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]

On 10/8/2026 at 8:34 PM, 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.

 

Did anyone actually attempt the GTX 1080M ( the one without the extra power connector) in the 8570W? i know 1070M wont output to anything but DP, but curious if 1080M did the same?

[Daedalus]

Hi all, please critique the idea.......
Going back to the cable saga, are we (or am I) looking at this wrong, As far as im aware once we pass the GTX 980M upgrade we are in Dreamcolor territory (thats a given). 1070M and others only output to DP as a result as either the internal screen cant display (Mux) or not configured at Vbios level. 

I was looking at DP to HMDI conversion (mini project) as a separate thing
Could we run say an DP to 30pin eDP or HMDI to EDP and see if the port would output to the inbuilt screen or am i missing something. DP output is only there on 1070M as its a "configured". Clearly we cant Vbios edit a internal screen (even if it could display) we have the MuX issue to work around.

checking specs for the 1080M it shows 3 DP ports ( now we have 1 wired) so it should display output at least to DP#1 our port.

I did stumble across the following in the continuing journey for the eDP to LVDS 

Taidacent 3.3V 5V 30 Pin EDP Universal Driver Board EDP to LVDS Converter Board LCD Screen LVDS to EDP Signal Adapter (Extended-Type) : Amazon.co.uk: Business, Industry & Science

or 

EDP to LVDS Adapter: Convert Signals Easily or Wholesale LCD TV Display Spare Part 51P FHD to 30P HD LVDS Adapter For HV320WHB-N ( the last one seems to look very close to our rare board)

Does the board convert signals or act as a connection point and thats it?

[Daedalus]

On 3/18/2026 at 10:18 AM, JadeRover said:

Yes, dell m6600 and dell m6700 DC models have that DC conveter board that transforms the incoming eDP to 50 pin LVDS + 10 pin power cable used by the DC LCD.

 

The HP zbook 17 g1, g2 and 15 g1 that have the DC screen option also use such converter boards.

 

Keep in mind that for all the models stated the converter board looks something like this :

 

So if you get the DC cables for your model you see that it connects to your board in a non standard eDP format = can't use that cable to connect to a standard eDP panel conenctor.

 

Also the zbook 17 g1 and g2 all have this converted board as they all have LVDS displays and the motherboard outputs eDP. Not sure why HP chose this approach, probably because eDP lcds were rare in 2013-2014.

 

so zbook 17 g1/g2 with 900p to 1080p screes have this board if you want a sure way to get your hands on one.

If i re-read this right, This is the inverse of what we have in the 8570W? Our MoBo is 50Pin LVDS output and we can put a 30Pin eDP screen. So therfore an IPS screen. so even if i tracked one down and had an LVDS "normal cable and spliced to a G1/G2 cable (for the connector) and then its relevant output 30pin to the screen. i dont think this would solve our issue. 

[JadeRover]

29 minutes ago, Daedalus said:

If i re-read this right, This is the inverse of what we have in the 8570W? Our MoBo is 50Pin LVDS output and we can put a 30Pin eDP screen.

 

Your mobo is a 50 pin (LVDS + eDP) COMBO connector it is quite rare, usually laptops only expose either LVDS or eDP per connector, the 8560w, 8570w, 8760w and 8770w have this dual mode connector.

 

This is the schematic of a 8770w (because 8570w schematic is unavailable), it has the same 50 pin connector (different pinout from the 8570w BUT still the same function) :

 

 

See pins 39 to 50 : they contain 4 lanes of DP (4x2 differential pairs) + 1 aux pair + DP HPD pin, to change a DP into a eDP you need two extra signals : backight on + backlight PWM that is also present on the connector

• INV_PWM (backlight inverter PWM) -> it is used by the dGPU when driving an eDP display
• LCM_3S_BKLTEN -> Backlight enable signal

These two signals are universal between LVDS and eDP displays.

 

Here are the first 40 pins of the 50 pin LVDS + eDP connector of the 8570w (just so you can see that this connector also contains LVDS signals as well as DP signals just in a different order) :

 

 

 

...

 

All this to say that if you want a 30 pin or 40 pin eDP display connected to your 8570w, you need a custom LCD cable that only uses the DP lines + backlight signals from the motherboard's 50 pin LCD "COMBO" connector. Also this custom cable should contain other HP signals for LID closed and LOGO light that go through this 50 pin LCD connector.

 

This custom cable will terminate in either a 30 or 40 pin male IPEX connector that is required to plug in to a 30 or 40 pin eDP display. Therefore doing this will allow you to upgrade to 4K60Hz+ IPS displays or even Mini LED displays just like it was done here on the 8770w :

 

 

TLDR : To accomplish this upgrade you need : 

• Custom LCD cable that connects directly to the display, no DC board needed or any other type of signal converter board
• 40 pin eDP display