E6520 Owner's Thread

[Khenglish]

They did:
https://support.dell.com/support/edo...n/om/om_en.pdf

I think, MB seems to be different, since the ports layout is a little bit different. And the USB 3.0 require other connections, than USB 2.0. And the system could check, witch components are installed and refuse to work with older ones

Looks like it's identical to me. All the ports are in the same exact locations. The change from USB2 to USB3 should not affect the connectors. You can even see the cutout in the chassis where early E6520 systems had the southbridge above and to the right of the CPU, but was moved to below and to the right of the CPU is later versions and in the 6530, indicating that the exact same chassis was used. For some reason though they changed the heatsink, but the CPU socket appears to be in the same place. The only other change I saw was that the backplate has fewer screws in the E6530 than the E6520.

Oh and I got an ME8 image. The image I got allows overclocking! The BIOS should still lack the options to change the multiplier, but I may be able to change the BCLK in windows after the flash, assuming it works. Flashing soon.

Update: The flash descriptor does not grant write access to the ME region. Obviously it is somehow flashable since BIOS updates update the ME region. I'm assuming that Dell's BIOS updates initially clear out the whole flash ROM, and rewrite it all at once. The flash descriptor cannot deny write access if it is not there. I will now try to reflash just the descriptor to enable write access to the ME region. Might as well make the BIOS region read/writable too.

Update: Ok it turns out that all read/write access is disabled. This can be overridden by "asserting HDA_SDO (Flash
descriptor override strap) low during the rising edge of PWROK". I believe that this can only be done while the system is powering on, and is done when you flash the BIOS. I thought of just going through a BIOS flash, but the system always restarts after a flash, disabling the override. There is some flag on reboot that signals the system to set the override bit on startup. It looks like I need to find out which bit that is.

[LoneNF]

Looks like it's identical to me. All the ports are in the same exact locations. The change from USB2 to USB3 should not affect the connectors. You can even see the cutout in the chassis where early E6520 systems had the southbridge above and to the right of the CPU, but was moved to below and to the right of the CPU is later versions and in the 6530, indicating that the exact same chassis was used. For some reason though they changed the heatsink, but the CPU socket appears to be in the same place. The only other change I saw was that the backplate has fewer screws in the E6530 than the E6520.

Oh and I got an ME8 image. The image I got allows overclocking! The BIOS should still lack the options to change the multiplier, but I may be able to change the BCLK in windows after the flash, assuming it works. Flashing soon.

Update: The flash descriptor does not grant write access to the ME region. Obviously it is somehow flashable since BIOS updates update the ME region. I'm assuming that Dell's BIOS updates initially clear out the whole flash ROM, and rewrite it all at once. The flash descriptor cannot deny write access if it is not there. I will now try to reflash just the descriptor to enable write access to the ME region. Might as well make the BIOS region read/writable too.

Update: Ok it turns out that all read/write access is disabled. This can be overridden by "asserting HDA_SDO (Flash
descriptor override strap) low during the rising edge of PWROK". I believe that this can only be done while the system is powering on, and is done when you flash the BIOS. I thought of just going through a BIOS flash, but the system always restarts after a flash, disabling the override. There is some flag on reboot that signals the system to set the override bit on startup. It looks like I need to find out which bit that is.

Wow, man, that`s complex i wish you luck, perhaps we could benefit from your work in the future

But the ports are different. So far i noticed, there is no 1349 port on the right side now, only USB 3.0, USB 2.0/eSATA and HDMI. On the left side the VGA and USB ports switched their positions. The pictures in the E6530 manual seem wrong, if you compare them to the pictures and video on the Dell store...

When i studied new E6530 specification, i noticed "For increased hard drive protection, a rubber isolator protects against vibration." There are two rubber stripes at the main HDD now, not only the plastic bracket. I wonder, if it is possible to use them in the E6520...

[wolfej]

There never was an AMD/ATI video option. Only Intel only or Intel+Nvidia. Don't get the video driver's from Dell's site. Get them from Nvidia's. Also if possible get betas over WHQL. WHQL just means Nvidia paid microsoft money for that particular driver to get a sticker.

