E6540 Owners Thread

I think the bigger issue is that the fan/heatsink assembly isn't adequate enough. That coollabs stuff is no joke either, it's not the easiest to work with, or get off later. Seen reports of it fusing the heatsink to the cpu, but I've not seen that first hand. I've used Etsu in another laptop application and it didn't make much of a difference.

I'd say you'd see better results in a desktop situation where the cooling is adequate and thermal transfer may very well be a bottle neck. With more pricey pastes I mean. I still very much recommend repasting these machines properly.

 

It is a shame they didn't make this like some of the other models with the dual fans that exhaust out the back.

I finally for my shipping label for my last machine and just hate to send it back since it was such a good price... Honestly I'd rarely ever do anything that would hit the throttling, but even normal idling just made too much fan noise for my tastes.

 

Hi,

DELL Latitude E6540 have a slot named as "1/2 MINI". This slot supports a half-size mSATA?

In this link you can see the slot:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/fileadmin/Notebooks/Dell/Latitude/E6540/untenwwan.jpg

In this link you can see a half-size mSATA:

Revuahn M850MINI Half Size mSATA 128GB 6Gbps SSD EMS Express Free | eBay

Thaks a lot!

 

Yup, I should've returned mine when I had the chance but it took me almost 2 months to get a machine that actually worked. The plan right now is to hang on to it until ~April or so. Then I'll either go tablet/desktop combo or something like the new Arous X7 laptop. Time will tell what my mobile needs are..

I'm still going to try modding my extra bottom cover, but I need to pick up some drill bits first. I want it to look clean instead of a hack job which is what I'd get with my dremel skills..

 

A07 bios dropped last night... Having problems with booting after updating to it. Seems to be issues with graphics drivers. running win8.1 pro x64

 

I was thinking of keeping it and trying to get an upgrade to the next gen model when it comes out or maybe a Precision. I know some people got upgraded from the XPS 15 models so maybe with enough repeat issues on this they will upgrade it. Really not much else to try since I refuse to use touchpads without buttons and almost everything has gotten rid of them.

How'd you manage to get an extra bottom cover?

 

Bought from the outlet. First one fried itself, tech came to fix it and did a crappy job (messed up the screen, soft touch and keyboard by smearing thermal paste or something on it), they were supposed to replace with a new model but sent a refurb instead (twice actually), then finally got a new build. By the time I got through all that, the manager (North American Pro Support) I was working with was more than happy to give me whatever I wanted lol.. I also have a frame (like the internal magnesium frame) that they sent by mistake, an extra battery and an extra charger.

In my defense, I offered to buy the bottom cover but he overnighted it to me after I mentioned the inadequate cooling system and heat issues. I bet you guys could get them too if you called and complained about heat/throttling. They'll want to come repaste for you and maybe replace the heatsink/mobo/cpu, idk, but business warranty is much better than the consumer crap I'm used to dealing with.

 

Hi,

DELL Latitude E6540 have a slot named as "1/2 MINI". This slot supports a half-size mSATA?

In this link you can see the slot:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/fileadm.../untenwwan.jpg

In this link you can see a half-size mSATA:

Revuahn M850MINI Half Size mSATA 128GB 6Gbps SSD EMS Express Free | eBay

Thaks a lot!

I have same problem. No strat on mSATA.

 

Funny that they think a repaste will fix it all - I already did AS5 and saw hardly any improvement. The 3 year warranty and previous experience with getting replacements is the only reason I'd consider keeping this.

 

I've never gotten them to replace a machine before, but I've not had one that was made with problems. I've had lemons, but nothing like this. I expect a replacement model would be out around July, maybe I'll wait it out until then too..

I'm not sure they expect a repasted to fix anything, but I imagine they have to eliminate that as a possibility before replacing. In the mean time, I'm picking up some drill bits tonight and I'll try to work on the bottom cover..