M6600 Owners Thread

Hi M6600 owners,

i wish you all a Happy New Jahr.

Yes, new Year same unresolved Problem with Windows 8 Pro/Enterprise Bitlocker...
Has anyone the same problem?

Best regards
Schroedinger

 

Hey Schroedinger,

I was able to get bitlocker to work on both Windows 8 pro and Windows server 2012 on the precision m6600.

There was really only one issue that came up, and that was this error: "This device cannot use a Trusted Platform Module..." when I first tried to turn Bitlocker on. There's a way to get around this however.

1) Open up Control Panel (Right click bottom left corner, hit control panel)
2) On the search bar, search for "Policy" and under Administrative Tools, click on "Edit Group Policy"
3) On the left side it should say Computer Configuration with 3 options under it.
Navigate the folders to: Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Bitlocker Drive Encryption > Operating System Drives
On the right it should have a bunch of policies to edit. By default, all of them are placed at "Not Configured"
4) Double click on the 3rd option, "Require authentication at Startup" to open the policy
5) Change it from Not Configured to Enabled, hit OK

Then everything should be working fine. If it doesn't, let me know, because I have tested encrypting everything, the local disc C:, external drives, and external USBs and bitlocker worked at encrypting all of them, working just fine on the M6600, even upon restarting the C: drive is still encrypted with bitlocker.

Edit:

I lied, upon restarting everything was fine. However, when I shut down the computer and then turned it back on, the computer wouldn't start up. It would just reset to bios over and over again. Right now it's in that loop so I see what you mean by that error you have, it's not starting up.

Second Edit:

I got it to work again. It turns out I had to plug in the USB flash drive that I put the key into, into a USB 2.0 port (none of the 3.0 ports worked).
Ahh I have never done that before, so that was a brand new experience. Now I can't turn on my computer without this USB on my keychain. If I lose this keychain, I lose access to my car, my computer, and my home... Because I can't replace the computer key, this keychain has become more valuable than ever before...

Third Edit:

I just made a few copies of the startup key to other USBs. This is a very secure way of starting up the computer by the way, to have to require a physical key to even open it up.

 

Hi HumanComputer,

thank you for your supporting.

Yes, to get all Bitlocker options we set the windows registry flags. (with gpedit.msc)

Yes, on a M6600, until the next reboot everything works fine. ;-)

HA... we have tested everything but not the simplest thing (use another USB port)... shame on me ;-)
You are right, the USB 3.0 ports don't work with Bitlocker boot.

Best practices for us: 2 USB keys, one USB key for the user, one USB key goes in the security box (safe). The key file and the recovery key file are stored in a keepass file, the keepass file is SVN managed.

Soo, the result of collaboration - Windows 8 Bitlocker on Dell Precision M6600 (up to Bios A12):

• Bitlocker works, BUT ONLY with a startup key on a USB Flash drive
• DONT USE the USB 3.0 ports with the USB Flash drive
• The M6600 fails to display the Bitlocker bootscreen! (No chance to run a other Bitlocker recovery options)
• Workaround if we have lost our USB key > turn off Bitlocker > Boot with a Windows 8 DVD > Recovery Options > ... put in your Bitlocker Recovery Key ... > Command prompt > manage-bde -off {Your Bitlocker Driveletter}:

I have reported the problem to DELL support in 2012/12.
We will hope with the next BIOS version this issue is eliminated. (But a german Phrase says: "The hope will die at last, but it dies...")

Best regards
Schroedinger

 

Awesome, Glad to know that it has gotten to work for you, Schroedinger!

About the bios update software however, it's only updated to be usable with Windows 7 or below, but not Windows 8. Is it safe to still load up Bios Update in Windows 8? I have heard horror stories of a bios failing to work during install and it broke the entire computer.

 

Hi

A have replaced my Quadro 3000M with Quadro K4000M. The system is working, but I have some problems.
When I want to check in Device Manager: Graphic Adapter- as a second I see: Standard VGA Graphic Adapter

When I wanted to install graphic Drivers from Nvidia web site, the installer says:
"This Graphic Driver can not find compatible graphic hardware"

But when I run HWInfo64 he sees the second graphic card as a K4000M.
but he do not see the frequency clock of card.

When I run Nvidia Inspector the program do not see the graphic card.

Can you help me to solve this problem, please.
How to install drivers for this card in my case? Is it possible?

 

Do you have Optimus turned on in the BIOS? If so, that is likely the Intel HD integrated GPU.

 

Aaron, I see Intel HD card as a first graphic hardware. As a second should be Nvidia Quadro K4000m but I can not to install drivers for it, becouse Nvidia drivers do not recognize it correctly as a K4000M.

 

You could try resetting the bios to the defaults. It might just not be switching over. Also do you have latest A12 bios. Also did you uninstall all previous nVidia drivers first.

 

Have you tried disabling optimus in the bios. I know it is not convenient but the Dell and Nvidia drivers might need the Intel hd 4000+K4000 pair.
It might work without optimus, If you do get optimus working let us know, many m6600 owners will be happy if you do. Good luck.

 

By default, no problems with a Bios update in Windows 8.
But if you have the UEFI flag enabled and the Bios Firmware developer is making a bad job...