Precision 7560 & Precision 7760 owner's thread

[Brian Lawton]

Quick update that I installed BIOS 1.11.0 earlier today and so far, haven't encountered any issues. That said, given past experiences by many in this forum, your mileage may vary.

[Aaron44126]

Still having issues with my PCIe4 drive.  This is after a motherboard swap; the new one doesn't have the "pressure switch" by the PCIe4 slot.

 

The issue is different than before.  With my old motherboard, the PCIe4 drive would completely disappear.  It would be gone from File Explorer, it would be gone from Device Manager, it would not even show in the BIOS setup "Storage" section, and I'd have to power off the PC to (maybe) get it back.

 

With the new motherboard, I'm not seeing the drive disappear.  It still shows up in Device Manager and File Explorer.  The problem is, Windows stops recognizing the file system and reports it as "RAW", and then I cannot access the drive files.  I can't find a way to get it to remount properly without a reboot.  This has happened twice in the last week.

 

This morning, I took some "try to maybe fix it" steps.

• Updated to BIOS 1.11.0.  (This might have started with the 1.10.x update; I don't remember it happening with 1.5.0 which is what the board came with.  I ran that version for a few weeks before trying to update.)
• I also switched from AHCI/NVMe mode to RAID to see if that makes a difference.  (If it doesn't, I'll be switching right back.)

If it continues to happen, I guess I'll have to try shuffling the drives around again so that the PCIe4 drive is in a PCIe3 slot.  (Don't know what else to try.)  We'll see what happens...

[Rinconmike]

On 4/28/2022 at 10:13 AM, Aaron44126 said:

Still having issues with my PCIe4 drive.  This is after a motherboard swap; the new one doesn't have the "pressure switch" by the PCIe4 slot.

 

The issue is different than before.  With my old motherboard, the PCIe4 drive would completely disappear.  It would be gone from File Explorer, it would be gone from Device Manager, it would not even show in the BIOS setup "Storage" section, and I'd have to power off the PC to (maybe) get it back.

 

With the new motherboard, I'm not seeing the drive disappear.  It still shows up in Device Manager and File Explorer.  The problem is, Windows stops recognizing the file system and reports it as "RAW", and then I cannot access the drive files.  I can't find a way to get it to remount properly without a reboot.  This has happened twice in the last week.

 

This morning, I took some "try to maybe fix it" steps.

• Updated to BIOS 1.11.0.  (This might have started with the 1.10.x update; I don't remember it happening with 1.5.0 which is what the board came with.  I ran that version for a few weeks before trying to update.)
• I also switched from AHCI/NVMe mode to RAID to see if that makes a difference.  (If it doesn't, I'll be switching right back.)

If it continues to happen, I guess I'll have to try shuffling the drives around again so that the PCIe4 drive is in a PCIe3 slot.  (Don't know what else to try.)  We'll see what happens...

 

Any update on if Bios 1.11.0 fixed the issue or switch to RAID fixed it?

[Aaron44126]

1 hour ago, Rinconmike said:

Any update on if Bios 1.11.0 fixed the issue or switch to RAID fixed it?

Haven’t had the issue again yet, but I think it’s a bit too soon to say that it’s fixed.

[Rinconmike]

17 minutes ago, Aaron44126 said:

Haven’t had the issue again yet, but I think it’s a bit too soon to say that it’s fixed.

Thanks for the update.  Curious to see if it was the bios update that fixed it or switching to RAID.

[Aaron44126]

13 minutes ago, Rinconmike said:

Thanks for the update.  Curious to see if it was the bios update that fixed it or switching to RAID.

I’ll probably let it run with both “fixes” for about two weeks.  And if I don’t have the problem in that time, I will then switch back to AHCI/NVMe mode and see what happens.

[Aaron44126]

On 4/30/2022 at 11:25 AM, Aaron44126 said:

I’ll probably let it run with both “fixes” for about two weeks.

 

Well, it didn't last that long.  Now, I had the PCIe4 drive up and completely disappear again.  This is on the version of the motherboard that does not have a physical switch by that slot.  I'm going to be swapping the drives around to different slots, back to the configuration that I had working before — no PCIe4 drive in the PCIe4 slot.

 

Seems like it could be an issue with my Sabrent PCIe4 drive, but the fact that I had the same drive disappearing issue with a coworker's system and a Samsung 980 Pro drive makes me doubt that.

 

(Really hoping that the 7770 doesn't have this issue.  I have four PCIe4 drives ready to put in there.)

[Rinconmike]

Do you have a spare 980 you can test to see if it happens.  May want to call this a lemon and get it exchanged for a 7670 🙂.

 

Does the dell diagnostics report any issues with the drive in the PCIe4 slot?

[Aaron44126]

2 hours ago, Rinconmike said:

Do you have a spare 980 you can test to see if it happens.

Eh, this is my work system and things are quite busy right now so I sort of want to spend as little time as possible dealing with this :-/.  I need all three drives working so I’m not going to be experimenting with swapping different drive models in for now, if rearranging them “solves” the problem.  I’m more concerned with stability than with the PCIe4 drive running at full speed.

