Razer Blade 14" (1060 GPU/late 2016) Owner's Lounge

Hey there,
I've sent my 2015 to LetMeRepair and the declared value used to be the same one, sadly; my notebook problems were:

-white clouds on the screen
-partially working power jack
-100 C temperatures

After a 3 days trip and 3 days working process, they told me they were going to ship the laptop back but guess what! They had "forgotten" the display part.

It took them 10 more days to get it done as they were missing the part (they probably don't even stack parts in there as they are 3rd party company).

While I got back my unit (some 20ish days later) the status of the problems was:

-white display clouds gone
-power jack still not working (I tried to tell them multiple time it was the AC, but they didn't want to listen and swapped a whole MB for nothing...)
-temperatures were now normal
-display coating had, literally, holes in it in which there was no hydrophobic effect nor good antireleftion threatment.

All this has happened in november-december.

 

@Rideass , @xXHeadyXx had the exact same issue as you where the serial number disappeared from BIOS (after the bios update) and thus couldn´t install the fan update. He is in Germany and I think it took about 3 weeks, everything came back fine with the fan update installed.
I really wish they would send the tools necessary to some customers....so that RMA isn´t needed....pain in the arse their policy....which is, RMA for everything, slow comunication via email only, no sale of extra parts, etc.

 

Found a guy on the insider forum that had been left with the tools after an RMA, but when I asked him Razer promptly removed my question. Or him, in either case - Yeah, please anyone. PM me if you got the tools. Willing to pay if I can avoid sending in the machine for RMA. Razer can go **** themselves on this as I am not sending it in unless they take responsibility for the package for more than 250 EUR.

Again, stay clear of their products. Worth repeating at every breath so they are forced to change their **** policies down the line as it will hurt their sales.

 

@Rideass , I doubt that they would change they policy to accommodate your demand for a higher insurance on the package....hopefully they will, which is fair considering that the price they put is only around 13% of the purchase. It would be great then if the guy in insider forum could send you the tools....or live without the fan profile update.

 

I will pay 50 EUR for the BIOS flash tools if anyone else comes across them as used by their tech.
Because there is no way that the guys fixing the laptops are editing the BIOS/UEFI code themselves.
Only requirement is that I want to test it out, and if it works for me - money will be transferred.

EDIT: Turns out the guy on the insider forum is a dick.

 

Random question here. Has anyone used the intel p600 ssd in they're blade? It seems to be the least expensive for capacity (honestly even sata speeds don't bother me much for my use) but this way i could possibly get 1 tb of storage for only $150 more than the cost of the 512g model but i didnt want to try to go for it unless someone confirmed that it would work for me.

 

the intel600p would work fine...in fact any M.2 NVME ssd would.

 

Vistar is right, all nvme ssd's should be compatible even if the run at slower speeds like the 600p

Edit: p600*

 

Hey guys. Can't upload files on Razer Insider forum so decided to post here in case anyone finds it useful. Finally calibrated my 2017 Kaby Blade with a ColorMunki Display, feel free to try the profile. Looks fantastic on mine but may not work for yours. Target was set to 120 cdm2 and 6500K.

NOTE- this is for the LG FHD panel. It could work for the 2016 FHD Blades as well that use the LG panel, I can't recall what version of LG panel my old one had though. Will not look good on the 2017 Blades with AUO panels.

 

My 2016 has the LG046D.

 

Great. The 2017 has the same LG panel then.

 

Thank you, that is what I figured but just wanted to be safe before making a $2k purchase. Also has anyone put windows 10 pro on theirs I have to use pro for work was wondering what the easiest way to get all of the Razer software back is. And if there are any issues since I heard that the windows key is saved in the bios.

 

I personally swapped the SSD with a fresh one as soon as I got the razer blade in hand. In terms of OS, I'm still using the W10 home that came with the blade. Honestly, talking about the windows key, I had no issues, however if you're upgrading to pro, I don't think it will retain the key in the BIOS. Oh, and the best way to get all the razer drives and software is on their website here:

Link: http://drivers.razersupport.com//in...w&parentcategoryid=644&pcid=643&nav=0,350,643

for the 2017 blade

Hope this helps

 

Thanks for the great profile.

