MitjaStachowiak

Maybe the 4150 has a DELL VBIOS.? Well, I bought an AMD 7150 for HP Servers and - as expected - it cannot drive external monitors of my Dell 7200. Well, this laptop can use the Intel-Graphics for output, so if I use this, it is OK. Well there is no HDMI Audio on the Intel Graphics and all newer 5.1 amplifiers don't have analog inputs anymore so I cannot have 5.1 audio on new receivers. But so what? I have always had problems with HDMI-Audio on Nvidia GPUs for many years until they fixed this bug for Linux, so I bought a 10 years old 5.1 amplifier with analog input, which I can drive using a USB soundcard. My impression: technology is not longer evolving. The companies just dump tons of new chips on the market, which finally are not well supported and ALL new laptops, I bought during the last 10 years does have new problems and even more problems then the previous model. I remember, that on some Laptops I switched GPUS, there were two screen connectors on the mainboard. Don't know weather it was HP or DELL. Maybe if you open the laptop the next time, search for the display cable that comes from the screen and look, if there is maybe a second equally sized connector for it on the mainboard. If so, there is a minimal chance, that this will work...

Hello, does anyone know, which is the chip holding the VBIOS-ROM on an AMD Pro-WX 7100? I've two AMD Pro WX 7100 which doesn't work. One has maybe a wrong VBIOS and gets deativated in BIOS before any system boots. The other one is not recognized by the MB so I suspect this one to be defective and un-soldered two chips, which I suspect to be the VBIOS-ROM: On earlier GPUs, the VBIOS was the chip closer to the GPU. But here, this chip has a bottom SMD contact which looks more like some power electronics... So before I start soldering on the probably working GPU - can you tell me, which actually is the VBIOS? Thanks.

Okay, it seems, it wasn't the BIOS-Version, that caused the problem but the wrong heatsink. I used the Nvidia MXM-type A heatsink from previous graphics, emeried some cooper where the GPU is located an added some other cooper plates where the voltage converters are. What I didn't realized is, that some screws from the keyboard grounding go through this heatsink and hit my additional cooper plates. So when I installed all the other things of the laptop, this screws bent the heatpipe and the GPU's PCP and somehow caused that the GPU then was not longer detected. I think, I did some little damage to the GPU this way - but when I now leave out the screws from the keyboard grounding and don't tighten the heatsink's screws too much, it works. I cannot see the GPU-temp, because there is no GPU temperature sensor active on Dell 7720. It wasn't even active for original Nvidia GPU. I think, they just measure the CPU temp and because it's the same heatpipe, that connects CPU, GPU and fans, the fan speed is ~correctly controlled this way... This Server-GPU seems to have no display outputs. On the Precision 7720, the Intel Graphics can drive nearly all display connectors, if configured in the BIOS. But there is no active Intel HDMI audio then. So I cannot use digital audio output :-/ Maybe if someone could integrate the display configuration of the AMD 7100 Dell-VBIOS into the 7100X/7150 VBIOS, we could get this GPU fully compatible.

Well, I bought a AMD 7100X for HP servers. I've used the old mainboard of my Dell 7720 on a docking station with external screen and keyboard, to quickly test the GPU and it here worked fine. In the BIOS, the dGPU is activated and listed as unknown GPU. Then I opened my Laptop, took the Heatpipe and installed it onto the docked mainboard, put in my NVME, boot and the GPU still worked fine. In the operating system, lspci gives me VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Tonga XT GL [FirePro S7150] (rev 01) The chip on this card is larger than on the original 7100, I bought on ebay (used and not working, maybe defective). So the 7150 is newer and larger. Well, I played Metro Exodus for a while, so far it is possible with external keyboard and touchpad^^, but the graphic was very nice. Then I put the GPU into my Laptop with the new XEON-MB, but here, it isn't detected by the BIOS. After the CMOS-Reset, just the Intel-Graphics is active :-/ Do you think, that the XEON-CPU is the reason, why the GPU doesn't work? I don't. Its more likely that one of the latest BIOS-Updates, installed during this year, deactivates this GPU or maybe any unknown GPU... Maybe I should think about BIOS-downgrade, if possible. I found a store, that is able to order an original AMD 7100 from Dell, but they want 1500€!!! Moon price! If anyone here is interested in doing a DELL Precision BIOS-Mod to fix this issue, I will send my MB, Docking-Station and AMD 7150 to him or her ;-) Otherwise I will try BIOS-Downgrade. Or alternatively: Does anyone know, which IC is the BIOS on a Dell Precision 7720 MB? Then I could maybe solder the IC from the old MB...

