Dell Precision 7720 Refurbishment/Upgrade Project

[Will]

Ever since I found out about mobile workstations, I've always wanted to have a Dell Precision 7720, both because of its design, which I personally think is really cool (especially its internal layout), and because its the last Precision with an MXM slot before Dell switched to the DGFF format starting with the 7XX30 series. Then one day, while browsing OLX, I was lucky enough to find a Dell Precision 7710 for a low price. The laptop was listed as "for parts" and untested, and its specifications weren’t provided, but from the pictures in the listing, it was clear that many parts were missing, such as the heatsink + fans, keyboard, RAM, SSD, AC adapter, etc. Even so, I thought it was a good deal, so I bought it. Here are the pictures from the seller:

 

I believe this will be a very interesting project, so in this thread I will post the progress of my journey in refurbishing/upgrading this amazing machine.

[Will]

UPDATE #1:

I've started buying the necessary parts for the refurbishment/upgrade project. I'll be purchasing most of the parts from China, from sites like Taobao, Xianyu, etc. The first parts I bought were:

• 240W GaN AC Adapter (DP/N 0YR68)
• NVIDIA Heatsink + Fans (DP/N 0YJNJK)
• Memory RAM Cover (DP/N AM1DJ000300)




As soon as the parts arrived, I installed the heatsink + fans, put in some RAM sticks and an SSD that I already had, and tried to turn the laptop on. To my surprise, it booted, but I immediately noticed that the screen was defective.



Aside from the screen, everything works perfectly: speakers, touchpad, USB ports, fingerprint reader, RAM slots, etc. However, when I took the motherboard out to clean it, I had an unpleasant surprise: a component was knocked off, and even worse, apparently the pads were also ripped off:



Taking a look at the boardview, this is what I got:



This is where I ask you guys for help, does anyone know exactly what this component does? I tested the motherboard's SATA port and it's working perfectly, full speed.

I don't have the necessary skills, but I'm thinking of trying to repair it someday. Anyway, I bought a Dell Precision 7720 motherboard with Xeon E3-1535M v6 (I had originally ordered a motherboard with Xeon E3-1575M v5 because of its 128MB L4 cache, but the seller told me it was out of stock, so they offered me the 1535M v6) on Aliexpress and I'm waiting for it to arrive.

Just out of curiosity, before I installed the heatsink, I took the opportunity to install a Clevo GTX 670MX with faulty VRAM chips that I had lying around to see if the Precision would recognize it — and yes, it did, and I was able to install the drivers normally on Windows 10. Here are the pictures:

[GuitarG]

That component turns on sata led activity, in simple answer. 

 

Regarding project, have fun and good luck! Few months ago I helped my friend to repaste his Precision 7520. He does have mxm slot too,  but unfortunately it’s smaller A version. Nice laptops, though! 

[Will]

10 hours ago, GuitarG said:

That component turns on sata led activity, in simple answer. 

 

Regarding project, have fun and good luck! Few months ago I helped my friend to repaste his Precision 7520. He does have mxm slot too,  but unfortunately it’s smaller A version. Nice laptops, though! 

Oh, that's what I thought, so it's nothing critical. Thank you for answering me, your topic about the 8570w is a great inspiration to me! And indeed, they are great laptops.

[Will]

UPDATE #2:

The motherboard I bought from Aliexpress has finally arrived. After a visual inspection, I noticed a few things:

• Indeed, it's a Precision 7720 motherboard (LA-E321P)




• The seller forgot the CPU heatsink mounting bracket



• The NS692417 IC chip has a cracked package



• The seller told me it was a Xeon motherboard, but the DP/N 05V4K9 indicates it is an i7-7920HQ model. At first, I thought there were two possibilities: either the seller sent me an i7-7920HQ motherboard by mistake, or it's a motherboard that was previously repaired and had its CPU replaced.
• Judging by the solder flux residue marks and other details like "bubbles" on the insulation sheet, the latter option is correct: the motherboard has been previously repaired, as expected.



After the visual inspection, I installed the motherboard in the chassis and tried to boot it even without the CPU heatsink mounting bracket. After some struggling with shutdowns due to high temperatures caused by improper contact between the heatsink and the CPU die (I didn’t want to take the CPU heatsink mounting bracket from the 7710 motherboard because I want to keep it as "original" as possible), I was able to access the BIOS and got confirmation: the CPU is indeed a Xeon E3-1535M v6, just as the seller told me.



NOW IT'S OFFICIALLY A 7720!

After that, I booted into Windows and tested all the functions: RAM slots, SSD slots, MXM slot, WLAN slot, etc. Everything is working normally. As for the CPU heatsink mounting bracket, I have already bought a defective 7710 motherboard to remove its bracket.

While I was installing the "new" motherboard, I made a mistake. I really wish I had seen this comment earlier: 

So, the thing is: the 7710 left side IO daughterboard (DP/N 0CJFG2) connected just fine to the 7720 motherboard, but when i tried to connect the right side IO daughterboard (Dell P/N 0GMNG8) to the 7720 motherboard, I noticed that it wasn’t fitting correctly, even though it was perfectly aligned, so I forced it and ended up damaging the plastic guides for the connection.



Now somehow I will try to fix that plastic guide, and I think I’ll have to buy a 7720 right side IO daughterboard.

Well, despite everything, I consider this 7720 motherboard was a good deal, since it’s working and I got it for really cheap.