New M6500 Discussion Thread

Hello Havoctex, thank you for replying.

1. The internals of the left side USB ports are indeed blue.
2. USB 3.0 feature in the BIOS is turned on.
3. Please see the attached screengrabs in my previous message.

As you can see from those, the drivers (version .18 from the Dell site) are installed, yet it doesn't get the hardware to work. I've also tried the drivers from NEC, versions .19 and .20. Both left-side ports do not recognize any USB devices. Windows states (see screengrabs) that the device can not start.

I have also tried what someone else here suggested, namely get the testing drivers from usb.org to check and see if the hardware is working. Those drivers install perfectly, yet the tests don't start, all giving a failure message.

I appreciate the time and effort you take to help us out, even though I doubt it is part of your job description. I just wish more of your co-workers were that diligent in their jobs. I'm sorry to say, my experiences with the Dutch helpdesk have gone from bad to worse. It is the main reason why I dissuade friends from buying Dell computers for private/soho use in the Netherlands. Especially since I firmly believe that to get halfway competent service, you need to get the more expensive Premium 3 year service. Which should not be the case. Basic levels of service would be to at the very least reply back when you promised to do so, not act as if you've forgotten.

 

Hi guys, great thread. Been lurking for a while and finally have my M6500

For some reason I forgot to order the beast with a Bluetooth module, so I ordered one from Dell's site - specifically the 365 module that has M6500 compatibility listed.

Upon attempting to fit the module, I realised the WPAN module shown in the Service manual looks nothing like the 365 module I received. Having performed a quick search on this forum, havoctex mentioned that the 365 module is actually fitted behind the LCD bezel. However the service manual currently makes no mention of how to remove this (that I could see).

Does anyone have any experience of removing the bezel and fitting the 365 BT module? Any directions would be very useful!

 

Sorry to hear about all the issues you are having with support. From what I have read here about your issue it sounds like you might have a bad USB 3.0 daughter card. This can be replaced by a technician. You will need to call Dell support and inform them that your USB 3.0 ports are not working. A service tech will be dispatched with the parts to replace the daughter card.

 

Currently, they are debating whether or not to send it to second-line support. However, the Precision laptop second-line support is currently manned by only one person instead of the usual two, so if it is transferred, it might take a while before I get any reply. This was told to me today by the gentleman I talked to. I told him I expect a callback no later then next Wednesday, otherwise, I'd seek other avenues, including having the company I've purchased through, demand a full refund from Dell.

I've already done what you've suggested, three times by phone, twice by email. I've been told at first that it was not possible that I have USB 3.0, since it's not part of Dell's lineup yet. This while it was already on site for purchase for over a month.

I've explained in detail my problem, yet each time I called and gave the case number, they made me jump through the same hoops (install the drivers from the site, run the Dell diagnostics, etc. etc.).

Promised callbacks never materialized, I'm still waiting for the one promised after my second call. The helpdesk assured me they'd call me either the day after my call, on Friday, or Monday, whether or not they had a solution. That was six weeks ago, prompting me to send an email last week and call for a third time today.

The gentleman I talked to today, managed to blatantly tell me that he believed that Clarksfield processors are not capable of running USB 3.0. When I told him that was incorrect, he put me on hold for ten to fifteen minutes, just so he could check with someone else if I was correct. I then had to go over every single step again, as with the previous two support people. I refused, since twice before I humored them and did as asked, spending a additional thirty minutes running diagnostics etc. When I asked if his predecessors hadn't added this to my case file, he reluctantly admitted they did. He never answered my question of why he wanted me to do it all again.

I told him I have screenshots of the error message as well as of the USB list under device manager and several messages in this thread regarding this. I offered several times to email these to him. Only at the end of the call, when he mumbled about sending my case file to the second-line support, did he half-promise to ask the second-line if they want me to send the screenshots. The same ones in my previous message.

I'm sorry, Havoctex but quite frankly, Dell Support should change its name to Dell Aggravation. General lack of knowledge, stubbornly holding onto procedure, no initiative, not adhering to promises. These are just the highlights of their (in-)competency.

Personally, I think they are stalling because they have absolutely no idea of how to handle this. Since most of the Precision notebooks are purchased by companies, meaning problems are reported to said company's IT dept., which then reports back to their dedicated account manager, the support desk panics at anything harder then just following the procedure by rote:

Please download the drivers from our website
Install the drivers according the official install sequence
etc. ad infinitum

 

The Netherlands only has 1 or 2 people for 2nd tier support for Precision / Latitude machines?

You seem to be having a support experience very different from most people. Considering that you can only buy this machine from the business, government, or education store - you should be getting much better support.

I know that you have 13 posts and 2 screen shots to support what you are saying, but you seem to be having the worst experience with Dell support possible. I am trying to figure out for myself what is going on.

 

Par for the course from my previous experience with Dell. It's the reason why, after buying an Inspiron 8 years ago, that was plagued with problems, I swore off ever buying from Dell again.

As for only 2 people for second-line support, I don't know if it's really true, but that was what I was told by the gentleman of first-line yesterday. Personally, I think this is mostly for those who buy this machine for SOHO use. Large businesses have IT departments who have their own dedicated Dell account manager. You have a problem, your desktop/laptop will be exchanged for another and they'll send it back to Dell.

I've had better service from Lenovo for their consumer notebooks, while none of their systems are sold here apart from a few online retailers or discount computer shops. One Lenovo 3000 N200 had a dead motherboard, a common flaw among that particular model, a day after warranty expiry. One call, I was told to sent it in and a week later, got it back good as new without any cost apart from paying the freight to have it shipped to Germany for repair.

 

Shipped!!!.. how frequently will I be checking the tracker?

 

If you can code you could build a little tool to GET the url automatically and parse the response for changes to fire up some notification - funny new world, innit

 

Which Bios are you running? A04 was released after you bought your computer. It might be worth a shot to upgrade to it.

The part # for the USB 3.0 daughterboard is D/PN 0RMNKT or possibly leave off the 0 at the beginning.

The other USB 2.0 daughterboard was D/PN 00831K.

Since Havotex works for Dell, you might also PM him with your service tag so that he could check the original configuration of your machine and make sure everything was put in the machine that needed to be.

 

I linked a picture showing where the module is and a close-up of what it looks like. I will go back and find that post.