I'm getting ready to do a clean install Of Windows 7 x 64 because I did one a few weeks ago and something did not go well, but all I had to go by as far as driver install was to go by the re-image guide which puts everything back on the machine. i feel like there must be a minimun, or recommended, list of drivers to install. I have no use for the "Feature Enhancement Pack" and if the fingerprint reader has no more purpose than the one on the M4400 then i do not have any use for it either. Do I need Dell Data Protection? or Dell Control Point - Systems Manager?

On my last install I used the latest Intel Rapid Storage drivers and installed those drivers prior to Win7X64 install. Like the old XP "F6" method, but it just says "Load Drivers" and not sure if this was a wise decision?

Any help and/or advice is greatly appreciated. I like my machines with no more than necessary to get them running the best it will run. It is a E6520 with an I7 - 2720QM processor with 4 GB of memory

[LoneNF]

I'm getting ready to do a clean install Of Windows 7 x 64 because I did one a few weeks ago and something did not go well, but all I had to go by as far as driver install was to go by the re-image guide which puts everything back on the machine. i feel like there must be a minimun, or recommended, list of drivers to install. I have no use for the "Feature Enhancement Pack" and if the fingerprint reader has no more purpose than the one on the M4400 then i do not have any use for it either. Do I need Dell Data Protection? or Dell Control Point - Systems Manager?

On my last install I used the latest Intel Rapid Storage drivers and installed those drivers prior to Win7X64 install. Like the old XP "F6" method, but it just says "Load Drivers" and not sure if this was a wise decision?

Any help and/or advice is greatly appreciated. I like my machines with no more than necessary to get them running the best it will run. It is a E6520 with an I7 - 2720QM processor with 4 GB of memory

I personally didn`t install Control Vault Firmware and Dell Data Protection, because (sorry, i don`t remember, where) i read, that they slow down the system and make some bugs or so on. So if you don`t need them, don`t install them.

But i find Feature Enhancement Pack useful because it cares about the
Support for hot keys and system events
 Dell customized power plans and extensions
 Battery Health Information
 Touch Panel
 Keyboard hotkey information, including backlighting
 Smart Settings
as said in the reimage manual.

[Khenglish]

So I found out how to stop the system from restarting after the BIOS flash exec runs. You need to run it with the -noreboot parameter. The easiest way to do this is to call the exec from a command line with -noreboot following it.

Ex.
C:\Users\Kurt\Downloads\E6520A13.exe -noreboot

(yes my name is Kurt)

The problem is that I can't find the image it creates! I know the image is there because if I restart manually, the BIOS flashes. I have searched the computer repeatedly with viewing system files and hidden files enabled, and I cannot find the flash image. It should be a 8MB .ROM or .HDR file. My lack of success in finding it is leading me to believe that it is in fact stored in memory, and I have no idea on how to search the memory and edit its contents like it's a regular file, so I'm proceeding to ask on as many forums as possible.

[futchi]

So I found out how to stop the system from restarting after the BIOS flash exec runs. You need to run it with the -noreboot parameter. The easiest way to do this is to call the exec from a command line with -noreboot following it.

Ex.
C:\Users\Kurt\Downloads\E6520A13.exe -noreboot

(yes my name is Kurt)

The problem is that I can't find the image it creates! I know the image is there because if I restart manually, the BIOS flashes. I have searched the computer repeatedly with viewing system files and hidden files enabled, and I cannot find the flash image. It should be a 8MB .ROM or .HDR file. My lack of success in finding it is leading me to believe that it is in fact stored in memory, and I have no idea on how to search the memory and edit its contents like it's a regular file, so I'm proceeding to ask on as many forums as possible.

The bios file should not be saved on the hard disk. When the computer restarts and updates the bios, the HDD LED doesn't flash.

I suspect there exists some nvram on the main board, which saves the bios update file and also the bios update program. And may be it is also the place where the dell diagnostic utility in F12 menu is saved.

[wolfej]

So I found out how to stop the system from restarting after the BIOS flash exec runs. You need to run it with the -noreboot parameter. The easiest way to do this is to call the exec from a command line with -noreboot following it.

