Dell Precision M6700 Owners Thread

But the m6700 mobo has a 40 pin LVDS and 30 pin eDP header. Why can't I just use the 30 pin header, or is it configured differently? If not, then does anyone have any recommendations for screens sub-$125 or so? I can pick up the covet screen for $115-125 in my region but if there's a new/new old stock1080p panel for cheaper I would be willing to go with that instead.

 

M6700 eDP port is 40 pins.

Spoiler

You can check out the Samsung LTN173HT02 panel, it is 40-pin eDP, 1080p, and supports 120Hz. It is glossy, though. (Need the M6700 "3D cable" to install it.) You can also use a "standard" eDP 40-pin panel (4K included) but they won't fit/mount in the chassis without a bit of work. Otherwise, gotta find a 1080p LVDS panel, which are getting to be sort of hard to come by (good ones anyway).

 

Do I need to have the image driver board like how the m6600 does it or is it just a different cable straight to the display?

 

With the "3D cable" you just have a single cable that goes straight from the eDP port on the motherboard to the display panel. This was the case for the 3D display panel that you could purchase with the M6700, but it works with other newer eDP panels as well. You need the interposer board if you are trying to attach an original M6600/M6700 IPS display.

 

Ok so my dysfunctional m6700 came in for servicing today and I've come across two issues. The first is that there is no picture through the laptop panel (LVDS), HDMI or VGA port, with either the Quadro k5000m or HD 4000 graphics. The second is that there is no USB connectivity, so both the laptop KB and USB keyboard aren't working. I swapped in another Ivy Bridge CPU I had lying around (a crappy i3-3110m) but no change. I also swapped in working RAM and that didn't change anything, and I am getting no RAM warning lights. The only indication of any tampering is some paint chipping on the display screws, which indicate the display was swapped and/or plugged-unplugged. The battery charges and the device wakes on AC, and the fans change speed when attempting to boot. I already uncovered that the CMOS battery was disconnected and the connector snapped, so I used a spare from a m6600. I am going to try and attempt to use a hard drive to maybe get past any secure boot stuff in the BIOS. If that doesn't work, then I'll try prodding around with a multimeter for any USB shorts. If anyone has any recommended course of action it would be much appreciated.
(UPDATE: tried both a Legacy boot and UEFI boot drive but neither showed any change. I also attempted to swap RAM into other two slots with no change. I do have KB input because I can run Fn+Pwr no problem, and I get a blinking battery LED when I do so).

 

maybe the bios is corrupted and need to be reflashed using external programmer

 

I think it’s due to the original owner enabling secure boot and legacy boot options. The lack of USB but working KB suggests USB on boot is also disabled. The BIOS probably got corrupted by a bad flash or an old version having a known glitch related to secure boot.

But I am certain it is a software issue: all other parts seen untouched and stripping the components back to just CPU and RAM yields no change after powering on. A reflash would probably fix the issue but I’m just being curious if there’s another trick that could fix it.

 

You cannot enable both secure boot and legacy boot at the same time. (Secure boot requires that UEFI is turned on and legacy option ROMs be turned off.)
If the BIOS options got set wrong, you can reset the BIOS to defaults just by disconnecting and reconnecting the coin cell battery.

 

Sorry I meant to put *or. I had originally discovered the coin cell battery that came with the unit had a broken connector so I transferred over another clock battery I had from a m6600. I've tried all cycles I discussed previously with and without a CMOS battery refresh and I was able to power cycle the machine once but still didn't boot. I already tried all function keys and Fn+power button. Is there a KB combination I can try besides Fn+Pwr or any F1-12 keys?

 

A somewhat silly thing that you can try is just holding down the "D" key while you turn the system on. This does a display test... it will flash different colors on the display until you power the system off. (If it works, then at least something about the computer is working...)