Precision M6400 Owner's Lounge *Part 2*

Interesting! Externally it looks identical to the M6400 (apart from near the power button they have added a "precision on" button - whats that, a support call button?). It supports up to 3 not 2 hard drives though. Not sure if they have changed the form factor supported, counting on a replaceable optical drive, or simply have smaller PCB to make space. The vague possibility of upgrading your old m6400 with its main board is opened up?...

New graphics cards too - QuadroFX 3800M for example - I wonder if these will be a compatible replacement for the M6400?

Not much useful doc available yet
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/wsm6500/en/index.htm

Paul.

 

It looks exactly like the 6400 because it's the same case. They even have an orange case model at an even higher premium than current Covet owners (who bought retail) paid, tho they aren't calling it the Covet2 or anything. I'm sort of disappointed myself. A whole new number model and you can't tell one from the other? Their entire snob, I've got the latest demographic can pretend their 6400s are 6500s and who's to know? They're going to have to change up more than the innards to lure me into buying one.
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Precision Covet | QX9300 | 4GB | 64GB Samsung SSD & 320GB Seagate | XP Pro 32bit & Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit

 

Thanks and the same to Airblazer for putting up with questions that have no answers other than what I know and I'm frustrated as hell when I put all my concentration onto a project and make 0 progress. I've written Samsung and trolled all the relevant info sources and like Samsung told me, a drive manufactured in Dec. 2008 has no trim support and they recommended HDDErase, but depending on who's trying you might need version 4.0 while others using my drive and the OCZ equivalent swear that only version 3.3 will work. And it's not like the drive is even noticeably slowed down, but I am seeing some degradation in seek numbers and even though my next SSD will have TRIM or something to help, for now I've hit a brick wall and I'm not the type to give up. Even when the effort is not cost or time efficient. I have figured out what is stumping my efforts though and I'm down to only one question, because all 3 different programs and the one Linux disc I made worked up to a point and then stopped. And lots of people post how wonderful it is to erase all the pages. Supposedly it returns the drive to factory new condition. So I'm going to have to figure it out eventually because this drive will probably outlive me and I'm sure as hell not going to throw it away. Catch 22 sort of.

How do I get my Covet in a "Pure DOS environment" to quote exactly the information I've compiled. Which in short means windows command prompt isn't going to work and the BIOS in the 6400, as best as I can tell won't let me do that in a paternal attempt to save me from myself. Sounds good in theory but sort of pisses me off. But I can't even find someone to blame it on because it's most likely something possible but beyond my talents but it's also possible it's the end of the road trying to get it to work. I've had slightly better luck with my Toshiba P305 but not enough to make it work. If nobody replies to my 'pure DOS' question I'm either going to give it up (not likely) or take it to San Jose and try to find someone who can do it. It's hard to swallow that it's impossible, and if it's not that it's too damn hard.

And I haven't even tried working the problem in Win 7 because I read the drive has to support TRIM for it to work in 7 and I have my hands full working with OSs I know and understand well.
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Precision Covet | QX9300 | 4GB | 64GB Samsung SSD & 320GB Seagate | XP Pro 32bit & Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit

 

Hang on a sec..,,.you need a dos environment...should have said man

Download this first.. (HP USB format tool

http://files.extremeoverclocking.com/file.php?f=197

Then download the dos disk files from below

http://www.allbootdisks.com/disk_contents/dos.html

If need be I can upload the ones I have to rapidshare and send the link to you..

All you do is format a memory stick via HP format tool while selecting make dos bootable and selecting the location of the dos files.

Takes about a min. Then boot your covet from the usb stick and presto...you're in a dos environment.

 

Not sure about all M6400's but mine has 'DELL PRECISION M6400' in the bottom left of the screen bezel.

I'm not bothered by the M6500 by the time the M6400 is looking slow then there will be a much better laptop to get than the M6500.

My laptop before this was an inspiron 8100 (pentium3 cpu) up to a year ago it did much of what I needed well enough to make upgrading for the sake of it pointless. You just have to buy what is best for you at the time, there will always be a better/faster PC or Laptop within a short time of you buying a new machine.

