dv6 supported wifi cards -- BIOS white list update?

[gkline]

^ Yep, I updated the other thread and indicated that I did get an improvement in browser response.  It's generally better, but still not quite as good as on my dv5t's Intel 5100.

Well today was my day of exploring the wonderful world of white lists and BIOS hacking.  I found out quite a bit.

Using the Phoenix Tool (created by AndyP over on MyDigitalLife), I was able to run it and get the internal white list displayed.  I discovered that indeed there is a restriction list and it's a bit different from what's in the manual:

Ralink RT3592, Ralink RT5390, Realtek RTL8188CEB / RTL8188CE, Atheros AR5B95, and Broadcom 4313.  Sadly, the RTL8191SE is missing (it's in the manual only), as well as the Atheros 9485 / 9285.  None of these support anything higher than 150Mbps.

So, HP installs a white list to restrict wireless cards, then bungles up the coordinated list with the manual!  Quite frankly, I find that appalling.  This will give me a little more "meat" in my letter.   And I'll not suffer any guilt by eventually foiling this.

I've managed to figure out two ways to boot up and flash a new BIOS without having to load Windows, so that should cover me if anything ends up going wrong.

Which leads me to a question for you... In order to avoid booting up and letting the BIOS automatically pull info from the hidden HP_TOOLS partition (which will include the white list data), the trick is to rename that partition.  However, I'm wondering if it's OK to assign that partition a drive letter.  Why would I want to do this?  Well, in order to rename the volume back to "HP_TOOLS" as another avenue of recovery.  I'm just wondering if there might be any issue with exposing that partition with a drive letter.  I can't see any other way of being able to rename a volume at the DOS prompt, if there's no drive letter assigned.

Ah.... wait a sec.  I just may have figured it out.  "Diskpart".  I'll have to try it out.  Supposedly you can do a list volume, then select a volume by ordered number, then assign a letter.  That would obviate the need for leaving a drive letter assigned.  

[Paul_Tikkanen]

That is very interesting!

So do you think you can add in a wireless card into the white list?

Can you add a card to the whitelist without the HP tools partition?

I'm one of those guys who deletes every partition there is and expands the C:\ partition to make the full use of the drive.

Most of the time I delete everything and install the OS from scratch so it doesn't have any bloatware installed.

Before doing that, I copy the SWSetup folder from the C:\ drive to a portable hard drive as that contains all of the program installation files that came with the PC.

Then I can pick and choose what ones I want to install.

Looking forward to reading about any further experimentation you do.

[gkline]

^ I hear you about the bloat ware, Paul.  The "HP_TOOLS" partition is only 100Mb, so it's miniscule relative to everything else.  I don't mind a little bit of bloat so long as it doesn't take up much space.

Anyway, I got a little too sidetracked on that HP_TOOLS partition and let it go, because booting from an install CD is not a big deal (in order to get access to the file system and rename the partition).

I got a little further, but not quite all the way.  The Phoenix Tool generates a dump from the "bin" file extracted from the BIOS archive, which is a bunch of binary ROM files.  Using a hex editor, you can search through them for the criteria of the vendor and device hex values.  I was able to finally pin down the right ROM file.  Sure enough it has all of the white list cards in there.  The premise is to change those hex values to reference a different card, the one you want to install.  Apparently you don't need to be bothered with changing the text values (you can see the card name vendors in there like "B.r.o.a.d.c.o.m."), just the hex codes that reference the vendor, device, and subsys.  Those are values you can find in the Hardware ID field in the Device Manager for the installed WiFi card.  To get them for your new card, you're supposed to insert it into the laptop hot, just after the BIOS part of the boot finishes.  Windows will recognize the card, load the drivers for it, and then you can get the hex values for it.  From there, you modify the ROM file with those values.

At this point, I don't quite know what to do next exactly, because on-line instructions were authored on an older verison of the tool that had a different UI/options, and if there's any addendum to it the details are likely buried in hundreds of posts (I haven't been able to find it, if it's there at all).  That's the problem with these things... the hackers are usually terrible documenters.  They'll provide great details in some places, but gloss over others that they just assume everybody knows, leaving more than half the audience with confusion and questions.  Good documentation up front would alleviate so many questions posted afterward.  If there's one thing I can say about the Android community is that a lot of hackers there provide excellent documentation and strive to update it periodically. I wish more hacker community websites were like that.

Anyway, it has been quite an adventure.  I'm finally at a point where I'm ready to try flashing my BIOS outside of Windows, and hopefully if it goes OK then I'll know that I can recover when attempting to apply a modified BIOS and it ends up going wrong. I cannot afford to be without a laptop right now, so have to tread lightly and slowly.  😉

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Wow, is all I can say!

You are on the cusp of modifying the BIOS!

[gkline]

So after digging around enough and fiddling with the Phoenix Tool, I've been able to generate revised BIOS files that can be used to flash from rebooting with Win + 'B' keys held. I've not yet tried it, but feel confident I've got everything selected correctly. I'm pretty good with documenting things, so once I've managed to do it successfully I will create a guide.

The only step I'm still in the process of trying to figure out is what's precisely involved with modifying the BIOS files when RSA signed. The essential warning given is this:

"The BIOS of recent laptops are mostly RSA signed, which means that once modded it can produce a semi-brick when you enter BIOS setup. The semi-brick can be repaired by removing cmos battery (dismantling laptop), and then flashing back the original bios on first boot."

