M6600 Owners Thread

I also have questions about the Power Options in the control panel. There is no "Dell" power plan settings listed for some reason. On my wife's m6600, she has a Dell power plan option with four settings:

1. Dim the display
2. Turn off Display
3. Put the computer to sleep
4. Adjust Brightness

I do not have those four options so my computer will not go into sleep mode.

Does anyone in this group know if that the "Dell" option has been eliminated?

 

Hi kallias,

If you reimaged the system with anything other than a Dell Windows 7 recovery DVD then you won't acquire a Dell power option and it doesn't come with any of the drivers. I can't remember exactly but it may only be a factory setting too.

Try putting the setting in Balanced mode and see if that gives you what is needed. Also check advanced power options.

You can also try looking here:

Command Help: POWERCFG /?

Check Available Sleep States: POWERCFG -A

 

Hi RCB...

I got clarification on the "Dell" power options issue from a fellow in Dell Tech support this afternoon.

You have to install the following driver to get the Dell power options:

Dell Feature Enhancement Pack Application
Dell Feature Enhancement Pack Application Driver Details | Dell US

When this dell driver is installed you get the four power options that includes putting the computer into sleep after a specified period of time. For some reason the power option is not listed specifically as "Dell", instead it is called "Balanced" and it includes the "Dell" power options that are on my wife's m6600 and listed in the same order. After installing that driver I can now put my m6600 in sleep mode.

In the order of installation that driver can (and maybe should be) installed last, as #20 in my copy of your driver list.

BTW I did reimage using Dell Windows 7 recovery DVD that I purchased along with my m6600 and the "Dell" power option was not installed using that DVD.

*****
Also I recently had to replace my AMD FirePro M8900 with the AMD FirePro M6100 Graphics card and I had some driver issues.

The AMD FirePro M6100 Graphics driver at:

AMD Graphics Driver Driver Details | Dell US

would not install. The Dell Tech Support person thought it might be because it was installed out of order.

He went to the AMD website and downloaded and installed this driver:

AMD FirePro™ Mobility Driver (includes AMD FirePro M6100 Graphics driver)
AMD FireProâ„¢ Mobility Driver

and it is working fine.

I thought you might be interested in the above information.

Also can you provide me with a url to your latest list of m6600 drivers and their order of installation? I need to check my list and see if it needs to be updated. That has been an extremely helpful list!

Thank you.

Kallias

 

The m6100 driver for m6800 work fine for me, AMD firepro for dell, 14.4, 14.8 all work fine. Stick with fire pro driver for pro app, though radeon driver work fine for SPEC benchmark.

I never install the DFEP because it have some annoying OSD.

 

Kallias,

Yay - good you got it going!!!

here you go: http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-latitude-vostro-precision/687529-m6600-reimaging-thread.html
There are 1 or 2 newer drivers not changed there yet, this one I know is newer: # 10_Network_Driver_3MNPT_WN_15.10.0.10_A06.

I'm reasonably certain most power options are tied to the graphics driver and they become functional after installation. It has been awhile since I've reimaged and haven't paid close attention - kind of fuzzy in memory at the moment.

I feel about the same as Baii about the DFEP and the on screen display being annoying; I use the Dell System Manager software for visual feedback.

Yeah - I haven't used a Dell DVD for so long - though I was pretty sure that it was a factory image only that had the Dell power plan. Basically the only difference between it and Balanced is that hibernation was set to 18 hours idle trigger or something.

 

A couple of questions about:

"I feel about the same as Baii about the DFEP and the on screen display being annoying; I use the Dell System Manager software for visual feedback."

What kind of annoyances or OSD are you seeing?

What would you use to get "Dell" power options other than DFEP?

Also a question about your page on reimaging concerning this statement: "NEVER allow automatic updating."?
Would you explain why not? I did automatic updating and wonder if I should reimage?

Thanks

 

08. Dell System Manager {A21} (R312259/6FKMX), System Notifications, APP_WIN_R312259.EXE, FTP

DFEP acts/behaves differently than DSM. Maybe it's just a personal preference but I like DSM visuals a lot better, cleaner. You can't install both programs at the same time, either one or the other. Windows comes with the power options but not all features activate automatically until the graphics software is installed - hibernation for one.

A couple reasons for not allowing automatic updating is: there could be a bad update or you are working on system issues and the last thing you want is Windows doing an update. Lastly, if you didn't set Windows up for just important updates then you will get everything and maybe something you don't want.
I don't think you should reimage just because of these. For me, after having done so many installs - manual simply works better. Oh, and I never run my computer as administrator unless I'm doing major system adjustments. It's not safe! For daily work I have a Standard user account.

On new windows installs I turn off automatic updating and don't allow all users to update and I don't combine recommended updates with important ones. Adding something like MS Security Essentials or Microsoft Update turns it back on so you have to manually turn it off again.

One other thing: I also do all optional recommended updates first (unchecking all important ones before), reboot, check previous again because more get added, then I do all the important updates.

Hope this helps

---------------------

EDIT: Never take optional hardware driver software updates from Windows update. Right click and hide them. They are known to not always work with systems such as ours.

 

DFEP has more bloat in my opinion. Also, regarding the OSD thing, it's annoying to have multiple on screen indicators depending on what version of Windows you are running. Also, do you really need to see that volume bar when you push the volume up button. DSM is simpler and more streamlined if you ask me. It was also designed with the M6600 in mind, DFEP came around the same time as the M6700 and I wish Dell would have kept DSM.

I also run manual, but I'm a control freak. Also, you can wait a day or two to get the updates in case issues creep up.

Very little change in day to day use for an increase in security, I agree.

Once again, agreed, there is usually a more recent version on the manufacturer's website anyways.

Regarding the Dell image for Precisions, it has a few superfluous things, but it remains one of the cleanest factory image I've seen. I'd still do a clean install, but if you're feeling lazy, it's one of the few factory install that I'd be cool with.

 

RCB...

Thank you for the link to your reimage page. Have been looking that over and see that a lot has changed compared to the earlier list I was working with.

I am wondering now if I should start all over using your updated list?

 

Hi Tijo..

At the end you say:

"I'd still do a clean install, but if you're feeling lazy, it's one of the few factory install that I'd be cool with."

What do you mean do a clean install as opposed to the factory install?