Hands on Dell Precision 7710

That is not correct. I have switchable graphics enabled and running 1.4.8. For some reason it seems to be corrupting the intel video on some machines. I would think it is limited since Dell did not pull the bios. Anyone open a case with Dell on this for an update?

Switchable graphics is suppose to use less power and resulting in your battery lasting longer. If you use it primarily plugged in, my guess is no, you are not losing anything, but I am no expert on this.

 

All I can say is that I disabled switchable graphics PRIOR to 1.4.8 installation and the firmware update went without a hitch. I then reenabled switchable graphics in the BIOS and immediately on reboot back to snow - once it was disabled again there was no problem with booting into Windows

 

Interesting! That is a mystery - looks like no common denominator with regard to CPU., graphics cards etc.

I virtually never use my computer on battery so sounds like switchable graphics is no biggie.

 

Maybe it just takes two time for it to work. I may try it again at some point if I'm bored on a weekend, but I'm in no immediate need for the 1.4.8 except I would like to be up to date and have faster wake time from sleep state.

*edit: oops, I see that after you re-enabled switchable graphics it gave you snow on next reboot. yeah, I'm going to stay away from 1.4.8 until later BIOS arrives. thanks

 

I think this means it is corrupting the intel video bios. By disabling the switchable graphics, it does not use the intel video, just the Nvidia. One of the enhancements listed is "Updated Intel Video BIOS."

Another thought. Maybe try running the bios update again. So if you have 1.4.8 installed, try running again. Maybe it will correct the video.

 

I called Dell Pro Support Plus and got someone local and not 8K miles away - he sounded knowledgeable - he is going to open up a ticket and send to higher ups + he has a 7710 in the lab and will try to see if he can reproduce it locally.

I sent him this link with accurate description and pictures of the problem (and the workaround) and also told him that some people were speculating that the update is corrupting the Video BIOS:

https://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/t/19680135

Perhaps we will get some action.

 

As a little experiment I'm going to be using solely my M5000M graphics card. I've disabled Switchable Graphics and I'll make notes how it differs (if at all) from when I was using optimas.

The immediate difference is that the Nvidia Control Panel now gives me a plethora of settings that never existed when I had switchable graphics enabled. Kindof cool. For example, previously my display port was not able to send audio to my Asus display built in speakers. The asus external display's speakers are crap, but now using the dGPU the display port is able to pass audio to the external display.

I'll need to play around with some of the control panel settings this weekend. Previously, when using swithchable graphics, I only had the control options displayed under the "3D Settings" task menu tree.

 

That is the proper NVIDIA control panel for a Quadro graphics card (desktop or portable) - I wondered why the short control panel only showed up when I had switchable graphics enabled under the older BIOS and now the menu is what it should be (for a Quadro card). I also have the Quadro setup for all graphics except I believe the system uses the onboard Intel graphics for display with the laptop screen and the displayport monitor I have set up using the TB15 dock.

Whether they get the BIOS changed to allow switchable graphics or not I think from now on I will keep it disabled. The M5000M is much more powerful than the onboard graphics (Intel).

 

If you have switchable graphics enabled, the Intel GPU drives the display and the NVIDIA GPU is only used for 3D rendering (certain programs which you can configure). To get display options like those you are seeing you have to use the Intel HD Graphics control panel, but as you have probably seen, it doesn't have as much stuff to look at.

You will get the full NVIDIA control panel if you hook up a display to the laptop that is driven directly by the NVIDIA GPU. On this generation I think this is only displays attached to the ePort dock.

Or you can just disable switchable graphics altogether, and the NVIDIA GPU will run all displays always, if you don't care about the possible hit to battery life.

 

@planetweckesser Yeah, with switchable graphics disabled we get the full NVIDIA control panel. It is just funny that I've not tried disabling switchable graphics before now since I work about 98% while plugged into the wall too.

If you've disabled switchable graphics your system will likely behave as mine does, as if it did not have integrated gpu at all. It won't even show up in device manager. Nvidia control panel shows that both my external and my internal are being driven by the quadro gpu. I don't have a TB dock connected though.