BIOS modification to eliminate mini PCIe whitelist

4 Antworten [Letzter Beitrag]
quiliro@congresolibre.org
Offline
Beigetreten: 10/28/2010

I have been searching for a mini PCIe wireless card for my partner's
laptop that works with free drivers and firmware but also works with the
hardware. It is an HP Pavilion dv4-1275mx. Chris from ThinkPenguin
kindly suggested a USB device. But the laptop has only 2 USB ports and
she is always low on USB ports even when she bought a USB hub.

I found this website:
http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/7681-This-is-no-request-thread!-HP-COMPAQ-bioses-how-to-modify-the-bios?p=333358&viewfull=1#post333358
that provides BIOS modes for different machines and found the specific
BIOS for her machine:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/i124m4

The problem with it is that it is a win32/64 program. I downloaded
FreeDOS but it will not recognize my USB memory where I saved the BIOS
mod. I had the same problem with an installation of Windows on Virtualbox.

I have no option but to install a Windows hard disk in the machine and
then run the BIOS mod program. Do you see any way I can avoid this? Is
there a way to run the program reliably on Wine? Is there an alternative
to FreeDOS? Is there a BIOS mod for GNU?

--
Saludos libres,

Quiliro Ordóñez
Presidente (en conjunto con el resto de socios)
Asociación de Software Libre del Ecuador - ASLE
Av de la Prensa N58-219 y Cristóbal Vaca de Castro
Quito, Ecuador
(02)-600 8579
IRC: http://webchat.freenode.net?channels=asle&uio=OT10cnVlJjEwPXRydWU3a

Todo correo que reciba será tratado como información pública, de libre copia y modificación, sin importar cualquier nota de confidencialidad.

MagicFab
Offline
Beigetreten: 12/13/2010

On 2013-05-15 13:37, Quiliro Ordóñez wrote:
[...]
> The problem with it is that it is a win32/64 program. I downloaded
> FreeDOS but it will not recognize my USB memory where I saved the BIOS
> mod. I had the same problem with an installation of Windows on Virtualbox.
>
> I have no option but to install a Windows hard disk in the machine and
> then run the BIOS mod program. Do you see any way I can avoid this? Is
> there a way to run the program reliably on Wine? Is there an alternative
> to FreeDOS? Is there a BIOS mod for GNU?
>

I see two possibilities
1- Using http://flashrom.org (I haven't tried it)
2- Install Windows as you described, temporarily

If you are succesful with #1, please do report back here.

#2 AFAIK is a valid exception (ethically) for me, specially in this
context. Make sure you wipe such an install and don't keep using it
illegally (if you don't activate it, etc.).

Best of luck,

F.

--
Fabián Rodríguez
http://trisquel.magicfab.ca

quiliro@congresolibre.org
Offline
Beigetreten: 10/28/2010

El 15/05/13 13:06, Fabian Rodriguez escribió:
> On 2013-05-15 13:37, Quiliro Ordóñez wrote:
> [...]
>> The problem with it is that it is a win32/64 program. I downloaded
>> FreeDOS but it will not recognize my USB memory where I saved the BIOS
>> mod. I had the same problem with an installation of Windows on Virtualbox.
>>
>> I have no option but to install a Windows hard disk in the machine and
>> then run the BIOS mod program. Do you see any way I can avoid this? Is
>> there a way to run the program reliably on Wine? Is there an alternative
>> to FreeDOS? Is there a BIOS mod for GNU?
>>
> I see two possibilities
> 1- Using http://flashrom.org (I haven't tried it)
> 2- Install Windows as you described, temporarily
>
> If you are succesful with #1, please do report back here.

It looks as it not recommended for laptops: "Laptops, notebooks and
netbooks are difficult to support and we recommend to use the vendor
flashing utility. The embedded controller (EC) in these machines often
interacts badly with flashing, either by blocking all read/write access
to the flash chip or by crashing (it may power off the machine or mess
with the battery or cause system instability)." http://flashrom.org/Laptops

> #2 AFAIK is a valid exception (ethically) for me, specially in this
> context. Make sure you wipe such an install and don't keep using it
> illegally (if you don't activate it, etc.).
>
> Best of luck,

I will take this route. I don't mind to use it illegally. What I regret
is that it is non-free.

Thank you for your suggestions. :-)

--
Saludos libres,

Quiliro Ordóñez
Presidente (en conjunto con el resto de socios)
Asociación de Software Libre del Ecuador - ASLE
Av de la Prensa N58-219 y Cristóbal Vaca de Castro
Quito, Ecuador
(02)-600 8579
IRC: http://webchat.freenode.net?channels=asle&uio=OT10cnVlJjEwPXRydWU3a

Todo correo que reciba será tratado como información pública, de libre copia y modificación, sin importar cualquier nota de confidencialidad.

akirashinigami

I am a member!

I am a translator!

Offline
Beigetreten: 02/25/2010

I guess you have to do what you have to do. The lesson here is not to buy hardware from manufacturers who force you to do these things.

lembas
Offline
Beigetreten: 05/13/2010

You might want to first try the new card without flashing to see if you could avoid it. It could brick the box in the worst case scenario.