Latitude E6510 Owner's Lounge

I just run the BIOS update .EXE file from a command prompt after closing all other programs. I've never had a problem with a BIOS upgrade, and I think I've done every one since A03.

I did have a problem with a 12/25/2013 Windows Update WDDM NVS 3100M "optional" update - my display now won't turn on when I wake my computer after it's gone to sleep. There doesn't seem to be any way to back it off, and installing the latest nVidia drivers didn't make any difference. Anyone else have trouble with that?

 

Just bought another E6510, guess I"m coming back to this thread.

 

@JDS13. I feel better running the flash outside of windows. Throughout the years I have been on forums I have read too many threads by members who bricked their laptops updating their BIOS while in Windows. YMMV of course. Are you running W7, W8, or W8.1?

Okay all. I have W8 installed on the E6510 currently. Has anyone done the upgrade to 8.1 yet? If so how is your E6510 running now?

 

I run W7 Pro (which came with this computer).

While I haven't had issues with BIOS, I killed the operating system by installing a Dell "trusted drive" update (or something like that) one month in and had to format and reinstall W7. I paid Dell support $129 for help but got nothing from them. In reinstalling, I selected UEFI rather than Legacy which disabled hibernation. Recently some other update also disabled wake-from-sleep. I'm hoping to fix all this sometime soon when I replace the original hard disk with an SSD and do another fresh install. I'll stick with W7. I see no advantage in W8.1.

 

Ironically I too had to do a reinstall as well. Earlier this afternoon I had attempted to update the NVIDIA driver to the latest ODE version from the NVIDIA site and screwed up my W8 install. I just got done reinstalling W8 and am running Windows Update. Not going to mess around with any video drivers after this- lesson learned

 

I have been observing something terrible with the Nvidia drivers. I installed the latest ones for an M4500 and an E6510 from nvidia's website (both the nvidia recommended and just the WHQL ones). Both the computers have the 3100M 512MB.

With these drivers, windows 7 won't return from sleep. It shows a blank screen. The only solution to that was rolling back the driver to 311.50.

Hope it helps someone.

 

The latest from NVIDIA would not not even install initially. I got the message 'could not find compatible hardware.' I forced it to install in W7 compatibility mode w/the administrator privileges ticked but that led to a failure at some point while in the installation process. A reboot ensued and nothing would show up on the E6510 screen! Now the E6510 has a fresh install, I let Windows Update load the driver (works fine), and I am not messing with drivers if I do not have to!

 

From previous experience, if you have nvidia drivers setup to do what you want of them, back away slowly and never go near them again.

 

I just noticed something funny on my E6510, there is a very noticeable whine that is tied to the display brightness. I reduces with a dimmer screen but at full brightness it's ridiculously loud! Anyone know if this is a known issue and whether this can be fixed?

Thanks!

 

For three years my E6510 wouldn't wake from hibernation, and for the last three months wouldn't wake from sleep. No sleep was the last straw.

I just rebuilt the system on an SSD from scratch with UEFI and AHCI using a Window 7 SP1 DVD (one post said that was necessary for UEFI/AHCI). It took me hours to remember that the Windows sticker is inside the battery compartment - but the original Win 7 Pro activation code worked fine with the SP1 DVD.

After this reinstallation, it hibernates and wakes, and sleeps and wakes, and it's Really Fast - around 20 seconds from power on to Windows desktop (vs 3 minutes before).

Before starting the installation, I set the SATA mode to AHCI, boot sequence option to UEFI, boot list to UEFI. I did a UEFI boot off the DVD. No hitches at all. It's great to have a real computer again, and the three-year-old E6510 holds up OK against today's machines. The only thing I miss is USB 3.