Latitude E6400 Owner's Lounge, Part 2

The fan on my E6400 died yesterday, so I'm using a dual-fan notebook cooler, undervolting and a few other tricks to keep it from overheating until I replace the fan. I'm staying under 110deg F, so it seems like it will work as a temp solution.

I've used parts-people.com for various Dell parts over the years and plan to order the fan from them. They have the fan for $19 or fan/heat sink combo for $25 (both Intel and NVIDIA versions.). I remember some discussion a few yeas back about the NVIDIA heat-sink being installed in models with Intel graphics for slightly lower operating temps.

I have Intel graphics,but if the NVIDIA heat-sink will definitely fit my E6400, I can't see a reason not to get it since it doesn't cost more.

Thoughts?

 

The Nvidia heatsink works fine on the Intel motherboard. The only downside is that it's a little heavier. You can find both as low as $5 on eBay now.

 

I couldn't find another M2400 Owner's thread part 2 and the first one is closed.. maybe they moved it here?

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone know how to get Newer Nvidia drivers to work without BSOD code 116 with nvlddmkm.sys. the latest version I am using now is 285.62. But using anything beyond that just keeps BSOD.. Please advise

 

I finally have some time to order replacement hinges. However, on eBay, there are multiple listings (with multiple part numbers) of E6400 display hinges. Examples:

1. K802R: New Dell Latitude E6400 Left Right Hinges Set K802R | eBay
2. GN143: New Dell Latitude E6400 LCD Back Cover Left Hinge GN143 | eBay

Which ones should I go for? The cheaper ones?

 

I believe all the hinges are the same. No reason to get the twice as expensive single hinge.

Did you also try to tighten the screws inside the display assembly?

 

I did try tightening the hinges to no effect. I'll get the cheaper hinges.

 

yes, those screws only keep the hinges in place, they don't affect stability. Its impossible to tighten them or else, once loose you have to replace them.

 

Didn't see it mentioned anywhere so... Dell released a BIOS update (A34) on July 16, 2013 for our beloved E6400 machines. All that's noted for what it does is:

Code:

Fixes & Enhancements

Fixes/Enhancements
------------------
1.  Enhance System Security.

No idea precisely what that means but of course BIOS updates rarely appear without a good reason behind them. You can find the BIOS update at the Dell support site or at this direct link (the info page):

Driver Details | Dell US - Dell Latitude E6400

Applied it to mine with no issues, but the funny thing is I have been running the A33 BIOS without problems for some time and earlier for some reason my fan totally stopped working and the laptop locked up totally, scared the hell out of me since this is my only computer. I shut down for a few minutes, disconnected everything, flipped it over, removed the bottom cover then cleaned out the fan assembly (hardly any debris/dust/gunk in there at this time), and then decided to power up on the battery alone with the fan "out" of the laptop and it didn't even budge when I applied power, so again I got worried.

Reconnected everything, started up back into Windows, grabbed CoreTemp to check temps, they seemed normal but still no fan activity at all. Did the BIOS thermal info page (hold Fn+Shift+1-5-3-2-4 then release, then Fn+R) and it noted a fan speed of 0 - cold shivers down my spine at that point and the tension increased a bit.

Decided to reapply the A33 BIOS just for the helluvit (sometimes we humans do weird things, I suppose) and noted the A34 release from just over a week ago and decided to apply that one instead. Everything is up and running again "normally" or as normally as I could hope; idle temps are about 37-42F fluctuating as expected, but most importantly the fan is working as expected. I cannot and do not say this is all some strange coincidence with the fan stopping completely and then the lockup happening and then finding out there's a new BIOS (which states it's only some security fixes), but who knows.

Stranger things have happened I suppose...

 

Hello i have E6400 as my signiture win8 and 90W/125W PSU

bios newest A34 ,
but have same problem as mantioned here

http://forum.notebookreview.com/del...sion/381939-dell-e6400-cpu-only-0-85-ghz.html

temps isn't problems cheked with hwmonitor, evryhing is cleaned and new thermal paste

RightMark CPU Clock Utility (RMClock) doesnt work with win8

any sugestions ?

 

Use ThrottleStop to remove the throttling of the CPU, make sure SpeedStep is enabled in the BIOS.

I've only had my e6400 for a couple weeks after getting the 1440x900+NVS 160M and P9700 for $90 on eBay. But coming from an HP Elitebook with the three-button touchpad, I replaced the upper casing from a Precision M2400 and got my three-button touchpad back. It was completely plug and play, came with brand new touchpad and speakers. Best $15 I've ever spent.

My e6400 has been running fine, but I had a couple of questions for you guys who have had your e6400's a bit longer than I.

1) Does anyone else receive the "NVIDIA Kernel Driver stopped responding" alerts when browsing in Firefox? It never does it when I game (CS:S, CS:GO), only when browsing. I've tried all variants of drivers from the last 6 months from LaptopVideo2Go, as well as the 3-year old Dell driver to no avail. I'm also running an SSD + 7200RPM Drive in the Modular Bay, but do not have the infamous bitcoin malware either that can be found from googling the error.

2) What is the common CPU Voltage that you apply? I know each laptop is different, and I also know not everyone has the P9700 specifically which makes this a completely loaded question, but if anyone has any insight it would be very much appreciated.

3) The DPC Latency of the e6400 is extremely bad when using I8KFanGUI, and only when I disable it does it fall within acceptable levels. Is there an application other than SpeedFan where I can apply custom temp-based CPU Speeds to this Laptop without hiking the DPC Latency up?

My temps have been consistently lower than 55c on the CPU, and always below 85c on the NVS 160M, so I don't believe the nvidia issue to be related to hardware.

I've already installed an brand new cooler and CPU Fan on my e6400, so the temps seem to be within respectable levels.

Thanks!