M6600 Owners Thread

Thanks Bokeh.

 

Hello all

I'm considering buying an M6600 for audio production.

Would any existing owners be kind enough to:

(1) Run the DPC latency checker and post the results (DPC Latency Checker - does not require installation)

(2) Check the firewire controller in device manager to see if it is made by Texas Instruments

I'd be really grateful for any information on these points!

Thanks for your time

 

Here you go. It looks like the IEEE 1394 controller is an O2Micro, which also handles the SD media card slot.

Scott-

 

I don't know if it's something specific to my config, but I also work with audio regularly, and work in IT and I feel like I am going INSANE. With the DPC latency checker I will get a huge red spike anywhere from every couple minutes to every hour, which causes a BZZT sound like it keeps replaying the same sample in the buffer for an instant. In fairness, this is with the onboard sound card, I haven't had a chance to check USB or FireWire devices on this rig yet (Just got it, love it otherwise).

I have Updated drivers for EVERY component I can find, going both to Dell and to the manufacturers where possible, and in some cases using just the Microsoft driver (SATA controller and onboard audio in particular. I am on the latest BIOS (A06). I have disabled wireless, all nonessential components (LPT/serial ports, Smart Card reader, freefall sensor, eSATA ports). I have adjusted a registry key to disable core parking, have disabled processor C states, tested disabling Turbo boost, SpeedStep, adjusted a registry key to prioritize IRQ8 (timer), all to no avail. All the tweaking seems to have lowered the frequency of the issue, but not eliminated it, which makes it all the more maddening.

In addition to the DPC Latency Checker, I have also used LatencyMon, which indicates the problem is not actually a DPC or ISR issue. It detects a spike in the kernel timer latency, and says the cause of my issue is not immediately apparent.

Anyone have any suggestions?

i7 2720QM/12GB/AMD M8900/60GB OCZ Nocti mSATA SSD/750GB Seagate/500GB WD Blue

 

Have you made sure your mechanical HDD is not causing the electrical noise when it goes into standby mode (when the heads park)?

Scott-

 

Guys, if I order M6600 now, will I get it with the "good" LCD panel, or the "crappy" one? I have been waiting for the IPS option, but I need the ATI card (I have 3 external displays and I need digital signal)

 

Firstly, thank you very much Scott for responding so quickly to my questions.

cixelsyd, I'm sorry to hear you are having problems. What are you running/doing when you experience the issue -- are you playing audio through a specific application?

 

Hello from France,

Pulled the trigger for a refurbished M6600, with nice features : I7 2820QM, 16 Go RAM 1600MHz, 128 Go SSD + 2 x 750 Go HDD, Quadro 3000M, etc.
I upgrade from a Latitude 6500, which is obviously not as powerful but has a very good display (15,6" 1440x900).
Still a few days to wait before getting it.

I intend to use this new laptop for many years, mostly with photo software (Capture One especially).
It will have Qwerty keyboard, but I don't intend to write about my life with it, so I should manage. However I would be more comfortable with Azerty (French layout), so I looked on eBay but I only found spare Qwerty keyboards : someone knows if Dell may sell it as spare ?

I read almost all the posts in this thread, and it was very helpful, if a little bit scaring, but most happy owners don't post.
Thanks to all for this long and good reading.

 

I have disabled putting the hard drives to sleep in the power scheme, but I haven't gone any further than that. It doesn't sound like an electrical noise, though, I said it was a "bzzt" sound because I don't know how better to describe it, but it sounds like whatever sound is playing gets "stuck" in the buffer for a moment and it keeps playing the same little sample of sound. Which I guess if the sound card driver uses the kernel timer to decide what sample it should be playing, it would make sense that that's what it sounds like during a latency spike.

The only time I notice this is when playing media, generally music through Winamp, but also when streaming movies over Netflix. It may occur at other times, and the kernel timer latency spike occurs whether I am playing media or not. I haven't even attempted recording yet, because I don't want to go nuts with the interruption but when I do, I generally use FL Studio for recording/sequencing, and sometimes Reaper x64 for "just" recording.

 

I'm in the same boat as you. Quadro means 2 monitors max and less power for a lot more money. I have waited since May and I'm pretty disappointed by the lack of support for the IPS with the Firepro. Hopefully Dell fixes this soon. I saw a post by Dell Mano G saying they were hoping to expand the IPS options for the 4600 to include the Firepro. Hopefully they do the same for the M6600. I imagine there are a lot of people that need multi monitor support and color accuracy. I'd rather not get a weak Firepro with the HP Elitebook but might have no choice if there isn't any progress soon.