Install Libreboot on Dell Latitude laptops

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DO NOT buy the Nvidia GPU variant of Latitude E6400. Only use the intel GPU variant. The Nvidia one never worked reliably; it was removed in the Libreboot 26.10 release series. It never worked even when it was in the tree. Please just only use the Intel GPU version of this board.

Generally, non-Intel-GPU variants are incompatible for any Dell Latitude. Please only ever use models that come with Intel graphics.

This document will teach you how to install Libreboot, on various models of Dell Latitude laptop motherboard, namely Dell Latitude E4300, E6400, E6400 XFR, E6400 ATG, E5420, E5520, E5530, E6420, E6430, E6520, E6530, E6230, E6330, E7240, and E6220; you must only install Libreboot on models with Intel graphics. Libreboot is a Free Software project that replaces proprietary BIOS/UEFI firmware.

In case any models are unlisted in the above paragraph, you should also check the full list of supported Dell Latitude models on the Libreboot hardware compatibility page.

All of the Dell Latitude models can be flashed internally, which means that you do not need to disassemble them. You can do it from Linux/BSD, using the instructions on this page.

PLEASE READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE INSTALLING, OR YOU MAY BRICK YOUR MACHINE!! - Please click the link and follow the instructions there, before flashing. For posterity, here is the link again.

Please also disable /dev/mem protection, otherwise flashprog and dell-flash-unlock won’t work. You can re-enable the protections after flashing.

Please also disable SecureBoot, if you’re using a UEFI-based Dell Latitude. Note that Libreboot does not currently implement UEFI on x86 platforms, but you can set up Secure libreBoot after flashing.

Make sure to set your own MAC address in the ROM image before flashing. Please read the nvmutil manual which says how to do this.

Vendor files not required for Dell Latitude E6400 if you have the Intel GPU.

Nvidia GPU support was removed in the Libreboot 26.10 release series.

You can simply boot Linux/BSD, on the Dell Latitude you wish to flash, and run flashprog from there, for Libreboot installation. Certain other steps are also required, documented in the steps below:

You can flash Libreboot directly from the vendor (Dell) BIOS, without taking the machine apart. It can be done entirely from Linux/BSD.

NOTE (15 October 2023): The util is now called dell-flash-unlock, but it was previously called e6400-flash-unlock. Links have been updated.

Check util/dell-flash-unlock in the lbmk.git repository, or in release archives for Libreboot releases from 20230423 onwards.

Go in there:

cd util/dell-flash-unlock
make

With this program, you can unlock the flash in such a way where everything is writeable. Information about how to use it is in the README.html file which is included in that program’s directory, or you can read it online here:

https://codeberg.org/libreboot/lbmk/src/branch/master/util/dell-flash-unlock/README.md

Please make sure that you do fully read the README, because it contains useful information.

Literally just run that program, and do what it says. You run it once, and shut down, and when you do, the system brings itself back up automatically; on some systems, you have to boot the machine back up manually, after power down. Then you run it and flash it unlocked. Then you run it again. The source code is intuitive enough that you can easily get the gist of it; it’s writing some EC commands and changing some chipset config bits. The EC on this machine is hooked up to the GPIO33 signal, sometimes called HDA_DOCK_EN, which sets the flash descriptor override thus disabling any flash protection by the IFD. It also bypasses the SMM BIOS lock protection by disabling SMIs, and Dell’s BIOS doesn’t set any other type of protection either such as writing to Protected Range registers.

MAKE SURE to back up the original firmware image first:

flashprog -p internal -r factory.rom

When you flash it, you can use this command:

flashprog -p internal -w libreboot.rom

Where libreboot.rom is your Dell Latitude ROM. Make sure it’s the right one. If flashprog complains about multiple flash chips detected, just pick one of them (doesn’t matter which one). On most Dell machines, the most correct would probably be this option in flashprog: -c MX25L3205D/MX25L3208D.

So:

flashprog -p internal -w libreboot.rom -c MX25L3205D/MX25L3208D

When you see flashprog say VERIFIED at the end, that means the flash was successful. If you don’t see that, or you’re unsure, please contact the Libreboot project via IRC.

Machine-specific disassembly instructions are not provided, but you can find the hardware maintenance manual for your Latitude module online. Just search for it. The flash chips(s) is/are usually under the keyboard/palmrest. Near to the PCH/southbridge.

Note that you often have to provide a high current for VCC, because the flash chip will share a common voltage rail with other power-hungry ICs on the board, or the flash ICs will share a common MISO/MOSI line without resistance, with chip selects controlled by PCH, and/or the PCH itself might be live while flashing - so you need to set the drive strength high.

Take stock of the above advice, which is also mentioned on the external SPI flashing guide.

Please read the external SPI flash guide

External flashing is usually not required, on these machines.

Some Dell Latitudes use a single flash chip, so you can just use the ROM images as-is.

If there are two flash chips, you must split the ROM images. Check the silk screen on the board, and the first chip might be labelled something like SPI1, second one SPI2. Figure out which one is first.

Look at the part number on the chip and find the flash size for it. For example: a 10MB flash might be 2MB for SPI1 and 8MB for SPI2, so you would do:

dd if=libreboot.rom of=spi1.rom bs=1M count=2
dd if=libreboot.rom of=spi2.rom bs=1M skip=2

Adapt accordingly, to the exact flash configuration on your machine. 16MB is likely one chip. 12MB is usually SPI1 8MB and SPI2 4MB so you would do:

dd if=libreboot.rom of=spi1.rom bs=1M count=8
dd if=libreboot.rom of=spi2.rom bs=1M skip=8

If in doubt, just ask on Libreboot IRC.

This also applies to releases newer than Libreboot 26.10rev10, either in the 26.10 release series, or major releases after 26.10:

Nicholas Chin has done extensive rework on battery handling for Dell Latitude models. It is no longer done in SMM. It is now done in a generalised ACPI framework, and existing S3 fixes are done there (patching to prevent DRAM from powering down in S3).

This patchset also adds support for battery status in EC, via the new ACPI patching. This means you can now monitor battery usage / charge level in ACPI-enabled operating systems.

The new EC handler code is more efficient, on Dell Latitudes. Doing it all in SMM violates one of coreboot’s main design criteria… putting everything in SMM is bloat. Doing it all in ACPI is just more performance-efficient, and easier to maintain. Note that these patches are still under review on the coreboot project, but they were deemed stable enough for a Libreboot release.

The following features are still broken (and previously broken too), on Dell Latitudes:

• Brightness controls via hotkey(software-based controls work except on the Latitude E4300)
• Physical wireless switch (soft enable/disable works fine)
• Battery charge thresholds (vendor firmware seems to have it on E6430, but coreboot and Libreboot do not).
• Wake (S3 resume) on lid open; must press power button to wake from suspend, but this was already true on earlier Libreboot releases. Please make sure to press the power button instead.

These can be fixed in a future release.

The Canoeboot version of this page is: https://canoeboot.org/docs/install/latitude.html

SPDX-License-Identifier: GFDL-1.3-or-later

Markdown file for this page: https://libreboot.org/docs/install/latitude.md

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