m1330 bios revision history details

Since there's so much discussion regarding each bios version, I hope we could condense some of the user experiences to a more complete revision history.

- For now, I guess what would really be good info is the differences between the last four revisions from A09, and details regarding the fan/thermal control of the last two. Is there a difference in sleep states, activity frequency thresholds of the cpu/gpu or is it just adjustments of the fan low/mid/high 'thermostat' settings controled by the gpu (or cpu,or both?)


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Releaseinfo by Dell :
A02 (11. July 2007 - Recommended update)
1. Made the sound more stable when close the lid during audio playback.
2. Support the newer version of the Intel processor.

A06 (19. September 2007 - Recommended update) :
1. Enhance the function of the media eject button more stable in multi-CD/DVD installation.
2. Update the nVidia video BIOS to 60.86.45.00.40.

A07 (16. January 2008 - Optional update) :
1. On N-Series Platforms, remove SLIC table and pointer to resolve OS bug with KMS activation.
2. Add support for Wifi Catcher of Dell wireless 1395.

A08 (reported to exist by a few users?)

A09 (6. February 2008 - Recommended update) :
1. Updated Intel uCode.
2. Added support for New optical drives.
3. Support new CPUs.
4. Added enhancement for thermal control.
5. Added enhancement for MediaDirect control.

A10 (6. May 2008 - Recommended update) :
1. Improve compatibility with Dell Wireless 1390 & 1490 Dell WLAN.
2. Improve system performance on Resume from S3 with Driver Verifier enabled.
3. Added enhancement for optical drives.

A11 (19. June 2008 - Recommended update) :
1. Added enhancement for thermal control.

A12 (9. July 2008 - Recommended update) :
1. Added enhancement for thermal control.
2. Update GM965 Graphics VBIOS from 1466 to 1588.
3. Update Intel CPU family name.
-----------------------------------------------------

<< - updates - >>

A06 Comments *:

Thermal :
off 0 rpm gpu <59
min 3000 rpm gpu >59-56
slow 3700 rpm gpu >64-59
med 4300 rpm gpu >68-64
high 5100 rpm gpu >71-68

A10 Comments *:
* Fix audio stutter/hang at eject operation(?)

off 0 rpm gpu <59
min 3000 rpm gpu >59-56
slow 3700 rpm gpu >64-60
med 4300rpm gpu >68-64
high 5100 rpm gpu >71-68


A11 Comments *:

Thermal :
* Fan always on low (?)

min 3000 rpm gpu <60
slow 3700 rpm gpu >64-60
med 4300rpm gpu >68-64
high 5100 rpm gpu >71-68


A12 Comments *:

Thermal :
* Fan always on low (?+?)

min 3000 rpm gpu <60
slow 3700 rpm gpu >64-60
med 4300rpm gpu >68-64
high 5100 rpm gpu >71-68

(*) Tests above with I8KFangui 3.1 w/+10 offset for gpu, bios update sequence : A11->A12->A10->A06, procedure : flash bios-reboot-test. Temps given are start and 'back to' values of gpu vs. fan.
Makes me wonder if the code for fancontrol gets downgraded at all, since there was no difference observed.
GPU temp vs. fan was easily observed and repeatable, but there's ofcourse additional granularity and thermal control in the background vs. chipset, cpu and other temp sensors/parameters not observed here.

Additional :
- Seems like the fancontrol on the m1330 has atleast four states + off.
Was using I8kfangui to let fan stop completely when Gpu is below 55C and Cpu is below 58 (high at 78/75).
Works good after the gpu hsf mod. Now back to bios A10 instead.
- My m1330 was shipped from Dell in the beg. of May this year and still had the A06 bios when it arrived.
- T7500, 3GB Ram, m8400GS/128, Samsung HM160HI, Samsung LED, Intel 4965wlan, fingerprintscanner, WinXPsp3, HSF mod., bios A10

TIA for your comments/findings

 

M1330 has at least 6 states. Use Intel thermal analysis tool (TAT) to find out by applying different workloads on CPU. These are my findings:

Stage 0 : fan off
Stage 1 : 2000 rpm
Stage 2 : 2700 - 3000 rpm
Stage 3 : 3700 - 4000 rpm
Stage 4 : 4800 - 5200 rpm
Stage 5 : 5500 - 5700 rpm

Maybe there are even more stages.

i8kfanui is just too old an stupid. It's code that has been reverse engineered from Dell diagnostics older than XPS M1330 is. Actually i8kfanui is considered harmful by windows defender.

i8kfanui is good for watching temps and rpms, but it doesn't support M1330 in respect to control very good. It can only control three stages. You also have to force rpm every 20 msec or something like that to prevent SMBIOS inference resulting in concurrent fan speed changes.

 

Thanks for the update 7oby!
Do you have any more data on the states vs. temps?

Agree mostly on the i8kfan, but havent found any other tool yet capable of fancontrol on the m1330 - I'm happy atm. with fan off-slow-high(stage 0-2-4) possibilities with this old app, although the bios interference is a tiny bit annoying sometimes (some huffing and puffing when they don't agree on speed)

I'll check out Intel's TAT.

*edit*
My T7500(PentiumM by TAT v.2.05.2006.0427) gets 2.2Ghz/50% cpuload with 100% workload on 1 core, when applying 100% workload on both cores the cpuload is 100% and frequency jumps between 1.6/2.2Ghz.
A simple standalone utility like f.i. 'BurnMax' gets both cores to 100% load/2.2Ghz and keeps it there.
Maybe I've found a too old version of TAT?

 

Sorry, I don't have. Maybe others do (and I'm pushing this tread now again on top).

I don't think there is another tool for windows.

open tab "Display options" and set "Fan setting enforcement" to 20 msec and you should be fine. Try to find the optimal setting. Read the corresponding section in user manual.

Your TAT version is fine.

Putting workload:
60% / 60%
70% / 70%
[...]
100% / 100%

should do the trick you'll notice all different fan speed steps. Maybe some lower steps can only be achieved by loading just one core.

 

I had A08 on my second MB after the 1st one GPU died.


Regards

 

My observations are a bit different using the same utility and offset. With the latest bios a12 the fan is off during start up and is turned on at low when the GPU reaches 63. After a couple of minutes when the temperature drops to 58, the fan is turned off. This is when pc is idle.

This may also be due to CPU tems, but they hover between 35-43 and should not trigger the fans at this low temp, or should they?

I have not done the Cu mod, but I'm planning to as I recently had my mobo replaced due to... guess what

The new bios thermal control seems ridiculous as now the fans turn on even when computer is idle (If I remember correctly it did not turn the fan on with older bioses, when the pc was idle for a long time?)

 

Note that A02 lets you use third party WWAN cards. Other bios versions won't (as far as I know). I use A02 because of this.