Precision M6800 questions and upgrades

[Aaron44126]

Just saw another post with someone running a Pascal GPU in the M6600. Maybe this problem is only with Kepler and Maxwell GPUs.

 

(Actually don’t remember what exactly happens with Maxwell but I want to say it won’t boot.)

[Nowan]

On 12/20/2024 at 5:23 PM, ssj92 said:

Is the laptop booting up fine though? Or it doesn’t even post with nvidia card? 
 

I have some ideas if it at least posts 

 

17 hours ago, Aaron44126 said:

Just saw another post with someone running a Pascal GPU in the M6600. Maybe this problem is only with Kepler and Maxwell GPUs.

 

(Actually don’t remember what exactly happens with Maxwell but I want to say it won’t boot.)

you could try tinker the vbios like that person did with his quadro p5200 if your vbios chip cant be attach with CH341A, i think they call the section what i seen in a redit post talks of what started to get the quadro 5200 working is the header?, like anything before offset line 00000A00. i recently messed around p106m vbios by replace the header with the working vbios of quadro p4000  and it allow me to boot without me switching out the gpu just enable back optimus and  back in the p106m, but the same story on p4000 on m6600 but is unusable, it shows on device manager with yellow exclamation mark with the drivers installed and powertech read clock speed zero. possibly some where in the header to allow optimus  to work on m6600? i also have theroy of maxwell gpus of tesla m6 and the vbios of m3000m i posted both hold key to allow optimus to work on m6600 for tesla m6 with m3000m vbios as it has no header but the code is different vs other m3000m vbios and the header of m6 like as i try m6 on my m6600 it booted to windows even tho optimus doesnt plus the trick i did with p106m, may allow the maxwell gpu to boot into windows without it freezing. i seen certain models of gtx 980m on ebay  that you could attach CH341A making flashing easier to unbrick gpus when you mess something up. 

[ssj92]

19 hours ago, Nowan said:

 

you could try tinker the vbios like that person did with his quadro p5200 if your vbios chip cant be attach with CH341A, i think they call the section what i seen in a redit post talks of what started to get the quadro 5200 working is the header?, like anything before offset line 00000A00. i recently messed around p106m vbios by replace the header with the working vbios of quadro p4000  and it allow me to boot without me switching out the gpu just enable back optimus and  back in the p106m, but the same story on p4000 on m6600 but is unusable, it shows on device manager with yellow exclamation mark with the drivers installed and powertech read clock speed zero. possibly some where in the header to allow optimus  to work on m6600? i also have theroy of maxwell gpus of tesla m6 and the vbios of m3000m i posted both hold key to allow optimus to work on m6600 for tesla m6 with m3000m vbios as it has no header but the code is different vs other m3000m vbios and the header of m6 like as i try m6 on my m6600 it booted to windows even tho optimus doesnt plus the trick i did with p106m, may allow the maxwell gpu to boot into windows without it freezing. i seen certain models of gtx 980m on ebay  that you could attach CH341A making flashing easier to unbrick gpus when you mess something up. 

Do you have a link to the reddit thread on this vBIOS mod? I have 880M 980M RTX 3000 GPUs so I have a few generations I can play with. 

[Nowan]

4 hours ago, ssj92 said:

Do you have a link to the reddit thread on this vBIOS mod? I have 880M 980M RTX 3000 GPUs so I have a few generations I can play with. 

did but now is completely gone but lucky i archive as pdf, this is what he said how he did it and the files he posted on this post. if the date is correct of the pdf this is 2 months after he went ask in macrumors.

Engineering vBIOS _ Modification for Quadro P5200 MXM Card _ nvidia.pdf drive-download-20230331T213252Z-001.zip

[ssj92]

14 hours ago, Nowan said:

did but now is completely gone but lucky i archive as pdf, this is what he said how he did it and the files he posted on this post. if the date is correct of the pdf this is 2 months after he went ask in macrumors.

Engineering vBIOS _ Modification for Quadro P5200 MXM Card _ nvidia.pdf 889.72 kB · 5 downloads drive-download-20230331T213252Z-001.zip 457.93 kB · 1 download

Wow thanks for this. I will study it later and see what he did. Maybe this could also help us solve the 900 series working on M18xR1 as well. 

 

They all seem to be BIOS/vBIOS issues during Dell's Sandy Bridge laptops. 

 

Any chance you got his info? Looks like his reddit account is deleted. 

[Nowan]

2 hours ago, ssj92 said:

Wow thanks for this. I will study it later and see what he did. Maybe this could also help us solve the 900 series working on M18xR1 as well. 

 

They all seem to be BIOS/vBIOS issues during Dell's Sandy Bridge laptops. 

