Dell Precision M6700 Owners Thread

I tried that but no luck. I took out both RAM cartridges and got a "no installed RAM" error so the MB is still able to detect failures and use the LED's to provide diagnostic information. I'm going to do some multimeter testing on display IC's and see if one is shorting. I think the BIOS may be intact and it's just a display driving issue, as using either integrated or discrete graphics has made no difference.

 

The system will boot and show the BIOS on an external display if you power it on and then immediately shut the lid.

 

Update: Trying all of the things you stated here, I was unable to come up with any differences. The laptop still started up with fan activity and LEDs but no screen and no USB. I decided to go the corrupted BIOS route and get an EEPROM/SPI flash tool. I was able to download the old BIOS and attempted to modify a .bin file I extracted from the A20 BIOS executable by replacing the BIOS update flash screen with the data lines of the old BIOS (see attached). However, this didn't seem to work, same behavior as before. I think I need to do something different, but am uncertain about what I may have done wrong. I flashed the larger of the two BIOS chips, the Q64-104H1P, but not the smaller one, Q32B-104H1P. I also think I may have just reinstalled the corrupted portion of the BIOS and need to find a fresh BIOS .bin or .rom. Does anyone have advice on flashing either of these chips or where I may find a fresh BIOS?

Stuff I used:
CH341A EEPROM/SPI USB programmer
Google Drive of BIOS files:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/13jBJcvZ1EHBKtaw0oncvw6gZMJhEPOz_?usp=sharing
(Edit: I found a preserved BIOS and am going to try and flash it)

 

I have an M6700 Covet that I have had since 2012 sometime. I posted about it in this thread way back when, I think.

Recently, I had a little problem. I got an "Invalid Partition Table" message after leaving the machine on overnight.

I found out that the swappable hard drive was the culprit, so I pulled it, used TestDisk to rewrite the partition table, then cloned the disk onto a new drive.

I put the new drive in the carrier and back into the slot, and the machine would not boot correctly. No "Invalid Partition Table," but no real movement forward in booting.

It boots just fine if I physically eject that drive.

It's running Windows 10 Pro.

Is the connector for that swappable drive something I can easily replace without having to get a new mainboard?

Thanks!

 

I'd double check to make sure that it's booting the drive that you think it is... Hit F12 at boot (Dell logo) and you can choose from the menu. If you are using legacy boot (not UEFI boot) then in the BIOS setup (F2 at boot) you can set the hard drive boot order.
Both 2.5" drive SATA connectors are directly attached to the motherboard so no swapping those out without swapping out the board.

 

Thanks! Yes, I checked the boot order, and it's set correctly, legacy boot.

Ok, I guess I'll have to swap the board.

 

Why are M6700 Covets so exceedingly rare?

 

I was looking at the Wayback machine to get some pricing info on the stock models and they were fairly steep. Here's a wayback link to a shopping page from back then:

https://web.archive.org/web/2013010...d=2801&fid=9981&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1

I unfortunately can't seem to find the pricing of any Covet models but they were most likely extremely expensive, as not only did they come in the special Phoenix Red finish, they also included an IPS screen, something that even the $2,000+ stock machines didn't have as an option. The M6800 Covet seems to be more common primarily due to the rise IPS panels and perhaps greater availability of replacement parts in the repair sphere. I have never seen used Covet screens for sale for either model, most on eBay are new old stock m6800 panels. I once saw a used M6700 Covet Edition sell on eBay for around $200 but it seemed to have some issues, on top of a broken palmrest and quite a few other blemishes. I think the only way to ever recreate one would be waiting for one of those to pop up in better condition or at a somewhat reasonable price. The dearth of these models could also be due to their better screens and overall higher configurations allowing for a longer lifespan than a variety of other m6700 configurations. I mean I'd want to get the most out of my laptop if I spent $2400+ dollars on it.

(Update: this is a good example of typical Covets sub-$700 on the used market, albeit this one has display issues. Seems to have gone pretty quickly: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Precision-M6700-Laptop-2-80-GHz-i7-3840QM-16-GB-128GB-SSD-amp-320-GB-HDD-/174576157727?hash=item28a58cc41f:g:umwAAOSwmfFf6z6H&nma=true&si=MSL4Hzv6%2FJ0FI6F%2BGUnZK9pK2Tw%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557)

 

Even here on this site when the M6700 was new, the vast majority of users had a regular M6700 and not a Covet model. Based on my unscientific observation, I believe that the ratio of Covet edition sales to total M6700 sales was very, very low — maybe under 2%. So of course, used systems and parts would be rare. (I personally wouldn't be able to stand the glare from a glass-covered display anyway...)

 

I would dare to say it could be as low as 1% of all M6700 sales, in spite of the primary advertising of the M6700 almost always including the Covet somewhere on it. And I would have to agree that a glass panel, especially a gorilla glass panel, would be discomforting or unpleasant to use. I had only glossy screes on my laptops for a multitude of years and I was only somewhat fine with it, but I couldn't imagine having solid glass on top, especially since gorilla glass would imply a more durable and, therefore, more reflective panel. What a nightmare to work with if outside.

(Also, this was something I saw on the previous website that I didn't notice till now, but they were selling a model with an i5-3320M, Firepro M6000 and a paltry 2GB of RAM, not VRAM, but RAM, for $1200. That's insane for even back in 2012. Even my HP 2000 with an i3-3110m that I purchased for $300 had 4 GB of RAM and a 500GB HDD, instead of the 320GB that came with that config.)