Dell Precision 7540 and 7740 Owner's Thread

I have now updated totally five Dell 7540 BIOS from 1.4.0 to 1.5.1. Three works OK but two laptops show this kind of Support Assistant message now and then during the startup when WD19DC is connected.


WD19DC was connected when I updated BIOS.
Clearing BIOS events may help. I will try this trick next day. All drivers are up-to-date.
I have not yet tried to reinstall same BIOS 1.5.1 again.

 

Hmm maybe there was a bad flash to one of the usb power delivery controllers with the update? I am sure that both would need to function for the dock to be able to charge the system as normal.

 

Dear heikkuri,

I need the Old BIOS Version 1.4.0, do you have this File?

I contact DELL but the Version was removed from all DELL Servers.

Best Regards

 

Does anybody know what kind of screen Dell puts in for Ultrasharp FHD 100%rgb in the 7540? I bought a pre-configured one from a third-party seller. It just has a 42%ntsc panel with a really poor performance and would like to upgrade. The NV156FHM-N4B does not fit from mechanical point of view.

 

Do you have this specific panel and also tried to install it on your 7540 ?

As you can see from this post:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...0-owners-thread.820539/page-283#post-10973779
he managed to swap the stock panel with exactly the display you mentioned.

Both 7530-7540 share same chassis.

i was able to contact a user on this forum who has 7540 with fhd non touch 100%rgb display (but with linux as os) who reported me the following:

CT3C7 - 391-BENX : LIQUID CRYSTAL DISPLAY, 15.6, UltraSharp FHD IPS, AG, IN, Guar 100% sRGB.

Model: "CT3C7 156HCA LCD Monitor"
Vendor: CMN "CT3C7 156HCA"

He also stated that when turned it on for the first time, there was the ability to use HDR display.
So it should be 8-bit.

I tried to search "156HCA" at panelook and as you can see from this link:
http://www.panelook.com/modelsearch.php?keyword=n156hca
the only 8bit panel (N156HCA-EAB) is 45% ntsc
while N156HCA-GA3 is 400nits + 72%ntsc (same thing as 100% srgb) but 6-bit.

So it's either a typo on the website or the panel just being a new released version not registered yet.

The only 15.6" innolux panel with 72%ntsc + 8bit i was able to find on panelook is this:
N156HCE-GN1
http://www.panelook.com/modeldetail.php?id=41166
used by lenovo on P53
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenov...n-with-a-lot-of-GPU-performance.442599.0.html

 

Here is link to BIOS 1.4.0 https://1drv.ms/u/s!AlI8JlQnPjlWlPgGye5P0nwFSF3JdQ?e=sMML9I

I have patched again BIOS 1.5.1 to two problem PC. So far everything is OK. But I have just tested few hours.

To prevent network problems with WD19DC, I use High performance power plan.
This can be activated like this
powercfg -setactive SCHEME_MIN

Few powercfg commands

To See Your Current Active Power Plan Scheme
powercfg -GetActiveScheme

To See All Power Plan Schemes
powercfg -list

Show alias names
powercfg.exe -aliases

Show hidden alias names
powercfg.exe -aliasesh

 

I can confirm my screen is the same as the one that user acemanhiflier reported with the picture. I used the same thing and got the same result.

However, my screen spec is the following:

15.6" UltraSharp FHD IPS, 1920x1080 AG, NT, w/Prem Panel Guar 100% sRGB
15.6" FHD Non-touch, WLAN/WWAN Cover
15.6" FHD Non-touch, Cam/Mic Bezel

I can't really confirm whether it is glossy with AG or just regular old matte.

 

I think my throttling battle is over.
Ended up using liquid metal. Not experiencing problems like the ones mentioned by @Hopper82. Overall I find it easier to use that the regular toothpaste, with all the precautions of course. Correct heatsink seating was crucial for me, it took over 15 attempts to get it right, so that I'm getting <10C spread across cores under load.

