Precision M4400 Owner's Lounge

A14 is getting it quite hot while playing games or watching movies-what about a02-any serius problems?

 

I wrotte this on dell community page, guess how many answers?

http://en.community.dell.com/forums/t/19274591.aspx

I bought a brand new M4400 32 bit Vista and XP (I am using XP) with Quadro FX770M grafic card, i use it with a cad program named Allplan from Nemetschek. The icons on my cad screen are coming and going like getting smaller and again bigger to their normal size whenever I draw something 2D (lines, circles, measurements etc.) also, that program work with subwindows which are oppened over the main window and usually over the icons, so the icons will be visible over the subwindows from back of them and when I move the subwindow from that place to another the icons of the main window still stay over them (it something like doesn't refresh the subwindows) (please see the attached bitmap on http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=97274 ) .. I experienced the same behaviour as I used Adobe Audition with the wave appearence in spectral mode. I allready installed the latest nvidia driver (62.94.34.00.01) and DirectX 9.0c, flashed the latest bios. I used the same programs with normal GForce 128MB card without problems. How can I solve that problem? Help me if u can.

Wrotte the same on nvidia support page, same result 000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 support

 

but one day some guy from south africa sent me this:

Re: PRECISSION M4400 GRAFIC GRAPHIC PROBLEM
By applecache1 in General Hardware

Hello



Dont worry i am having trouble with solidworks. even though its not supported it makes funny errors such as when i rotate an object it represents it as a block. when i stop rotating it then i can see it for what it actually is. Nvidia is either to blame or dell seeing that they haven't tested the precision like they were supposed to.



In my opinion the precision m4400 is a rush job from dell. If you search the forums the precision model has so many problems since it came out which means that dell did not test the machine properly. How can ANYONE expect a precion to be this troublesome. why do we engineers etc that demand high perfomance get bs like this. i wouldn't mind getting a refund but the value of the laptop has already gone down and seeing that there is trouble in the financial sector its hard to spend R24 000 (South Africa) for such bs. In my country its a lot of money and im pretty sure you spent a lot as well for the m4400.

And he surprisingly dissapeared from the community...

 

I am very agree with that guy that dell didn't test this mashine long enough, the parts are good and expensive but alltogether it is a sh.. also used cheaper wokstation from HP without any problems...

 

ofelas did you try your 2d grafic with vectors (drawing a few lines and a few measurement lines on it)?

 

A02 i running perfect here!

little comparison on playing NFS undercover, without any OC'ing

A02 + Dell GPU drivers = max temp 80-82c, 30-34fps
A14 + Dell GPU drivers = max temp 86-87c, 30-34fps
A14 + nVidia 185.85 = max temp 86-87, 36-44fps
A02 (or A03) + nVidia 185.85 = max temp 80-82c, 36-44fps

last one is a winner!! A02 isn't giving me any issues with eSATA, DVD burning or anything else....not using any DCP or fingerprint reader though.

Seriously dude....if you have a problem, just ask a question instead of just spewing words that don't make sense. If there's a problem with your M4400, get in touch with tech support, not the Dell forums. Or call them!

How does getting a refund have ANYTHING to do with the value of your laptop? You'll be refunded the money you paid! You also have 3 YEARS WARRANTY....if you have an issue just get it fixed.
And you'll find issues for pretty much every single laptop out there on forums...that's pretty much what the forums are for.

I think you've never even seen a M4400 and are just trolling.....in a very weird and incomprehensible way

 

I got an M4400 from Dell Outlet; and although it was supposed to have 64 bit Vista, it had 32 bit. Dell wanted to charge me for 64 bit.

I was in a hurry so I used a Retail 64 bit Vista copy that I had on the T61 which died and created the need for the M4400. Now in the past, there were dozens of crashes and several reinstalls, and Microsoft never let me reactivate on that machine without failing the various automatic ways and then talking to three "engineers". I figured since that machine was really dead I was within my rights to use the copy of Vista on the Dell. But I didn't want to deal with the long phone calls, etc., until today, because I was using the machine.

So I was really surprised when Microsoft activated the OS on the first go with no hassles, no phone calls.

This machine hasn't had a lot of crashes yet, but I haven't put in the constant use and cycling through sleep that the predecessor machines have gone through. If I can get this one to stay alive long enough to get to Windows 7 release, then I'll go that way for sure. (This is based on the much improved experience of Windows 7 on my E6400). I'm not going to go right away since I have a bunch of application licenses which will get invalidated by a non-upgrade OS install.

 

Hello, I need your help. I have the graphics card overheating problem that some people have reported before. While playing Silent Hill V (not a very demanding game I think), the frame rate drops a lot to the point that the game becomes unplayable ( from 30 to 8-10 fps). I've tried out with A14,A13, A6, A3 and A2 BIOSes but the problem still persists. With A2 I can play comfortably for a bit longer (20 min or so ) until the issue starts once again, but nothing else. I called Dell Spain and they told me to pass the diagnostics routine and also pointed out that I had only 1 GB RAM which is insufficient for games but I upgraded the laptop soon after I received it, so it has 4 GB now, more than enough for games. DELL diagnostics routine didn't find any errors, fans work properly. Now I'm waiting for the DELL technician. In my humble opinion the problem is related to some kind of defect in the Nvidia FX770 chip that makes it to produce a lot of heat. Should I ask a replacement laptop to DELL ? I'm not a hard-core gamer but It pisses me off that the only game I wanted to play since I bought the laptop is giving so many problems in this supposedly "powerful machine". If that helps the configuration is : 2.4 GHz 3 mb core 2 duo, 4 gb RAM, 80gb hard disc, 1440x900 sceen res and standard clock speed for the graphics card (500-800-1250). I even tried to dowclock the nvidia chip to 450-800-900 but the overheating issue and consequent framerate drop appears anyways. HWMonitor reports 87 Celsius degrees just after quitting the game. Thanks in advance.

 

Hi pterodactilo.

That's pretty weird indeed. Seeing your config and the temps you should be running that game without a problem really. I'd get the thing replaced...the mobo in this case. How long do you have the laptop already?

 

The keys for 32bit and 64bit are the same so what happened is what should've happened. Very weird Dell tried too charge you for it though.

You're saying you didn't have a lot of crashes yet, so you did have some crashes?

And yeah, i'm lovin win7 too