Notice for owners of the 16" and 17" Recoil

[PCS_Chris]

Hello Everyone,

Chris here, from the PCS technical team.

We have heard that there is currently a freezing issue being reported with the 4080 and 4090 models of our 16" and 17" Recoil laptops. Our friends over at XMG have worked with the manufacturer to develop a BIOS with a fix for this and the manufacturer is slowly rolling this BIOS out to their other partners including us.

Presently we are still waiting for the PCSpecialist BIOS with these fixes implemented. Once we do receive it I will link to the files here and instruct you on how to update your BIOS safely.

In the meantime, customers who need this issue fixed quickly are able to use the XMG BIOS on their system safely. The BIOS's are cross compatible with each other and so you are always able to go back to our PCS BIOS at a later date. But please note that we technially can't help you with issues directly related to the XMG BIOS. I do not see their BIOS being an issue as they have very good electrical engineers at XMG, but this must be said regardless.

I hope to get you all the PCS BIOS as soon as possible.

Chris

 

[PCS_Chris]

Hi All,

I'm happy to say the BIOS is now available. I have linked BIOS files here. Please follow these instructions in order to update your BIOS safely.

Please note that this is only for the 4080 and 4090 laptops. The lower tier GPU's do not require a BIOS update.

BIOS Files - N.1.22

Preparations

1. Please ensure you have a USB that is formatted to the FAT32 file format and has at least 100MB of free space
2. Download the attached file and extract it to the root of your USB, you should be able to see 5 folders in the root directory of the USB. 16_4080, 16_4090, 17_4080, 17_4090 and EFI respectively.
3. The laptop must remain plugged in and charging at all times throughout the flash to prevent damage to the system.

Flashing the EC firmware

The first step is to update the EC firmware, to do this we will take the following steps.

1. Reboot your laptop and tap the Delete / F2 key to enter the BIOS.
2. Navigate over to the Security tab and disable Secure Boot
3. Insert your USB and press F10 to save and reboot.
4. During reboot, tap F7 repeatedly until you reach the boot selection screen. In addition to your Windows boot manager you should now see a second device that begins with UEFI: *USB name here*. Please boot to the USB.

You should now be looking at a screen that looks something like this:

5. You will see a list of devices labelled fs0, fs1 etc... which correspond to the physical drives in your system. The last one of these is always your USB, in the example above, I only have the USB connected so my USB is fs0.
6. Select your USB by typing the drive label followed by a colon. For example, in my image the command would be:

fs0:

7. This is where the method changes slightly. If you own a 16" Recoil, you will now type the following command depending on your GPU

cd 16_4080

or

cd 16_4090

If you own a 17" Recoil, you will type this instead (again, depending on your GPU)

cd 17_4080

or

cd 17_4090

8. This is the same for both, now you must type the following command

ecflash

after pressing enter you should see the screen change to the following (note that the fans will ramp up to full speed at this time)

After this process finishes the system will reboot.

Flashing the BIOS

Fortunately, this step is almost identical to the EC firmware update, so we will copy step 4 to 7 of the EC firmware update.

1. This time, you will type the command

flashme

After you press enter, you should see

Please allow the flash to complete. After this has done, the laptop will power down and reboot, this could take a few minutes so please be patient. If you are met with a secure boot violation on the reboot of the system, it is because the laptop has attempted to boot to the USB and Secure Boot has been re-enabled. Simply remove your usb and press enter to reboot normally.

To confirm your system has updated successfully please enter the BIOS once more to see if your BIOS version and EC version are as follows:

(Please note this image is from an older BIOS version, the newest BIOS and EC are N.1.22 and 1.10.00.00 respectively)

If all looks well, F10 to save and reboot! You have successfully updated your BIOS.

If you encounter any issues at all please call our customer support team and we can talk you through it step by step.