So I had to be confident that I could do the flash BIOS from boot successfully before attempting this. Now, as to why it would semi-brick, I haven't been able to find out anything useful. Is it due to an editing mistake? Or is there a variation in checksum calculations used by RSA that could randomly result in a semi-brick condition?

At this point, my need to alter the BIOS white list isn't imperative, as my wireless networking performance is passable since the driver update. However, I do wish to upgrade that wifi card. I have another laptop that is in need of a motherboard swap and once I've got that one running successfully, I'll then give this BIOS mod project another visit. I just don't want to be in a situation with a disabled laptop and no other means of using a computer!

Meanwhile, I want to write to HP and convey to them my concerns and frustrations, in hopes of either learning about an upcoming BIOS revision that HP may introduce, or some other way of dealing with the situation. If I can avoid the BIOS mod altogether, I'd be happier.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Your research has taken you light years beyond my knowledge of how the BIOS files work.

I would have no idea why if one were to enter the BIOS, it could semi-brick the notebook and the only solution being to clear the cmos and flash to the original BIOS.

I'm thinking that either one of those issues could cause the problem--most likely the editing error being the most probable cause.

I know I wouldn't attempt to modify the BIOS to add a different wireless card unless I was so intent on doing so that I would risk bricking the notebook.

The thing is many people have done it, so maybe the risk isn't that huge?

[gkline]

^ Actually, don't give me too much credit -- I still don't know how the BIOS files physically get inserted into the firmware!

The brunt of what I've learned thus far is how to properly use the Phoenix Tool to open a "bin" BIOS file, select the correct SLIC file, then allow the tool to regenerate the files.  In short, the process is rather simple but the trick was figuring out exactly what to do given the limited documentation.  I've also learned about how the white list is present in one of the ROM files and the codes for the various supported cards are identified by specific hex codes for vendor, device, and subsys.  Again, nobody said "look in this specific ROM file", they just said "search" (rather ambiguous).

Some people posted warnings about potentially semi-bricking a laptop when modifying an RSA signed BIOS, but that may just be a catch-all disclaimer.  Nobody unequivocably said it can't be done.  As for success stories... there are some for different computer models that are supposedly affected by the RSA signed BIOS (e.g. the HP dv6-7xxx series), so I have to believe it is possible.  But it would be comforting to know the precise reason why the warnings have been given. Something along the lines of this:

"The RSA signed BIOS is very tricky to work with.  If it is modified, it must be done in a way that does not change the file size or alter the checksum.  So, very minimal editing must be done and carefully.  If you make a mistake, you'll brick your laptop."  Or, "The modification of an RSA signed BIOS is unpredictable.  In some cases, applying a modified BIOS will brick on one try, but then not brick on a subsequent try with nothing changed. It's a bit of a mystery and therefore an unavoidable risk."

The MOST important thing is that the "brick" is supposed to be "semi", meaning you can recover.  And that means it is key to know how to do so.  What puzzles me is why one can't simply extract the Insyde BIOS files as-is, and that they'd be picked up when flash booting (Win + 'B').  One needs to go through this routine with the Phoenix Tools to provide an adjusted set of files.  There is also the "FlashIt" utility that I recently learned about.  I've not been able to discover much about exactly how it functions.  It's supposed to be usable with Insyde BIOS files.

Once I'm prepared to resume my project, my intent is to do the following in this order:

1) Attempt to flash the BIOS using the FlashIt program from booting into Win98 DOS on the flash drive

2) Attempt to flash the BIOS with the "Win + 'B'" key command for a BIOS restore, expecting that the extracted unmodified BIOS files will be picked up from the USB drive labeled as "HP_TOOLS".

3) Modify the BIOS with a revised white list and attempt to flash boot using those files.

By the way Paul, what's your recommendation on contacting HP regarding the BIOS white list issue?  Is there an e-mail or physical address that is most likely to get through to someone who will pay attention?

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

The only contact I had was the one I posted earlier.

I do not have any e-mail addresses to hp engineering, etc.

[gkline]

OK, I thought I'd check just in case you might knew of a more expedient channel.  I did send an e-mail to the general "Contact HP" page and in another part of the website contact details.  No reply as yet, but hopefully soon.

My suggestion was to either open up the white list restricting to vendor only (so owners could enjoy other WiFi cards under an approved brand), or at least expand the white list to include newer technology products.  Ultimately I think they should remove it altogether, as I can't see this being a major technical support drain as some customers end up trying cards that don't end up working and contact HP for assistance (they'll do that anyway when they try a WiFi card that is not in the white list).

Thanks again for your assistance, Paul.

Best,
~Gary

[gkline]

The only reason why I even wanted to modify the BIOS was because of the WiFi card limitations. But it looks like I may not have to do it after all. The white list embedded in the BIOS (F21) shows a Ralink RT3592BC8 card that is not listed in the manual. I can only surmise that the manual simply hasn't been updated, in sync with the updated BIOS. The RT3592 is a faster network card, not only providing 300MBps, but also a Bluetooth module (something I'd overlooked on this laptop--Bluetooth is only enabled through a device like this). My hope is that the card will perform better than its predecessor. For $13 shipped, I'm willing to take a chance. If it works out, then I won't dare take a risk of BIOS modification.

FYI, the Ralink RT3592 (or RT3592BC8) goes by the HP part number 630813-001.  I had to search for a long while to find that.  It was referenced for an HP Elite laptop.  It has to be the same part number.  Anyway, it's important to go by it because the RT3592 is available for other computers and... I wouldn't be surprised if HP has a relationship with Ralink whereby this part number is encoded in the firmware.  If missing, the card won't be recognized.