M6400 issues- Please comment

hi,

I have a number of issues with my new m6400 and I'd like to hear from other owners to see whether I'm the lucky one or whether these issues are seen on other machines.

1)
The DVD reader makes really nasty noises. I've only tried 2 disks - One made pretty loud chugging noises (sounded uncannily like a duck! Perhaps I could live with that level of noise. If I pinch the case above and below the drive gently the noise either changes or goes away) and the other made horrendous *grinding* noises! The drive didn't take the first disk in smoothly and it had to be forced somewhat, so perhaps something is wrong mechanically, although it accepts disks fine now. I should add that both disks read though......

2)
The machine sometimes doesn't come out of standby. The screen remains black, and I have to reset. Anyone else see this?

3)
I cannot get the digital mic to work. Under audio settings I run "test hardware" and nothing happens when I speak. I then have to click 'volume' and select the 'digital mic' option at which point the mic starts to pick things up. However, once I leave the test hardware app the mic no longer picks things up UNLESS I insert a lead into the analogue mic slot! Can other users test their mics out please. My M1730 had an Intellisonic app which allowed configuration of the mic. I can't see anything similar for the M6400.

4)
When I play Left4Dead I get stuttering play. The game runs as smooth as butter for the most part, but occasionally (when playing a new sound??) the game freezes for up to a few seconds. Doesn't seem to matter what video settings I have it on.

I will perhaps try and do a reinstall from the XP reinstall CD but in the meantime i'd appreciate any comments on these issues.

Cheers!

 

Standby probs, that sounds like maybe a BIOS update could help, I'd see if there's a newer one around. I think someone here had wierd sound issues & reinstalled the driver from the disc, give that a shot if you haven't I guess.. don't know what to say about the DVD, that's a letdown

Mine's coming tomorrow so I'll check all the same stuff... crossing fingers

 

I often have trouble with older CD and DVD disks in newer drives, because of unbalancing. They spin faster now, and drives like to "show off" for you by spinning the disk up like a jet engine until it can't even read it anymore for the vibrations... Older drives spun slower so the same disks would have worked fine back when they were new.

The Corel 9 suite disks for example vibrate like crazy on any modern cd drive I have. The noise can sound like grinding, but it's more like an engine trying too hard to do something it can't really do... So maybe what you're hearing, maybe not?

hehe... Hit record in an audio app and close the lid while you insert a CD! (Oh wait, mic problems... )

For the mic problems make sure the record source is set right in your other application. Sounds like the hardware test app is setting the record source itself, but when you close it the setting reverts. I don't know exactly how record sources work in Vista... maybe now that I've handed in my animation I can experiment.

 

I ws in the middle of an install and it worked, but seems to have stopped working since I downloaded the last few drivers. Perhaps the webcam software is causing the problem. I'll investigate further. Any potentials solutions gratefully received (or confirmation from others that their digital mic works would be good)

 

I've still not got my digital mic to work for longer than say 30 secs. The system seems to revert to either the jack mic or dock mic.

Can someone confirm theirs works, and what program they used to test it.

Thanks.

 

My mic didn't work until i went to the control panel, opened up the sound options, selected the recording tab and set the device to "microphone array" I'm running vista so if you're in XP it may be different. I don't know if this will help, but it worked for me.

 

Thanks for the reply. I don't think XP has any idea of 'microphone array'. Under voice recording default device I only see IDT audio.

 

So does the DVD drive in my M6400. It worked for a few days then began to make grinding noises and ultimately failed. The audio's questionable. I'll get the DVD replaced and I don't care about the audio. It's a great machine otherwise.