Next came power throttling. I think PL1 was set to 60W in 1.4.0 and to 75W in 1.5.1, at least that's what I was getting after 28s, which means 3.8GHz on all-core load.

It turns out that MSR 0x610 (MSR_PKG_POWER_LIMIT) is unlocked, which means that power limits can be changed. Throttled can do it on Linux, and I was able to set both to 100W. All-core load now stays at 4.2GHz for unlimited time, consuming about 85W. Frequency is limited by MSR_TURBO_RATIO_LIMIT now, and I don't want to mess with it as I'm already hitting 92C.

Spoiler: turbostat output

CPUID(0): GenuineIntel 0x16 CPUID levels; 0x80000008 xlevels; family:model:stepping 0x6:9e:d (6:158:13)
CPUID(1): SSE3 MONITOR - EIST TM2 TSC MSR ACPI-TM HT TM
CPUID(6): APERF, TURBO, DTS, PTM, HWP, HWPnotify, HWPwindow, HWPepp, No-HWPpkg, EPB
cpu12: MSR_IA32_MISC_ENABLE: 0x00850089 (TCC EIST MWAIT PREFETCH TURBO)
CPUID(7): SGX
cpu12: MSR_IA32_FEATURE_CONTROL: 0x00020005 (Locked )
CPUID(0x15): eax_crystal: 2 ebx_tsc: 200 ecx_crystal_hz: 0
TSC: 2400 MHz (24000000 Hz * 200 / 2 / 1000000)
CPUID(0x16): base_mhz: 2400 max_mhz: 5000 bus_mhz: 100
cpu12: MSR_MISC_PWR_MGMT: 0x00401cc0 (ENable-EIST_Coordination DISable-EPB DISable-OOB)
RAPL: 5825 sec. Joule Counter Range, at 45 Watts
cpu12: MSR_PLATFORM_INFO: 0x80839f1011800
8 * 100.0 = 800.0 MHz max efficiency frequency
24 * 100.0 = 2400.0 MHz base frequency
cpu12: MSR_IA32_POWER_CTL: 0x002c005f (C1E auto-promotion: ENabled)
cpu12: MSR_TURBO_RATIO_LIMIT: 0x2a2c2d2e2f303132
42 * 100.0 = 4200.0 MHz max turbo 8 active cores
44 * 100.0 = 4400.0 MHz max turbo 7 active cores
45 * 100.0 = 4500.0 MHz max turbo 6 active cores
46 * 100.0 = 4600.0 MHz max turbo 5 active cores
47 * 100.0 = 4700.0 MHz max turbo 4 active cores
48 * 100.0 = 4800.0 MHz max turbo 3 active cores
49 * 100.0 = 4900.0 MHz max turbo 2 active cores
50 * 100.0 = 5000.0 MHz max turbo 1 active cores
cpu12: MSR_CONFIG_TDP_NOMINAL: 0x00000018 (base_ratio=24)
cpu12: MSR_CONFIG_TDP_LEVEL_1: 0x00000000 ()
cpu12: MSR_CONFIG_TDP_LEVEL_2: 0x00000000 ()
cpu12: MSR_CONFIG_TDP_CONTROL: 0x80000000 ( lock=1)
cpu12: MSR_TURBO_ACTIVATION_RATIO: 0x00000000 (MAX_NON_TURBO_RATIO=0 lock=0)
cpu12: MSR_PKG_CST_CONFIG_CONTROL: 0x1e008008 (UNdemote-C3, UNdemote-C1, demote-C3, demote-C1, locked, pkg-cstate-limit=8 (unlimited))
cpu12: POLL: CPUIDLE CORE POLL IDLE
cpu12: C1: MWAIT 0x00
cpu12: C1E: MWAIT 0x01
cpu12: C3: MWAIT 0x10
cpu12: C6: MWAIT 0x20
cpu12: C7s: MWAIT 0x33
cpu12: C8: MWAIT 0x40
