Dell Precision M6800 with AMD Firepro M6100 graphics issues

I can boot 100% of the time with no issues with laptop display as well as with a DVI or VGA external display plugged in and I can also boot 100% with a USB monitor attached at the same time. When I plug in the display port monitor, either a display port to DVI adapter or a display port to mini-display port cord, some of the displays, mainly the USB one and the Display port one but sometimes others as well become garbled. Most of the time when I unplug the display port it will clear up but not always. After it gets plugged in I will get error code 4101 "Display driver amdkmdap stopped responding and has successfully recovered." This is with AMD version of drivers and the Dell website ones. I have put the check in BIOS and it did not help either. I am not sure what to do next.

Thanks for your help,

Larry

That is strange,  if possible test the system without any docking station with just the display port cable connected to one display and see if the problem occurs.  If possible try more than one display port cable. Try to isolate the problem as much as possible, is it the notebook, the docking station or the display port connection.  If it looks like it is specifically a problem with the notebook you may want to consider a possible service.

TB

Ok, tried fresh booting this morning. Tried it by booting out of dock with just the display port cable and then tried booting up without the display port cable and after system was stable plugged the display port in, both times the display garbled on the display port monitor. Then booted in dock and plugged the display port in dock and same outcome. I have tried two different cords, I am guessing I am now close to saying the laptop is the cause. When I plug the cord in after booting the display driver just crashes and then recovers with event id 4101. I guess I need to get service done, huh?

Thanks again,

Larry

It does look like you have limited the issue to the notebook, trying a service may correct the problem.  I suggest contacting tech support in your area and request assistance.  If you have any difficulties please let me know.

TB

hometownnerd,

I stumbled across your post here a few days back.  I am having the same issue you are and so is a coworker of mine.

We both have the same configuration as you essentially.  

M6800

32GB Ram

Primary HDD 500GB SSD

Secondary HDD 1TB

Intel hd 4600

FirePro m6100

We are both developers and are also using Visual Studio and SQL Server.

We have the same issue with a garbled external display on DVI or Display Port. The issue is intermittent.

I have found that when I have the issue a restart will resolve the issue.

A few times I've had the issue and then my system would report that the driver had failed, a few seconds later the system would report that the driver had recovered and magically my display would start working correctly.  I've tried several different versions of drivers from Dell's site as well as the manufacturer's site.

As a work-around: I've found that when the issue occurs I can launch task manager, then File--> New Task.  Then type explorer.exe to kick off a new instance of explorer.exe.  After a few seconds the issue is resolved and you don't have to close all of your programs like you would for a reboot.

I'll be opening a support ticket with Dell and referencing this ticket maybe if you do the same Dell will fix this issue.

Thanks for the workaround, although sometimes it seems if I just unplug the display port cable it clears up, but I have just been running by using my laptop display, a DVI display, and a USB display until after Christmas was done. I have just created a ticket with Dell and I have referenced this post. Hopefully the tech can fix it. They were going to just send me a Video Card and have me put it in, uh this laptop is all of a month old, I think you guys at Dell can put it in. Little strange to offer that, but I guess some people may want to do it themselves.

Thanks for responding, hopefully Dell figures it out and it is a simple fix for them.

Have a great day

Well, Dell tech just left after installing a new video card, still has same issue here. Tech said maybe it is motherboard and will order one and hopefully it will be here tomorrow to put in. So, I guess I will see if that is the real issue. Not sure if anyone has had theirs fixed yet and found what truly fixed it.

My technician replaced both the motherboard and the AMD today and no joy as well. Windows 10 does not like the m6800 with AMD m6100 too much :(...

NOOO!!! Was hoping the motherboard would fix it. So where does that leave us now, I wonder? I have tried the latest AMD drivers from AMD's site and it was no help. Wonder if it is a Windows 10 internal thing or a driver issue, now that that takes the hardware out of the equation. Wonder if Dell would replace the AMD with the nvidia video card?

Yeah, I'm fairly certain it is a driver / software issue. Otherwise I would not expect that a reboot or new instance of explorer.exe would have solved the problem. I would not be surprised to find out it's related to Visual Studio, SQL Server, etc.

I have a team of 11 developers we all have M6800's or previous revs of the same family (M6500, etc).

They all have AMD FirePro video cards and the majority of us have had some issue or another related to the video card. Some, the garbled display as you describe, others the screen has just gone black and you have no choice but to do a hard reset and loose your work.

Dell has replaced several of our motherboards, video cards, HDDs etc. in an attempt to fix these issues.

Moving forward we'll be buying the New Precision 17 7000 Series (7710) with NVidia cards.

I've asked our dell rep if I could buy a new NVidia Card to replace the AMD cards in our current workstations and he said that is not an option. I guess the video card may be integrated into the MB or something.

As far as our open support cases with Dell for your machine and mine maybe Dell would consider replacing the video card / mother board with an NVidia card, just to better isolate the issue.

I agree maybe they need to try the nvidia cards but I noticed something today that may make that a moot point. I am still on the old motherboard with the new AMD video card and thought I would mess with it and see what I can do. I tried plugging in my display port display and of course it garbles the display on that monitor, but it also garbles the display on the USB display I have as well. I unplugged the USB display and it still left the garbled display port display. Then I messed with the AMD settings to see if there was some magic button I missed some where, there was not. So I thought let me check the Intel video settings, when I launched it, it jumped onto my display port display, which I could not see. I hovered over the icon in the taskbar on my main display and the intel display settings app showed up garbled in the preview on the good display, that makes me think it may be a Windows 10 issue, I am not sure how Windows would "know" the display is garbled unless it "knew" it was displaying it that way. So anyway when I moved the Intel App to my good display I went to the displays....multiple displays option and the display port display was not even recognized by the Intel App which struck me funny too. Now I am not sure where the blame lies, honestly. I tried the Intel drivers from the Intel site which claimed to fix garbled or corrupt displays but it did not help, and the version was even less than the Dell site Intel Drivers claimed to be.

This is all quite confusing, but I am thinking the problem may lie in Windows itself, I guess I will try to see what MS says on twitter about it, there is a guy that is very responsive there.

Thanks for helping with your information!

Are you talking about Gabe Aul as the twitter guy? I've tweeted about this a few times and received no response. Reported in the Windows Insider forum and Windows Feedback tool, no response. Frustrating experience.

No, although I do follow him too, I was talking about NorthFaceHiker, he is a bit more responsive and seems to be on the fix stuff team. Although, I am not sure if he will or can help anyway.

This is really starting to frustrate me.  Below is a screen shot of my garbled display.  Also, I keep getting the attached notification telling me that my driver failed.  It used to be when the driver failed but has successfully recovered notification came up the display would recover and not be garbled, but for some reason that is not the case.

I wonder if Dell even looks at this forum.  What's it gonna take for them to chime in.