Zeht Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 1 minute ago, PHVM_BR said: I believe we discovered the culprit: it's the absence of the battery! It may be. I bought the machine from ebay a few weeks back, I'm not from the US so I imported it to my country, meaning that I can't return it now. So, I'm stuck with this laptop since I sold my old zbook 15 g2. I was going to get a battery eventually but now I'm not sure, I would have to spend $100 to get it into my country and the laptop may continue performing like crap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeht Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 6 minutes ago, Aaron44126 said: Are you using 180W or 240W power adapter? Do you have a 240W that you could try? I'm using a 180W adapter, unfortunately I can't get a 240W. Either way I think 180W should be more than enough, the quadro takes around 80W and the cpu 45W. If updating the bios doesn't work I will try flashing the max-q version vbios, which has a 60W tgp if I recall correctly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PHVM_BR Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 8 minutes ago, Zeht said: and the laptop may continue performing like crap. I seriously believe it's the lack of battery. Many systems, especially with dGPU, limit heavy usage when there is no battery connected. In ultra performance, your laptop should maintain at least 45W on the CPU simultaneously with the GPU. In fact, I believe that the default behavior of this machine is for the CPU power to fluctuate between 60 and 45W (depending on temperatures) while the GPU consumes its 80W. My original system had an i7-9750H and Quadro T2000 and the behavior at full load CPU + GPU was the i7 varying between 60 and 75W while the GPU maintained 60W (its maximum TGP). In the case of RTX 3000 or higher, this CPU limit is lowered as the GPU consumes more (80W). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeht Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 6 minutes ago, PHVM_BR said: I seriously believe it's the lack of battery. Many systems, especially with dGPU, limit heavy usage when there is no battery connected. In ultra performance, your laptop should maintain at least 45W on the CPU simultaneously with the GPU. In fact, I believe that the default behavior of this machine is for the CPU power to fluctuate between 60 and 45W (depending on temperatures) while the GPU consumes its 80W. My original system had an i7-9750H and Quadro T2000 and the behavior at full load CPU + GPU was the i7 varying between 60 and 75W while the GPU maintained 60W (its maximum TGP). In the case of RTX 3000 or higher, this CPU limit is lowered as the GPU consumes more (80W). When I bought the laptop the seller said that he removed the battery due to "Communication error". I'm afraid that ths embedded controller might be faulty and a new battery will either not work or the issue with power throttling might continue. I updated to the latest 1.30.0 bios and the problem persists, undervolt seems to still be working. I'm tired of this machine, later I will try flashing the maxq vbios and see if it fixes anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeht Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 Well I tried flashing a 65W max-q vbios but it kinda bricked the laptop, it would boot into windows but as soon as the login screen appeared the screen would turn black. I had to use the safe mode to flash the original vbios and it's working back again. Before getting a battery I want to make sure it will fix the issue. Could anyone with a precision 7540 unplug their battery and run a gpu+cpu stress test?, I want to see if the cpu throttling behavior is normal in this machine or if mine is faulty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chalybion Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 I can check with my 7540 in a couple of days, if no one else has by then. I had a similar "communication error" with a battery that had completely discharged and left in that state for several years. Replacing the battery fixed that issue. I didn't stress test in that state, though. Precision 7520 / Xeon E3-1535m v6 / 32 gb Kingston Fury DDR4 2666 CL15 / GTX 1650 Mobile Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PHVM_BR Posted March 23 Share Posted March 23 6 hours ago, Zeht said: Could anyone with a precision 7540 unplug their battery and run a gpu+cpu stress test? Tomorrow I'll try to test and post the results here. See the screenshot of the ~14 minute test I did simultaneously using the AIDA64 CPU Stress + Heaven still with i7-9750H / RTX 4000 (90W VBIOS) / original Dell thermal paste from the new heatsink / no undervolt: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeht Posted March 23 Share Posted March 23 Yesterday I tried repasting since I noticed the cpu vrm would get into the 70°s (Dell EC temp1 in hwinfo). I change the thermal pad for a slightly thicker one and now it stays in the 60°s but the issue persists. I'd really appreciate if someone could do the tests without battery, I'm going crazy with this laptop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PHVM_BR Posted March 25 Share Posted