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Precision M6800 questions and upgrades

Jers6410
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Jers6410
Jers6410

Hello there everyone!   It's been a while since the last post here. I feel really thankful with the people here because without your help I wouldn't have been able to move forward with the u

neroangelo
neroangelo

I really must thank you guys. It was a project that took a little longer due to some unforeseen events, but in the end I was able to assemble my Dell M6800 station. Initially the processor was going

Jers6410
Jers6410

Hello everyone!   I'm back here to give some updates of my machine progress!   With the great help of @jaybee83 now I can confirm a few things about this Precision M6800!  

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AaronD Rookie

AaronD

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On 9/2/2025 at 5:35 AM, DynamiteZerg said:

I remember seeing my old instructions for flashing using Linux Mint archived from NBR. The link is in one of the posts here. Let me dig around... and there we go!

 

https://www.nbrchive.net/forum.notebookreview.com/threads/graphics-card-upgrade-for-m6800.806352/page-17#post-10748094

It finally works!  Thank you!

 

I still have the USB installer for the Ubuntu Studio 24.04 system that I'm currently running, and I found the exact version of Mint that you used (18.3 Cinnamon) and put that installer on a different USB.  Took a while to find it, as it's not on the front page anymore, but it can still be had if you look a little more.

 

Then I saved all the relevant info including the page that you linked here, to a third USB drive ("Netac" below) so I could do everything offline, and swapped hardware one more time.

 

The fully modern installer didn't like the original vBIOS any better than the already installed version - it also got stuck as soon as it got control, and was still stuck after letting it sit for far longer than it needed when I first installed from it - but the old Mint did work.  The update went flawlessly, and then the modern installer ran too, as does the already installed version.  Then install the latest driver (580), reboot, see that my display management scripts need different ID's and fix that...

 

Anyway, here's a terminal dump, composited across the two systems, in case anyone's interested:

  

mint@mint ~ $ cd /media/mint/Netac/GPU-Upgrade/vBIOS_Upgrade
mint@mint /media/mint/Netac/GPU-Upgrade/vBIOS_Upgrade $ nvflash_5.867_linux/x64/nvflash 
NVIDIA Firmware Update Utility (Version 5.867.0)
Copyright (C) 1993-2024, NVIDIA Corporation. All rights reserved.

-- Primary Commands --
Update VBIOS firmware:           nvflash [options] <filename>
Save VBIOS firmware to file:     nvflash [options] --save <filename>
Display firmware bytes:          nvflash [options] --display [bytes]
Change the start address:        nvflash [options] --offset [start]
Display firmware bytes in ASCII: nvflash [options] --string
Check for supported EEPROM:      nvflash [options] --check
Display VBIOS version:           nvflash [options] --version [<filename>]
List adapters:                   nvflash [options] --list
Compare adapter firmware:        nvflash [options] --compare <filename>
Verify adapter firmware:         nvflash [options] --verify <filename>
Verify adapter IFR firmware:     nvflash [options] --verify --ifronly <filename>
Display GPU ECID/PDI:            nvflash [options] --ecid
Display License information:     nvflash [options] --licinfo <filename>
Generate a License Request File: nvflash [options] --licreq <filename>,<reqType>
Provide a HULK license file:     nvflash [options] --license <filename>
List out all the PCI devices:    nvflash [options] --lspci
Access PCI Configure register:   nvflash [options] --setpci
Display tool building information:nvflash [options] --buildinfo
Display GMAC MCU version:        nvflash [options] --querygmac
Update GMAC MCU firmware:        nvflash [options] --proggmac <filename>.rom
Save GMAC MCU firmware to file:  nvflash [options] --savegmac <filename>.rom
List GMAC MCUs:                  nvflash [options] --listgmac
Write protect EEPROM:            nvflash [options] --protecton
Remove write protect:            nvflash [options] --protectoff

Press 'Enter' to continue, or 'Q' to quit.

mint@mint /media/mint/Netac/GPU-Upgrade/vBIOS_Upgrade $ nvflash_5.867_linux/x64/nvflash --list
NVIDIA Firmware Update Utility (Version 5.867.0)
Copyright (C) 1993-2024, NVIDIA Corporation. All rights reserved.

NVIDIA display adapters present in system:

ERROR: You need to be a superuser to run this program

mint@mint /media/mint/Netac/GPU-Upgrade/vBIOS_Upgrade $ sudo nvflash_5.867_linux/x64/nvflash --list
NVIDIA Firmware Update Utility (Version 5.867.0)
Copyright (C) 1993-2024, NVIDIA Corporation. All rights reserved.

NVIDIA display adapters present in system:
<0> Quadro P5000         (10DE,1BB6,1028,15CD) S:00,B:01,D:00,F:00

mint@mint /media/mint/Netac/GPU-Upgrade/vBIOS_Upgrade $ sudo nvflash_5.867_linux/x64/nvflash --save P5000old.rom
NVIDIA Firmware Update Utility (Version 5.867.0)
Copyright (C) 1993-2024, NVIDIA Corporation. All rights reserved.

