Precision M4600 Owners Lounge

Does anyone know what name is being used by Dell for the IPS display? It's a used M4600 for sale and I was given the service tag. The seller believes it's an IPS display, but when checking the original components on the Dell site it says it's using a
"J5JC7 5 DISPLAY : 39.6CM (15.6IN) FULL HIGH DEFI" screen. Does anyone if this is the IPS display or the normal TN-based 1080p screen?

 

How do you check which components does a laptop have?
support.dell.com for my service tag only states the following:
02HC9 PRECISION M4600 LAPTOP - 0.001GHZ - 250.
H1M5R 3YR BASIC WARRANTY - NEXT BUSINESS DAY -
881FG NOTEBOOK - FREIGHT 2 TO 10 UNITS

 

Bellow the warranty information you will find "Components" (or similar, I'm visiting Dell Swedne) with an arrow pointing downward. Else your support page doesn't look the same as mine.

 

But under "Components" I get what I mentioned before...

 

Odd, this it what it looks like for me.

 

Perhaps that is because my Dell was reselled from Outlet?

 

Just FYI, I don't think the i7-26xx units (e.g., your i7 2640m, max mem 16GiB) with dual-core can be upgraded to 32GiB.
I think only the i7-27xx units (e.g., i7 2720qm, max mem 32GiB) with quad-core can be upgraded to 32GiB.

 

I know most of you have moved on to other, newer systems, but I just acquired a Dell Precision m4600 (i7-2720QM 4c/8t 2.2GHz/3.3Turbo, 2GiB VRAM Quadro 1000M, 1080p panel and upgraded to 32GiB RAM), and want to share some of my experiences and compatibility testing storage.


1) I updated the uEFI firmware-BIOS to A08 (intermediate) and then A16 (latest)

Cannot comment on compatibility with older firmware versions.


2) I started conservatively by just adding 3-platter, 2TB 2.5"x9.5mm Samsung 5400rpm drive

I installed Windows 7 x64 via native uEFI by creating a bootable USB with the Rufus tool. (GPT partition scheme for EFI computer). Unlike some uEFI implementations, the m4600 (again, even using the latest A16), is very early/picky, and won't boot with a USB made via with the normal MS ISO->USB tool. I would later add a 2nd (for 4TB platter total).

I then installed Fedora 20 and Ubuntu LTS 14.04 without issues, using the same EFI system partition. I also reserved the first 1,023MiB for a future Windows RE tool partition (can be a separate partition from ESP in Windows 7, and strongly recommended in the case of Windows 8, formatted NTFS).

Spoiler

Code:

# parted /dev/sda u MiB p
Model: ATA ST2000LM003 HN-M (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 1907729MiB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags: 
Number  Start       End         Size       File system  Name                          Flags
 1      1.00MiB     1024MiB     1023MiB    ntfs         Windows RE tools              diag
 2      1024MiB     1408MiB     384MiB     fat32        EFI system partition          boot
 3      1408MiB     1536MiB     128MiB                  Microsoft reserved partition  msftres
 4      1536MiB     1792MiB     256MiB     ext4         boot Fedora
 5      1792MiB     2048MiB     256MiB     ext4         boot Ubuntu
  ... 
12      131072MiB   262144MiB   131072MiB  ntfs         part 128GiB
13      262144MiB   524288MiB   262144MiB               part 256GiB                   lvm
14      524288MiB   1048576MiB  524288MiB               part 512GiB
15      1048576MiB  1900544MiB  851968MiB               last 832GiB                   lvm

3) I added one of the new 1TB Samsung EVO 840 TLC NAND mSATA works without issues (non-boot at least)

I'm still have the EFI System Partition (ESP) on the platter, and Windows uses this device. I am only putting static files on the TLC, and not running anything else. Right now that means Linux binaries and archives, no Windows. I've copied over 500GiB (basically half used), almost entirely via pvmove (LVM physical volume move), plus one pvmove on the device itself. Yes, I know, the mSATA slot is only 3.0Gbps SATA, but it does the job, because I want that random access speed. TRIM/Discard works end-to-end in Linux (LVM, optional LUKS and Ext4 filesystems).

