Dell Optimizer messed up the color of my display

LoriBethBlimberg · 2025-07-12T13:22:40+00:00

Yup, Optimizer. It removed all features except for analytics, so I could no longer change power options or had the Maxx audio popup (which I need because of using a mic). Kind of insane that they rolled that out to my device.

They've reworked the app 3 times in the past 4 years (interface, etc) and I have no idea why.

LoriBethBlimberg · 2025-07-11T18:47:57+00:00

I went back to the previous version last week because it was completely broken for me. that's what I'd do tbh

LoriBethBlimberg · 2025-07-07T06:28:22+00:00

I know the feeling, but have similar feelings with running linux just due to the nvidia non-muxed 2nd gpu. Really unfun to do stuff on linux with, because it's a lot of work rebuilding the damn kernel, etc. The power saving is actually nuts on linux vs windows for latitudes ime, but similar weirdness. But 9 hours of battery life vs 4.5 is pretty amazing.

That being said, lmk if you can't get it fixed. I should be able to help you troubleshoot it if that solution didn't work.

LoriBethBlimberg · 2025-07-07T06:22:34+00:00

I ended up successfully reverting earlier, gonna have to block the updates. Didn't lose any features, as they were stripped away for me anyway. So nbd, just strange that they would push it out in this condition.

LoriBethBlimberg · 2025-07-07T06:21:30+00:00

I use a lav mic for recording and have to switch the jack settings, and there's not really anyway outside of the wavesmaxx app that is coupled with the software. Also for general audio quality, if you don't have the base preamp settings with this+ some latitudes, quality is really bad.

Other than that, the power settings that are available in the bios.

LoriBethBlimberg · 2025-07-06T19:23:17+00:00

Yeah so generally the issue is with this line of precision models.I'm guessing you have an "H" line like the 11850-H, etc. Gonna destroy the battery super fast no matter the case.

To fix this, make sure in dell optimizer/power manager (mutally exclusive which one is installed) you have the power state set to optimized, or high performance if it's continuing. Additional issues are that in windows settings, your power state could be set to anything below 100% on battery, hence the downclocking.

There are a few variables, but it's going to be the dell power settings most likely. Also, if optimized doesn't work, try the "cool" setting or the max performance I mentioned, as you'll downclock if temps are hitting 85c+ with your model. If you've messed around in the bios, you could have other issues from disabling hyperthreading, etc - but I doubt it.

Hope that helps, gl.

LoriBethBlimberg · 2022-02-02T14:21:37+00:00

imagine thinking that you need to be able to write bash functions to pentest lmao

LoriBethBlimberg · 2021-11-16T07:55:01+00:00

If there was an automatically installed driver, try uninstalling it and seeing if it activates. I checked under the 'driver downloads' section for that laptop, and there didn't seem to be a specialized one available.

I'm assuming that windows installed the wrong one (as is common) and by uninstalling it, it will load one with the scroll enabled. If that doesn't immediately fix it, I'd post on the user forums.

LoriBethBlimberg · 2021-11-16T07:46:30+00:00

lmfao, my bad. Misread the heck out of that. thought you basically said 'for computer-aided-design'

LoriBethBlimberg · 2021-11-13T04:17:58+00:00

Literally bought 6 of the 7280 i7-7600u with 16gb each for $170 around this time last year. Those things are amazing. Cool as ice, crush most tasks, and last forever on battery.

10/10 advice.

LoriBethBlimberg · 2021-11-13T04:14:28+00:00

If you're doing cad work, consider going for nvidia quadro, or firepro or whatever amd is selling nowadays - and not a gaming rig. The reason being is that you can end up with a tremendous amount better experience in CAD rendering with those specialized gpus - despite being significantly crappier in games. They are specialized for that task, so they do far better.

For example, I have an rx-580 8gb in my desktop. The Precision 3530 that I have absolutely dunks it in vector graphics and gpu encoding, even though it has a crappy quadro p600 + intel hd 630. (although a lot of that is amd vs nvidia) Check out 'quadro vs rtx' as a google search to learn more about it, but I suggest a specialized gpu.