Hmm, the fck*ing Dell Support will not sell me a new GPU and those 7100 GPUs from China seems to be not working. Does anyone know a reseller, who sells an AMD WX 7100?

Maybe the same problem, I am having? https://www.techinferno.com/index.php?/forums/topic/13275-precision-7720-deactivates-amd-7100-gpu-when-system-starts/&tab=comments#comment-175367 Where did you get your WX 7100? This Pro-Version should have 8GB RAM. Did you flash a 4GB RX 480 into the pro-Version?

The Samsung M474A2K43BB1-CTD would be an other module, with even higher clock speeds.

Hello, I bought a cheap version of a Dell Precision 7720 and upgraded it with a XEON Mainboard and an AMD Fire Pro WX7100. When I do a BIOS-Reset (CMOS), the screen stays black and the system reboots three times (I think, this is normal). Then the screen is on and I can enter the BIOS. The dGPU is listed correctly but - no matter what I do (I tried disabling TPM etc) - after leaving the BIOS, the System restarts twice and then the GPU is deactivated. Not shown in BIOS, not visible via lspci-command. I tried to update the BIOS, with no effect. I have no chance to update the VBIOS, because the GPU gets deactivated before any boot procedure. My older FirePro M6100 works, but not all display ports can be driven. Ok, this GPU was never meant to be used with this laptop. Does anyone here has an Idea, what I could try else? I expect the dell support to be not very helpful... Which is finally one reason why I didn't buy a new 4000€ Precision 7740 xD Maybe - is it possible, that no GPU can work, that has more Memory, than the system itself?

Oh, found some: https://eu.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Advantech/SQR-SD4I16G2K4SEBB?qs=1mbolxNpo8e9dWoIZcSmEg%3D%3D

Hello, dell has ECC supported RAM for their Precision laptops sold with a mobile Xeon CPU. Does anyone here know, what is the manufacturer of this ECC modules and where they could be bought?

... and the hardware accelerated video output using Open-GL or VDPAU has wrong interpolations. There are horizontal stripes, where the pixels seem to be mirrored. Very bad quality :-(

After some weeks of experience, I faced new problems. By using the above tool to stop BIOS fan control, the system sometimes doesn't react on FN-Key-Events, such as screen brightness changing or standby. The events aren't lost, but sometimes delayed by up to one minute. Maybe this Linux-Tool sets the wrong registers, as the programmer found them by brute force testing... I will compare the linux and windows tool, maybe this problem is solvable. But the standby-Wakeup-bug does not only apply for docking changes but also if the power supply is added or removed during standby. I think, this is because the screen brightness is different in battery and grid power mode. When the system changes the brightness before the gpu has waken, it crashes. Also the fancontrol service ~can~ fail and let the system overheat. When using multiple monitors, the exact configuration is sometimes lost after standby and has to be set-up manually in the system settings. Finally I wouldn't recommend to use the Fire Pro M6100 with Precision M6700. Especially when changing from Nvidia, because the nvidia-heatsink does not fit perfectly on this AMD GPU. I needed to put a thin cooper pad between GPU and heatsink to adjust incorrect height. The GPU temp rises up to 94°C under maximum load :-/

Ok, this tool can stop the BIOS Fan Control: https://github.com/clopez/dellfan/ Build it an run with sudo dellfan 1 1 at system start and then the fancontrol-driver will do its job :-)

I found this: http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/dellfancmd-%E2%80%93-tool-to-enable-manual-custom-control-of-the-laptop-fans.827106/ which seems to turn off the bios fan control. But only for Windows. Could be difficult to derive a Linux-Solution from the source...

I tried using fancontrol, but it seems, this doesn't turn off the bios fan controlling and the fans are running and stopping randomly.