M6600 Owners Thread

Update:

Didn't swap the drives yet.

Interesting - when booting into repair or a new install (after setting SATA operation to RAID ON) the disks list properly in Diskpart (that is better).

Maybe this is why Dell doesn't support USB installs. Maybe I need to install with the Dell/Windows DVD and let it do its thing one time.

 

Actually, I just discovered that I think you're right. The GPU is what is stopping the system, right as it hits ~77c. Almost like clockwork.

I thought the 3000m was rated to 100c?

I'll search this enormous thread, but is there a way to clean out the GPU heatsink without doing the Alienware Mod I saw a link to? ie, just a plain clean out?

 

Alright, so I have a M6700 and not a M6600 but that seems like a very high temperature to me based on my experience with the M6700. The K5000M under load hangs out around 57 C and the GPU actually starts throttling if it goes much higher than 60 C (which I experienced when overclocking it). Idle temperatures are in the mid-40's at most.

Is there that much of a difference between the two generations of cards, or is there something causing your GPU to be way too hot? I can't really believe that the 3000M would be hotter than the K5000M. The cooling setup in the M6700 is very similar to the M6600.

As for cleaning the heatsink, you can of course get to the fan and copper fins to blow out pretty easily (just remove the bottom panel of the system and remove the fan, two screws for each), but the only other thing to do would be remove the GPU heatsink entirely and re-paste it.

 

Ok reinstalled with Dell/Windows DVD in RAID On mode.

Absolutely flawless DISKPART disk details in Windows and in Repair Mode and booting into a new installation drive configuration. As soon as I switch back to AHCI it all falls apart.

Guess I'll be swapping those drives.

 

You can't switch between RAID and AHCI without breaking your install unless you take special steps beforehand. (Google and you'll find some instructions, but it's best to choose the disk controller mode before the install and stick with it.)

 

I get that.

I can't get the AHCI mode to make disk 0 be the primary bay samsung 840 SSD.

It wants in AHCI the Dell OEM 830 SSD to be the boot drive and its in the secondary bay.

This is insane, I've tried everywhich way - and it refuses.

Edit:

It's like it demands for itself to be the boot drive something in the firmware.
Wonder what it would do if there were two brand new SSD's non OEM?

 

So back to this again
I want to swap out one of my HDDs for an SSD. But doing so will mess up everything completely and cause it to not boot. So is the only real solution to reinstall everything again ?

 

Much empathy to you.

Yes seems like something is hardwired. I'm trying to look into diskpart and what can be changed.

No wonder people have so much trouble when they get a new drive that isn't Dells.

Or maybe if it has a Dell Drive on it - it wants it.

 

Yeah looks like we're in a similar predicament with putting in new drives. Quite unfortunate that it has to be so picky.

 

I'll update a little later after I try some things and research more.

The Dell/Windows DVD works perfectly fine and is flexible if you have one.

If I can't come up with something soon I'll just have to swap them.

I fear for my computer if it does this after the swap. I live upstairs and it's a long drop for me or the computer