Precision 7540 & Precision 7740 owner's thread

[Kitje]

1 hour ago, Aaron44126 said:

 

Huh.  That is a surprise.  I know that Dell has fully switched to adhesive for newer models (Precision 7X70+), but I have removed both the Precision 7530 and 7560 displays and they were just screws.  In any case, if they have used adhesive in your system, at least the screw holes are still there so you can mount another display without having to use adhesive.

The other corners are looking like this:

 

This is a bizarre mount. The screws on the sides could be removed and the panel can sort of move but it's still attached somehow.

 

The manual doesn't illustrate the panel removal either.

 

Removing those silver screws releases not only the LCD but the lid too, this doesn't seem very easy nor user friendly.

 

Seems to be the same case for a 7530's lid too. No screws where the other 2 tabs along the bottom of the LCD would screw into. The 7520/7510's lid won't fit this model due to the placement of the hinge mounting holes.

[Kitje]

So, instead I'm going to search for an equivalent to my M4800's or better display for this laptop now. So far, I found N156HCA-EN1 being a candidate and should work, but its a matter of sourcing one and getting a mounting kit. It's a learning experience so I'm definitely opting for a new LCD.

 

I don't mind 60hz, since I'm not going to require anything higher than that.

[Aaron44126]

14 minutes ago, Vaardu said:

... and getting a mounting kit.

 

So if you look at how LCDs are mounted, there are typically little "tabs" that stick out on the top and bottom of the panel that have screw holes.  You can see one in your image right above, partly obscured by the hinge.

 

These mounting tabs are actually not part of the panel, but just an aluminum thing that "sticks" to the back.  They can be pretty easily removed and "migrated" to a new panel as long as the physical dimensions are the same.

 

Here is an image of the back of a panel and I try to illustrate what I am talking about:

[Kitje]

37 minutes ago, Aaron44126 said:

 

So if you look at how LCDs are mounted, there are typically little "tabs" that stick out on the top and bottom of the panel that have screw holes.  You can see one in your image right above, partly obscured by the hinge.

 

These mounting tabs are actually not part of the panel, but just an aluminum thing that "sticks" to the back.  They can be pretty easily removed and "migrated" to a new panel as long as the physical dimensions are the same.

 

Here is an image of the back of a panel and I try to illustrate what I am talking about:

I assume its sort of like that but it's more propietary. There is an adhesive kit from laptopscreen.com I can look into to mount the new panel onto those brackets. I'm aware of these panels but didn't expect it to be mounted in this sort of fashion. I thought it would've been either this one with the standard mount or mountless with those brackets installed. My other panels aren't like this.

[SvenC]

BIOS 1.24.0 arrived: Dell Precision 7540 and 7740 System BIOS | Treiberdetails | Dell Deutschland

 

Firmware updates to address security vulnerabilities including (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures - CVE) such as CVE-2022-40262 and CVE-2022-33894

 

Would that update block undervolting on Windows 10 for Intel 9th gen CPUs?

 

I mostly use Win 11 with Hyper-V enabled, so undervolting is blocked anyways.

But I have a Win 10 installation with Hyper-V enabled and XTU and TS are still able to undervolt on my i7 9750H - would that be blocked?

[Kitje]

Does anyone know of a great 1080p panel I can acquire for the 7540? I'm limited by 30pin, which I think it's 30. I have seen some 10-bits according to Panelook but no one on Notebookcheck has reviewed any laptop with such panel. I think it's 8-bit with FRC, which would be nice.

[Kitje]

Wow, the other day it involved quite a bit of adjustment and retries with the limited amount of adhesive I ordered thinking "oh the mount will guide me surely." No not really it was very difficult getting the screen aligned with nothing cutting it off. I honestly dislike the way its mounted on here. It's very unfriendly. If there's nothing wrong with bracketed screens then stick with that. And it seems only the 7740 has the brackets, not the 7540 and even then the 7530 opted for bracketless.

 

But a new screen is on and a new SSD despite efforts using a usb key to recover Windows, it wasn't successful as for some reason it didn't ever boot properly into it. There wasn't anything on the USB drive either so BIOSConnect seemed to be doing its thing.

[Kitje]

Is it required to have a heatspreader for another M.2 SSD? And if you ordered a 7540 new, did it come with the heatsink plates despite ordering with just one?

[PHVM_BR]

1 hour ago, Vaardu said:

Is it required to have a heatspreader for another M.2 SSD? And if you ordered a 7540 new, did it come with the heatsink plates despite ordering with just one?