 

I know, I know. I've gone to a lot more trouble than most would to get out of the consumer treadmill and it's sort of irritating when their I'm sure careful market analysis has it all down on a great Power Point presentation but the m6500 Covet starts at more than $4200 for one with a 1.6ghz i series processor and you get something that is fractionally faster than the QX9300. (in certain situations) and one 160GB drive and one or two gigs of memory. And since it's a rush job, in my opinion just to get something with the first i processors in it without designing and producing a new body. The 320GB Seagate drives in my Covet were $500 upgrades for each and a month later, after 500GB drives came to market all of a sudden the 320s were only worth 300 some odd dollars. By the time my 6400 is outdated enough to warrant replacement so will all the m6500s too. It was done on the cheap for those very reasons. I'd prefer they had stuffed the new stuff in a m6300 body because I'm starting to tilt when I walk from typing off center all the time so a couple of percent of users could have a damn number pad on the keyboard. I'm probably outnumbered on that particular complaint but none of the persistent complaints (sharp corners, poor placement of the pad, etc) have been addressed at all.

But they'll probably make money on them, after all it's just an m6400 with a different MB but there's always the 'gotta have the latest' market segment that's all google eyed at the i series processors. It's interesting watching the laptop market. It's a fashion statement to lots of people, which probably accounts for half of Apples market share and the success or failure of the Adamo is how many people will pay way too much for an underpowered, feature poor but really cool looking unibody Dell.

 

A perfect example of just how dense I can be sometimes. I was just Dogpiling around after writing my "I'm about to give it up" comment and searched for 'pure dos environment' and came to probably millions of pages for different boot disks, all promising DOS and lot's even having HDDSerure erase included (though which version will work for me is still unknown), and a light bulb (low watts but still...) came on over my head as I wondered "is this "PURE DOS"? It sounded like it and that's my next line of attack. Thanks and I'll check the links you left but I think this is something I can do. I booted off of a gparted Linux disc I burned and that almost worked till I ran into a password request for a password that existed, but not in my mind or records. I'll withhold judgement until something works but this is a perfect example of looking under, around and over what you need while you look for it. Forest for the trees and all that......thanx in advance whether it works or not. There's Ultimate Boot, Barts Boot and 1,690,000 other links to try. But I'll try your recommended ones first.
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Precision Covet | QX9300 | 4GB | 64GB Samsung SSD & 320GB Seagate | XP Pro 32bit & Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit

 

best of luck mate

 

I succeeded in getting Dell to cancel my order for the m6400 and now I will get my m6500 with the latest hotest i7 cpu! Delivery 16 Dec.

 

And I can always use some spare luck, tho I'm of the mind that thinks luck's something you make..... or don't. I will be mapping my battle plans and marshaling my weapons and unwinding from an interesting and for manana land exausting week. And surfs up even if that sounds like a cliche so I'll be doing it on the beach and in the surf.

While I save the mental horsepower for the task ahead, right now I'm figuring what it'd cost to change my m6400 Covet into an m6500 Covet. A guaranteed like new MB for the 6400 you can get for $489 (I've not shopped it around, all prices are Parts People prices and you can often beat them) and I'm figuring the 6500MB would be in the same range, or close enough. I'm not obsessed enough to do this to the penny. The quadro 3700 & 3800, with just a quick look, seem pretty identical so I'll take the average of two high priced vendors and add another 850 bucks, though it's very possible I could use the fx3700 I already have and another 800 for an i processor. Adding double my current 4GB of 1066 memory to 8GB of 1600MHz is just too cool not to do. I could use the memory I have and cut the price but I always want the top of the line. That includes 35 bucks for the screen bezel that will say DELL PRECISION m6500. And of course I already have Class A drives I'd pop into my 'new' laptop. I'd have a new Covet 6500 for a total of $2585 as opposed to the $6543 I'd pay at the Dell retail page. And if I settled for the fx3700 it'd drop my total to $1735, not including whatever I could sell the parts left over after the conversion. Just the QX9300 is worth a nice bit of change. It looks like they just changed the model numbers after just a quick glance at the specs for both video cards so my fx3700 would probably work. And if not, The Parts People would buy any left over m6400 parts.

Then when they decide to put out a REAL new model I'd be ready and not have to hit my head against a brick wall for being stupid enough to fall for this i(pick a number) mania. Now I'm off to the beach with my antique m6400 Covet.
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Precision Covet | QX9300 | 4GB | 64GB Samsung SSD & 320GB Seagate | XP Pro 32bit & Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit