New E6400, few questions (problems)

I've had my E6400 for about a week now, by far best laptop I've ever owned. Specs are P8400, 4GB RAM, WXGA+ led, integrated graphics, 160GB 7200rmp HDD, 9 cell, FP reader. However, there are a few problems that really bother me and I can't figure out.....

As a preface, things I have already done/tried: Updated BIOS to A11; Unistalled IDT audio driver and installed Vista High Definition Audio; Updated touchpad drivers; Installed Intel Matrix Storage Manager 8.7.0.1007; disabled HDD indexing and Windows Search; installed SP1; uninstalled Dell ControlPoint Connection Manager, updated video drivers.

1. First and foremost the most annoying and frustrating - there is this clicking sound coming from the left side of the laptop. Sometimes it is intermittent and sometimes it is constant (every second or so). I would say it sounds like a very hollow mouse click sound. It seems it may be related to the blue status light furthest to the left (HDD or processor?). It is not the processor buzz or whine - these are present but much less audible and not that annoying. I can even hear this clicking with headphones on, it is too loud. I think it is the HDD but I've never heard this noise with any other computer. Anyone else ever heard this/know how to fix it?

2. Dell ControlPoint - Most worthless and buggy software I've ever seen. I uninstalled the Connection Manager because Vista manages my connections anyways (Intel 5300). I get a notification every time I boot up saying that "Dell ControlPoint has stopped working..." blah blah. I want to uninstall the whole thing - however I use the fingerprint reader and I like the onscreen volume and brightness notifications (more so the fingerprint reader). If I uninstall all of the ControlPoint software, will I lose all of this/what are my options?

3. I don't use the ambient light sensor (I usually like my screen at full brightness when plugged in) - any way to disable the notification at startup that says the sensor is disabled?

4. I don't really know how else to describe this but sometimes really random crap happens. Such as I'll be typing and the cursor will move, highlight, change paragraphs (touchpoint is disabled); I will activate shortcuts (save, hyperlink, etc.) without actually pressing control; windows will close, minimize, change without any action in the middle of typing; the cursor will go the beginning of the line without pressing home (this happens the most); I can't always scroll with external mouse in some programs and some other random stuff I don't remember. It seems to happen the most when I haven't typed for a minute or two and resume (but not always the case). Is this just buggy Vista software or is this not common?

5. WMP won't play DVDs? I'm assuming I need to download some codec but I checked Microsoft's website and they wanted me to pay for them. Really? DVDs play fine in PowerDVD but it's just frustrating that out of the box WMP won't.

6. Lastly, any other drivers, updates or tweaks I should be worried about? I've found a lot, just sort of neurotic and compulsive about this kind of stuff .

Thanks for the help
Chris

 

Do you have a seagate hard drive? If so, there is a firmware update which quietens it a little, I also found wedging a few thicknesses of paper between the hard drive and the metal chassis helped a little more.

Bloated and useless, install as little of it as you can get away with, just the security manager and system manager by the sound of it, maybe the all day battery life too.

I like the sensor to control the keyboard backlight, but not the screen backlight, I don't seem to get the notification now, but I think I did before, don't know what changed it.

Ahh, someone else! I only get this occasionally and assumed I was brushing the mousepad, or mouse stick, but it happens when I'm trying to be really careful not to do it, wonder if there's a glitch on the keyboard/mouse controller?

In general I find it easier to make typos with this keyboard than my old D800 keyboard, I was hoping to have got used to it better by now.

Your other points seem to be Vista related and I'm on XP.

 

1) Get an SSD XD

3) I think this is just a matter of scrapping the ControlPoint software. If you uninstall it and reinstall it from the driver CD or the executable, you should have the option to install the components that you want.

5) Just go download one of the many free codec packs out there - CCCP or KLite or whatever.

6) Always best to do a clean install instead of just trying to tweak the stock installation. Sometimes you'd be surprised at hoe many little things that fixes. This should get rid of problems 3 and 4 at the very least.

 

Front left is the HDD. Some models are noisier than others (what is the model number of your /HDD - look in Device Manager). There is an acoustic management option in the BIOS which might help.

I suggest you uninstall all the Dell management software then reinstall (download the latest version) Dell ControlPoint selecting only those parts you need.

