Latitude E6400 Owner's Lounge, Part 2

im still keeping an eye on it
unplugging it when i leave the house

 

BIOS A29 is out, although it is seemingly not very exciting at all.


Dell Latitude E6400 System BIOS << return to results

Release Date: 08/06/2011
Version: A29
Download Type: BIOS
File Format: Windows/DOS
File Size: 2 MB

Fixes and Enhancements
1. Updated Intel(R) Active Management Technology firmware.

 

thanks for the info

 

Hi,

I've got 2 E6400, one is newer than the other. I found the newer's keyboard much better than the other's, even though the other's has backlit. I was wondering if I can get a keyboard from somewhere and replace it. I saw a couple of listing in Amazon, but I am not sure if the ones they are selling are newer keyboards or not. Is there any way to identify if it is newer or not?

Thanks!

 

Dell Latitude E6400 System BIOS

Release Date: 17/10/2011
Version: A30
Download Type: BIOS
File Format: Windows/DOS
File Size: 2 MB

Fixes and Enhancements
1. Add Digital Sign Feature, Signed Firmware update.
2. Update new password algorithm.
3. Enhance Computrace security.
4. Update Intel UMA VBIOS to version 2107v23.
5. Updated Intel(R) Active Management Technology firmware.

Dell - Support

 

Have you tried it? Will try it to see if it fixes the Latency and overheating problems.

EDIT:
WOW! Im soo happy ATM, it seems that the problem is FIXED! Have been running DPC latency checker for 1h without a single spik and all green around 200 mikro secounds. Now ill see how about the overheating problem. =)

EDIT #2:
The heating got a bit better, the fan faster responded to higher usage and I think they have ramped up the highest rpm a bit so its a bit noisier. I think even under medium load, of course with battery savings on and low load it shuts of totally.
Conclusion I rather have a computer that is a bit noiser than a slow one.
Im happy with the upgrade, might call dell support and ask for a new heatsink since the one I have is original and i think the fan might be busted soon.

 

That's good news, even though latency is not a problem for my usage.

I seriously doubt you will see any measurable improvement in the heating department. The heat generated is due to the usage of the graphics card and the CPU, coupled with a cooling system which is insufficient to cool these components when they are both under load (like in most modern games). No BIOS can fix that. But please let us know of your results, even if they confirm what I just said!

 

Like I said in the earlier post:

The heating got a bit better, the fan faster responded to higher usage and I think they have ramped up the highest rpm a bit so its a bit noisier. I think even under medium load, of course with battery savings on and low load it shuts of totally.
Conclusion I rather have a computer that is a bit noiser than a slow one.
Im happy with the upgrade, might call dell support and ask for a new heatsink since the one I have is original and i think the fan might be busted soon.

One thing more i noticed is that even when the CPU temp is low ~75C it will throttle it down if the GPU gets over ~100C.
How is it possible that there are so big difference between the two temps, they are sharing the same cooling system!?

 

Which is the best (value AND/OR performance) SSD I can buy for my E6400? I intend to replace the optical drive with the SSD. I bought it refurb'd from Dell in 2009 and want to get another 2-3 years out of this machine. I am looking at a maximum outlay of $200.

Also, my battery lasts for only 15 minutes. Is it safe and worthwhile to buy a replacement from eBay?

 

How big of a drive do you want? At $200, I'd vote for an Intel 320 160GB as the best balance between price, performance, and capacity, but there are, obviously, a lot of choices.

As for the battery, non-OEM parts are generally a crapshot in this field, but I'm seeing genuine, new 6-Cells starting at $35, which doesn't seem bad at all.