Precision M6400 Owner's Lounge *Part 2*

Anyone know if there are problems using intel 6300 wifi with the m6400?

 

Has anyone had issues playing HD video content using the FX2700M in the M6400?

I get stutter in the video feed (audio is fine) under both Windows 7 and Windows 8 with 320.XX drivers from NVIDIA.

Dell official drivers for W7 are no different.

The graphics card has HD video decode capability (Pure Video) and presumably more than enough power to play the content.

I've tried VLC, WMP and Mplayer Classic. All the same results. I've tried using GPU decode options or other outputs such as D3D with no change.

Test video (4k youtube clip) which happens to play just fine on my less-spec'd Latitude e6400 with (P8700/NVS160M).

Barcelona in 4K resolution - Barcelona en 4K video - YouTube


M6400 Spec: P8800, FX2700M 512MB, Win7-64, Win8-64 (Dual Boot), 8GB RAM, 2 x Intel G2 SSD's in Raid 0. Software: No Dell software, Latest Intel RST driver, Latest NVIDIA drivers, Latest Intel Chipset driver. All other drivers are WHQL from Microsoft (audio, Wifi, peripherals etc.).

Any help is appreciated, this thing is awesome machine, but it's inability to play HD video is not acceptable!

Thanks!

 

This thread is old but my 0.02 dollars... So I copped one on ebay for 350... T9600, 4GB (upgraded to 16gb), FX2700m (upgraded to M7740), 2x 250gb 5400rpm hd.... I never knew changing the video card was a task... what an evening that was... anyway I don't know how many of you made mention of the optical bay being able to do a third hard drive... using one of those adapter thingy.... I popped in a 500gb hard drive... it worked I mean no raid 5 but hey... I can put a ssd in ther (OS) and raid 1 two 1tb in the original slots for storage....


The Azure Wave NU706H b/g/n mini card which is for 5 bucks on ebay works like a charm... I will continue to post whatever works.... even though this thread is way old....

 

I installed an M7820 in my laptop, but have a strange problem. Apart from the BIOS screen not showing, I have a fan problem. Whenever the fan starts running, it does so intermittently, going on/off every second. Anyone else had a similar fan problem? The Windows load just fine.

Not sure if the problem was initially caused by me also changing the CPU fan with some Sunon which seems differently rated from the old one (0.38A vs 0.5A), but now I've put the FX-3700M back and still have that problem. I must have taken it apart 5 times already today, the screw heads are starting to wear off.. Frustrating..

Any ideas how to solve the fans issue? Can I reset CMOS somehow (not the load defaults in bios)?

 

I had no fan issues when I put my M7820 in. Did you try putting the original CPU fan back instead? use "fn-shift 15324" to activate the Dell thermal interface. That will allow you to see if the sensor is doing something weird. Once in thermal mode you will see num lock and scroll lock flashing, press fn-R and fn-T to look at the two screens. Dell thermal mode will stay active until the next time you power off. My M6400 has been perfect. Really like it. Best of luck. I've had other laptops like an M4400 that was temperamental after fixing some things. I think I tore down and rebuilt that one 5 times too. no fun but you get pretty good at it.

There is a way to manipulate the fan settings but I hesitate to provide it. I think you have a hardware issue with the newer fan. This program is very very old and I found it a little flakey but it did look like it could manipulate BIOS fan settings on the M6400 and M4400 Dell Inspiron Inspiron/Latitude/Precision fan control

I prefer this to manipulate fan settings via the OS SpeedFan - Access temperature sensor in your computer

 

I know about the fan control thing - when I opened, it it shows both fans to be at 0 RPM, so there's smth wrong there. Speedfan also shows no fans in the system. Even with the original fans put back, the same thing is happening so I don't know if it's some fan control thing that got burned or whatever that's causing this.. Does anybody know how the fan speed is read and what could cause these 0 readings?

There was some weird thing happening while trying to flash A13 with the M7820 as it doesn't show the BIOS screen so I don't know what's happening. I guess another disassembly awaits..Too bad, I had zero issues before and did disassemble it a few times before to change the thermal paste and CPU fan.

EDIT: I did locate the battery on the bottom and left it disconnected through the night, this morning just reconnected it and connected some basic parts like keyboard and display and the fans seemed to be working OK. Had to go to work so I'll try to put the M7820 back in again and the new lower amperage fan. Perhaps it was some temporary glitch - was afraid I'd have to start searching for a motherboard on ebay.

 

OK, got it working now. The CMOS reset seems to got the fan circuits running again - I think I found the problem - the replacement Sunon CPU fan I got and connected has five wires, while the current one has only 4, so one of them (black) is connected to two pins, while the Sunon has a green wire, too. I guess this fan messed the fan controlling circuit somehow with this unexpected signal on this wire.

The M7820 is working fine now, although not so well in DCS World as I hoped as it seems to favor the Nvidia hardware.

 

Can anyone tell me what's the normal temperature for the chipset (maybe using Everest or Aida64)? Since I replaced the thermal pad with a copper shim, I have a feeling that it doesn't really sit well on the chip, so my chipset temps seem always high in idle compared to CPU and GPU temps (e.g. CPU 45, chipset 53, GPU 48, usually chipset is higher like 58 or 60 even, but it doesn't go over 63-65 in load).

I can't believe how cooler the M7820 seems to run compared to FX3700M - played Arma 3 for only about five minutes but still noticed how the fans barely increased in speed and temps were around 60.. It's definitely a keeper

Now, why am I still playing around with the M6400 when I have a new M6700 I can't say.. Somehow I prefer the M6400's keyboard and screen ratio even though the RGB screen is kinda bluish and lacking in contrast compared to the latter's IPS.. If the WD ever gets straight and finally releases those hybrid drives, I'll get two for RAID 0 in my M6700 and move the two 750 Scorpio Blacks to the M6400 to replace the older 320 units.. They still run, but I feel they're slowing the machine down somewhat.. Probably a part of that is that they're almost full.. In any case, I love the M6400 and don't feel like selling it for scrap or giving it away (except maybe to a very special girl, hope my wife doesn't read this ). I feel like I'd rather sell away the M6700 however much better it is. I guess the screen ratio bothers me every time I see it..

 

Resolved, I was using a 130w AC Adapter that DFS shipped to me in error. I contacted them and they sent me a 240w model which works perfectly and performance is back up to spec.

 

Sometimes, something as basic as that we oversight can come back and bite.