Spoiler

Code:

# hdparm -I /dev/sdb

/dev/sdb:

ATA device, with non-removable media
    Model Number:       Samsung SSD 840 EVO 1TB mSATA           
    Serial Number:      (redacted)     
    Firmware Revision:  EXT42B6Q
    Transport:          Serial, ATA8-AST, SATA 1.0a, SATA II Extensions, SATA Rev 2.5, SATA Rev 2.6, SATA Rev 3.0
Standards:
    Used: unknown (minor revision code 0x0039) 
    Supported: 9 8 7 6 5 
    Likely used: 9
Configuration:
    Logical        max    current
    cylinders    16383    16383
    heads        16    16
    sectors/track    63    63
    --
    CHS current addressable sectors:   16514064
    LBA    user addressable sectors:  268435455
    LBA48  user addressable sectors: 1953525168
    Logical  Sector size:                   512 bytes
    Physical Sector size:                   512 bytes
    Logical Sector-0 offset:                  0 bytes
    device size with M = 1024*1024:      953869 MBytes
    device size with M = 1000*1000:     1000204 MBytes (1000 GB)
    cache/buffer size  = unknown
    Nominal Media Rotation Rate: Solid State Device
Capabilities:
    LBA, IORDY(can be disabled)
    Queue depth: 32
    Standby timer values: spec'd by Standard, no device specific minimum
    R/W multiple sector transfer: Max = 1    Current = 1
    DMA: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2 udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 udma5 *udma6 
         Cycle time: min=120ns recommended=120ns
    PIO: pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4 
         Cycle time: no flow control=120ns  IORDY flow control=120ns
Commands/features:
    Enabled    Supported:
       *    SMART feature set
            Security Mode feature set
       *    Power Management feature set
       *    Write cache
       *    Look-ahead
       *    Host Protected Area feature set
       *    WRITE_BUFFER command
       *    READ_BUFFER command
       *    NOP cmd
       *    DOWNLOAD_MICROCODE
            SET_MAX security extension
       *    48-bit Address feature set
       *    Device Configuration Overlay feature set
       *    Mandatory FLUSH_CACHE
       *    FLUSH_CACHE_EXT
       *    SMART error logging
       *    SMART self-test
       *    General Purpose Logging feature set
       *    WRITE_{DMA|MULTIPLE}_FUA_EXT
       *    64-bit World wide name
            Write-Read-Verify feature set
       *    WRITE_UNCORRECTABLE_EXT command
       *    {READ,WRITE}_DMA_EXT_GPL commands
       *    Segmented DOWNLOAD_MICROCODE
       *    Gen1 signaling speed (1.5Gb/s)
       *    Gen2 signaling speed (3.0Gb/s)
       *    Gen3 signaling speed (6.0Gb/s)
       *    Native Command Queueing (NCQ)
       *    Phy event counters
       *    unknown 76[15]
       *    DMA Setup Auto-Activate optimization
            Device-initiated interface power management
       *    Asynchronous notification (eg. media change)
       *    Software settings preservation
            unknown 78[8]
       *    SMART Command Transport (SCT) feature set
       *    SCT Write Same (AC2)
       *    SCT Error Recovery Control (AC3)
       *    SCT Features Control (AC4)
       *    SCT Data Tables (AC5)
       *    reserved 69[4]
       *    DOWNLOAD MICROCODE DMA command
       *    SET MAX SETPASSWORD/UNLOCK DMA commands
       *    WRITE BUFFER DMA command
       *    READ BUFFER DMA command
       *    Data Set Management TRIM supported (limit 8 blocks)
Security: 
    Master password revision code = 65534
        supported
    not    enabled
    not    locked
        frozen
    not    expired: security count
        supported: enhanced erase
    2min for SECURITY ERASE UNIT. 8min for ENHANCED SECURITY ERASE UNIT. 
Logical Unit WWN Device Identifier: (redacted)
    NAA        : 5
    IEEE OUI    : 002538
    Unique ID    : (redacted)
Checksum: correct