 

Any chance you got his info? Looks like his reddit account is deleted. 

no,i check the post he made in macrumor have info say hes the Owner SC Remote Technologies USA? his last login was Mar 4, 2024. https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/imac-2011-maxwell-and-pascal-gpu-upgrade.2300989/page-24?post=32101535#post-32101535 

[same23]

Hi I am new to this and is planning to buy dell m6800 for 190 euro  and got some problem 

 

I am planning to upgrade the gpu to T1000 would it be possible ? it is from  HP ZBook 17 G5

 

does it really matter if I got eDP or LVDS model ?  if I  understand it correctly  the internal  screen would work with just the igpu if i got LVDS ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[StefanAM]

On 4/22/2024 at 6:52 AM, Alex said:

EDP，It works now，I found a working vbios

Hi! You made my day. Can you tell me please, what vbios is working? Thank you!

[martin778]

Does the M6800 Covet come with the best screen available for these? Is it the 3D screen?

[Anton_lvanov]

15 hours ago, martin778 said:

Does the M6800 Covet come with the best screen available for these? Is it the 3D screen?

In the M6800, the best screens are all 72% NTSC TN screen, you can't replace the other screens

[martin778]

What about the touchscreen model, same? I assumed it was the RGB LED IPS.

[Anton_lvanov]

On 2/26/2025 at 3:58 PM, martin778 said:

触摸屏型号怎么样？一样吗？我以为是 RGB LED IPS。

Yes，both are 1920x1080 TN 72% NTSC screen，touchscreen are LVDS,You can't replace a screen over 1080p, because the M6800's eDP port only has 2 channels,motherboard has two ports versions, LA-9781P (LVDS) AND LA-9782P (eDP)

[martin778]

Hehe, my Covet M6800 doesn't even have an eDP connector, only LVDS.

 

Internal layout is completely different from M6700.

[Anton_lvanov]

9 hours ago, martin778 said:

呵呵，我的 Covet M6800 甚至没有 eDP 连接器，只有 LVDS。

 

内部布局与M6700完全不同。

Yes, the M6600/6700/6800 is just basically the same on the outside, and the internal is completely different

[martin778]

I also noticed the 6800 has the same problem as the 6700 with the retention clip of the keyboard connector breaking, probably because of the heat from the GPU.

[martin778]

Sadly the DVD drive is shot on my 6800.

Is it just a standard 9.5mm drive or do they have a vendor lock?

[Aaron44126]

2 hours ago, martin778 said:

Sadly the DVD drive is shot on my 6800.

Is it just a standard 9.5mm drive or do they have a vendor lock?

 

Any 9.5mm SATA drive optical drive will work in that bay. You will just have to remove the mounting bracket on the back and attach it to your new drive. You should also be able to remove the front piece / trim and attach it to the new drive so that it will be color-matched, if you like.

 

I installed my own BD-RE drive in the Precision M6700, and replaced it with a UHD BD drive later in the system's life, and never had any issue (other than all commercial Blu-ray playback software for Windows being bloated / garbage).

 

You can also install a SATA SSD or hard drive there instead of an optical drive, if you purchase a caddy to mount it.

[martin778]

Thanks, I bought a SATA caddy. Removing the front trim/bezel of the old DVD drive looks like a challenge, the 12.5mm ones on my HP's were much easier to remove.

For CD/DVD drive I have an iODD ST400 emulator.

[martin778]

SATA caddy installed, works like a charm.

Also replaced the CPU with 4940XM for the sake of 'maxing it out'. I've been reading it's possible to mod the UEFI to OC the CPU? With PTM7950 there is a bit of OC headroom.

Need to think about the GPU as the K4100M is a rather poor performer despite it's 4GB VRAM and running a +135 / +200 OC in Afterburner.

 

NVIDIA Quadro K4100M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-4940MX,Dell Inc. 0GMG3X

NVIDIA Quadro K4100M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-4940MX,Dell Inc. 0GMG3X

NVIDIA Quadro K4100M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-4940MX,Dell Inc. 0GMG3X

 

Sadly the original GPU heatsink in the 6800 needs a Dremel-mod to fit Maxwells. Thankfully it's not destructive ed. it will still work for Keplers. The middle part at the bottom where it touches the row of black capacitors needs to be sanded down from the right as on Maxwell the coil has a different placement. This part needs to be removed:

 

 

 

 

It's all soft aluminum and copper and done if a few minutes though.

 

By the way, does anyone still have modded BIOSes for the M6800?

[GUIDE] Dell Precision M6800/M4800 sBIOS mod | NotebookReview | NBRCHIVE