Precision M4400 Owner's Lounge

Indeed. Bios A14 is out. Fixes and Enhancements:

Has anyone tested this yet? Any comments?

 

So then you can try RMClock and it's x64 driver. I have been using this on Vista x64 for long time and it always allowed me to set minimum, maximum, and speedstep frequencies. Plus benefit I am using is posibility to undervolt your cpu -> lower cpu temperatures (-15C in my case) -> longer battery live. You can read more about this for example here.

 

I'll try the new BIOS straight away! Btw....switched too Win 7 and absolutely loving it so far....all my apps work, games too....and the new taskbar is great!! Takes a minute to get used too but love it.

Will be back with new BIOS results

 

I haven't noticed any differences w/ the new BIOS, biggest thing I've noticed is since going to Win7, the fans don't seem to be running as hard. I'm sure the quite frequent 0% processor use might also have something to do with that. I've never seen the processor that idle in Vista, let alone while running 10 software instances and playing music. On another side note, I was having some issues w/ my audio (IMSM / Audio drivers didn't seem to get along) in Vista x64, but Win7 had the chipset and audio drivers native, and there are no such issues w/ inconsistent playback or drive access latency.

 

Is it possible to return to an older BIOS without having to do some dirty tricks?

 

Unless they changed something, just run the executable for the older bios and it should give a message saying that the BIOS is older and prompt for you to continue. It will then continue just like any other BIOS flash. I've done it already without any issues...

 

Thank you for your answer. I will give A14 a try then.

 

Update on this issue: Speaking with dell tech support today, they say that the backlight on the RGBLED isn't part of the screen but rather a "convertor" which "is part of the top plastics and controls the backlighting", so they are going to replace that.

 

It won't fix it. The RGBLED display and LED driver used on this model has this issue, and until they start using an updated / different LED driver, this problem will still exist. I doubt it'll ever get fixed in this model, but who knows... even if it does, you'll likely get an old, broken refurb part if you request the fix.

I don't know how the LEDs are driven on this model, if it is integrated into the panel or not... the "converter" may have actually been "inverter" which would be used with the CCFL panels, and obviously wouldn't fix your problem.

For what it's worth, I have this problem as well. I don't trust Dell to actually fix my machine though (they sent me a scratched, refurbished replacement after I had the machine for 2 days, and sent me a worse machine as a replacement which took 3 weeks to arrive - there goes the 21 day no refurbs...), so unless it is totally hosed, I won't call support on it.

I just turn the brightness up 3 or 4 past minimum and notice less flickering.

I do wish the brightness would get much _lower_ than the minimum.

 

same here :/ the lowest level is sometimes way to bright, specially in a dark enviroment..