Precision M6400 Owner's Lounge *Part 2*

Don't know who told you it was normal, but they were wrong. A short circuit is never a 'normal' thing, and if you feel any level of juice through the case there is a problem of some sort. I've tried to replicate it every which way and no dice on my 6400. The only time I've had any kind of heating problem, and it really wasn't a problem and didn't involve any short circuits was when I put it in it's neoprene sleeve which then went into its carry bag. When I took it out it was hot to the touch all over. Turns out there's a little switch of some kind on the right side, just below the card slot and it had gotten turned on during my handling of it and sticking it in the sleeve. The case was very hot and the battery was drained. I'd go to my manual and tell you what the thing is but it's really not important to your problems, which sound very weird to me. Please post whatever happens if you ever figure it out.
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Precision Covet | QX9300 | 4GB 1066 | 64GB Samsung SLC SSD & 320GB Seagate | XP Pro 32bit & Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit

 

Hi Everyone,

Just reporting in with news on the heating/slowdown issue I was experiencing.

After Dell FINALLY managed to ship the replacement parts to the correct address, I have now completed surgery and given a thorough shakedown of the machine.

I can report all is well, with consistent benchmarks around 11,300 points in 3DMark06.

Looking closely at the parts which were replaced, I cannot see any obvious issues with them. There was very minimal dust in the fans and heatsinks, certainly not enough to slow the machine down this amount.

What I did notice however, is that the new Grahics module and Motherboard are a newer revision than my original components, and did vary slightly with the make of the on board components. Maybe Dell identified an issue with the first revision and did a little tweaking?

At any rate, all is working as expected without the aid of wedges or cooling pads or the like.

Cheers!
Grant

 

I'm pretty sure what you are describing there doesn't sound normal. Try getting another person to see if they feel the same thing?

What I feel from metal to skin contact from an earthed appliance is more like what you feel from one of those muscular therapy machines (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcutaneous_electrical_nerve_stimulation) , but on the lowest setting. I've asked other members of my family to test to see if they could feel it too, but without success.

I am just strange.

 

@valim This smells like a short somewhere to me. I don't think it's normal.

 

Hi
Thats awsome, when you wrote about it the first time this looks similar to me, as i has write a couple of postings before, i also feel a current when there is no power wire connected (the only source for a current is then the battery). At home i first thought it was my USB Hub (which has its own power supply), but now i have test all my Notebooks:

I have this current sticky feeling (NBs are off nothing is connected) with my
DELL Precision M6300
DELL Precision M6400
Fujitsu Siemens Lifebook 8420

but it is never as strong as you descriped it,
So maybe you have a extreme low skin resistance, or your unit has a realy strange problem.
Is there a chance in your private or business environment to use a meter (volt or /and ampere) to take some measurements.

When i have the time i will do that on work with my smallest book (Lifebook 8420)
Regards
Christopher

 

Hi all, thanks for the feedback.
Indeed the sticky-current can only be felt if you slide your finger over the aluminum surface, touching it softly. The current is not strong and you won't feel it if you just touch it, you actually have to move your finger.
If you feel it, this is what Dell has told me to do (the technician called it "electrostatic current" which is not, but it still worked for me: disconnect the PC from the power, take the battery out and press the power button for 50 seconds. It will discharge your computer.
The current has disappeared now, but it still happens when I connect the external USB 2.0 hardrives (before discharging it it could be felt in the laptop without anything else connected by USB).
Now, if you use the USB port with the lightning bolt (the one on the right side) AND the External HD receives the power from the computer, the electric/static/sticky current doesn't happen. Externally powered HD OR using any other USB port result in that current occurring again (always on batteries).

Still not very comfortable with how this works, but hope it helps,

 

WELL IT USE TOO at least as i remember before the latest bios release thats the only thing i think has changed with my computer since the latest update anybody else experiene loss of audio through hdmi adaptor

 

Hi all,
I am a happy owner of a M6400 Covet.
Now, I am thinking of getting a second one and have found a good offer on ebay but it has the FX2700 graphics card instead of the FX3700 as I have.

Is there a big diffrence? Does anyone have any experience?
Also, the ATI card, how is that one compared to the two Nvidia ones?

Thankfull for all help.

 

I bought a displayport to HDMI adapter a little while back through DELL. I use it and not having any problem with loss of audio (last use was yesterday). I use the latest BIOS (A09) from DELL, W7 x64 3700M Whql video driver (195.62) from Nvidia, and audio driver (6.10.0.6227 A11) from DELL.
BTW, I am running Windows 7 64 bit.

 

Thats good info thanks i will have to see if i have the same audio config, i am using windows vista 64 bit ...it would make more sense that it is just a software/driver issues more than anything.