Possible GPU upgrade for Precision M4600

Like @Aaron44126 mentioned, this is a probably a very similar issue as with the m6800 and 1070m. Based on the reported x2APIC error, there is a ACPI table being corrupted during the boot process. It's the MADT ACPI table (Multiple APIC Descriptor Table) that contains the device ids for the CPUs. My guess is that the table isn't loaded into memory properly, so it's just empty with 0's for all the CPU ids. You can boot to Linux and dump these tables using command line tools and see exactly.

In the situation with the m6800 and 1070m, I got lucky and it was a rather few, small, unimportant tables that got corrupted. I'd get one patched and fixed via a bootloader and then Windows would boot one step further and throw a different error. Rinse and repeat.

The MADT table, though, is a bit more important. You may end up with a lot more tables to patch and fix.

Eta: To be honest, if you are looking for a way to fix this, you might be better off setting coreboot up on the system and skipping the whole Dell bios thing altogether. I think Sandy Bridge CPUs are pretty well supported with core boot. It wasn't an option for the m6800.

 

Interesting, thanks. Didn't know about Coreboot until you mentioned it. In case I get around to look at the tables though; what are the cmd line tools you refer to?

 

You can use `acpidump` to dump the binary tables and `iasl` to decompile them into something readable.

 

I picked up one of these laptops the other day on eBay cheap (£40) and I have a m5100 in another machine I was wondering if anyone knows how well the Nvidia heatsink will work with the ATI card?

 

Don't take my word for it but "how well" depends on how it fits with your heatsink and your laptop's type of internal display.

Apparently the m5100 came in red, green and blue PCB versions according to http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...-precision-m4600.772547/page-91#post-10775622.
You risk getting a PCB where the GPU die (chip) won't be tall enough to make direct contact with the heatsink plate (the heatsink will make contact with misc. components on the PCB, like capacitors, first.)
I don't know which of them, if any, has the high enough die, it certainly wasn't the red PCB one I got -- I ended up doing http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...-precision-m4600.772547/page-89#post-10728825. IIRC, I could instead have added a thick thermal pad on the die and maybe thin pads on the memory chips and mosfets but I opted for direct contact for max heat transfer. IIRC pads should've stopped the contact with capacitors and stuff (which would've been bad due to electric shorts).
For the green PCB you have http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...-precision-m4600.772547/page-12#post-10480916. I don't see mentions of cooling issues, so either the heatsink fit or he didn't report steps taken.
Furthermore you could ask http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...-precision-m4600.772547/page-93#post-10981298 if the heatsink fit and which PCB color?
Lastly there are some instructions for upgrading here that might be of help: http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...-precision-m4600.772547/page-93#post-10983574

For more insight on the potential heatsink (mis)match I'd first look through http://forum.notebookreview.com/search/42059787/?q=heatsink&t=post&o=relevance&c[thread]=772547 for clues, hopefully some more answers in there.
Good luck.

 

I'll just have a go and see what happens thanks for the reply

 

Just a quick update, I ordered a M5100 (red PCB) and the heatsink that was in with my Quadro fit after removing the blue heat pads from the right hand side and replacing the vram ones idles at 30/40c shows in the system as R9 m200x. However I've not done anymore testing as I broke the wire on the CPU fan so I've had to order a new one.
(glad I noticed that my cpu temp was at 91c) otherwise I'd have left it on.

 

Has anyone try gtx1050ti mxm ? I look at the design should be fine?

 

The m4600 doesn't have much in the way of options beyond just GCN and Kepler.

 

For some reason Nvidia past kepler just doesn't work at all