Precision M6400 Owner's Lounge *Part 2*

Ok got the screen replaced and its a edge to edge glass now, lg it looks like rgb led but damn the whites are more lighter and way better contrast.

 

I have a major issue with my M6400. For some reason, I closed the lid on the WinXP and the screen stayed on. I was away for 2 and a half hours and when I got back, the notebook was pretty heated up. Everything was working still, though. But after that time, I'm having big performance issues running games. Windows seem to be working just fine, but games are stuttering and the sound is braking so I'm not sure whether the graphics card bought it (the FX3700M; there are no artifacts, though) or the chipset. Anybody had a similar problem?

 

I've noticed a bit of slowdown too in the last few days. I'm running win 7 x64 and did a few updates lately, I suspected they where the culprit maybe not though. Might do a system restore to see if it helps.

 

I tried both WinXP and Win7 64 and it's the same problem - heavy stuttering connected with a loss of sound. The thing is, I haven't played anything on this thing for the last couple of months (only use it on business trips), but I suspect this latest incident with the screen heating up the laptop might have burned something.

Now, the real problem is that I'm not from the States (the laptop is, though) so I really don't know what to do and where to take it. I'd rather not take it to some iffy local distributors who don't even have the M6400 on offer and have it returned scratched with the note that it's working or something. If it's the problem only in CPU or the GPU, it would be much easier to order a spare and fix it myself (I've been looking for a reason to exchange the FX3700M to M7740, anyway ), but I need some ideas how to determine that.

Edit: OK, I did a quick test and the problem seems to be in GPU throttling due to overheating? The temperatures seem to hit 75+ Celsius and then the GPU frequency starts throttling down (until that point the game ran normally). The fan speed doesn't change, though, but it's on relatively high speed in desktop although the CPU is at 1.6 and GPU down to 200 MHz. I'll check if I can blow out the dust somehow and see if that helps, but the GPU is heating up too fast. I wonder why the fan speed doesn't throttle up with the temps?

 

Hi

Which Graphics Driver you are running currently on this machine?
Try to use the latest Dell Drivers or the latest reference Drivers from Nvidia.

Runnning the latest BIOS for the M6400?

Dust could be a problem, exspecially when it blocks the airflow in the heatsinks or colling fins.

I don't think something was burned.

Regards
Christopher

 

I did try the latest Nvidia drivers as well as the latest Drivers from the Dell page. BIOS is A09 which should be the latest one.

So, since the GPU heats up rather fast in 3D applications and then starts throttling (I notice the GPU frequency starts dropping when the GPU-Z reports the temps of around 75 degrees C), I conclude that either there is something wrong with the GPU cooling (like dust clogging or maybe the fan died because I don't notice fan speed revs going up for some reason) or the overheat of the entire laptop caused some damage to the graphics card circuits which handle the fan and throttling (I remember reading in the first thread that some people had to exchange the GPU because of similar performance problems).

I guess this rapid throttling causes the sound cutouts in games because I noticed earlier that the GPU might sometimes throttle up in the Windows to 550 MHz and when it throttles back down, a slight crack in the MP3 audio output can be heard. The normal operation until the GPU throttling starts probably means that the CPU, the chipset and the mainboard are most probably OK.

I think I still have some compressed air in a can so I'll see if that might help dust out the GPU cooling. I'm on a business trip so I'd rather not disassemble the whole laptop if I can't change the thermal paste while I'm at it.

If that doesn't help, maybe it's time to get a hold of the M7740 (I prefer ATI cards). I just hope one will pop out on eBay soon.

 

do not use compressed air cans on your fan the speed at which compressed air comes out of the can burn a fan out, ive done this in the past with a my desktop, its better if you open it up and use cotton swabs to wipe away as much as you can and just blow on it as much as you can, to clean it up, also did you restart your computer after closing the lid for 2 1/2" hours, I set my computer to go to sleep mode and even after returning and bringing it out of sleep mode i always have some issues either with connection to the network being lost or a loss of performance running games and applications. I usually have to restart it to get it back to normal

 

It's one thing cleaning up the desktop and another cleaning up the laptop. And yes, if I tried games in both WinXP and Win7, I most definitely restarted my computer since. It's overheating for some reason.

Edit: I am stunned. Stunned at my stupidity. I put out a good effort of blowing some air at the back openings from the outside (I guess the notebook's full of dust now) and I also used a little compressed air in short bursts. I didn't see much of the dust coming out, but it seems to have done the trick. Now the desktop fan speed is back to quiet again. It must have been clogged in the back or something. What's interesting is that I already did that (not so much effort, though) few weeks ago and it had no effect so it's pretty weird. Bizarre. But how will I justify investing into an M7740 now?

 

On my M6400, every once in a while, the playback sound of movies and videos stops working properly. It plays in fits and starts. It works for a few seconds, then it goes mute, and then the sound stops again. All along the image is playing fine.

I've discovered that the only way to fix this is to reinstall the IDT Audio driver. I am running W 7 64.

After I reinstall the driver the IDT configuration panel for the headphones and other integrated sound device comes up on the screen, in what seems to be a malfunctioning program. The IDT configuration screen flashes, changes automatically, and the computer almost stalls. As soon as I configure the driver to not monitor devices all is well.

Two questions, is there a way to avoid having to reinstall the driver every time?

Second, are other users experiencing this problem with the installation of the IDT driver?

Thanks,


Antonio

 

hi to everybody!
I'm trying to find a solution for problems some users with the 8730w have with quadro 3700m and gaming in general.
Given that I've read that some dell m6400 with quadro 3700m have or have had problems with games I'm posting a link to a long post (sorry) I put on the 8730w lounge to try to find a solution for these problems.
if everyone with working well or not working well quadro 3700m card is willing to make some tests I'd really appreciate
go to post 808 and that's my post.
thanks to everybody in advance
ps: 2700m cards are not involved in this as far as I know