 

[GulApa]

Hey Chris, followed all your steps and successfully updated both EC firmware and the BIOS. Still, the issue persists on youtube playbacks. It seems to have solved all the other random freezes though. I downgraded my NVIDIA drivers to the version provided by PCS, and I'll see if that helps.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Hey Chris, followed all your steps and successfully updated both EC firmware and the BIOS. Still, the issue persists on youtube playbacks. It seems to have solved all the other random freezes though. I downgraded my NVIDIA drivers to the version provided by PCS, and I'll see if that helps.

Sorry you’re still having issues, hopefully the gpu driver roll back helps, but if not, open a thread in the tech support section and we can see if we can help.

Also, any chance you could give your experience in this thread?

Recoil 2023 13th Gen USB Issues

Hi all, Relating to the 2023 Core i9 13th Gen Recoil model, I'm experiencing a USB irregularity and I wanted to start a thread to see if anyone else was having the same problem. Note that this issue was experienced prior to the BIOS update posted here and has not been solved in the update...

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

 

[PCS_Chris]

Hey Chris, followed all your steps and successfully updated both EC firmware and the BIOS. Still, the issue persists on youtube playbacks. It seems to have solved all the other random freezes though. I downgraded my NVIDIA drivers to the version provided by PCS, and I'll see if that helps.

Hi GulApa,

We recently received a newer version of this BIOS from the manufacturer. I have updated this POST with the new BIOS files and made some slight tweaks to the instructions as we now have 4 versions of the BIOS to select from instead of 2.

If you're comfortable with doing so, please try this new BIOS. Hopefully it resolves your issue.

Chris

 

[GulApa]

Hi GulApa,

We recently received a newer version of this BIOS from the manufacturer. I have updated this POST with the new BIOS files and made some slight tweaks to the instructions as we now have 4 versions of the BIOS to select from instead of 2.

If you're comfortable with doing so, please try this new BIOS. Hopefully it resolves your issue.

Chris

After nearly a month of using this BIOS with the old NVIDIA driver, I'm glad to report that my issue is resolved. No more freezes! Now I will update the NVIDIA driver and see if the problem will reoccur or not. At least now I know what to do if it does, and will report here again if it does not fyi.

Sorry you’re still having issues, hopefully the gpu driver roll back helps, but if not, open a thread in the tech support section and we can see if we can help.

Also, any chance you could give your experience in this thread?

Recoil 2023 13th Gen USB Issues

Hi all, Relating to the 2023 Core i9 13th Gen Recoil model, I'm experiencing a USB irregularity and I wanted to start a thread to see if anyone else was having the same problem. Note that this issue was experienced prior to the BIOS update posted here and has not been solved in the update...

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

Unfortunately I do not have any peripherals that could reach those speeds to test them out. Yet, I too have experienced peripherals failing to boot. I will post a more detailed explanation over that thread.

 

[ZioAndrew]

Hi GulApa,

We recently received a newer version of this BIOS from the manufacturer. I have updated this POST with the new BIOS files and made some slight tweaks to the instructions as we now have 4 versions of the BIOS to select from instead of 2.

If you're comfortable with doing so, please try this new BIOS. Hopefully it resolves your issue.

Chris

Hi, is there a version with the 4070? i have a similar problem and don't know what to do.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Hi, is there a version with the 4070? i have a similar problem and don't know what to do.

Contact PCS for the BIOS file

 

[jackseg]

Hi, is there a version with the 4070? i have a similar problem and don't know what to do.

@PCS_Chris I have the same problem.
It's possible to have undervolt CPU for 13900HX like XMG ? Thanks

 

[PCS_Chris]

Hi Jackseg,

Undervolting should already be available via the SPC settings in the Control centre. We don't ask to lock the BIOS down at all.

Hi Adam27,

Yes, any new orders will have the most up to date BIOS installed by default. This notice is more for people who had already purchased theirs before these BIOS's were available.

 

[jackseg]

Hi Jackseg,

Undervolting should already be available via the SPC settings in the Control centre. We don't ask to lock the BIOS down at all.

