Latitude E6400 Owner's Lounge

I think you are right. When I originally got my E6400 I tried setting up the fingerprint reader but it wouldn't play ball (buggy software) and I have never got round to trying again.

John

 

Hi,

I need win2000 because I work with Siemens Automation Systems, and there are older machines which I only can programing it with WIN2000. So there are Siemens Softwares which I can only use under this op.system. I know how Virtual PC works, but it help not. What I want to use under WIN2000 is the PCMCI port, RS-232 port, USB and LAN. All others like Wifi, Bluetooth are not so important. So is there a posibility that when I install WIN2000 it can automaticaly identify this ports?

Best regards, Akos

 

That is something I don't know. Well if you are talking about drivers, then that would depend on the system. Usually it goes this way: if the hardware is older then the OS and widely used then the driver should be included in the OS. Of course, they are exceptions. In this case, the laptop is significantly newer so you will need to install drivers. Now technically speaking, Windows XP and Windows 2000 are near identical OS (much closer than Vista and Win7 separation, and Win95 and win98), so XP drivers should work under Windows 2000. However, if teh driver has an OS detection and will install under XP.. then there is nothing, I think, that you can do.


This is something you have to see.

 

Norton 360 does a good job of it.

 

Originally Posted by dakicka
Finally, I let the default settings stand for system standby bs. hibernation or sleep. is that the best way to go? and what about selecting a power management profile--- home/office, dell maximum battery life, etc.. do you guys change this manually when you unplug from A/C power and then re-change when going back on A/C power?

""I normally use a slightly customised version of one of the Dell ControlPoint power profiles which is basically performance on demand CPU speed and drops the display brightness to a couple of steps above minimum. Dell ControlPoint also has various features for extending battery life. ""


Quote:
Originally Posted by dakicka
3. For the USB power question, I went into device manager and unchecked the "allow the computer to turn off this device to save power"
i did it for all 8 instances of "USB Root Hub"
Is that the right thing to do? Also, why is there 8 duplicates being shown, not sure how that works. FInally, by unselecting save power, will this hurt my battery life when using the laptop? Or is this for power saving in form of energy saving when I'm not using the computer? Can the USB device charge whether I'm plugged into A/C power or not, or is it only when plugged in? thanks.

""The chipset has lots of USB hubs. Some of the internal components (eg webcam) use the USB interface. You are allowing the system to shut those parts down if they aren't busy.""


""If you choose the right option in the BIOS then you can use the USB charging port even when running on battery. You have to select how much you will let the port drain the battery before it shuts down.""



OK, So how do I make these changes in the BIOS, what exactly do I need to do to enable USB charging when my lid is shut and the AC/power is plugged in? Also want it enabled when computer is in standby/sleep/etc. but plugged in. I don't know much about BIOS so need some guidance.

My laptop is P8600 and intel graphics card so not a T and not an NVidia card, so I'm guessing something may be up with the battery if it's draining that quickly?

Can you or anyone else further explain good ideas for settings for when running on battery and maximizing the battery life when still using the internet? I know turning off WIFI helps, but if I want to be on the net, I can't do that... Other then dimming the display down a lot, what can I do in the settings... What would I do in Dell Control Point? (DCP)... Also, do you use the system tray icon of the battery by right clicking and altering settings in there or no?

 

@dakicka, please use the quote tag.
"[ quote] bla bla [/ quote] (remove the spaces)

 

I'll join you guys in a few weeks when I get my machine. Got this refurb from Dell Outlet for $680 after my T60 went broke. Hopefully it'll work like new!

Latitude E6400 Laptop: Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 (2.40GHz, 3M L2 Cache, 1066MHz FSB) Genuine Windows Vista Business
NVIDIA Quadro NVS 160M With PC-Card
4 GB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz (2 DIMMs)
9 Cell Primary Battery
8X DVD ± RW w/dbl layer write capability
80 GB Free Fall Sensor Hard Drive (7200RPM)
Integrated Webcam with digital microphone
Intel WiFi Link 5100 802.11a/g/n Draft Mini Card
Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth Module
WXGA LED

 

See the attached photo of the relevant part of the BIOS. Press F2 or F12 at the BIOS screen to enter the BIOS setup then tick the box to enable PowerShare and choose the maximum depletion of battery. Remember to unplug / replug the connected device when you turn the computer off.

The we should be able to get the power consumption down below what you are getting now.

Explore the power management settings in Dell ControlPoint. However, if you are on the internet then use Firefox + Flashblock. Flash can use a lot of power and is bad news for batteries.

John

PS: This thread is a little old but contains some good guidance on power trouble-shooting.

 

thanks a bunch as always john for your insight and expert assistance.

 

My e6400 arrived! It's a refurb from the outlet.
I'm really happy with it, only played around with it for two hours.
I have some questions though.
question one: in my device manager I notice under smart card readers it lists USB Smart Card Reader.. I also have this icon on the palm rest of the laptop that makes me think I might have a contactless smart card reader.. which wasn't listed in the specs.. here's a pic of the icon on the palm rest
question two: my specs list a 56k modem and in device manager it shows a modem.. but on the back of the laptop there's a plastic cover on the modem port with a picture of a modem with a slash through it.. I tried to pull it out because I thought maybe it was just protecting the port but it won't come out.. what the hell does this mean? they installed a modem but forgot to open the place to plug it in? here's a pic
three: why won't the nvidia notebook display drivers from nvidia.com install? I had to get the updated drivers from dell.. I was happy that the new dell drivers enable hardware accel of h.264 in Media Player Classic Home Cinema.
I get some audio crackles once in a while.. I think I read that the newer audio drivers fix this?