E6520 Owner's Thread

thanks scott!

 

I tried using the search feature for this site, and came up cold on any search term. Therefore, excuse me if this was asked before.

I have an e6520 connected to an E-Port Plus dock. I'm using it to get the swank dual DVI out. Since the day I received both the laptop and the docking station, the usb ports on the dock would not work. They are supposed to be replicated ports. I tried plugging my laptop into another E-Port Plus and had the same result; I even updated to bios version A07 and that did not help.

My colleagues, who also have e6520's have the same configuration with dock and laptop, but their ports seem to be replicating fine. Since I was the first one to get this configuration in August, I'm wondering if there was a hardware rev that changed between then and October. Does anyone have any experience with the same docking port on this thread? Thanks!

 

I have bought my E6520 in April and I also use it with the E-port plus without any problem in usb ports or any other expansion port. So, probably there is something wrong with your laptop. Best move is to call Dell Support.

 

try checking the settings in the BIOS, there are docking port options in there

 

What thermal compound (paste) do you use? I am using liquid metal on copper heatsinks with good results (for years).
I am interested in using a fast Ivy Bridge on the E6520 as soon as possible.
How did you mange to get the 2920xm working? What Bios are you using?

 

I'm using AS5. The CPU was plug and play. I'm using the A05 BIOS. I haven't bothered updating to any more recent ones because I haven't seen the need and the E6520 lacks a true crisis recovery (no boot block or dual BIOS).

 

I'm going to do your heatsink mod, thanks for that.

In regards to the slots being "fully functional mPCI-E slot"s - I'm not so sure about that. If that were the case, the Super Talent CoreStore MV should work in one of them, but it doesn't. Perhaps it's just be a BIOS issue.

 

Just don't go too tight or you'll split your CPU in half. That's why the screws are spring loaded in the 1st place.

The only card I tried in the SATA FLASH slot was my wireless card and it worked. Unfortunately I do not have a PCI-E based SSD to try in it.

Also did you try just using the SSD as an additional drive in windows instead of trying to make it bootable?

 

Thanks for the tip on the heat sink. I'll be careful.

Yes. At this point, I've tried both SSDs (I have an Intel mSATA and the Super Talent CoreStore MV) every which way possible, in all slots, with all BIOS versions:

mSATA
- with HDD OS, the OS boots but does not see the drive.
- when booting from USB, either Linux or Windows 7: neither OS sees the drive.

CoreStore MV
- I can go into the CoreStore's BIOS, it says everything is "OK", but after exiting (or just allowing the computer to boot without going into the CoreStore's BIOS) the computer hangs with a flashing cursor in the upper left-hand corner. The computer does not get far enough along in the boot sequence to boot an OS from the HDD or USB.

For both drives, I've played with numerous BIOS settings: enabling/disabling different combinations of SATA ports, disabling other unused devices, making sure to reset the BIOS before making changes, etc. Nothing works.

 

Anyone have a good nvidia colour profile to darken the whites a lot?

Right now I'm at 30% brightness, 20% contrast, 1.00 gamma, and 70% digital vibrance.

I like contrast...just need to keep the white from blinding me...