March 25 On 3/23/2024 at 7:27 AM, Zeht said: Yesterday I tried repasting since I noticed the cpu vrm would get into the 70°s (Dell EC temp1 in hwinfo). I change the thermal pad for a slightly thicker one and now it stays in the 60°s but the issue persists. I'd really appreciate if someone could do the tests without battery, I'm going crazy with this laptop The problem is definitely the lack of battery. I did the test without battery running AIDA64 CPU test + Heaven. With BD PROCHOT the CPU worked inconsistently, varying between ~15 and 30W while the GPU also fluctuated, unable to maintain a constant ~90W. While the tests were running, the BD PRO alert flashed red constantly in the ThrottleStop main window. By unchecking BD PROCHOT, the GPU started to work apparently normally, while the CPU continued to oscillate strongly, but with higher power levels, between ~15 and 60W, mainly between ~20 and 50W. This time the POWER alert flashed red constantly. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeht Posted March 25 Share Posted March 25 9 hours ago, PHVM_BR said: The problem is definitely the lack of battery. I did the test without battery running AIDA64 CPU test + Heaven. With BD PROCHOT the CPU worked inconsistently, varying between ~15 and 30W while the GPU also fluctuated, unable to maintain a constant ~90W. While the tests were running, the BD PRO alert flashed red constantly in the ThrottleStop main window. By unchecking BD PROCHOT, the GPU started to work apparently normally, while the CPU continued to oscillate strongly, but with higher power levels, between ~15 and 60W, mainly between ~20 and 50W. This time the POWER alert flashed red constantly. Well case closed, I'll get a battery soon. Thanks a lot for your time, I really appreciate it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
htfan Posted April 1 Share Posted April 1 Are the Thunderbolt/USB-C ports on the 7740 always on/powered? Just bought a 4-port USB-C hub and noticed that when the laptop is powered off the light on the new hub remains on. So the two ports are always powered? Is that expected behavior? And can I change that? BTW, the AC adapter is plugged in. Pretty much always is, this is used as a desktop replacement. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron44126 Posted April 1 Share Posted April 1 6 hours ago, htfan said: Are the Thunderbolt/USB-C ports on the 7740 always on/powered? Yes, the USB ports are powered on even if the system is powered off. I believe there is an option in the BIOS called "USB powershare" which might control this — I just leave it on as that is the preferred behavior for me. (You can actually use the system as a giant USB battery even if the AC adapter is not plugged in, i.e. to charge your phone while traveling.) Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch, 2023 (personal) • Dell Precision 7560 (work) • Full specs in spoiler block below Info posts (Dell) — Dell Precision key posts • Dell driver RSS feeds • Dell Fan Management — override fan behavior Info posts (Windows) — Turbo boost toggle • The problem with Windows 11 • About Windows 10 LTSC Spoiler Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch, 2023 (personal) M2 Max 4 efficiency cores 8 performance cores 38-core Apple GPU 96GB LPDDR5-6400 8TB SSD macOS 14 "Sonoma" 16.2" 3456×2234 120 Hz mini-LED VRR display Wi-Fi 6E + Bluetooth 5.3 99.6Wh battery 1080p webcam Fingerprint reader Also — iPhone 12 Pro 512GB, Apple Watch Series 8 Dell Precision 7560 (work) Intel Xeon W-11955M ("Tiger Lake") 8×2.6 GHz base, 5.0 GHz turbo, hyperthreading ("Willow Cove") 64GB DDR4-3200 ECC NVIDIA RTX A2000 4GB Storage: 512GB system drive (Micron 2300) 4TB additional storage (Sabrent Rocket Q4) Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2021 15.6" 3940×2160 IPS display Intel Wi-Fi AX210 (Wi-Fi 6E + Bluetooth 5.3) 95Wh battery 720p IR webcam Fingerprint reader Previous Dell Precision 7770, 7530, 7510, M4800, M6700 Dell Latitude E6520 Dell Inspiron 1720, 5150 Dell Latitude CPi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
htfan Posted April 1 Share Posted April 1 5 hours ago, Aaron44126 said: Yes, the USB ports are powered on even if the system is powered off. I believe there is an option in the BIOS called "USB powershare" which might control this — I just leave it on as that is the preferred behavior for me. (You can actually use the system as a giant USB battery even if the AC adapter is not plugged in, i.e. to charge your phone while traveling.) Got it, thanks for the info! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PHVM_BR Posted April 2 Share Posted April 2 I purchased a 240W Alienware SFF (GaN) power adapter and it works great on the Precision 7540. As before with the original 180W power adapter at full CPU + GPU cross-load, the i9-9980HK remained at ~60W and the RTX 4000 at ~90W but now there is no more battery drain. The system works by consuming ~150W from the CPU and GPU simultaneously, around ~180/190W in total, without discharging and without thermal throttling. Impressive! I'm very pleased with the new investment (i9 / RTX 4000 / 240W adapter). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chalybion Posted April 10 Share Posted April 10 I need help getting my undervolt back... I am on BIOS v1.26.1/Windows 11 23H2, and had to replace the CMOS battery. When restarting, I reset all BIOS settings to how they were, including disabling Intel virtualization settings. The overclocking lock and overclocking feature are both set to 0x1. I opened throttlestop, and voltage controls are disabled... I read earlier in the thread how BIOS 1.7.0 is the magic one for consistently enabling undervolts; the problem is that Dell's Support page only has 1.3.3 (can't downgrade past 1.5.1 because different memory map I think?) and 1.8.2. Additionally, 1.24 was the last BIOS that allows downgrading - I can get around that if need be, but it's more involved... Any thoughts or sure-fire solutions? Precision 7520 / Xeon E3-1535m v6 / 32 gb Kingston Fury DDR4 2666 CL15 / GTX 1650 Mobile Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PHVM_BR Posted April 10 Share Posted April 10 2 hours ago, Chalybion said: Any thoughts or sure-fire solutions? Have you tried restoring factory settings in BIOS? If your laptop left the factory with BIOS 1.7 or lower this is enough to restore the possibility of undervolt. Otherwise, the option is to edit the variables (very simple). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chalybion Posted April 10 Share Posted April 10 6 hours ago, PHVM_BR said: Have you tried restoring factory settings in BIOS? If your laptop left the factory with BIOS 1.7 or lower this is enough to restore the possibility of undervolt. Otherwise, the option is to edit the variables (very simple). I tried both, and they didn't work with the current BIOS. I did try upgrading one BIOS version to v1.27.0, then resetting to factory defaults, and then voltage/frequency controls came back. No idea why - just a bit frustrating. Precision 7520 / Xeon E3-1535m v6 / 32 gb Kingston Fury DDR4 2666 CL15 / GTX 1650 Mobile Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PHVM_BR Posted April 10 Share Posted April 10 2 hours ago, Chalybion said: I tried both, and they didn't work with the current BIOS. I did try upgrading one BIOS version to v1.27.0, then resetting to factory defaults, and then voltage/frequency controls came back. No idea why - just a bit frustrating. BIOS defaults return the configuration of the installed BIOS. If the installed version is anything above 1.7.0 this will block the undervolt. Factory Defaults returns the original factory BIOS configuration. If the original BIOS is 1.7.0 or lower this option will unlock the undervolt. If it is 1.8.2 or higher, this option will block undervolt if it is unlocked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chalybion Posted April 10 Share Posted April 10 Yep, I followed your advice and understand what you are saying. The purpose of my post was to share an experience where, counterintuitively, the factory reset didn't work on my current BIOS version (1.26.1), but the factory reset did work after I upgraded to v1.27.0 1 Precision 7520 / Xeon E3-1535m v6 / 32 gb Kingston Fury DDR4 2666 CL15 / GTX 1650 Mobile Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 Hello guys, do you know where can i find that RTX 4000 110W vBIOS for Precision 7740 please? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PHVM_BR Posted April 25 Share Posted April 25 On 6/30/2023 at 7:04 PM, Chalybion said: Overclocking Feature: setup_var Setup 0x856 0x1 What exactly does this? I unlocked it out of curiosity and my i9-9980HK clocks were stuck at 800MHz. To unlock undervolt and increase ratios this is not necessary, what does it do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meowpressreturn Posted 11 minutes ago Share Posted 11 minutes ago Thought I'd post some intimate under the casing pics from my 7540 here as I was poking about in there today. I'm thinking of once again replacing the SSD in my daily driver Precision 3551 with a bigger and hopefully cooler one. SDDs come in many sizes but always leave in one size (full) 😛 Which means that solid state heater the 3551 has (1 TB Samsung 970 EVO Plus, the older model with the Phoenix controller) will end up in here. Since that still leaves me a vacant slot maybe I'll throw in the 512 GB Kioxia my 3551 originally came with as well, assuming two years in the back of a cupboard haven't killed it already. See how. Interesting to see that the 7540's metal plates for the SSD come with an adhesive thermal pad (unlike the 3551's SSD plate - I get terrible terrible temps with the Samsung SSD in the 3551, whereas the SK Hynix SSD in my 7540 is practically cold!). That sticky thing with the "Laird" label IS a thermal pad right? If I'm putting in an SSD in there or more RAM in those DIMM slots, will I need to remove those plastic label things? I should probably open the casing and deal with dust more often, although, even with that dust, and unlike every other Dell laptop I've ever owned, the 7540 actually seems to have reasonable cooling (in contrast, the 3551's idea of cooling is an absolute joke). However every time I open that case I lose another little plastic clippy thingy 😞 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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