cpu12: C9: MWAIT 0x50
cpu12: C10: MWAIT 0x60
cpu12: cpufreq driver: intel_pstate
cpu12: cpufreq governor: powersave
cpufreq intel_pstate no_turbo: 0
cpu12: MSR_MISC_FEATURE_CONTROL: 0x00000000 (L2-Prefetch L2-Prefetch-pair L1-Prefetch L1-IP-Prefetch)
cpu0: MSR_PM_ENABLE: 0x00000001 (HWP)
cpu0: MSR_HWP_CAPABILITIES: 0x01091832 (high 50 guar 24 eff 9 low 1)
cpu0: MSR_HWP_REQUEST: 0x80003208 (min 8 max 50 des 0 epp 0x80 window 0x0 pkg 0x0)
cpu0: MSR_HWP_INTERRUPT: 0x00000000 (Dis_Guaranteed_Perf_Change, Dis_Excursion_Min)
cpu0: MSR_HWP_STATUS: 0x00000000 (No-Guaranteed_Perf_Change, No-Excursion_Min)
cpu0: MSR_IA32_ENERGY_PERF_BIAS: 0x00000006 (balanced)
cpu0: MSR_RAPL_POWER_UNIT: 0x000a0e03 (0.125000 Watts, 0.000061 Joules, 0.000977 sec.)
cpu0: MSR_PKG_POWER_INFO: 0x00000168 (45 W TDP, RAPL 0 - 0 W, 0.000000 sec.)
cpu0: MSR_PKG_POWER_LIMIT: 0xcc83c000dc8320 (UNlocked)
cpu0: PKG Limit #1: ENabled (100.000000 Watts, 28.000000 sec, clamp DISabled)
cpu0: PKG Limit #2: ENabled (120.000000 Watts, 0.109375* sec, clamp DISabled)
cpu0: MSR_DRAM_POWER_LIMIT: 0x5400de00000000 (UNlocked)
cpu0: DRAM Limit: DISabled (0.000000 Watts, 0.000977 sec, clamp DISabled)
cpu0: MSR_PP0_POLICY: 0
cpu0: MSR_PP0_POWER_LIMIT: 0x00000000 (UNlocked)
cpu0: Cores Limit: DISabled (0.000000 Watts, 0.000977 sec, clamp DISabled)
cpu0: MSR_PP1_POLICY: 0
cpu0: MSR_PP1_POWER_LIMIT: 0x00000000 (UNlocked)
cpu0: GFX Limit: DISabled (0.000000 Watts, 0.000977 sec, clamp DISabled)
cpu0: MSR_IA32_TEMPERATURE_TARGET: 0x03640000 (100 C)
cpu0: MSR_IA32_PACKAGE_THERM_STATUS: 0x88310802 (51 C)
cpu0: MSR_IA32_PACKAGE_THERM_INTERRUPT: 0x00000003 (100 C, 100 C)
cpu12: MSR_PKGC3_IRTL: 0x0000884e (valid, 79872 ns)
cpu12: MSR_PKGC6_IRTL: 0x00008876 (valid, 120832 ns)
cpu12: MSR_PKGC7_IRTL: 0x00008894 (valid, 151552 ns)
cpu12: MSR_PKGC8_IRTL: 0x000088fa (valid, 256000 ns)
cpu12: MSR_PKGC9_IRTL: 0x0000894c (valid, 339968 ns)
cpu12: MSR_PKGC10_IRTL: 0x00008bf2 (valid, 1034240 ns)

PS spoke too soon. Still getting throttled to 75W, don't know why. It was definitely working yesterday, and MSR shows correct 100W limits.

 

I had the screen at hand.....it does not fit! The original screen has mounting rails attached to it. The BOE is all little bit to wide to fit.

 

Just got my precision 7540, was surprised to see dell stripped some screws but w/e ... this thing is a beast. love it

i am looking forward to the precision 5750 that was leaked, anyone looking to switch to that?