 

Diagnostics report nothing amiss.

 

[Edit]

Drive switcharoo complete, we'll see how it goes...

[Aaron44126]

14 hours ago, Aaron44126 said:

Drive switcharoo complete, we'll see how it goes...

 

Well, that was a bust.

 

My new configuration had the Windows / C drive in the PCIe4 slot.  After booting up, I was in short order (≈5 minutes) greeted with a BSOD, and then a message from the BIOS saying that no bootable drive could be found.

 

Opened the system up again and carefully reseated the drive.  Same thing happened.  Tried one more time, extra-carefully reseating the drive.  Same thing (but this time it lasted a few hours).

 

So.  It's definitely the slot and not the drive.  Replacing the motherboard doesn't seem to have fixed it.  Best I can come up with is I'm somehow missing the "trick" to properly seat a drive in this slot with that plastic caddy thing, but it sure does look like it is snug in there to me.

 

Anyway, I'm working on rearranging things so that I can work off of two drives and not three and just leave this slot empty for now.

[Rinconmike]

1 hour ago, Aaron44126 said:

 

Well, that was a bust.

 

My new configuration had the Windows / C drive in the PCIe4 slot.  After booting up, I was in short order (≈5 minutes) greeted with a BSOD, and then a message from the BIOS saying that no bootable drive could be found.

 

 

The issue I have with MB replacements is it may not be new.  I had systems replaced after two attempts on MB replacement.  

[ioni]

It looks like latest bios 1.11.0 removed from dell support,

again 🙂

as the previouses

[Aaron44126]

9 minutes ago, ioni said:

It looks like latest bios 1.11.0 removed from dell support,

again 🙂

as the previouses

 

1.10.1 is removed as well.  (Don't know if anyone noted that.)  They're all the way back down to 1.5.0 as the only option.  All of the newer ones have a note saying that once you upgrade, you can't downgrade below 1.8.0, so if there really is some issue with these newer ones, and you have upgraded to one of them, then you are stuck.

 

I also noticed that MS is pushing either 1.10.1 or 1.11.0 down through Windows Update as of a few days ago.  It could be automatically installed if you have capsule updates enabled in BIOS setup (which is the default configuration).  If you would like to make sure that you are in control of when BIOS updates happen, turn that off.

[Rinconmike]

1 hour ago, Aaron44126 said:

 

1.10.1 is removed as well.  (Don't know if anyone noted that.)  They're all the way back down to 1.5.0 as the only option.  All of the newer ones have a note saying that once you upgrade, you can't downgrade below 1.8.0, so if there really is some issue with these newer ones, and you have upgraded to one of them, then you are stuck.

 

I also noticed that MS is pushing either 1.10.1 or 1.11.0 down through Windows Update as of a few days ago.  It could be automatically installed if you have capsule updates enabled in BIOS setup (which is the default configuration).  If you would like to make sure that you are in control of when BIOS updates happen, turn that off.

Sounds like a mess!  I do not recall ever being offered a bios update via Windows update.  Where is the setting for capsule updates.  I never changed it from default and will take a look what it is set to.

[aldarxt]

2 hours ago, Aaron44126 said:

 

1.10.1 is removed as well.  (Don't know if anyone noted that.)  They're all the way back down to 1.5.0 as the only option.  All of the newer ones have a note saying that once you upgrade, you can't downgrade below 1.8.0, so if there really is some issue with these newer ones, and you have upgraded to one of them, then you are stuck.

 

I also noticed that MS is pushing either 1.10.1 or 1.11.0 down through Windows Update as of a few days ago.  It could be automatically installed if you have capsule updates enabled in BIOS setup (which is the default configuration).  If you would like to make sure that you are in control of when BIOS updates happen, turn that off.

Hey Aaron44126, Just a thought, I had a drive disappear once because of changing drive letters in device manager because I didn't like the way windows arranged the letters so I reset the way I liked and a drive disappeared and a usb stick would not show. Drove me crazy for a few hours until i reset the drive letters again. I'm just saying, not that I think that is the problem you seem to be having but windows you never know.

[Aaron44126]

On 5/6/2022 at 5:56 PM, aldarxt said:

Hey Aaron44126, Just a thought, I had a drive disappear once because of changing drive letters in device manager because I didn't like the way windows arranged the letters so I reset the way I liked and a drive disappeared and a usb stick would not show. Drove me crazy for a few hours until i reset the drive letters again. I'm just saying, not that I think that is the problem you seem to be having but windows you never know.

 

It's not a Windows problem.  The BIOS can't see the drive either.  I can go to the "Storage" section of BIOS setup and it will show no drive installed int he slot, and in the case of me moving the Windows drive into the PCIe4 slot, the BIOS throws an error about no boot volume available.  (It will also be completely absent from Disk Management and Device Manager when this is going on with a non-Windows drive.)

 

On 5/6/2022 at 5:16 PM, Rinconmike said:

Sounds like a mess!  I do not recall ever being offered a bios update via Windows update.  Where is the setting for capsule updates.  I never changed it from default and will take a look what it is set to.