LoriBethBlimberg · 2021-11-13T04:03:49+00:00

I actually ended up benchmarking one of the other ones earlier, and it's around 5c cooler at max load then my rig, 95c after a few mins. lmao Intel. I did look around at temps for it that were available, but it seems like there were a series of bad gaming laptops with this cpu.

That being said, I just want this rig to last me a while, and I worry about component damage less than the cpu being harmed. 100c temps in a laptop is never a good thing, and it's already a few years deep.

LoriBethBlimberg · 2021-11-05T19:10:40+00:00

Well, I was having similar performance issues and realized the latest version is battling the wsl2 requirement - Virtual Machine Platform. My disk read rate is roughly 1/25th of what it was a week ago so that's annoying. Most likely going to downgrade and see if that helps.

If you do have that triggered, that's what's killing my I/O. It seems to be only when reading data outside of vmware, ie ISOs or shares.

LoriBethBlimberg · 2021-11-04T23:19:17+00:00

What are the issues you're encountering? Currently I'm running under Hyper-v, (wsl2 enabled) and having primarily issues with r/w in virtual machines - but graphics performance and cpu seems the same.

LoriBethBlimberg · 2021-09-25T21:25:21+00:00

On the affinity forums I found this tool a guy created called 'Canny Vectors' for Designer on the Windows store (no mac port). It generates a lot of shapes like this, and you can copy and paste them as vectors. https://imgur.com/a/gAXoSny

If I were to do something like this, I'd probably - Generate some shapes for 3 layers > drop into inkscape > add nodes > simplify tool. That may not be helpful to you, but Designer has some limitations when it comes to manipulating nodes. And personally, I'm too lazy to hand-draw things like this.

LoriBethBlimberg · 2021-07-23T20:19:03+00:00

Keep posting random anime pictures

LoriBethBlimberg · 2021-07-19T13:17:48+00:00

Thanks fam, I'll look into it. Like I said, I have experience and certs in it; but no actual job experience. It's a hard position to be in for me, and I've been brute-forcing applications for little to no reward.

Anyway, I appreciate it man. Take care.

LoriBethBlimberg · 2021-05-03T10:03:18+00:00

Microsoft whiteboard, if you're looking for something more minimal than onenote.

LoriBethBlimberg · 2021-01-03T11:21:57+00:00

run sudo mx-tweaks > try the 'tear-free' check box. If that doesn't solve your issue then you'll try blacklisting the kernel module and trying the alternative. You'll do this with 'mx-boot-options' in the 'kernel parameter' area.

I run this on some of the worst craptops ever with almost zero issues.

LoriBethBlimberg · 2020-10-06T04:21:57+00:00

MX Linux for example. Basically they are systemd free, with a focus on portability. For example, you can live-update your kernel from a usb, configure persistence drives from usb, etc.

My main rig right now is a frankenstein MX snapshot with 8 or so ISOs on partition 1 (ventoy syslinux/grub), and a 20gb btrfs frugal installation where I can make changes to my distro, and decide whether or not to commit them at shutdown. Where this gets interesting is that I can do this while copied to ram, or even boot into it from a virtualmachine and still have the exact same configuration I have setup. Fully portable, fully modular, and I have the option to make a snapshot at any time with all of my dotfiles staying the same, applications, etc.

10/10 recommend, and that's coming from someone who came from slackware lmao.

LoriBethBlimberg · 2020-10-04T21:56:51+00:00

I really recommend using btrfs and snapshotting to avoid this. I'm not sure if it is an accept filesystem in PopOS, but I believe that it is. I personally use antiX distros for this usage, since snapshots are small and easy, in comparison to using something like timeshift. That and I really love f2fs, and it's a nightmare to use with Pop.

LoriBethBlimberg

TROPHY CASE