enabling Intel SMX on a Dell Optiplex 760
Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 9:10 am
I've been trying to enable Intel SMX (Safer Mode Extensions) on a Dell Optiplex 760 without any luck. There is no BIOS setting for this, and Dell was not able to assist me at all.
The first thing I found out was that the IA32_FEATURE_CONTROL_MSR register controls this feature. The bits are as follows:
bit 0: lock bit
bit 1: enable VMXON in SMX
bit 2: enable VMXON in normal operation
bit 3: undocumented
Through the one "enable VT" option in my BIOS, I am able to toggle the setting of bit 2, but not bit 1. Bits 0 and 3 are also always set. Bit 0 being set seems to indicate that the register is locked by the BIOS, correct?
I saw how people were able to overcome issues like this with Sony Vaio laptops when Sony disabled this feature, so I tried some of their approaches:
1. I tried to use Phoenix BIOS editor to open the ROM file for my BIOS so I could see if there were any "hidden" options. The program would not open the ROM file - I get the error: No BCPs found.
2. I tried to use Uniflash to back up my current BIOS, it just sort of hung until I rebooted.
3. I tried to use symcmos to get a back up of the current BIOS settings. I got the error:
Write symbolic report to file: DEFAULT.TXT
combineFiles (0h, COMBINE.ROM)...
initPdmEntry ...
search '$PDM' ... not Found!
pdmEntry = NULL !
4. Tried to use modbin/modbin6, but got the error: BIOS version not 6.0
That might be everything I've tried so far. This appears to be a Phoenix BIOS under some weird Dell gui, which is why I'm thinking there are more features that they are not allowing me to set.
Sorry for such a long post. Does anyone know if this is possible?
Thanks!
-- BrokenString
The first thing I found out was that the IA32_FEATURE_CONTROL_MSR register controls this feature. The bits are as follows:
bit 0: lock bit
bit 1: enable VMXON in SMX
bit 2: enable VMXON in normal operation
bit 3: undocumented
Through the one "enable VT" option in my BIOS, I am able to toggle the setting of bit 2, but not bit 1. Bits 0 and 3 are also always set. Bit 0 being set seems to indicate that the register is locked by the BIOS, correct?
I saw how people were able to overcome issues like this with Sony Vaio laptops when Sony disabled this feature, so I tried some of their approaches:
1. I tried to use Phoenix BIOS editor to open the ROM file for my BIOS so I could see if there were any "hidden" options. The program would not open the ROM file - I get the error: No BCPs found.
2. I tried to use Uniflash to back up my current BIOS, it just sort of hung until I rebooted.
3. I tried to use symcmos to get a back up of the current BIOS settings. I got the error:
Write symbolic report to file: DEFAULT.TXT
combineFiles (0h, COMBINE.ROM)...
initPdmEntry ...
search '$PDM' ... not Found!
pdmEntry = NULL !
4. Tried to use modbin/modbin6, but got the error: BIOS version not 6.0
That might be everything I've tried so far. This appears to be a Phoenix BIOS under some weird Dell gui, which is why I'm thinking there are more features that they are not allowing me to set.
Sorry for such a long post. Does anyone know if this is possible?
Thanks!
-- BrokenString