Yes, my unit came from the factory with only 1 SSD, but with all 3 heatsinks.

[Kitje]

2 minutes ago, PHVM_BR said:

Yes, my unit came from the factory with only 1 SSD, but with all 3 heatsinks.

Well that's a bummer. I wouldn't part out those from the unit at all if I sell a laptop. So not only it was the screws, and the fact the 512GB wasn't from factory (it came with 256GB according to the service tag lookup) but they decided to leave those out too. 😒

[Kitje]

As of late, my 7540 mostly has upgrades for the LCD and SSD and recently RAM. Currently got N156HCA-EN1 installed, which was a slight misadventure or so because of the adhesive. I ended up using it all because at first it was offset from the bezel and I had to reapply new adhesive.

 

The 500GB it came with has now been replaced with the same capacity from WD, and I dug out my dead Asus G752VT to get the 16GB that had, but now installed it in my 7540 for a "free" upgrade to 32GB. It's not 2666mhz RAM but 2133Mhz, still a slight advantage over DDR3L...

 

So far it's behaving. Feels solid, feels more modern and my only gripe is the lack of disk drive activity LEDs.

[Kitje]

And while it's behaving I still have yet to address the fan whistle it's exhibited, and despite Notebookcheck claiming it's 41dB, they don't have a review of that model and only the 7530 and that one is even louder.

 

I feel if it didn't have the dreaded whistle it'd have a better noise emission, but I don't know if it's due to the assembly or the fan itself and its coming from the right side. It's not electrical noise, it's definitely the fan. Maybe the fan's motor.

[Kitje]

Something's a bit off with booting as well, it takes longer than my 4th gen i7 M4800 in BIOS time. Sometimes it breaks 30 seconds while the other laptop is at most ten times faster. It's definitely not the RAM because removing the lower speed one it makes no difference. Fresh install of Windows and I'm reluctant to upgrade the BIOS due to potential lockout of undervolting the 9750H. Any ideas?

[Aaron44126]

12 minutes ago, Vaardu said:

Any ideas?

 

I believe there is a setting in the BIOS setup regarding the boot speed which has options like "Auto", "Minimal", and "Thorough".  Check and see if it is set to "minimal" and it will skip some POST checks.  Also, I have noticed that having external USB storage drives connected can increase the POST time, because the BIOS will check them all to see if they are bootable before proceeding to boot the OS (even if you aren't planning to boot off of them, I think it wants to prep the F12 menu).

[Kitje]

4 minutes ago, Aaron44126 said:

 

I believe there is a setting in the BIOS setup regarding the boot speed which has options like "Auto", "Minimal", and "Thorough".  Check and see if it is set to "minimal" and it will skip some POST checks.  Also, I have noticed that having external USB storage drives connected can increase the POST time, because the BIOS will check them all to see if they are bootable before proceeding to boot the OS (even if you aren't planning to boot off of them, I think it wants to prep the F12 menu).

It's on minimal. The BIOS startup time was 22 seconds, meanwhile my M4800 hovering around 8 seconds same goes for my old Zbook 15 G2. Only thing connected is just my USB mouse.

[Kitje]

Hm... I've been trying to tame the fans the laptop has to stop it from basically giving me tinnitus with its atrocious whistle. And already, despite an almost perfect laptop its only being held back by its cooling noise. It keeps it cool, sure but the Sunon fans (is that the only maker they have for these fans?) are very loud as a result.

 

 

41.2dB isn't what I'm hearing here, at all. I really don't want to sell this on, but I can't use it for anything beyond Unreal 5 without it sounding like a jet. Not even the M4800 sounds this loud.

[Aaron44126]

Most Precision laptop models have multiple fan models in the mix.  I found this photo of Delta fans (Precision 7530 and 7540 fans are interchangeable).  Here's an old thread about the different types of fans available for the Precision M4800 (see posts by @unnoticed).  I ended up sourcing Delta CPU and GPU fans for my Precision M6700 after seeing those posts; Delta was preferred back then, but I'm not sure if that's still the case in Precision 7X40; in Precision 7770, Sunon is generally preferred over Delta.

 

If you do buy aftermarket fans, you should check with the seller because there is no real guarantee that the fan model pictured is the same model that you will get.

 

I personally use ANC headphones when gaming, fan noise becomes a non-issue.  (I take steps like disabling turbo boost to limit the fan noise when I'm not running an intensive application.)