 

@Palespartan, installing the ssd and windows 10 like Bill Gallo said is relatively easy.....it will activate the home edition that came with the laptop automatically, then you need to use your Pro key to activate Pro....maybe you can try a clean install of windows 10 pro inserting your key from the beginning, not sure haven´t tried it....either way ,with a valid Pro key, you shouldn´t have any issues.

 

Windows 10 install will automatically activate the Home version if you run the install as the key is in the firmware on the RB. You can customize the image with say the nLite tool and force a Pro install but not really necessary as "upgrading" after the installation is complete is basically only unlocking a few features. I do this myself as I want to have access to all Windows features to be able to customize it properly.

 

that was me btw ( different name here ) and i dont communicate with people sending me their random email adress ... just for security .. i had like 20 guys already asking to get the tools and i send them to them .. in the forum post was already a 3 pages long conversation about guys talking about the tools how they work and that they managed to use them a bit ( you could have asked them too ) i deleted the comments about that on my profile page ( was to obvious for them to see such stuff .. ) i more trust pm in the razer forums than posting onto the profile pages .. i dont think someone is sitting there and reading all pms ..
but here you guys go https://mega.nz/#!ghgwSQBA!TDr2-qktgbSPLoGsoMUlCEr0YoUZy8lhr7-ybOYGMAU that are the tools .. use them at your own risk i dont take any responsibility for any damages you make .. ( maybe someone should pin that somewhere ) its the last time ill post that .. ( for obvious reasons ) as far as i have seen the tool had an option ( in the cmd commands list ) to reflash a bios maybe that will help you ( you can extract the bios file from the updaters .exe files )

 

Could someone with a perfectly good BIOS share the dump using: amidewin /dumpall test.txt
and share the contents of that output? Its an open text file. Censor a few of your digits in the serial but keep the number of letters/digits in there the same. Want to compare what the difference is from a working one to mine as the Razer Fan Firmware Update does not detect mine.

Also, Heady, thanks a mill for these tools. Do you know a thread going on somewhere where others have been testing them out?

 

Btw, for anyone else who cannot run the Fan Firmware update. I seem to have a workaround that works at least for my machine every time.
1. Shut down, go into BIOS. Reset settings to defaults.
2. Do whatever other changes you want.
3. Save settings and reset.
4. Much lower fan noise when the machine is done booting into Windows.

 

nah i do not now a thread ... but if someone manages to make a bios that can be reflashed to the original in case of warranty, and that is working the same with the only change being the fans ( something like make them controllable by another software or introduce a working fan nearly off mode .. not the 7% speed they have now ) then i migh consider flashing the bios in 6 months when mine leaves the warranty

 

Still though, if someone of you kind souls could do that dump to help a internet brother out it would be appreciated. Do not want to fiddle with the SMBIOS settings until I know its gonna make sense to do so.

 

Have no idea how to do that...

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

 

AFUWINGUI is the utility to backup your bios, iirc it can also edit settings on files, before flashing back the new one.

Would it not be like that, AFUWINGUI is the thing to start from, just Google said utility or "American Megatrends bios editing" and you'll find plenty of stuff.

I tried with my 2015 back then, it didn't work cause fan control just wasn't there, it was blocked through FW.

 

In the pack that was shared a few posts ago, under the folder lib/tools there is a tool called amidewin.exe. If you run this in the console elevated you can get a small dump of SMBIOS settings. amidewin /dumpall test.txt

The text file will then be generated into the same folder and contain:
[SMBIOS Info]
===============================================================================
Name : SMBIOS Revisiion Style : BYTE
Data : 3.0

Name : DMI Table Storage Length Style : WORD
Data : 3781 bytes

[Type 000] -- BIOS Information
===============================================================================
Name : Struc. Length Style : BYTE
Data : 18h

etc. I would like to see how a normal BIOS looks like because I do not want to change any parameters unless I know the formatting style of the info. This could allow me to run the firmware update for the fans if done correctly, pretty sure. My dump lacks the serial and asset tags, they are just empty.

