New M6500 Discussion Thread

So I reinstalled Win7 to the Crucial SSD I picked up with this machine, and have been going through the process of getting drivers and whatnot reinstalled to get everything working. Have a few questions for anyone that has done the same:

Set AHCI from the getgo and things seemed to just work using the msahci driver. Under "Other Devices" in the Device Manager, I still have an unconfigured "Mass Storage Controller" item, which I assume is the Intel chipset RAID controller. Is there a single driver I can install to get this resolved? I installed the Rapid Storage package, but this seemed to only replace the AHCI driver post install... the Mass Storage device is still left unconfigured. Also, is there any reason to prefer the Intel AHCI/ATA driver
over the Microsoft one? I did notice that when I had the Intel one installed, the drive access LED would blink at least once per second for no reason I could find, so I reverted to the MS version. Are there any differences in performance? I assume that the Microsoft one is TRIM capable, so if they both are, is it safe to assume the Microsoft one is adequate and possibly more "lightweight" than the Intel driver?

Another question I posted earlier:
Is there any way to keep keyboard backlighting on without it timing out? BIOS options are effectively useless as far as permanent settings. Fn->Right Arrow has three settings consisting of Off, On, and On from what I can tell. Though on here means "turn off in a few seconds".

For anyone with the FIPS reader... is the foamy feeling white material around the sensor supposed to remain there, or is it removable? Not a big deal if it has to stay, but it does look a little inconsistent.

As an aside, I had a support call this morning to replace the display on this machine since there's a pretty sizeable clump of dead pixels in one area on the display. At least 4, all stuck together. Unfortunately, the panel that was shipped was for an M6400 Covet in it's entirety (lid cover and all), so they're ordering another one for tomorrow.

 

I hope there is some reslolution to the Intel driver over the microsoft one, because I have been using the Intel one and it seems to slow things during initial boot.

 

Spill
Go to dell control point and you'll find all the controls for the backlighting there time-out etc.

 

You're right. Was trying to do as minimal install of "stuff" as possible, and was under the assumption that the BIOS settings for the backlight would be enough to keep it on indefinitely. Apparently it still defaults to ~5 seconds unless you use the controlpoint tool.

Thanks.

 

Paul, received my M6500 last week and NO caddy for 2nd drive I am afraid and disappointed!

 

Hello !

Do you know a solution to control the fan speed ? I'm tired of the on - off - on - off behavior of the fans.
I would really prefer a lower but constant speed, it would be less annoying and less disturbing.

And you ?

 

Hi Harska, Mitchellboy and Luk73,

Would you tell me if you have optical drive with your M6500 when you can't boot with BIOS A03 and IRST A04?
I'm assuming the answer is no.

 

I have the optical drive to start the PC with A03 bios.
The setup of Windows 7 is looped with A03 bios and AHCI.

 

Thanks Luk73.
Do you have 2nd HDD installed while your M6500 can't boot to OS?

 

I'm sorry. I have not installed the second HDD for the moment.