Latitude E6400 Owner's Lounge

I can get rid of the clicking sound now with "hdparm -B 255 hda", this will disable advanced power management of my 200gb Seagate Momenus 7200.2 HD (probably using more power/battery and maybe disabling free fall sensor). HD led still blinks though, but I can tolerate that. I have to do "hdparm -B 255 hda" after each restart, but have put it in my startup in Windows. In Vista make sure to do it with administrator rights or you'll get an access denied.

 

What do you tell the salesperson to get the Travel lite module for free? Any idea how much weight you save by leaving out the optical drive?

As for the battery, do you see any potential problems with getting the WRONG battery off ebay? Will it have to be E6400-specific, or will any 6-cell Dell battery do?

 

It must be the E6400 battery, or else it won't fit.

Just ask, I can't really explain negotiating. You won't save a ton of weight, the optical drive really doesn't weigh all that much.

Greg

 

Hi everyone

In an earlier post I asked for suggestions for a troublefree XP install for a new 6500. I am pleased to report the computer was not filled with bloatware and runs fine.

I am coming from a thinkpad which had a nonslippery surface and nonslip ribs on the bottom. The dell is very slippery. I might have to find some bathtub stickers to put on it!
Speakers suck more than the 5 year old IBM and the HD is a little whiney.

Overall very nice PC though. I like the keyboard lights and screen is fine. Still evaluating the rest.

Thanks Spiral

 

I'm just curious to know, why don't you call the dell support and get the hdd replaced? It would be weird if you solved the problem by disabling the free fall sensor which you paid more for anyway.

I've bought the e6400 with the idea of being able to call Dell (with warranty of course) when such things happen, instead of getting my hands dirty.

 

I'll agree about the speakers. I have the E6400 and the speakers are about as bad as I've ever heard on a laptop. Good thing for the headphone jack. LOL

 

I've heard much, much worse. Sony SZ, I5000e for example. These do fall behind my XPS m140 speakers in base, but are much more clear.

HDD is near-silent on mine.

Greg

 

I also agree that Dell could have provided some better grips on the base of the computer, but it is something one gets used to.

The HDD is fixed rigidly into the chassis which assists the propagation of unwanted noise. Maybe there was no space for any rubber mountings, or maybe they reckon that we will have all moved to SSDs well within the lifespan of the E series.

By the way, I had previously reported putting some small patches of electrical tape on the bottom part of the top display bezel to stop the bezel damaging the paint on the palm rest when the computer is closed. Ihave just tried to take an example photo and noticed that the bezel itself is getting marked right next to the latch. See the attached photo. I've put another patch of electrical tape there. The tape is not visible unless you look hard. Dell should have provided some little bumpers on the bezel. The bumpers at each of the back corners of the palm rest are not enough to stop the top display bezel and the palm rest from interacting.

John

 

I'll give this a try and see if it helps.

I had a crash last night while the computer was "sleeping". Apparently it tried to wake up for something ... then drained the battery until it was dead. Not good.

 

I'm nothing to do with Dell (or Samsung for that matter). Just an occasional customer who likes to understand how his computer works and keep it working for my own benefit. Then, when I have time, I like to share my knowledge.

BTW, I've just had a BSOD when trying to use the webcam. Dell need to do more work on the drivers.

John