Latitude E6400 Owner's Lounge

I just received my latitude e6400, and it worked fine first. Then I went into the BIOS, and changed a few settings (basically I enabled TPM and all Intel virtualiziation related options), and after that, the system does not boot anymore. The progress bar while the hardware/BIOS is initializing progresses very slowly, and in the end it does not go further than the BIOS copyright message about the Intel Matrix Storage chip. Then it just hangs.

Trying to re-enter the BIOS by pressing F12, it reboots completely after the Intel Matrix Storage message, without the boot menu appearing. So I cannot boot a rescue cd either.

Any idea what could be wrong and what I could do to diagnose/fix this further?

 

Answering myself: it seems the trick is to get in the BIOS by pressing F2. Unfortunately, this key is not mentioned on the BIOS screen itself AFAIK.

 

Not being able to enter the BIOS is inconvenient! However, I have noticed that pressing F12 sometimes brings up different menus. I kept getting a RAID menu which wasn't what I wanted.

My only thought is to try to reset the CMOS data. Remove the mains power, remove the battery, remove the base and see if it is possible to disconnect what looks like a battery (covered in blue plastic) next to the fan. Wait a few minutes then reconnect etc and try again.

John

 

The user guide only mentions F12 but I thought there was another key for direct entry to the BIOS. I was searching for it yesterday, without success.

John

 

So I got my E6400 yesterday. Following specs:
P8600 2,4 GHz, 160GB 5400RPM HDD, 4 GB RAM, Vista Bussiness (32-bit), Intel X4500 graphics.

Overall I think it is a very nice notebook, with a solid feel, nice keyboard, nice screen (I have the Samsung screen which I do not understand why people complain so much about. Much better than other screens I have had, also better than my previous xps m1330 LED screen). And my trackpoint seems to work fine.

The battery is somewhat loose, but it's not a major problem. The touchpad is disappointing. I don't mind it being small, but the response is poor.

Regarding the fan: When I turn on the computer, it runs for about half an hour before the fan kicks in (with normal browsing and brightness at 80%). In this time the notebook is very quiet. Then the fan kicks in (It is not very loud, but definitely noticable) and checking HWmonitor the temps drops quite fast (within some minutes) down to the initial temps (around 25 celcius for the CPUs and below 30 celcius for both GPU and HDD. However, the fan just keeps running (as John also commented in his review), for a long time (haven't had time to check how long yet). This is quite annoying, especially since it is not necessary!!!

Another thing, I ordered with 4GB RAM, I know that in 32 bit it can only use 3, but if I go to system information through dell control point it says that it has 4GB, 3 point something effective, and only 2,18 available. How come so little available? then whats the point of buying more than 2GB!?

A last thing, the dell controlpoint is a thing I don't understand. I don't use it at all (at least I think). I don't use the extended battery function, and don't even know if I will use the security part even though I have a fingerprint reader (thought I could use it for email, etc. as with any other notebooks). But DCP seems to take up a lot of ressources looking in task manager.

I haven't yet checked the extern sound and the DVD burner.

 

I find the touchpad OK. Perhaps you need to adjust the settings. I have the speed set at about 75%.

I don't recall when I last heard my fan run on full speed. Do you normally fully load the CPU for several minutes? I've have just run the wPrime 1024M test and and the fan never went to fast speed (ambient temperature 22C). One CPU core reached 55C and the other 65C (according to RMClock and HWmonitor 1.11). What is your CPU 9x voltage (mine is 1.1375V but I normally run at 1.05V - the above test used 1.1375V)? HWMonitor shows THM_ peaked at 71C.

Did you upgrade the BIOS to A05? It seems to have improved the keyboard and maybe Dell has also changed the fan operating rules.

The RAM available is probably what is not in use by Windows / programs.

I agree that Dell ControlPoint is a resource hog, but I haven't gone as far as to banish it.

John

 

Thanks for your reply.
I haven't stressed my computer yet, only surfed, etc. (cpu usage below 10%). My fan hasn't gone to full speed, only low speed. But I don't understand why it does that when the temps are (according to HWmonitor 1.11) in the thirties with peak around 49 for the CPU and about the same for the others as well as I remember it. And then it stays on for a while even though the temps drops to room temperature (just below 25 degrees).

Oh and is it normal that the ram usage is around 30% when iddleing (with cpu usage around 3-5%)?

I don't know about my CPU 9x voltage. What does that mean (you say you normally run at 1.05? and how do I check it?

Oh and yes, I have upgraded the BIOS to A05



But does your fan go into low speed after a while (30 minutes or so) if browsing or typing in word, and stay there a long time?

Regarding my touchpad, then it might be that I just have to get used to it. I have increased sensitivity and speed. I might try to increase sensitivity a bit more, I hope that will make it more responsive.

 

I get fan activity even when the computer is idle, but it is so quiet that I have to listen carefully to know if it is on or off. I attach Mobilemeter's plot of my THM_ temperature for the past hour or so. It is far better than for my previous notebook (Zepto 6024W) where a few seconds of CPU activity would start the relatively noisy fan which would then stop after a few seconds. I think Dell have deliberately put a big time lag on the fan operation in order to reduce the number of temperature fluctuations (which is what kills the nVidia GPUs). All that metal in the heatsink also provides thermal ballast (and extra carrying weight).

RAM usage depends on the applications open. Look at the Mem Usage column in processes tab in Task Manager.

You can run RMClock to see the CPU voltage.

John

 

I was considering to use that FanControl program, not for controlling the fans, but as I remember, it has a "reset fans" function, which could be used when the fan has run for a bit and is down in initial temps. However, I would have hoped that Dell could distinguish between the NVidia and Intel GPU regarding the fancontrol.

But yes, the fan is not nearly as disturbing as my 4 year old Zepto 4050.


By the way, on page 2 of the review it is not possible to enlargen the images for some reason (works fine on page 1)

 

1. I also hope that a future BIOS update will further refine the operating rules to distinguish between the GPUs. However, there are bigger things to fix (like my E6400's propensity for throttling itself).

2. Thanks for pointing out that the large images in E6400 review part 2 are still not working. I alerted the admin to this a couple of weeks ago. I'll chase them again.

John