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    Studio XPS 1647 BIOS Mod Question

    Discussion in 'Dell XPS and Studio XPS' started by firesyde424, Oct 16, 2010.

  1. firesyde424

    firesyde424 Notebook Guru

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    I have spent some time picking apart the BIOS for my Dell Studio XPS 1647 with the tutorials I've found on this site. I've seen a lot of information on how to OC the GPU, the CPU, as well as others. However, I've not seen any information regarding adding support for different CPU's.(Yes I tried to upgrade my i5 m540 to an i7 740QM)

    I'm think that this is a BIOS issue. Either Dell simply did not include support for the i7 quad cores or has disabled support for it in laptops that did not ship with an i7.

    Having said that, is it even possible to add support for a CPU that the board technically supports? If so, can anyone offer some guidance on some places to start looking for a possible solution? I've already flashed my BIOS to overclock the GPU using the tutorials and I'm hoping a solution to the lack of Core i7 support is around somewhere or is something that I can add in myself. Any help would be appreciated.
     
    firesyde424, Oct 16, 2010
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  2. seeker_moc

    seeker_moc Notebook Virtuoso

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    I'm 99% sure that lack of i7 support in the 1647 is BIOS related as well. You could try swapping out the ACPI tables in the 1647 BIOS with the ones in the 1645 BIOS. I'm not sure if that would work, but it might.
     
    seeker_moc, Oct 16, 2010
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  3. firesyde424

    firesyde424 Notebook Guru

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    Are the motherboards in the 1645 and the 1647 different? I know they have the same PM55 chipset.
     
    firesyde424, Oct 16, 2010
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  4. seeker_moc

    seeker_moc Notebook Virtuoso

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    I'd have to assume they're the same. Same frame, same chipset, same GPU, same CPU socket, same DDR3, same accessories, etc. Probably just a different BIOS/CPU combo, but I don't know that for sure.
     
    seeker_moc, Oct 16, 2010
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  5. firesyde424

    firesyde424 Notebook Guru

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    I've had a look at this and I'm not confident that I can do this properly. Would I need the acpi states and tables from a working 1645 or will the default config from one of the 1645 BIOS files from Dell's website be enough?
     
    firesyde424, Oct 16, 2010
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  6. firesyde424

    firesyde424 Notebook Guru

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    I was able to get some help from the guys in the Phoenix BIOS mod forums who unlocked the CPU menu in my BIOS. I've done some testing on my own and not been able to get anywhere past this. Dell tells me it's possible but I would need to pay their technician for it. I'm still convinced this is a BIOS issue but at this point, I'm not willing to pay the extra $120 on top of the purchase price of the 720QM.

    I'll take any suggestions or any other help if someone has any idea before I ship the CPU off to ebay land.
     
    firesyde424, Oct 29, 2010
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