Name : Version Style : STRING
Data : "5.04"

Name : Serial Number Style : STRING
Data : " "

If I upload the correct string here, I think the fan firmware update will recognize my system. That is why I want to see how it looks on a machine that has did not have the same problems as mine.

The command I mentioned above will not change anything, just do a dump so its safe to do.
Just polls what data the DMI contains. You can browse this info as well in system information tools. Memory module serial numbers etc are stored in DMI as well.

 

I did the dump, not sure want you want.....like the format of the serial number that yours is missing?

Name : Version Style : STRING
Data : "5.04"

Name : Serial Number Style : STRING
Data : "BY1747A20700371"

I changed some numbers in the serial but this is the format. Hope it helps.

 

My asset tags and serial numbers under base board are empty too...

Name : Product Style : STRING
Data : "Blade"

Name : Version Style : STRING
Data : "Late 2016"

Name : Serial Number Style : STRING
Data : " "

Name : Asset Tag Style : STRING
Data : " "

 

Okey, its possible to fix this firmware update not running by itself.
Updated the DMI with the missing information, and generated a new UUID. That resolved my issue with the fan firmware update not recognizing my machine.

If that does not fix it, reflash the BIOS with the RazB50200.bin file included a few posts back. That will fix it. (Blade 2.0 BIOS)

Problem solved and fans running silent.
Unlocked the BIOS as well while I was at it with every single feature possible. Attempted to set the dGPU as default renderer but only resulted in a black screen and no HDMI output either.

Attempted this because bottleneck/stutter caused by the dGPU/iGPU setup when using VR applications. Had to reset the BIOS to default settings, so do not attempt yourselves. No use as the iGPU is the only thing connected physically to the built-in display.

Edit: If you have questions on how to do this, ask. Also realize this might be voiding your warranty.

 

Anything useful in the unlocked Bios? perhaps overclocking the Ram?

 

The unlocked BIOS gives you full access to do that, but I would do not see the need as the memory is hardly the bottle neck in these machines. Thermals is the enemy. Finally feel like I got the machine I wanted when everything is unlocked. Despite a slight coil whine I can force whatever behavior and undervolt the CPU at 125mV without the need for running software in the OS. Love this.

 

That's great that you are able to undervolt in the Bios.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

 

How hard is it to unlock the Bios? Any risk of bricking the machine?

 

It's super easy, if you know what you are doing.

Actually found this guy now on the insider forum who has it explained pretty well and links to the tools you need.
https://insider.razerzone.com/index.php?threads/razer-blade-2016-bios-mod.14368/

By the way, there is no need to go through all those options and unlock them one by one as that guy suggests. Just change one single option to get them listed. Very minor change. See attachment.

Regarding the bricking, if you have no clue how to reset the BIOS to default by removing the RTC/CMOS battery - well I would suggest stay away. The flash itself it pretty damn harmless. Personally I have never failed an update in 20 years.

Risk/reward. Take a chance, win or lose.

 

Will this work with the 2017 Blade as well? I'd love to be able to undervolt the cpu in the bios rather than XTU. All you have to do is change that one line to "show all items" to "user" ?

 

Pretty sure yes, would not imagine Razer changed anything much except the CPU package and the RAM chips. That said, I do not own a 2017 model so I have no way of being sure.

On another note, does anyone have a modded vBIOS for the GTX 1060? Would love to get control over GPU voltage, max TDP etc.

