Precision M4400 Owner's Lounge

I installed Windows 7 RTM on my M4400 last Tuesday I think it was when it came out for MSDN/Technet customers - only the Video card driver and Ricoh SD Card driver had to be installed from memory
At the time, Windows 7 drivers were not showing on Dell's site but it was happy accepting the 64bit Vista drivers and everything is working VERY well..

I might startup a RTM thread in a bit to explain briefly but you will be very happy with W7 on it

 

I have been running the release candidate from about 4 months and it rocks! Couldn't get my hands on a legit RTM version, but I have pre-ordered the final. Works GREAT on my m4400 as well...

 

I don't know if you know that but 8/18/2009 have been released Urgent update called "Dell Utility". You can find it in driver section "System Utilities" and it fixes "Turn off Device Connect/Disconnect Sounds".
I met that issue especially when I play some short .wav sound file. It was cutted from the start because Sound device had been turned off and it have taken some time before it turn on.

 

Hi!
I have got a BlackBerry curve 8900 with an 8GB SD card which stores my music. I am trying to get the music on this card, to play through the speakers of my Dell Precision m4400 (running Vista x64), while the 2 devices are connected through Bluetooth.
In the standard Windows Vista Bluetooth properties window for the curve 8900, I have this option to connect to the Blackberry ("Listen to audio from your phone through this computer's speakers"). When I press on connect it seems to be trying to connect but nothing happens. The option to use the "connect the laptop as a headset" in Vista works just fine, but that won't allow the music to come through.

I have got all the latest drivers and updates from Dell, Microsoft and BlackBerry. I have also un-installed, re-installed, paired and un-paired the devices.

I have already put a thread on the BlackBerry support forum but unfortunately the only thing that has been confirmed so far is that it does seem to work on some laptops (especially dongles, and not built-in BT cards).

The music seems to be getting lost somewhere. Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks!

Here is the thread so you can read up on the results so far.:

http://supportforums.blackberry.com...&thread.id=7600&view=by_date_ascending&page=1

 

Hmmmm, the driver option for Windows 7 64-bit have vanished from the Dell support site.

New drivers imminent? I don't know if they normally take something down before updating it.

There is a new BIOS file under the 32-bit however...

Fixes/Enhancements
------------------
1. Added support for Win 7.
2. Updated PXE OPROM.
3. Updated Nvidia VBIOS.
4. Fixed issue where external USB CD drive can not boot.
5. Added workaround for Windows issue causing printer connected to Docking Station to intermittently disappear after redock.
6. Improved access speed for PCMCIA card.

 

Thx for the heads-up!

 

Anytime

I'm trying to figure out what the whole "added support for Win 7" is.

It worked just fine prior to this BIOS update

 

seems they took it down here
I get a "404 directory not found" when i click the download button.
And it's not on the bio.s ftp site either

 

Ah got it.
Seems it only gives that error with the d/load button at the description page. The one at the main driver page works fine.

I'm kinda interested in the improved PCMCIA speed becasue i use that a LOT for my audio interface which could mean i can lower it's latency further or record/play at higher bitrate with low latency nice!

 

Hello All - been some time since I've read or posted here as most things have been running very well on my M4400 for 6 months, since following several insights and recommends from this thread and the wider forum. Overall an awesome value and great workstation for what I paid!

I do have a few small quirks I'd like for members to share experiences on:

1) Left speaker grill paint has basically begun to melt/smudge away from the heat being vented below, as well as dislodging and losing the small rubber bumper-stay on the left side. This is a design / build-quality issue, a flaw in my opinion, and looks so tacky. Has pro care been willing to address or replace either of these issues for anyone? part #s?

2) Audio occasionally seems to stop completely during an active windows session, and doesn't resume unless I reset the OS (restart or hibernate/sleep then resume).

3) I have my power button set for hibernate, but instead the system often hangs or freezes on a black screen (still on, but black) + keyboard still backlit.

4) Battery life (6 cell) really sucks! I rarely go mobile, maybe 1-2 per week, but I'm lucky if I get 2hrs of battery life! And this is during simple browsing, on power saver mode, with the screen at 50% and the processor at 25%. I even undervolted 15% using Rightmark, with the improvement bringing me up to just over 2hrs, Lol. Has anyone experienced similar? Recommendations?

I know that a couple of these items are mentioned earlier, but I haven't seen solutions or recommends posted. Any input is much appreciated. Thanks!