nx1.info | nx1 vs dell
In 2019 I was gifted a Dell Precision 7740, a top of the line workstation
laptop but it has been nothing but pain since I got it.
Fat, sluggish, loud and prone to overheating, it shared more in common with
your mum than a supposed marvel of modern technology.
Admittedly I've put up with it longer than anyone should, but shit is computers
are expensive rn
I. stfu
Playing Rocket league, all I hear: BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
Playing Runescape: BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
Watching youtube: BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
Watching my desktop wallpapers: BRRRRRRRRRRRRRR (POWER OFF DUE TO OVERHEAT)
Booting up: BR BRRR BRR CLACK-CLACK-CLACK BRRRRRRR
After getting tinitus from listening to my 100db computer for 8 hours a day for
the last 7 years, and having it power-off because it got too hot from watching
a 50m bald and bankrupt video, I started to wonder if there was anything I could do
about it...
I start with the most obvious thing, I download the latest updates dell
website, GPU, BIOS, Dell crapware, the whole shabingus.
After three cosmological epochs the updates are complete and I reboot the computer
to finalize the changes :)
after rebooting 3 times the computer eventually starts up, except... this isn't the windows
login screen... all i see is a completly black screen with a single word:
grub>
Great, I've bricked the fucking thing and now it's asking for food.
What actually happened is that flashing the BIOS reset all the configuration on the
motherboard including the default boot configuration and so it fell back to booting into
the
GNU GRand Unified Bootloader.
anyway, we force it to boot into windows:
grub> ls
(Hd0) (hd0,gpt2) (hd1) (hd1,gpt4), (hd1,gpt3), (hd1,gpt2) (hd1,gpt1)
grub> ls (hd1,gpt1)
EFI/
system volume information/
grub> ls (hd1,gpt1)/EFI/
Microsoft/
grub> set root=(hd1,gpt1)
grub> chainloader /EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
grub> boot
Once in windows, we make the computer remember to boot into the right place:
Admin Powershell:
# View current UEFI boot entries
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> bcdedit /enum firmware
Firmware Boot Manager
---------------------
identifier {fwbootmgr}
displayorder {bootmgr}
{cc3559c0-a57a-11f1-8b15-806e6f6e6963}
{a2cf39de-bf75-11e9-89d9-806e6f6e6963}
{a2cf39df-bf75-11e9-89d9-806e6f6e6963}
{a2cf39e0-bf75-11e9-89d9-806e6f6e6963}
timeout 0
Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier {bootmgr}
device partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume3
path \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi
description Windows Boot Manager
locale en-US
inherit {globalsettings}
default {current}
resumeobject {d862b070-dc4c-11ef-bc87-8f441e60c84d}
displayorder {current}
toolsdisplayorder {memdiag}
timeout 30
Firmware Application (101fffff)
-------------------------------
identifier {a2cf39de-bf75-11e9-89d9-806e6f6e6963}
device partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume3
path \EFI\Boot\BootX64.efi
description UEFI: KXG60ZNV512G NVMe TOSHIBA 512GB, Partition 1
Firmware Application (101fffff)
-------------------------------
identifier {a2cf39df-bf75-11e9-89d9-806e6f6e6963}
description Onboard NIC(IPV4)
Firmware Application (101fffff)
-------------------------------
identifier {a2cf39e0-bf75-11e9-89d9-806e6f6e6963}
description Onboard NIC(IPV6)
Firmware Application (101fffff)
-------------------------------
identifier {cc3559c0-a57a-11f1-8b15-806e6f6e6963}
device partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume3
path \EFI\ubuntu\shimx64.efi
description ubuntu
# Put Windows Boot Manager first
bcdedit /set {fwbootmgr} displayorder {bootmgr} /addfirst
# Remove Ubuntu entry replace GUID with the one shown for "ubuntu"
bcdedit /delete "{UBUNTU-GUID}"
# Verify with
bcdedit /enum firmware
# Reboot
shutdown /r /t 0
II. Dell bloatware Exorcism
Dell has a variety of background services that monitor system usage in order to
slow your pc down and probably spy on you aswell.
delet them:
$badDell = "Dell.CommandPowerManager.Service", "poaService", "PoaSMSrv", "poaTaServ", "SupportAssistAgent", "DDVRulesProcessor", "DellTechHub", "DDVDataCollector", "DDVCollectorSvcApi", "dcpm-notify", "DpoMonitorSvc", "dpoTelemetrySvc"
foreach ($service in $badDell) {
Stop-Service -Name $service -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
Set-Service -Name $service -StartupType Disabled -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
}
Also, open Task Manager --> Startup apps and disable DellPoaEvents so it
doesn't throw background errors trying to talk to services that no longer
exist.
III. The Motherboard Has A Stroke (The Nuclear RTC Reset)
With the services dead, I installed
HWiNFO64, opened the fan
control panel, dragged the sliders down, and for the first time in years, my
room was dead silent.
I cried.
Two reboots later, the fans stopped responding completely. Moving the sliders
did nothing.
Dell's Embedded Controller (EC) had had an existential crisis and had reclaimed
the hardware registers, and locked HWiNFO out in the cold.
Why? Because Windows "Fast Startup" doesn't actually shut down your PC, instead
puts the kernel into hibernation so it boots slightly faster. This means the
motherboard never truly power-cycles and the EC stays permanently locked in a
paranoid state.
A normal restart doesn't fix it.
Unplugging it and holding the power button doesn't either.
We have to trigger Dell's built-in Real-Time Clock (RTC) purge, to do this:
- Turn the laptop completely off.
- Plug the AC charger in. (Counterintuitive, but mandatory for this reset).
- Press and hold the physical power button down for 30 to 35 seconds.
- Watch the front battery/status LED blinks 2-3 times.
- Release the power button.
The laptop will power-cycle twice and eventually stop on a warning screen:
Time-of-day not set - please run SETUP program.
Music to my ears. That screen confirms the motherboard's volatile memory and
the EC's hardware lock have been wiped completely clean. Hit F2, set the clock,
and boot into Windows (see part I)
IV. The Missing BIOS Menu & Ghost Profile Injection
Once back in Windows, I launched HWiNFO, set the fans to manual, and was
immediately greeted by a familar torture:
BRRRRR... (silence)... BRRRRR... (silence)... BRRRRR...
At this point I'm googling "Dell HQ Location" and "how to buy a nuke".
The fans were pulsing on and off single second gurgling like someone choking on
their own blood.
Because the RTC reset wiped the motherboard memory, the EC defaulted back to a
hyper-aggressive factory thermal profile. Normally, you'd just enter the BIOS
setup and switch the profile to "Optimized" or "Quiet".
Except you can't. In their infinite corporate wisdom, Dell completely removed
the Thermal Management menu from the Precision 7740 BIOS. The menu simply does
not exist in firmware. The hardware is designed to take its orders exclusively
from Dell's Windows software.
So we perform some black magic fuckery: wake the Dell Power Manager service
from the dead for sixty seconds, use it to flash a relaxed profile into the
motherboard's silicon, and then assassinate it again.
# 1. Resurrect the beast
Set-Service -Name "Dell.CommandPowerManager.Service" -StartupType Automatic
Start-Service -Name "Dell.CommandPowerManager.Service"
# 2. Open the "Dell Power Manager" app
# Go to Thermal Management -> Select "Quiet")
# The moment you select it, the profile is written directly into the EC hardware.
# 3. Put the beast back into the dirt permanently
Stop-Service -Name "Dell.CommandPowerManager.Service" -Force
Set-Service -Name "Dell.CommandPowerManager.Service" -StartupType Disabled
V. The HWiNFO Voodoo Dance (Final Boss)
Now that the Dell services are destroyed and the EC is reset the motherboard
has been tricked into a calm thermal baseline, all that remains is configuring
HWiNFO so it doesn't enter a feedback loop with the BIOS.
If you don't execute these steps in the exact correct sequence, the one-second fan pulse will return:
- Launch HWiNFO in Sensors-only mode. When prompted with the yellow warning
regarding DELL EC: DELL Precision 7740, check "Don't show this warning again"
and click Continue.
- In the main sensor readout, ensure the DELL EC header is Enabled (monitoring
must be active for HWiNFO to inject hardware overrides).
- Click the Fan icon at the bottom of the sensors window to open Fan Control.
- Check the box for Use System Auto Control Method 1. (This hook tells the Dell
BIOS to suspend its internal thermal loop).
- Check Respin period and set it to 2500 ms (giving the EC breathing room so it doesn't freak out).
- The Sacred Order of Operations:
- Click System Auto on both Fan 1 and Fan 2 first.
- Wait 3 to 5 seconds for the BIOS hook to latch on.
- Drag the sliders to your desired RPM (or 0 for silence).
- Click Set Manual.
VI. Peace at Last
No thermal throttling.
No 100 dB jet engine screaming while opening a text file.
No mysterious background daemons reporting my RuneScape tick rate back to
Dell telemetry servers.
Just a quiet, four-kilo slab of aluminium finally doing what it was told.