With the updated uEFI firmware-BIOS, I do now see the option to boot from the mSATA, at least for legacy BIOS mode. Don't know if it would work for Windows any way, let alone via uEFI, so I did not test this. It works fine uEFI booting from the ESP on the platter, which is good enough for me. I always keep a backup copy of the small FAT32 formatted ESP (384MiB in my case) and MSR (128MiB for 16GiB+ devices), along with the Windows C: drive (128GiB -- separate from a larger D: drive that can be lost and software re-installed), in case I have to replace a failed storage device.


4) I did not bother to attempt Intel SRT for using 64GiB of the SATA to cache Windows.

I did not attempt to get QM67 working for Intel SRT, and left the SATA set to AHCI, instead of RAID. I would like to eventually set this up, but after reading about a lot of issues people having with various QM67 systems, and sucking a lot of time into it, I decided not to bother. I needed a functional system with 32GiB RAM (otherwise I would have just waited for the Clevo P65x series), hence why I expedited my install.

I've setup the Intel -data format before under Linux so it works with MultiDisk (MD) and DeviceMapper (DM). In a nutshell, one has to setup RAID (actually known as "RAID-0 containers" in some nomenclature, but not to be confused with RAID-0 volumes that use striping, long story) so the NAND device -- the first 64GiB -- can be used for SRT. When I get time next year, when I'm not so busy, I might try to redo the system so I use the first 64GiB of the 1TB mSATA for Intel SRT cache.


Picture of the 1TB Samsung EVO 840 TLC NAND mSATA in the Dell Precision m4600.



Sometime in the next 6+ months, when I purchase a newer Intel 80/90 series chipset system with M.2 slots, I'll use an mSATA to 2.5" SATA adapter. I used one to copy off data (again, just Linux pvmove) from my existing 240GB Crucial m500 MLC NAND mSATA.



And for those who are wondering ... I got a good, continuous 110MiBps out of the m500 -> mSATA-2.5" adapter -> SATA-USB 3.0 dock to the m4600's XHCI (3.0) ports. I also verified the XHCI ports are not bootable, only the EHCI (2.0) ports.

 

Just an update ... I moved my ESP to the mSATA and it is definitely bootable for Linux in native uEFI mode.

I was also able to hack bcd in the firmware-ESP and the Windows 7 registry and change the UUIDs to point to the mSATA so Windows now boots there too. The Windows 7 installer is a bit picky and expects the ESP to be on the same disk as the %SYSTEMDRIVE% ( typically C: ), but it can be hacked to do otherwise post-install. The installer gets a bit "confused" if the ordering is not correct, but under uEFI, it really doesn't matter. I wouldn't recommend this unless you know what you're doing with a Windows PE or Linux setup and the required registry hacks (changing the UUID for the firmware-ESP).

I also played with various RAID modes as I've setup the 2x2TB platters in RAID-1, and I was unable to get SRT (acceleration) to work. I had the same issue with a new Z97 chipset mainboard as well, even leaving the NAND device completely empty. Ironically, once I actually installed Windows C: drive to the NAND device on that Z97 system, the Intel RST software offered me to use the NAND device as an accelerator (SRT mode) for the D: drive on the platters (RAID), which would -- of course -- blow away my Windows install (since C: was on the NAND). Duh, "smart" software there.

In any case, it seems mSATA boot is definitely an option with firmware A16, verified in uEFI mode in either AHCI or RAID mode for the SATA ports, even though it's the 2nd SATA channel/device (e.g., /dev/sdb under Linux). The XHCI (USB 3.0) ports are still not bootable though.

 

Hi,
I have two questions:

I have 4 GB RAM in one DIMM but if it is allowed?
In general I didn't notice any problems but in the user guide there is information that it should be in two DIMMs.

I have to update BIOS but unfortunately in this week I have only 130W charger and when I try to update there is information "Update failed".
How I can do it?