Reading EEPROM (this operation may take up to 30 seconds)

Build GUID            : 00000000000000000000000000000000  
Build Number          : 21053405
IFR Subsystem ID      : Blank
Subsystem Vendor ID   : 0x1028
Subsystem ID          : 0x07B1
Version               : 86.04.3A.00.25
Image Hash            : DB6566F7D5A86FCE3CCB2D24F254DA83
Hierarchy ID          : Normal Board
Build Date            : 08/16/16
Modification Date     : 10/13/16
UEFI Version          : 0x30004 ( x64 )
UEFI Variant ID       : 0x0000000000000007 ( GP1xx )
UEFI Signer(s)        : Microsoft Corporation UEFI CA 2011
XUSB-FW Version ID    : N/A
XUSB-FW Build Time    : N/A
InfoROM Version       : No Version Found
InfoROM Backup        : Not Present
License Placeholder   : Not Present
GPU Mode              : N/A
CEC OTA-signed Blob   : Not Present

mint@mint /media/mint/Netac/GPU-Upgrade/vBIOS_Upgrade $ sudo nvflash_5.867_linux/x64/nvflash --protectoff
NVIDIA Firmware Update Utility (Version 5.867.0)
Copyright (C) 1993-2024, NVIDIA Corporation. All rights reserved.

Setting EEPROM protection complete.

mint@mint /media/mint/Netac/GPU-Upgrade/vBIOS_Upgrade $ sudo nvflash_5.867_linux/x64/nvflash --overridesub P5000v3.rom
NVIDIA Firmware Update Utility (Version 5.867.0)
Copyright (C) 1993-2024, NVIDIA Corporation. All rights reserved.

Checking for matches between display adapter(s) and image(s)...

Reading EEPROM (this operation may take up to 30 seconds)

WARNING: Firmware image PCI Subsystem ID (1028.07B1)      
  does not match adapter PCI Subsystem ID (1028.15CD).

You are intending to override PCI Subsystem ID.
Are you sure you want to continue?
Press 'y' to confirm (any other key to abort): y
Overriding the PCI Subsystem ID mismatch.
Current      - Version:86.04.3A.00.25 ID:10DE:1BB6:1028:07B1
               GP104 Board (Normal Board)
Replace with - Version:86.04.2E.00.0D ID:10DE:1BB6:1028:07B1
               GP104 Board (Normal Board)

Update display adapter firmware?
Press 'y' to confirm (any other key to abort):  y
Reading EEPROM (this operation may take up to 30 seconds)

[==================================================] 100 %
Reading EEPROM (this operation may take up to 30 seconds)

                                                          
A reboot is required for the update to take effect.

Reading EEPROM (this operation may take up to 30 seconds)

mint@mint /media/mint/Netac/GPU-Upgrade/vBIOS_Upgrade $ sudo nvflash_5.867_linux/x64/nvflash --protecton
NVIDIA Firmware Update Utility (Version 5.867.0)
Copyright (C) 1993-2024, NVIDIA Corporation. All rights reserved.

Setting EEPROM protection complete.

mint@mint /media/mint/Netac/GPU-Upgrade/vBIOS_Upgrade $ 



<reboot to other OS>



aaron@aaron-M6800:~$ sudo apt install nvidia-driver-580
<output not captured>

aaron@aaron-M6800:~$ reboot

aaron@aaron-M6800:~$ nvidia-smi
Mon Sep  8 15:49:58 2025
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| NVIDIA-SMI 580.82.07              Driver Version: 580.82.07      CUDA Version: 13.0     |
+-----------------------------------------+------------------------+----------------------+
| GPU  Name                 Persistence-M | Bus-Id          Disp.A | Volatile Uncorr. ECC |
| Fan  Temp   Perf          Pwr:Usage/Cap |           Memory-Usage | GPU-Util  Compute M. |
|                                         |                        |               MIG M. |
|=========================================+========================+======================|
|   0  Quadro P5000                   Off |   00000000:01:00.0  On |                  N/A |
| N/A   57C    P8              6W /  100W |      80MiB /  16384MiB |      0%      Default |
|                                         |                        |                  N/A |
+-----------------------------------------+------------------------+----------------------+

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Processes:                                                                              |
|  GPU   GI   CI              PID   Type   Process name                        GPU Memory |
|        ID   ID                                                               Usage      |
|=========================================================================================|
|    0   N/A  N/A            2576      G   /usr/lib/xorg/Xorg                       69MiB |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
aaron@aaron-M6800:~$

 

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DynamiteZerg Apprentice

DynamiteZerg

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@AaronD I'm glad that my old instructions can still help a fellow M6800 user! Not bad for something from donkey years ago and was a result of my experiments!

 

Enjoy the P5000. It is a beast compared to the GTX980M or M5000M. I'm now suffering from upgrade disease... itching at getting the P5200 or RTX3000 and 4980HQ (though it seems like only 2 ram slots will work).

 

I tried looking for Linux Mint 18.3 Cinnamon but I couldn't find it on the webpage. Can you point me to where it is? *Edit: Found it on some online archive and the SHA256 matches so is legit*

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