New M6500 Discussion Thread

I am in need of updating the firmware for the USB 3.0 M6500. I recently updated the software driver to 2.1.39.0 obtained from RENESAS/NEC Drivers & Firmwares. I downloaded and installed Version 2.1.39.0 Pour Windows Xp/Vista/7/8 32/64bits. Is this the latest/correct software version? Also, which firmware updated should I use? I haven't updated the firmware since I purchased but am having issues using a plugable USB 3.0 7 port hub []Plugable USB3-HUB7-81X Seven-Port USB 3.0 Hub with Four-Amp Power Adapter (VIA VL812 chipset) | Plugable. The tech support with the vendor has been incredible guiding me to the station-driver website but I'm a bit cautious about which firmware version to updated to. I am using Windows 7 64-Bit Ultimate and it recognizes the USB 3.0 hub as a USB 2.0 hub which might be due to the firmware. I just want to eliminate any USB driver and/or firmware issue on my end and since I was using an old Dell NEC USB 3.0 driver from long ago I thought it might be a good idea to update the firmware as well. Seem this station-driver website has the latest software for the M6500 NEC USB. Thanks in advance to anyone who is using firmware/software from this site.

 

Hello,

I've just ordered a used dual core m6500 (2 memory-slots mb). From what I read on the corsair or crucial websites it only supports 8gb ram (2x4gb). Is it right ???

I am a bit confused because here : 16GB 2x8GB RAM Memory Compatible with Dell Precision Mobile Workstation M6500 | eBay the seller says that a dual core m6500 supports 16gb ram (2x8gb).
(and the dell documentation is not very clear on that subject)
(I've searched and googled a lot but I haven't found anybody having a 16gb dual core 2 memory-slots mb m6500)

Thanks for your feedback, especially the dual core owners !
Pierre

 

A quick question that may or may not have been covered.

I have an M6500 in my possession, that has a Core i5 540m, so it's a 2 RAM slot board. I also have an HP 8440W that I upgraded from an i7 620m to an i7 740QM.

Is there any incompatibility with Dell's motherboards that would prevent me from moving those CPUs around? My wife certainly doesn't need quad cores, but could benefit from the 75% increase of battery life of going back to dual core...and the M6500 is too big and too low on battery life already to make me care about losing any life, as I'm not carrying it around.

 

My M6500 doesn't seem to have the USB PowerShare option that was on my M6400. E.g. this feature allows one to charge phones while the laptop is off, using the PowerShare USB port (the one with a lightning bolt under it - just above the eSata port). The M6400 BIOS had an option for enabling PowerShare, and for setting the battery level at which to disable it. Was this feature removed on the M6500? It is listed in the M6500 specs, but I don't see it in BIOS A04, and none of my USB ports have power when it is off. Perhaps I need a newer BIOS? A quick search didn't find any mention of it.

 

M6500 owner here with the 640M CPU. I'd like to know if I can upgrade to 16 GB (2 x 8GB) as well.

 

I have finally decided on pricing for my M6500-specific Quadro 5000M with exact heatsink, beating the prices on eBay (and they do not have the heatsink). This one is a Dell refurb.

PM me if you are interested. I would do the transaction on eBay.

 

Is this still available? I am interested but am unable to use PM at the moment. Still a few post short!

 

Yes, it is still available; thanks for asking.

I see that you have 5 posts now; I think 5 is the minimum for PM'ing, so I just tried a PM to you, and it appears to have worked.

 

Did you or anyone else ever find a fix for this issue? I have the same challenge. I just purchased a Dell U2312HM External Monitor. With the monitor plugged in either using VGA or DisplayPort it will not come out of sleep. With no monitor plugged in the computer will come out of sleep with no issues. I've replaced the DisplayPort cable and loaded latest NVidia drivers (I have FX 3800M). I tested the same monitor on a Dell Latitude E6420 using the VGA cable and no issues. The laptop and monitor are both able to come out of sleep with no issues.

What I found interesting is that when I initially plugged in the monitor to the laptop using the VGA cable the theme was decreased. I spoke to Dell who advised I probably needed a DispalyPort cable so the monitor and/or computer did not downgrade the theme due to bandwidth issues. When I used the same VGA cable plugged in to the Latitude, the them did not downgrade. Makes me think there might be a hardware issue with the DisplayPort or the like on the M6500.

If I reboot M6500 with the monitor plugged into DisplayPort - no issues. It is only once the laptop and monitor go to sleep they are not able to wake up. I need to power off the unit completely. Another item to note is that when this happens and I reboot, I receive a post error code indicating something is wrong with the motherboard - I can reproduce this error. When I unplug the DisplayPort and reboot - no error code. The other day, Dell had me run a boot-up diagnostic report that Revealed no hardware issues as far as the test was concerned so I'm thinking there is something wrong with the DisplayPort. Possibly needs to be replaced.

I can always make the system not go to sleep to avoid this. The impact is that I use the system as a PKI lab with at times 47 or so VMs running. If it goes to sleep and I need to hard power off the unit because I can't see the screen upon wake-up then I can corrupt the VM files - not good to just hard power off with things running.

I just wanted to touch base to see if anyone needed to replace their DisplayPort or found a fix - software or the like.

Thanks!

 

So I update to 8.1 and within days, my blu-ray drive is not recognized. I get a white screen saying it can't detect anything in the drive bay. I throw the original dvd drive in and still nothing. I update the bios to A09 and still nothing so I disable the drive and it boots up a couple times. Then I start getting that bootmgr is missing and it won't boot up. So I can't even pop the windows 8 dvd in and attempt a fix. I make a USB drive with Win 8 on it. I try to repair my mSATA and it says the drive is locked. Now the bios doesn't even detect a drive in the mini slot. I took out my storage drive because I know there were issues trying to install windows on the mSATA with another drive installed.

At this point I'm just baffled. I ordered an mSATA to usb adapter so I can update the firmware on the mSATA SSD. Will see if that helps. To make matters worse, the Windows key tied to my machine didn't seem to want to work to even get the process started, yet it was the correct product key used for the install in the first place which was the discounted upgrade MS offered before Win8 was released.

Any insight out there?