[Kitje]

16 hours ago, Aaron44126 said:

Most Precision laptop models have multiple fan models in the mix.  I found this photo of Delta fans (Precision 7530 and 7540 fans are interchangeable).  Here's an old thread about the different types of fans available for the Precision M4800 (see posts by @unnoticed).  Delta was preferred back then, but I'm not sure if that's still the case in Precision 7X40; in Precision 7770, Sunon is generally preferred over Delta.

 

If you do buy aftermarket fans, you should check with the seller because there is no real guarantee that the fan model pictured is the same model that you will get.

Yes, absolutely aware of the M4800. They're both Delta in my M4800. The ones in my 7540 are both Sunon but the troubling fan noise is definitely CPU. So if I find one that's a Delta (hopefully soon) then it'll be a quieter laptop. Somehow the Sunon for the GPU is quieter and has no whistle.

 

Well, I was wrong. Both Sunons exhibit the whine, making it appear louder when both are going. I'm definitely replacing both if I can figure out how. Pity since the fans aren't directly replaceable like the M4800 since the 7510.

Edited February 14, 2023 by Vaardu
Correction for fans

[Kitje]

On 2/13/2023 at 8:43 PM, Aaron44126 said:

If you do buy aftermarket fans, you should check with the seller because there is no real guarantee that the fan model pictured is the same model that you will get.

The Delta one you linked, I've messaged asking for confirmation but also the page for that seller directs me to a Hong Kong eBay site. Yet to get a reply, and meanwhile on Amazon there's these aftermarket ones from brands like Landalanya. Not sure how good those ones would be, but reviews for the other fans in peoples laptops they say its good as new and they're quieter.

 

Still hopefully soon I'll source some quiet ones, current fan's giving me a headache and I may have to switch back to the M4800 if I cannot handle it any longer.

[Aaron44126]

I got some China knockoff aftermarket fans from an eBay seller when I was trying to get Delta fans for my M6700.  I imagine that is what the Landalanya ones are.  The brand that I got was "DJBJA" or something like that.

 

They may well work fine and be suitable for you, not too hard to make an OK fan I would think...  You should do some before-and-after performance measurements though, they might seem to be working fine but fail to cool your CPU as much and result in lower turbo boost speeds.

[Kitje]

28 minutes ago, Aaron44126 said:

I got some China knockoff aftermarket fans from an eBay seller when I was trying to get Delta fans for my M6700.  I imagine that is what the Landalanya ones are.  The brand that I got was "DJBJA" or something like that.

 

They may well work fine and be suitable for you, not too hard to make an OK fan I would think...  You should do some before-and-after performance measurements though, they might seem to be working fine but fail to cool your CPU as much and result in lower turbo boost speeds.

I don't really use Turboboost much, if at all. But I don't know if you can remove the impellers. I'd carry them across if it's possible.

[Kitje]

Good news I suppose, the fans in the eBay listing have been confirmed they are the Delta ones. Are there any owners here with Delta in their 7540?

[Kitje]

Just tried doing a test disassembly to get to the heatsink and trying to see if there's any other discrepancies since discovery of missing screws and missing heatsinks. I think everything else is alright.

 

But it's a bit of a hassle compared to the M4800, it's less forgiving. I'll reassemble it, test run it and doing it again once I get new fans. Still haven't found anyone with Delta fans in their machines. So far I have only found info that Deltas in other laptops have the frequency whine, while Sunons don't. It seems that manufacturers fans differ from others.

 

I think it's a sort of lottery for fan noise. I can only learn until I have bought and received the Delta fans. If those aren't any different or they're worse then another set of Sunons would be needed.

[Kitje]

I'm not sure what material the fans seem to use for that foamy stuff. The picture of the Delta fans don't have them, at all. Does anyone know what the material really is and is it necessary?

[Kitje]

Alright I think I may have figured out what that material is and I believe it's for vibration reduction and some dampening of the fans.. And RS Components have foam tape, I don't know the exact width the current ones are but so far 6mm is the narrowest I can find. They don't look removable and if attempted it's bound to tear off and leave a mess.

 

And I'm a little bummed that I haven't found anybody else with Deltas in their 7530 or 7540 so I cannot confirm if there's any noise difference. I'll keep trying to find comparisons but for now I've yet to decide to purchase new fans due to the unexpected costs getting a pair. £60 is still quite a bit, and it better be worthwhile.