E6420 Owner's Thread

Mine sits at around 40 C when idle.
I have Intel graphics and I use balanced power profile too.

 

Interesting. I forgot to say I have the i5-2520 with HD 3000 graphics.

I did replace my speakers recently which required me to remove the CPU cooler. Is there any reason I can't clean it up and use some IC Diamond?

 

Yes, I have the same CPU.

I am not %100 sure but I don't see any reason why you couldn't. I have seen a few posts in E6410 forum by owners who have successfully done that and posted their results.
I haven't seen anything like that on this forum yet, but it shouldn't be much different.

 

Newbie here. Who has just spent 90 mins on the phone to Dell being told what I strongly suspect is BS.

I ordered an E6420 with the HD+ screen (1600x900).

I received an E6420 with HD screen (1366x768).

I have had two remote access sessions with Dell, updating various drivers in an effort to get the higher res. No joy.

I have had an engineer out to me today who installed what I was told was the HD+ screen. Still no joy. The max res is still 1366x768.

(I have a 242 Dell external monitor running out the DVI socket of this laptop which happily runs at 1920x1200).

Dell Tech Support (sic) are now telling me that the max res that a 6420 can run at is 1366x768; that their website is wrong in stating this model will run at 1600x900, and there is nothing that they can do to help me. To which I say BS.

Other stuff: in Device Manager the display adapter is listed as an Intel HD Graphics Family. Right click on the desktop and I get an Intel Graphics and Media Control Panel. The info centre sjpws I have an Intel HD Graphics 3000 graphics processor.

Can anyone shed any light on why the on board display will not run at higher than 1366x768? My suspicion is the graphics processor, but I can't work out why, if that is the source of the limitation, the external display will run at 1920x1200.

Any help appreciated.

 

Sausages79:I would double check if you got the correct screen, try using this applicationHWiNFO32 Download

I've got a 1600x900 panel, does it match?...
General information
Monitor Name: MJ154€140KT
Serial Number: Unknown
Date Of Manufacture: Week: 0, Year: 2010
Monitor Hardware ID: Monitor\SEC544B

Max. Vertical Size: 17 cm
Max. Horizontal Size: 31 cm

Advanced parameters
Input Signal: Digital
Color Bit Depth: 6 Bits per Primary Color
Display Type: RGB color
Gamma Factor: 2.20

DPMS Modes
Standby: Not Supported
Suspend: Not Supported
Active Off: Not Supported
Standard Colour Space: Not Supported
Preferred Timing Mode: Supported
Default GTF Supported: Not Supported
DFP 1.x Compatible: No

Supported Video Modes
1600 x 900 310 x 174 mm, Pixel Clock 114.06 MHz
1600 x 900 310 x 174 mm, Pixel Clock 74.09 MHz

 

That's a useful little tool!

I get the same date, save for the following fields:

Monitor name: Samsung LTN156AT02P01
Monitor Hardware ID: Monitor\SEC5441

Supported Video Modes:
1366 x 768 309 x 174 mm, Pixel Clock 76.59 MHz
1366 x 768 309 x 174 mm, Pixel Clock 48.28 MHz


By contrast, that tool reports the following Supported Video Modes for my external 24" monitor:

1280 x 1024 60 Hz
1600 x 1200 60 Hz
1152 x 864 75 Hz
1920 x 1200 519 x 324 mm, Pixel Clock 154.00 MHz

So if I understand those results correctly, the screen that has been fitted today is not capable of displaying 1600 x 900 - correct? In short, I've had the wrong screen replaced with another wrong screen.

 

Wow, Dell is clearly misleading you, but probably not intentionally. Regardless, it might be time to email Michael Dell, aka Dell's Executive Customer Service. I recently had success here; just be polite and patient in your email. A little googling will yield the proper email address (hint: go to consumerist.com) or, if you enable private messaging, I can send it over to you.

Alternatively, if you've just received the system, you could return and re-order another E6420, though who knows whether it would solve your problem.

 

Call Dell Sales and tell them your order has not fullfilled correctly and you want to return it for a replacement. Do not use onsite technical support to rebuild your system to order... the order was built wrong, and now the onsite support is wrong, too.

Changing drivers will not change native display resolution. Dell tech support must not have understood the issue if they tried to do this... and sent you an exact LCD replacement.

These are order and communications issues. You need to get on the phone with Dell SALES and solve them. Return the botched order and place a new order.

GK

 

It also occurred to me that there are sometimes just bugs in Dell's configure-to-order system. I tried to order a Vostro 3300 last year and I could never get Dell to build the exact system that I configured. I tried to manually configure the system with a small business rep three times and the build would always revert to another "default" configuration, probably one of the Ship Fast models.

Anyway, I think I agree with GKDesigns, send it back and order it again.

 

Many thanks for the replies. Spend an hour and a half on the phone to Dell listening to them reading from a script before deciding to transfer you and you begin to doubt your sanity. Refreshing to come here and find I'm not going mad after all.

I get a fresh build, and the existing one goes back when I'm done moving stuff across. Least bad outcome, I reckon.