 

Sorry, I missed this post.  The setting is under security and it is called something like "UEFI Capsule Firmware Updates".  If it is on, you will see a "Firmware" category in Device Manager.  If the "firmware" device gets updated with a new driver (which contains a new BIOS image) then the BIOS will be flashed.  Microsoft sometimes pushes these down through Windows Update.

[Rinconmike]

8 minutes ago, Aaron44126 said:

 

Sorry, I missed this post.  The setting is under security and it is called something like "UEFI Capsule Firmware Updates".  If it is on, you will see a "Firmware" category in Device Manager.  If the "firmware" device gets updated with a new driver (which contains a new BIOS image) then the BIOS will be flashed.  Microsoft sometimes pushes these down through Windows Update.

 

Thanks.  I found it.  It is under "Update,Recovery"

 

"Enable UEFI Capsule Firmware Updates

This option controls whether this system allows BIOPS updates via UEFI capsule update packages.

NOTE: Disabling this option will block BIOS updates from services such as Micrsoft Windows Update and Linux Vendor Firmware Service (LVFS)."

 

Mine is on (Default).  But luckily I have never had a bios update via MS Windows Update on the 7760 or 7560 (or my 7710 if it has this).

 

Now I need to decide if I turn it off.

 

[thock]

I have recently had a new problem, but I don't know whether it's my computer, Thunderbird, or a combination of the two. I have searched for this problem in Thunderbird fora, but to no avail.

 

I am seeing malformed characters in e-mail messages sent to me. I use Thunderbird as my client. I have not noticed this on any other program (like LibreOffice, Chrome, etc.)

 

I have attached a screen shot of some of the strange characters I'm seeing. I see these regardless of whether I am using Tbird in dark or light mode, and regardless of whether my laptop is docked. This is all on the internal display.

 

As you will see, the first "t" of a double-t has the crossbar more or less whited out, as do some of the bottoms of "m"s.

 

I checked my partner's Tbird for these same messages, and his is displaying correctly (M6700).

 

Any ideas what rabbit holes I should investigate for this?

[Aaron44126]

16 minutes ago, thock said:

Any ideas what rabbit holes I should investigate for this?

• Are you running at >100% display scaling in Windows?
• You could try disabling hardware graphics acceleration in Thunderbird and see if that makes a difference.

[Rinconmike]

I chatted with Pro Support and asked why they pulled 1.10.1 and this is what he found:

• The only documentation I can see on our end is that it looks like a couple cases of systems experiencing a no boot issue after updating to 1.10.1. So that may have been why it was pulled, is that they found an issue with the update, or that could have just been an issue with those systems specifically.
• If no issues occurred immediately, you are likely fine. As far as the two cases I found, the no boot problems occurred right after they updated. But there is no official info or issues with it that has been passed down after searching. 
• I see on both cases, there was no hardware replacement. One restored their system image with a backup and it worked fine, and then on the other, the BIOS had caused an issue with the specific NVIDIA graphics driver they had installed, which they uninstalled in SafeMode, then restarted, and everything worked. 

 

 

 

[thock]

On 5/6/2022 at 3:35 PM, Aaron44126 said:

• Are you running at >100% display scaling in Windows?
• You could try disabling hardware graphics acceleration in Thunderbird and see if that makes a difference.

Yes, I'm running at 200%.

I'll try that in Tbird and see if it helps.

 

Thanks!

[Aaron44126]

20 minutes ago, thock said:

Yes, I'm running at 200%.

 

Another thing that you could try would be disabling scaling for Thunderbird.  Find the executable and right-click on it.  Select "Properties", go to Compatibility -> Change high DPI settings -> Override high DPI scaling behavior -> System (from the drop-down).  Then restart any running Thunderbird instance.  (Text won't look as nice but maybe the graphical issues are gone?)

[Rinconmike]

On 5/9/2022 at 1:44 PM, thock said:

Yes, I'm running at 200%.

I'll try that in Tbird and see if it helps.

 

Thanks!

I sometimes get garbled text in outlook on an external monitor (laptop lid closed).  Scrolling the window usually fixes it.  I do have Hybrid Graphics on but also selected the option in bios to output the external screens using the Nvidia card.  I think I had this also with Hybrid graphics off and with Hybrid graphics on but not setting it so the external monitors default to the Nvidia.

[Pultzar]

Hello everybody, new user here.

 

I have been a desktop user for over 30 years, but now due to working in multiple locations I'm seeking a powerful laptop for programming and photo editing. I'm going back and forth between something like the Precision series (6+ pounds) or something much lighter like a Lenovo X1 Carbon Extreme (4 pounds).

 

Is it at all comfortable to use the Precision series on your actual lap, for example sitting on the couch?  Or are these more like desktop computers that are easier to move around? 🙂

[Aaron44126]

2 hours ago, Pultzar said:

Is it at all comfortable to use the Precision series on your actual lap, for example sitting on the couch?  Or are these more like desktop computers that are easier to move around? 

The bottom of the system gets quite warm.  I use mine on the couch often, but with a folding tray table, not right on my lap.