Dell M6600 laptop - CPU upgrade - Boot - No Display output

daveywaveyHD

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Aug 25, 2015
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Hey guys, recently I purchased myself a Dell Precision M6600 with a I7-2620M, Radeon 8900M firepro and 8GB RAM. I also purchased a I7-2960XM and went about installing it after having the laptop a month or so. I have the latest bios for my laptop, A15, aswell as working drivers for all devices that are necessary.

Installing the I7-2960xm has gone well, no issues surrounding installation; when i turn on the laptop the screen turns on... or at least the backlight does, no actual post, no bios, no windows login screen. The computer successfully boots as you can hear the windows chime and you can connect via teamviewer to its screen. I was unable to get the HDMI to output (no recognition of anything being plugged in) and cannot test the VGA or Display port (no monitors that support that input).

In device manager only the integrated intel 3000 graphics adapter is detected, my old CPU did not have integrated graphics) and the drivers were downloaded by windows 10, however i rolled them back to older drivers as they didn't appear to work (turns out none of them do in my case).

My Radeon Firepro 8900m is not being detected at all, it's not in the device manager anywhere from what I can see. I'm running out of ideas as to how to get the display on the laptop itself to post, at this moment i don't care if it only recognises the intel graphics, i just want the laptop screen to post. If anyone has any suggestions please leave a message, any obvious reasons as to my problem may not be obvious to me, please go ahead and point them out. Posted below are screenshots from within the laptop of the CPU-Z information (motherboard, video output, bios info etc).

CPU - http://puu.sh/jOdqa/48f8d2c2b8.png
Motherboard - http://puu.sh/jOdu0/ccd5763118.png
GPU - http://puu.sh/jOdvZ/ecd70f4501.png
Device manager - http://puu.sh/jOdIJ/8067908e5b.png
Intel 3000 info - http://puu.sh/jOdP5/15282e9c70.jpg
 
Solution
The 2960XM was not a supported CPU for that system, only the 2920XM was (http://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/19/SLN99401/EN). It's possible that micro-code changes between the two render it un-usable, but that's pretty damn hard to verify without very high grade know-how.

One thing you might be able to try is using the old chip to set up the bios to integrated only rather than automatic or the like, and then attempting again.
The 2960XM was not a supported CPU for that system, only the 2920XM was (http://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/19/SLN99401/EN). It's possible that micro-code changes between the two render it un-usable, but that's pretty damn hard to verify without very high grade know-how.

One thing you might be able to try is using the old chip to set up the bios to integrated only rather than automatic or the like, and then attempting again.
 
Solution

daveywaveyHD

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Aug 25, 2015
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Thanks for the reply! The person I purchased the laptop from has the same laptop as his main computer which is running a 2960xm (I have seen this in the windows properties) and i would have used his laptop for troubleshooting but he lives too far away (and i doubt he would appreciate me dissecting his working laptop). As for the BIOS settings, I am unable to find anything GPU related when deciding between either dedicated and/or integrated. I have the old core back in, so if you know what to look for that would be most helpful.
 


In the BIOS there should be a "video" category, things should be in there, but unfortunately not many people without company tech support bought that beast so documentation is sparse at best.
 

daveywaveyHD

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Aug 25, 2015
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Unfortunately only the screen brightness is present within the "Video" category of the BIOS (http://puu.sh/jTSrN/9c3cda6f86.jpg). I was speaking to the person I purchased the M6600 from, his laptop simply accepted the core upon first boot, all settings untouched, no fiddling around etc. I think perhaps the core i have purchased is buggered which is a shame due to how hard they are to come by. Here is "misc" devices just incase there is something there http://puu.sh/jTSHi/30ab9b8b60.jpg

Thanks once again for replying.
 


daveywaveyHD,

There are 200 Dell Precision M6600's tested on Passmark and nine of these systems use the i7-2960XM. The results are very good, the highest rate system:

Rating 3970 CPU = 8328 , 2D = 731 (Quadro 5050M), 3D= 2533, Memory = 2435 (16GB) Disk = 4403 (OCZ Vertex 4)

The best results in 2D are Quadro 3000M, Radeon HD 6900M, Quadro 5010M
The best results in 3D are Quadro K5000M (3126), Quadro 4000M (3097) Firepro M6100 (2907), Radeon 8950 (2839)

There was no M6600 listed using a Radeon 8900M.

One feature of these results is that all of the 9- M6600's using the i7-2960XM have the 04YY4M motherboard. There appear to have two motherboards for the M6600, the 04YY4M and 0NVY5D. In my experience with Dell desktops, there are sometimes different series motherboards in the same designation, and the change does sometimes add a feature. Year ago this may have added the ability to use more RAM but the use of the Intel Extreme processors was another factor. I was given a Dell Precision 390 desktop, and was told that it could not be upgraded to the Core2 Extreme X6800 (4- core @ 2.93GHz), but it turns out that if the 390 has the 0DN075 or 0MY510 motherboard it can- but not the 0GH911. So, you might check the model of motherboard in your M6600. The CPU compatibility chart quoted by basroil may indicate that the first release motherboard that can not use the i7-2960XM, whereas the second version can.

