Precision M6400 Owner's Lounge *Part 2*

That's unexpected. Any particular reason why you don't flash the BIOS to the latest version?

 

In fact I tried the latest BIOS (A11) and the earliest (A01) and it doesn't change anything, the non-covet still insists the covet battery is not a Dell battery. I have two covet batteries that do this. The covet battery will actually power the non-covet M6400 but it refuses to charge it. In fact when I flashed the BIOS it accepted the battery, i.e. I didn't have to use the /forceit flag to flash without a battery. The type of the battery C565C is the same for covet or non-covet; only the Dell part numbers DP/N differs. It apears that the only difference is their casing color, so it is quite bizarre that they are not interchangeable. Presumably some folks do have both covet and non-covet M6400s and would like to share batteries. If Dell's BIOS explicitly forbids this in order to sell more batteries then that it quite user unfriendly.

 

Ugh sorry. Wanted the E6400 language. Dyslexic? Ha.

 

The RN-MSATA adapter came today; it is a pretty slick design.
I tested the adapter + Intel 310 in a BlacX sata dock; Windows recognized that just fine, so the 310 drive is functional. That makes me think it is a problem with my revision of the M6400. So my Intel 310 isn't a total loss; it will work well in another machine, just not my M6400.

So - anybody who has made an Intel 310 work on an M6400, please share. I'd love to hear how you did it.

p.s. In the "Trying Too Hard" Department:
I saw something in the M6400 documentation about "replacing a card cage" which I thought looked interesting; so after peeling back several layers of the machine (and learning it was made by our friends at Foxcon), I found that by "card cage" the documentation author really meant "PCMCIA card cage." *shrug* Not very helpful for anything msata related

 

Still sounds weird considering there are no separate BIOS files for Covet and the regular one. The Dell P/N should be just for ordering purposes since the color is different. It's quite a long shot, but sometimes I get a battery not charging problem in Windows 7 with my M6400 so I have to play a few times with the Fn+F2/F3 combinations till it restarts. But it takes me a few tries for it to start working, like you have to press the don't-charge combination, then wait a few minutes, then press the charge combination and wait again before it starts working. Perhaps it could be a similar problem at your end.

It would be very helpful (as you said) if someone who has access to both laptops could try to switch the batteries and see what happens.

 

10characters

also the M6400 and M4600 have far too similar model numbers

Twice now I have posted my purchase in the wrong damn thread! I got it right the first time!

 

Thinking of buying a 6400 but it has a rubbish screen. Is there a list anywhere of panels that I can replace it with (if, indeed, it is possible to straight swap a 1400x900 panel for a 1920x1200 panel; I would assume so??). Would it need a new lid, too?

 

You could call Dell and ask them for an RGB-LED backlighted display. The quality of that screen is amazing! As far as whether you need a new lid assembly or not, the best I can suggest is to ask Dell; if you want the edge-to-edge screen, then yes you will need a new assembly. If not, you may not but your Dell rep should be able to answer the question.

I have a question: what is the newest video card I can install in the M6400? I was about to purchase an FX3700M as an upgrade from my FX2700M, but I noticed feeBay sellers listing M6500 video cards as compatible. If the M6500 cards are indeed compatible, which are the top two performing cards I can run in my M6400?

The problem is I like to play Minecraft, and the Dell-supplied drivers are slow. If I install NVIDIA-supplied quadro drivers, or hacked 9700GT drivers, the driver performance is incredibly fast, but then I lose DisplayPort/HDMI audio support, so I am constantly playing musical drivers. Lightroom would also respond better to a faster video card.

Any suggestion on the best video card support?

 

Dear users,

I have problem with getting HDMI or DVI throught DP (display port) on M6400 notebook (GFX: Nvidia FX3700m).

On notebook is only VGA working. Any DisplayPort adapters to HDMI or DVI not works. (true DisplayPort connection not tested - does not have proper cable and monitor)

On connected E-Port Plus dock:

VIDEO 1 - full works DVI connector and DisplayPort (I can use cable adapter for DVI or HDMI - tested)

But VIDEO 2 is capable to output only VGA or DVI, If I plug cable adapter for DVI or HDMI, it will not work. Same as notebook

On M6400 the Display Port connecot has only logo "DP" not "DP++" as both icon for VIDEO1 and VIDEO2 on E-Port Plus dock

Are anyone here which uses both VIDEO1 and VIDEO2 channels to HDMI without problems ?

Regards

Radim

 

Hey all....

Ive been running a m6400 for a while now mostly for graphics.. im now using it for video and vj-ing.

I recently upgraded the ram from 4gig [2x2] to 12 gig - adding 2x4 to the spare slots. I was wondering if i would be better off putting the two larger sticks in the first two slots,, reason being that [presumably] the computer uses the first two slots first so if they had the larger sticks in them then it would be spreading its data over fewer sticks thereby reducing the amount of steps and possibility of data loss etc. I'm trying to minimise the number of crashes in my vj software when playing live..

Hope ive explained this well enough!

cheers
jim