I use the ALS for the keyboard backlight, but not for the display, so i don't see this message.

Did you update the touchpad driver? Did you install any mouse driver? I suggest you go into the touchpad properties and experiment with the TouchCheck setting. (Or did you mean touchpad where you typed "touchpoint"?).

John

 

I checked and yes it's a seagate. Where can I find the firmware update? Is it the one is this thread?
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=303857

I uninstalled the connection manager, so is that all I can uninstall if I want to keep using the fingerprint reader?

Hmm, interesting, especially since you're using XP and I'm using Vista. I wonder if it's hardware related? It doesn't happen all the time, just occasionally, and comes in different forms.

Are there any advantages to doing this other than just uninstalling the part (connection manager) I don't need? I'd love to get rid of the entire thing, but I didn't get a fingerprint reader for nothing....

Will do, thank you. I don't really use WMP anyways, just though it was interesting.

I didn't get any OS discs with my laptop and to be honest, I've never done a clean install so I don't really know how to. Anyways, I've put so much time into updating drivers and tweaking things that I wouldn't want to start over from scatch all over again. How would a clean install get rid of 3 and 4?

It's a Seagate. I enabled the quiet mode in acoustic management and it made the clicking slightly softer, however I can definately still here it - just a little less annoying than before.

Same question as above, any advantage of this over uninstalling what I don't need? Is there any other Dell management software present other than DCP?

Nevermind, figured it out - overlooked the disable notifications box.

I updated the touchpad driver to the latest one. There is nothing wrong with the touchpad (now atleast, it was absolutely terrible until I updated the driver, disabled TouchCheck, and adjusted the settings). What I meant was that I disabled the touchpoint, touchstick, whatever you want to call it to make sure that the random cursor movements and other random problems weren't being caused by me bumping the touchpoint while I'm typing.

 

The download is here. You should be able to get a list of all the updates relevant to your computer by inputting the service tag into the Dell download site.

Dell has three management modules: System, Security and Connection. Connection is best avoided completely, System has some useful features and you may need all or part of Security.

I would re-enable touchCheck. It is there to stop palm or finger movement near the built-in pointing devices from moving the cursor.

John

 

Thanks for the link, John. I'll give that firmware update a try. Interestingly enough, when I tried the accoustic management in the BIOS setting, the performance mode actually made the clicking noticably quieter than the quiet mode. That doesn't seem to make any sense, but I'm not complaining. Hopefully that firmware update will completely subdue this clicking.

On another topic, does anyone have any problems with their spacebar squeaking sometimes? I'm not really sure how to remedy this.

 

The firmware update from Dell requires you to burn it to a bootable CD and then update the firmware on startup by booting from the CD but will make the clicking go away. The other option is to use HDPARM and change the advanced power management settings (there is a script on the forums for this) but the firmware is much easier and you only have to do it once.

I can't get WMP to play DVD's either - it doesn't like my screen resolution or settings or some rubbish so i use powerDVD to do it. The codec is included with powerDVD and should be available for WMP so it should not be a missing codec that is your problem.

Update to the latest Alps touchpad driver - it makes a difference.

I did a clean-reinstall and only installed the drivers that I wanted. However, I found that only installing Dell Control Point for system manager and the ambient light settings/power manager was all I need. The connection/security manager I skipped. Depends whether you need the security (e.g. smartcard, fingerprint reader) options. Also make sure they are the latest versions.

You can go into Dell Control Point (or click the pop-up notification) and choose to disable notifications for the ambient light sensor.

Lastly, I found my system to be much more stable in ATA mode in the BIOS than the IRRT that is the default as I do not use RAID or the eSATA port.

 

The firmware update seems to make the HDD clicking pretty tolerable at this point. I'm glad that whole issue is worked out.

I tried to look around but didn't find much. What is the difference between ATA and IRRT? Sorry it might be a rudimentary question, but I have no idea. Any advantage/disadvantage to using ATA mode?

 

There are three HDD interface options: IRRT, which is a sort of RAID where you can make an eSATA a copy of your internal HDD: AHCI which supports the Intel Matrix Storage stuff: and ATA which does not. You need AHCI if, for example, you want to use an eSATA HDD and it may also make the SATA optical drive work better as plug-and-play.

John