 

congrats on your success hope we maybe see some more bios mods tweaks fixes sounds interesting
what i think would be interesting is what happens when you fake your device to be the 2017 version ( in a way that synapse lets you controll the fans with the auto high and silent option who knows if it works )

 

I think the fan profile on the skylake version after the update might be better than the kabylake one. True that even after the update, the fans are still running on idle while the kabylake is completely off....but on the skylake the fans only ramp up when the cpu reaches 70 degrees while on kabylake that happens at a lower temperature so many report the annoying pulsating fan, where it comes on then off then on again depending on how the machine is being used.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

 

Just out of curiosity....I will be repasting my machine in a month or so....just to see if there is any temperature difference. I am opting for kryonaut for now since I don't have enough experience to try the liquid metal yet.

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I would not attempt to flash the 2017 BIOS, might be a lot of minor differences in the ACPI tables etc that could cause total disaster and be impossible to recover from. But yes, I might be willing to try this later this year as its very easy to restore any changes. Not sure how synapse detects the machine if it uses the serial no, or part asset tags. Should be easy enough to spoof, do not believe Synapse is smart enough to poll CPU config etc.

 

I would be willing to try if someone gave me a DMI dump and a dump of their BIOS from a 2017 machine.

 

You guys might be able to dump the memory and write the IFR variables directly to CMOS from a grub boot disk with the set variable command. That would allow you to change just about any Firmware setting without needing to rewrite the EUFI chip. Plus, you can just reset the CMOS memory and leave no trace. I know it works as I was able to overclock and modify/unlock the hard coded TDP limits in the Surface Pro 3's uneditable firmware. You should also be able to modify the fan curve if the settings are present.

As an example as to the things you can modify, I'll link in a .txt dump of my SP3 IFR. Simple as changing a few numbers.

Would anyone who unlocked the BIOS please post a picture of the options that are unlocked for the CPU/Memory/Chipset stuff?

 

Do you think this laptop could come with a GTX 1070 MAX Q?

 

It will depend on the price and performance over the GTX1060 and the extra power and heat generated to get a slightly better performance over the 1060.
The GTX1060 is already plenty for 1080p in this form factor.
I am more interested in the Volta upgrade next year over Nvidia marketing gimmick especially if it costs more for a slightly better performance.


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No .

 

Pretty sure you can extract the vBIOS for the 1060 from the system BIOS. Editing it would be just the same as any other. That said, the whole issue here Razer gimped the TDP limit on the card, that's in my opinion the whole reason the card scores so low. Unlock voltage control, TDP limits, and repaste with LM, I bet $5 you could get ~15K+ in 3DMark11.

 

The skylake GTX1060 version has the option to disable ASPM in Bios which gives a slightly better performance than before.
3DMark11 graphics score 14539 (stock)
3DMark11 graphics score 15444 (OC +150/200)
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/12205992

 

I still want to mess around with unlocking the Bios but since I never messed with this before, I am not confident enough yet to fool around with unlocking it....first I want to repaste but not with LM.

 

Now that is interesting, I don't own a blade myself so this is actually very interesting.. Does the battery life get nuked when you change that? Also, is +150 core your limit by vCore or TDP?

 

I am not sure what you mean by "+150 core your limit by vCore or TDP?"
The +150 is overclocking the core and +200 overclocking the memory in Afterburner, I can go a bit higher, but this seems to be the sweet spot with my particular card. The ASPM is indeed a power saving feature but it doesn't affect my battery life, but I don't game on battery so it always using the iGPU, perhaps when using the GTX1060 on battery it might reduce it a bit.

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ASPM being disabled will drain more power regardless if you use the dGPU or not. It's basically power saving for the PCIe lanes. Probably pretty small impact through.

Surprised to hear you guys are overclocking your GPUs at any level, as the thermal limit is what is the bottle neck in these machines. Even found that underclocking the dGPU gives me a much more persistent VR experience. Only certain applications, like Google Earth VR benefits from overclocking the GPU.

 

I haven´t noticed any difference whats so ever with battery usage with ASPM disabled, and I tested a lot, monitoring discharge rate constantly. I agree that in theory it should, but amazingly enough I couldn´t detect any extra drain.
I actually don´t OC mine, just for benchmarking purposes...I actually am locking the GPU voltage now for gaming at 0.80mv...better consistent performance with less thermal output