Question No output to external monitor depending on GPU setting in the BIOS ?

[JQM_]

Laptop model: Sager NP8358F2

Last year my screen broke and since then I've been using it as a "halftop", without the screen. So I took the screen off. It looks like a Commodore now. Kind of neat.

If the BIOS is set to "MSHybrid", the BIOS (and any non-OS menus, like Advanced Startup, GRUB, etc.) does not output to an external screen. Just an OS. Inside the OS, I see that the dedicated GPU, an RTX 2070 Super, is clearly the only one being used, proper behavior for HDMI/USB-C screen out.

If I set the BIOS to "Discrete", the BIOS (and any non-OS menus, like Advanced Startup, GRUB, etc.) DO output to an external screen. However the OS will not. Using TeamViewer, I can see see things, and that the OS doesn't even recognize there's actually a GPU! It only uses Microsoft's basic display driver, because it literally does not see a GPU, at all.

To my knowledge this feature I am describing is called the "MUX switch"?

My BIOS version, reported by the CMD command "wmic bios get smbiosbiosversion":
SMBIOSBIOSVersion
1.07.07LS1

I have tried output via USB-C and HDMI. Same results for both "MSHybrid" (Integrated) and "Discrete" (Dedicated) options. Is there any way to fix this?

 

[JQM_]

Update

So this is pretty interesting... Pardon my linking another forum, but I brought this up on a few different sites.

https://notebooktalk.net/topic/2400...-bios/?do=findComment&comment=50207&_rid=1895

A user there posted a diagram of how this laptop's MUX switch works, and a diagram of how the dGPU handles the settings. He suggested that it seems to be a VBIOS issue of it not waking up for some reason when set to "Discrete" in my BIOS.

So then I decided to try and switch to Discrete (with the help of flashlights, and TeamViewer), and update my drivers...

https://notebooktalk.net/topic/2400...-bios/?do=findComment&comment=50210&_rid=1895

It did work for a bit. Until I restarted. Then it boots back into not being detected/properly, like it isn't woken up.

If it's a VBIOS issue, what can be done here? Anything?

 

[JQM_]

I found something else that may be of interest. I figured out how to dump my VBIOS with GPU-Z. When I tried to upload it, to my surprise (as I looked around and did not find it at all), it's been uploaded already. Here it is.

Clevo's RTX 2070 Super Mobile VBIOS: https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/224041/224041

While I'm sure any possible fix for this would require Sager to send me new BIOS (as if I remember right VBIOS on a laptop are tied to the main BIOS) if anyone here can look at it to see if they spot an issue (if it's even possible, as I have no idea what's in these files if it's anything you can even diagnose), that would probably help them a lot, and me.

 

[JQM_]

It looks like Sager probably isn't going to help. They're claiming "The Nvidia GPU is down, it is not the bios issued..... we might need you to ship the laptop in for service.... sorry...." which seems... strange since this is the only GPU fault I am having.

It's also very irritating, as I went through this last year with their support when my screen initially broke and I can't afford repairs which they were estimating would be "a minimum of 400$, more if the backlight assembly on the motherboard is fried......". I doubt they've since made the repairs free.

 

[JQM_]

After several emails (Sager only replies once a day for some reason) of them asking for my address/phone/etc. to set up a replacement or repair (he wasn't clear), he finally said "charges may apply". They literally know I cannot afford a repair or replacement... we went through this ordeal last year... I also wouldn't be using a screenless laptop if I had endless cash, now would I, Sager?

I guess the issue can't be solved if the VBIOS are tied to my actual BIOS and Sager refuses to help.

 

[JQM_]

After much more teeth-pulling from Sager's "support" team, they've said this:

"Great, we're on the same page now, this MUX is not something we can change or modify in BIOS. it has to have the laptop LCD to be detected in order for the detection to work properly. That's why this laptop is called, Hybrid system, there is no solution for this."

It's a method to create e-waste. They intentionally set the MUX up to be useless in the event of lacking a screen. How disgusting.

This could've been a great mini-PC-style machine after its life as a laptop given it has a great cooling system, a still good i7 10875H, and a RTX 2070 Super. But its ability to be one is too limited given if the OS goes kaput, well, it's basically over.

Oh, but Wesley, their sole tech "support" agent, made sure to beg me again to send it in. 🙄 For "400$... may be more depending on repairs, we would tell you during...". Which is just... blackmail, because he'd keep finding reasons it'd "need to go up...", gotta add the ellipsis because despite a typical American name and working for a US-branch of the company, his English and comprehension is absolutely piss poor, it took 25 messages for him to FINALLY understand how the MUX switch in the laptop works even though I outlined it in the first post here which he's seen...

If I had money I'd buy a new computer instead of trying to get my computer to pretend it's Lazarus trying to come back to life.

Then here's more from Wesley after I had again informed him I cannot buy repairs for a broken LCD.

Wesley: where is your original lcd for this laptop?

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Me: On a shelf. With no backlight. And it doesn't display about half of the screen. Remember that it's broken?
So you've said you can't help me with it outputting anything to a monitor, because of the intended e-waste mechanic of how the MUX works...
Will you send me a new LCD so I can just put it on myself?

NOTE: I felt it important to ask for the LCD myself because he claims that ones online "can't be trusted". I also don't feel I should have to pay for any part of this given I only NEED a replacement LCD because of their bogus "MUX" switch.

---

Wesley: sorry.... LCD replacement has to came in......sorry.

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Me: And will you pay for that?

NOTE: Again, this has come up countless times. Wesley refuses to acknowledge that I'm not buying a service that is a minimum of 400$ and "can go higher... if more parts are broken...".

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Wesley: Nop, this a physical damage..... not something we can cover as under warranty, but I can provide you the free labor and all you have to do is pay for the parts + both way shipping.

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Me: So let me get this straight---your poor quality LCD broke on me, then it turns out you have an absurdly bad anti-consumer, pro e-waste BIOS set up that won't let external monitors be truly viable, and I'm still expected to pay for a replacement screen I didn't even WANT IN THE FIRST PLACE?

YOU pay for it.

NOTE: I literally did not WANT a replacement LCD. What I WANTED was the ability to use an external monitor PROPERLY and just use the laptop as a mini PC.

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Wesley: if you don't want it in the 1st. place, why don't you refund it within 30 days?

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Wesley, or Sager's sole tech support agent, has absolutely no ability to understand even BASIC English. He now seems to think I just bought a laptop and am unsatisfied with it.

It's a shame. When I was younger, Sager looked like that cool, high-quality brand that I'd love to have, but they just cost too much for me then. Their laptops looked so cool and practical, they were so much stronger than other brands, etc. They say "never meet your heroes", it goes for buying what looked like mythical goods too. Sager's quality is hideously poor (do remember that not only did the screen break, the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth card did too because of their awful wiring, the wires had shorted onto the screen's cables, which fried the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth card entirely) and riddled with anti-consumer BS like the fake "MUX switch", combined with literally no support. I swear to god that I would have a better chance of getting support from a Chinese company than I would from this supposedly Californian-based "English" company.

I would never recommend anyone buy from Sager. Their QA is atrocious and their support nonexistent.