Cheers,

BambiBoom

1. HP z420 (2015) > Xeon E5-1660 v2 six-core @ 3.7 / 4.0GHz > 32GB DDR3 ECC 1866 RAM > Quadro K4200 (4GB) > Intel 730 480GB (9SSDSC2BP480G4R5) > Western Digital Black WD1003FZEX 1TB> M-Audio 192 sound card > 600W PSU> Logitech z2300 > Linksys AE3000 USB WiFi > 2X Dell Ultrasharp U2715H (2560 X 1440) > Windows 7 Professional 64 >
[ Passmark Rating = 5064 > CPU= 13989 / 2D= 819 / 3D= 4596 / Mem= 2772 / Disk= 4555] [Cinebench R15 > CPU = 1014 OpenGL= 126.59 FPS] 7.8.15

2.
Dell Precision T5500 (2011) > Xeon X5680 six -core @ 3.33 / 3.6GHz, 24GB DDR3 ECC 1333 > Quadro K2200 (4GB ) > Samsung 840 250GB / WD RE4 Enterprise 1TB > M-Audio 192 sound card > Linksys WMP600N PCI WiFi > 875W PSU > Windows 7 Professional 64> HP 2711x (1920 X 1080)
[ Passmark system rating = 3490 / CPU = 9178 / 2D= 685 / 3D= 3566 / Mem= 1865 / Disk= 2122] [Cinebench 15 > CPU = 772 OpenGL= 99.72 FPS] 7.8.15


 

imrazor

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I don't have a solution, but wanted to clarify a few points. Firstly, the M6600 doesn't support switchable graphics with an AMD video card. (I believe it does with an NVidia Quadro.) If an AMD GPU card is installed, it's AMD all the time. I believe the OP is referring to a Firepro M8900.

daveywaveyHD,

Sorry if you already clarified this, but when you put the original CPU back in, did you get video to your laptop LCD back? Did the Firepro GPU show back up, or is it still stuck on Intel HD 3000?
 

daveywaveyHD

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Aug 25, 2015
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Hey, thank you so much, the info you have provided is extremely valuable, to me this has indicated that perhaps the AMD graphics card has something to play in the matter, as the motherboard is compatible (check the mobo link in the original post) with this processor and all works and boots except for any display which the GPU may be at fault. I will now purchase myself a cheap compatible Nvidia card to see if this is in fact the issue, once again, thank you.
 

daveywaveyHD

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Aug 25, 2015
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Yes, the computer returned to normal operation once the old CPU was put back in (the AMD GPU was listed again). Thank you immensely for the information on graphics switching, i was not aware that the AMD would overide the integrated GPU; this makes perfect sense as to why no display was active. I will purchase a cheap compatible nvidia GPU to troubleshoot the problem. Just out of curiosity, would i be able to take out the AMD gpu and leave the slot empty to see if the integrated works? Thanks you once again.
 

imrazor

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You said "Just out of curiosity, would i be able to take out the AMD gpu and leave the slot empty to see if the integrated works? "

I've not tried it myself, but from what I have heard it works exactly like this. Supposedly if you remove any dedicated GPU, the laptop can work fine with the Intel HD graphics. I've even seen M6600's advertised on eBay with Intel GPUs, which would seem to imply that it works.
 

daveywaveyHD

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Aug 25, 2015
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Wonderful, I will attempt this procedure this evening. I will get back with the results, hopefully all goes well and works thus highlighting that the AMD GPU is to blame.
 

daveywaveyHD

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Aug 25, 2015
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Ok, the new CPU is in and the gpu is out. It works. So now that we know that the CPU works I just need to get the gpu to work with it. I was looking at nvidia cards and it isn't a viable option. I also noticed that there are configurations running the i7 2960xm and firepro 8900 together. My next new question is, how do I get both units to work in harmony without conflicting? Also, why doesn't the gpu show up with the new processor?
 

imrazor

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Sorry, I don't have a good answer for you. I know the Firepro M8900 (based on the Radeon 6970M) is prone to failure - I've had one die on me. I traded that one in for another M6600 with a Firepro M6100. So there are other AMD options, but they're not cheap. Perhaps, as one other poster suggested, there is some subtle incompatibility between your i7 (which is not officially blessed by Dell) and the M8900.

Why do you write NVidia off as an option? I think the Quadro 3000M is the least expensive NVidia chip available for the M6600.
 

daveywaveyHD

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Aug 25, 2015
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Well, my M8900 works very well with my older processor (2620m) and so far has got no problems (the card works flawlessly) and outperforms the Nvidia 3000m in terms of gaming capability. It would also require me to purchase a new heat-sink suited to the Nvidia cards (Not cheap). This starts getting costly for no benefit (even for testing purposes I cannot obtain a cheap nvidia card that has reliable background). Also, I should point out that there are M6600 floating around with the I7 -2960xm and FirePro 8900 configuration. It is because of this I believe that purchasing another card would be a waste of money and potentially another set of problems waiting to happen. The idea of buying a Nvidia card was a viable option before I totted up the costs and compared benchmarks.

If the CPU and GPU are competing for output, the FirePro taking charge but not being detected therefore not outputting, is there anyway to disable the Intel CPU graphics unit? My old CPU had no integrated graphics, perhaps just need to disable the new chips graphics to make everything fine and dandy? Why isn't the M8900 detected by device manager with the I7-2960xm? Will it be detected once the integrated graphics are turned off?
 

pbjnitty

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Apr 22, 2016
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I am having the same issue with both a quadro 3000M and K4000M where just the backlight flickers on boot like its doing something. Without the GPUs, the display comes on fine with the Intel iGPU.

I am wondering if you found any solutions.