Ex.
C:\Users\Kurt\Downloads\E6520A13.exe -noreboot

(yes my name is Kurt)

The problem is that I can't find the image it creates! I know the image is there because if I restart manually, the BIOS flashes. I have searched the computer repeatedly with viewing system files and hidden files enabled, and I cannot find the flash image. It should be a 8MB .ROM or .HDR file. My lack of success in finding it is leading me to believe that it is in fact stored in memory, and I have no idea on how to search the memory and edit its contents like it's a regular file, so I'm proceeding to ask on as many forums as possible.

Not sure if this will help at all, but the Universal Bios Backup Tool Kit located here will create a backup of your bios in a ROM format. The E6520 has a different BIOS from any other Dell bios I have seen. There is a discussion about it on this forum How to extract E6520 BIOS? and it may help with what you are wanting to do.

[Khenglish]

Not sure if this woill help at all, but the Universal Bios Backup Tool Kit located here will create a backup of your bios in a ROM format. The E6520 has a different BIOS from any other Dell bios I have seen. There is a discussion about it on this forum How to extract E6520 BIOS? and it may help with what you are wanting to do.

The backup toolkit can only grab the part of the BIOS that is actively running in memory, leaving out the important configuration and setup elements. The fact that someone answered with something useful to my old thread is interesting though and I will definitely look into it.

[wolfej]

l wanted to check and see if anyone else had looked through the drivers for the E6520 on Dell/USA site? It appears that they have added a new installer for the DDPA w/ Win7x64. The most confusing one looks as if there is an upgrade to for the USH within DDPA and now there is what looks like at standalone version of Broadcom for the Control Vault which in it's self has the USH firmware upgrade plus the driver for the Control Vault or an actual version of the Control Vault. The latter of which looks to provide operability of the USH Fingerprint Reader without having to install the DDPA software or any Control Point software. Trying to follow the "Installtion Instructions" was very confusing. Just seeing if I could get some feedback as I am in the process of doing a clean install of Win 7 x 64 and it appears that you can certainly deviate from the "Re-image Guide 3.0" now.

The other thing was prior to my clean install I could not get my eSATA plug-in to work with my eSATA Hard Drive enclosure, but it works purfectly fine with my M4400. The USB works great with my E6520, as does the M4400. It's just eSATA on E6520 running Win 7 x 64 and it does not even recognize it as a new device in the systray. Any ideas??? Oh and eSATA is checked in the bios plus I am setup as AHCI, not RAID On. Thanks very much!

Adding a little more to the confusion is upon expanding the new Dell DDPA Firmware download and the Broadcom Corp download the Readme.txt file explains the install instructions a bit different than on the webpage for the downloads. It appears as if it could be a good thing, but with me doing a clean install I'm going to have to shy away from that mess for now. If anyone figures it out please respond with workable install instructions. Thanks

[epsalmond]

Hey guys-

I hadn't seen a lot of information about this on other threads after searching, but I thought I'd add some info here. I recently purchased an e6520 with the NVS4200 card, and on the docking station it does indeed drive two externally connected DVI monitors and the built-in display at the same time with no additional hardware. It's smart enough to drive one display from the integrated sandy bridge video, and the other two displays from the quadro. Really impressive.

Also, with the e6500, it was necessary to use the proprietary Dell video drivers to get the HDMI pass-through audio to work. The newer laptops don't need this, and stock Nvidia drivers will get your HDMI audio working just fine.

I just upgraded to an M4600 because I need a faster video card, and it will only drive two displays, including the built in display while on the docking station. The only way you can extend it is by using native displayport monitors or an active displayport adapter. So for 5 displays on the M4600 you will need to use the built in display, the three displayport connectors (one on laptop, two on dock) and somehow get a right angled HDMI cable to squeeze in between the back of the laptop and docking station.

I may post some more "E6520 vs M4600" info in a separate thread later. I use UEFI boot on both of these laptops with a seagate 500xt hybrid drive and will be triple booting them into darwin and debian soon.