Dell Precision 5510 Owner's Lounge

Yes, SecureBoot is also disabled... I check the SHA-1 key for my iso and it is fine.
I don't understand why I have the message "A required CD/DVD drive device driver is missing or a media driver your computer needs is missing"...

Does anybody already (re)install Windows 7 on a Dell Precision 5510 ?

I feel lost...

 

Hello, just ordered an 5510 to replace my ageing XPS M1530 from many years ago.

I have already had, and sent back, an XPS 15 9550 i7/UHD/1TB SSD because of horrible instability. I loved the chassis, realised I wasn't too bothered about 4K or touch (plus if I ever was to bother gaming, 1080 native is easier to handle) but more than anything I really need rock solid stability as this is my work laptop where I do CAD/3D etc. Nothing too intensive but as I discovered with the M1530, speccing high means lasting a long time (maybe not 8 years mind)

I didn't actually know about the Precision 5510 when I ordered the XPS 15, if I did, knowing it would need to be a reliable work horse, I would have opted for it straight away.

Anyway, spec, Dell Outlet @ just under £1K ex VAT

Xeon E3 1505M (Quad 2.8GHz)
16GB DDR4 Non-ECC (in 2x 8GB sadly, though may replace with ECC as it becomes cheaper)
FHD Screen
256GB SSD (another component I may swap out as and when needed as technology catches up. The 1TB in the XPS15 had driver issues etc)
Quadro M1000M 2GB, hopefully handy enough to handle a few games at moderate settings at 1080.
6-cell 84WHr battery (so many precisions in outlet specced with only 3 cell)
Win 10 Pro 64bit (looking to roll back to 7 Ultimate which I have on the M1530 and its perfect)

Theres a hell of a lot of pages to this thread, can anyone copy and paste any important summary of anything glaring I should know? any updates NOT to apply, etc.

 

Is the SSD an NVMe version, not SATA? If so, it definitely needs to have the right driver loaded using the Press F6 option when you start to install Windows. If the SSD is SATA then you may need to load the Intel driver, particularly if you have the SATA mode in the BIOS set to RAID (I would recommend changing it to AHCI). See here for some guidance about using the F6 procedure.

Welcome. That's quite a nice price although not as good as what I got in July when Dell UK Outlet had a 15% off Precisions coupon.

I would apply all the updates listed for your service tag. Most likely everything, including the BIOS, is out of date. There was a recent buggy BIOS which caused battery charge problems but Dell has now pulled that and released a fixed version. Also apply the Thunderbolt driver/ firmware updates. Once everything has been updated you should discover that your 5510 is stable (I had some initial sleep / hibernation problems which were fixed by the Thunderbolt updates).

I think you will discover that the 5510 does not support ECC RAM, even with the Xeon CPU. My 5510 came with a Toshiba NVMe SSD but is now running on a 1TB Sandisk X400 which I already possessed (bought in April for £202 when the prices were lower than now) and I need the capacity more than the extra speed. A 1TB NVMe SSD is on my watch list but I'm waiting for prices to work their way down.

John

 

Yes I think my SSD is an NVMe version... I do the following tasks :
Set bootList option to LEGACY (instead of UEFI)
Set Legacy Option ROMs
Set SATA Operation to AHCI (instead of RAID ON)
Secure Boot : Disabled

In Drives section, I checked "SATA-0", "SATA-1" and "M2 PCIe SSD-0"

I finally successfully added USB3 drivers into my bootable USB flash but now, Windows 7 Installer cannot see my drive (SSD) ... If I try to load a SATA driver downloaded from Dell
Intel Rapid Storage Technology Drive - "Serial-ATA_Driver_6K2TK_WN32_14.5.2.1088_A00.EXE"
the good driver is found (Intel 100 Series/C230 Chipset Family SATA AHCI Controller) but my SDD is still not found !! ...

I feel exhausted and regrets my purchase

 

Don't feel disheartened but keep looking for the answer. Perhaps it is this.

John

 

Thanks for that John, shame I missed that coupon, but have now got 5% back because of the terrible time had with the XPS 15 9550 before it eventually got collected. Good to know the buggy BIOS was pulled, the last thing I want is battery/mainboard problems, great that theres standard on site hardware support though. I intend to run it from the mains unless absolutely necessary. Having no removable battery could end up being a bit of a pain when there's been a few cycles put onto it.

I read with interest the posts regarding doing a fresh install of Win 7 onto a 5510 SSD M.2 SSD which came loaded with Win 10. I'll see what model SSD mine finally ships with, I might end up just leaving 10 on if its a good OS, but Win 7 Ultimate runs so nicely on my M1530 (which, being almost 10 years old is pretty impressive) it's more stable and responsive than most newer mid-spec laptops (win 8.1/10) I've used at work.

I just wish they'd kept a fingerprint reader for the XPS 15/5510 chassis, and there's plenty of room for an end column on the keyboard to have dedicated home, page up/down, end keys and no half height up/down key, but hey ho, cant have it all. It fits nicely into a MBP Thule case, absolutely ideal for the train etc

 

The on-site warranty service works, at least in the more urban parts of the UK. There's no need to worry about the battery getting worn out unneccessarily. Use Dell's Command | Power Manager to set the charging behaviour you want (or you can set it in the BIOS). Being left peranently plugged in doesn't add to the charge cycles.

I wouldn't recommend trying to install Windows 7 unless you find serious issues with Windows 10. It's given me no headaches once I have installed start manager software (I use Start 10 but there are free equivalents) and it has a few useful features missing from older Windows. However, I've so far avoided the Win 10 Anniversary update.

The fingerprint reader on the E5570 didn't work very well for me so I don't miss it. However, like you I would have liked a colomn of navigation keys on the right side of the keyboard and would have settled for the half-size PgUp and PgDn as on the recent Latitude keyboards. As a work-around I have remapped F11 and F12 to PgUp and PgDn.

Size-wise the 5510 is nearer to 14". This photo compares the 15.6" E5570 (centre) with the 14" E7450 (left) and the 5510 (right).


John

 

If it's helpful to anyone I can produce a similar picture with the 5510 and the 5470. They're quite close in size.

 

Good idea.

John

 

Forgive the washed out colors on the first; both screens look better than that but my poor choice of layout this exposureis the only way to see the difference between the bezel and te monitor behind it.

I took one on top of the other, and while the slightly greater width (as with the next to one another) of the M5510 was visible to the naked eye, it was not clear in the photo.

Overall I am happier with my personal E5470 than the work-provided M5510, but they both get a lot of use, and the 5510 is hugely better than my M3800 was.