Hi Adam27,

Yes, any new orders will have the most up to date BIOS installed by default. This notice is more for people who had already purchased theirs before these BIOS's were available.

Sorry but all overclocking or undervolting options are blocked in PCSpecialist's Bios. There are none of the options available here: https://download.schenker-tech.de/m...e23/xmg-neo_e23_bios_undervolting-options.pdf

This is the problem from the beginning, we have a super CPU 13900HX but it is totally blocked.
In Control Center, the only thing you can modify is the power in W, but if you lower the power, you lose performance, unlike undervolting.

So my question is: can we put the XMG bios without losing the PCSpecialist warranty? If not, is there a roadmap to integrate these functionalities? Thanks

 

[PCS_Chris]

Hi Jackseg,

XMG usually ask for significantly more than what is provided the default BIOS provided by the manufacturer. The default BIOS is what we typically base ours off of.

But it never hurts to try, I've reached out to our representative at the ODM to see if we can have a similar undervolting menu implemented on the PCSpecialist BIOS. I can't guarantee they'll do it for us, but as it's already available I should hope it will be possible.

In the meantime, the BIOS's are cross compatible with each other, so you can use the XMG BIOS if you want and flash back to the PCS BIOS at a later date. But please bear in mind that we cannot support any issues arising from the XMG BIOS.

An alternative for undervolting could also be the Intel XTU utility. This software typically allows the changing of voltages to an extent even on BIOS's that are more locked down.

I'll update this post, hopefully with good news, when I hear back from the ODM regarding this change.

Chris

 

[jackseg]

@PCS_Chris Thanks a lot Chris for your help

The problem is that everything is blocked at the BIOS level and therefore it's impossible to do anything with XTU or another program like ThrottleStop. The only way is to unlock these features in the Bios.



I would like to test the XMG Bios but in case of problem, where can I find the original PCSpecialist Bios?
Best Regards

 

[PCS_Chris]

Hi Jackseg,

The BIOS for the Recoil are linked in my second post with all the files you need.

If you have a different model, please reach out to our customer care team and we can get the BIOS for your specific system sent out to you.

 

[jackseg]

Hi Chris,
Thanks but it's not the same Bios. We have RTX4070.
I've send a message to support.

BR

 

[jackseg]

Hello,
For information, I installed the new XMG Bios and everything works fine.
PC Specialist sent me the original Bios for backup in case something went wrong.
The keyboard also works perfectly.

BR,
Jacques

 

[SpyderTracks]

Hello,
For information, I installed the new XMG Bios and everything works fine.
PC Specialist sent me the original Bios for backup in case something went wrong.
The keyboard also works perfectly.

BR,
Jacques

I've removed the XMG link as for anyone upgrading their BIOS, they need to do so with PCS approval and guidance, otherwise you risk voiding your warranty. So reach out to PCS and they will guide you on how to proceed.

 

[jackseg]

I've removed the XMG link as for anyone upgrading their BIOS, they need to do so with PCS approval and guidance, otherwise you risk voiding your warranty. So reach out to PCS and they will guide you on how to proceed.

You are right, it needs to be done with the PCSpecialist support team.
It was just to give a feedback on the RTX4060-4070 version ;-)

 

[SpyderTracks]

You are right, it needs to be done with the PCSpecialist support team.
It was just to give a feedback on the RTX4060-4070 version ;-)

Yeah, absolutely, appreciate the feedback and very glad it's worked for you

 

[PCS_Chris]

Hi Jackseg,

Happy to say the BIOS is finally ready for prime time. Here's a link where you can download the undervolting BIOS for your 4070 system:

BIOS files - Undervolt_RTX4070

You didn't mention which size screen you have so I've included both BIOS's here for you. The association is as follows:

GM6PX7X = 16"
GM7PX7N = 17"

The instructions for flashing are the same as with the previous BIOS's, the only thing that's changed is the folder names.
I hope you enjoy the new BIOS!

Chris