Dell M4500

Hello, just received a 4500 (Intel i7, 1.73GHz, 8GB RAM) and have a couple of questions:

1) when connected to a projector (in duplicate mode), the laptop's screen resolution is way off while the big (projector) screen image is perfect. I tried all kinds of settings, but am unable to correct it.

2) while working the screen changes brightness by itself.....why?

3) the main concern - during 'heavy' browsing in IE or Mozilla the laptop freezes requiring a power button hold/power off. (not blue screen, but a hard crash with mouse pointer freezing)

thanks for the help

 

1. When in duplicate mode, the resolution has to be set to one that both monitors can display. Chances are, the limiting factor here would be the projector, which is why the laptop's screen is low resolution.

2. Make sure the ambient light sensor is disabled. You can do this in three ways: change it in the BIOS, change it in Dell ControlPoint System Manager, or press Fn+Left Arrow (which has an AUTO icon on it).

3. How much memory is in use when that happens? Open a Task Manager while browsing and keep an eye on it. Does this freezing happen elsewhere?

 

Hello.

If the Ambient Light Sensor feature is enabled for the display, the system will adjust the screen brightness to compensate for changes in ambient lighting. The ALS sensor is located at the top of the lid (when open), near the web cam. If the level of ambient light changes or the sensor is partially blocked, the screen brightness will be adjusted. Generally, this works well, although when running on DCP, occasionally the brightness will change for no apparent reason. ALS is configured in BIOS or in DCP or with the Fn keys.

Screen brightness can also be set at different levels for each power scheme and/or AC versus battery.

If the unit frequently freezes up such that removal of power (holding down the power switch) is required to regain control, most likely the root cause is a hardware defect (e.g. RAM, hard disk, CPU, GPU, chipset).

You could have Dell repair the laptop. Repair might require multiple attempts and might involve reconditioned components. If it were mine, I would call Dell and arrange to return the laptop for another. Since it is defective, Dell should pay for return shipping.

Good luck.

 

Hello,

We bought 20 x M4500 8GB RAM windows 7 ent 64bit.
we expericing lots of freezes while laptop is in docking station with dual displayes, login after screen saver, usual working - the mouse cursor is stuck and the only way out is to push the on / off button to power of the laptop.
it seems like the laptops are working while freez since you can RDP and you can find events in the event viewer.
Please help,
Thank you,
nadze01

 

Make sure that you are running the latest BIOS. The BIOS updates include various fixes including:

A04
1. Fixed intermittent warm reboot hang issue.
2. Fixed BSOD during boot with 8GB of RAM and the latest Intel processors.

A05
1. Added Hyperthreading Enable/Disable Bios Setup Option.
2. Added password option for SATA Minicard in BIOS setup.
3. Fixed booting to a CD using HDD emulation.
4. Fixed booting to the Dell Diag CD.
5. Fixed issue where the TouchPad sometimes does not work after hot docking.
6. Fixed intermittent issue with distorted audio and erratic mouse behavior.
7. Fixed issue where Bluetooth could be disabled after a reboot.
8. Fixed issue where an external monitor would not display when booting docked with the LCD Lid Closed.

John