compressed as the BIOS ROM file should be about 32MB in size.

If you already have a spi programmer, why don't you backup the error bios file and post it here. The file extracted from *.exe is incomplete.

[TheAdamSVK]

Re: Dell XPS 15 9575 2-in-1 LA-F211P rev 1.0

This is the BIOS file that was on my XPS 9575 when it died.

[hoaca388]

Re: Dell XPS 15 9575 2-in-1 LA-F211P rev 1.0

This is the BIOS file that was on my XPS 9575 when it died.

New file

[TheAdamSVK]

Re: Dell XPS 15 9575 2-in-1 LA-F211P rev 1.0

New file

What is that exactly ? I see a bios file but what's the change in the file ? Could you pls elaborate?
#Thx4Help

[hoaca388]

Re: Dell XPS 15 9575 2-in-1 LA-F211P rev 1.0

What is that exactly ? I see a bios file but what's the change in the file ? Could you pls elaborate?
#Thx4Help

Change most regions except the descriptor region.

[TheAdamSVK]

Re: Dell XPS 15 9575 2-in-1 LA-F211P rev 1.0

Change most regions except the descriptor region.

Hi, thanks again for the help, tried the BIOS file you've posted me here. It didn't work.

I'm gonna try explain from scratch the background story completely. Thing is, I do not recall if I tried undervolt the computer when it was working or not, nor do I remember when BIOS version was on. All I remember is that there was some BIOS update pending but I didn't wanted to do that cuz I know with a new update comes new issues. BUT thus comes the theory. What if the device has been undervolted, and there was some old bios version that still allowed undervolting and when the forced bios update was trying to get through, it was the newer version that blocked the undervolting thus didn't finished successfully causing the system get blocked. That could mean that some firmware could have one version and the other ME a different version = causing conflict during system start. What would be the solution for this? Simply try to flash an old BIOS version that allows the undervolting?

Thanks in advance for consultation.
The system is already dead for lo ger than a half year 😭

[hoaca388]

Re: Dell XPS 15 9575 2-in-1 LA-F211P rev 1.0

Hi, thanks again for the help, tried the BIOS file you've posted me here. It didn't work.

I'm gonna try explain from scratch the background story completely. Thing is, I do not recall if I tried undervolt the computer when it was working or not, nor do I remember when BIOS version was on. All I remember is that there was some BIOS update pending but I didn't wanted to do that cuz I know with a new update comes new issues. BUT thus comes the theory. What if the device has been undervolted, and there was some old bios version that still allowed undervolting and when the forced bios update was trying to get through, it was the newer version that blocked the undervolting thus didn't finished successfully causing the system get blocked. That could mean that some firmware could have one version and the other ME a different version = causing conflict during system start. What would be the solution for this? Simply try to flash an old BIOS version that allows the undervolting?

Thanks in advance for consultation.
The system is already dead for lo ger than a half year 😭

Ok, try 1.5.1 version