HP Elitebook 8570W - is it still good ? Hardware modifications

[K4sum1]

I think at some point there was a whitelist of sorts, but HP removed it in a later BIOS. I had no issues upgrading my GPU and WiFi card.

[Daedalus]

19 hours ago, K4sum1 said:

I think at some point there was a whitelist of sorts, but HP removed it in a later BIOS. I had no issues upgrading my GPU and WiFi card.

i have the final .71ver on my machine, looking at the bios release notes on HP.com, it doesnt call out an whitelist being present, that said some had issues (there was alot of chatter on older forums on it). There was a Coreboot bios floating around 8770W only (however 8570 and 8770W share same .71 version, no O/C option in the .71 bios release for CPU or RAM.....which is a shame. 

I tried (and failed) a GTX 965M upgrade, might have been a duff card. However now working on my 980M upgrade.
No issue going from 62205 to a 7260HMW, just plug an play in win10. Wifi speeds improved, still working on getting BT stack operational as only sees Broadcom (onboard ) not showing Intel chipset.

[gingerswordsmith]

9 hours ago, Daedalus said:

Welcome to the Forum and Thread, you will find a number of us have arrived at same desire to modify these machines. 

Are you set in getting the M5100? i ask as there are a fair few MXM "A" cards you could use above the M5100, otherwise you can go further down the rabbit hole and look at MXM "B" upgrades. 

Take a look at TechPowerUp, there maybe a Vbios image already there for the m5100 that works.  
Unfortunately its difficult to load a VBios "in machine" as our CPU socket traces dont exist even though the CPU might have IntelHD on the core. 
You refer to the whitelist, if i recall this is located on the Mobo and not the GPU card, so your looking at whiletlist editing (a completely seperate to a working VBios image). You may have a perfect Vbios solution but if the mobo says no, you'll only get a black screen.

 

The whitelist appears to have not just GPU restrictions, also Network cards too. sorted a 6250 wifi to a 7260 upgrade and had similar fun, Internet says "it shouldnt work" Pah..... This 8570W now runs a 7260HMW card (so stuff can be done within the apparent restrictions) wether it be HP scare tactics or an actual whitelist they deny exists......

That said its not all doom, if you read through the thread a number of GPU's have been proven to work which arent on HP's "list"

Hi Daedalus,

Thanks for the warning about the lack of CPU socket video traces preventing an in-machine flash. Fortunately, I am using an external CH341B hardware programmer and an SOP8 clip, so I was able to safely pull a clean dump of the original Dell VBIOS while the card is out of the machine. I won't need the laptop to boot to flash it.

Regarding the whitelist: I am still a beginner at this and definitely don't have the skills to modify raw hex code myself. I was hoping a VBIOS mod existed where the card's sub-vendor info could be changed to match an official HP card, tricking the motherboard into letting it boot.

Knowing that I'm flashing externally with the CH341B, is there a pre-modified VBIOS image floating around for this specific Dell M5100 to HP 8570w combination that you know of?

I did take a look at TechPowerUp as you suggested, but to be honest, I'm just not knowledgeable enough to know which VBIOS image might actually work for this specific cross-brand mod. Since I want to avoid potentially damaging the card through blind trial and error, I'd prefer to find a file that someone with more experience has already verified as working.

Also, thank you for the tip on looking at other cards. I decided on the M5100 specifically because I regularly use Debian 12 and wanted an AMD card to take advantage of the native open-source kernel drivers (amdgpu), which are a lot more stable on Linux right now than Nvidia's options.

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[Daedalus]

12 hours ago, gingerswordsmith said:

Hi Daedalus,

Thanks for the warning about the lack of CPU socket video traces preventing an in-machine flash. Fortunately, I am using an external CH341B hardware programmer and an SOP8 clip, so I was able to safely pull a clean dump of the original Dell VBIOS while the card is out of the machine. I won't need the laptop to boot to flash it.

Regarding the whitelist: I am still a beginner at this and definitely don't have the skills to modify raw hex code myself. I was hoping a VBIOS mod existed where the card's sub-vendor info could be changed to match an official HP card, tricking the motherboard into letting it boot.

Knowing that I'm flashing externally with the CH341B, is there a pre-modified VBIOS image floating around for this specific Dell M5100 to HP 8570w combination that you know of?

I did take a look at TechPowerUp as you suggested, but to be honest, I'm just not knowledgeable enough to know which VBIOS image might actually work for this specific cross-brand mod. Since I want to avoid potentially damaging the card through blind trial and error, I'd prefer to find a file that someone with more experience has already verified as working.

Also, thank you for the tip on looking at other cards. I decided on the M5100 specifically because I regularly use Debian 12 and wanted an AMD card to take advantage of the native open-source kernel drivers (amdgpu), which are a lot more stable on Linux right now than Nvidia's options.

 

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Had a search on TechPowerUp. 

Found the unit (i think)

VGA Bios Collection | TechPowerUp

 

I totally get your concern on the will X work with Y.  I had similar concerns when trying to work out the correct Vbios for my 980M. Turned out KBX on here had already tested stuff, long story short, an MSI / Dell Vbios on an Nvidia card works in an HP. It seems the Dell Vbios are more relaxed and allow more compatibility. 

I also run a dual boot with my current K1000M and soon to be 980M (once i finish messing around with the cooling solution) dont disagree AMD drivers arent more stable, good choice. 

The lack of GPU traces on the CPU core sucks as we then have no internal GPU (IntelHD) to fall back on if the flashing didnt work. Im not aware of anyone managing to fix this.