Latitude E6400 Video Card Issue with HD Video Playback

I'm having a nightmare of an issue. I've had my Dell Latitude E6400 for almost 3 years and it's been the BEST computer purchase I've ever bought. It is fully loaded with everything... except a stand-a-lone video card. I never thought much about it because I don't play games, but now I am in the process of doing small edits of HD Video (it is transferred in from my Sony HD Camcorder which put the video in AVCHD Format) then it is loaded up to this software called PMB which is basically a media player that works with these big files. From there I view the HD Videos, delete ones I don't want anymore and then drag over files over to Sony Vegas to slice them up and then save so I can publish to my YouTube page.

Well the problem I've been having is that when attempting to view the videos whether in the PMB media player, or edit in Sony Vegas, or just play the HD videos in general- after a certain amount of time I get a blue screen (no white text - just blue) and then I have to manually shut down my laptop. I notice when playing HD video that my CPU resources go from about 8% idle to all the way up to 65-75% constantly while playing videos and even spikes up to 85% sometimes! The fan then comes on and sooner or later I will get the blue screen. It also appears the system heats up quickly with the fan and then I get the blue screen. Also, I did a test with non-HD video, and played continuously for 6 hours with WMV formatted videos versus the AVCHD big HD files and it worked fine, and took up about 1/4 of the system resources. But I can't wait HD videos for more than about 30 minutes or else I get the blue screen.

So after countless hours on the phone with Sony support they've come to the conclusion that my video card is not sufficient. We also confirmed that there are no driver issues and all the Dell drivers are up to date for video and chipset.

It seems like possibly because I have the Intel integrated graphics w/ express card it may not be sufficient to handle HD video? Could this be the case? I know I probably can't just go get another video card since I believe this is the integrated Intel chipset which is part of the motherboard.

Any advice would be MUCH appreciated!

Here are my system specs:

Dell Latitude E6400
Windows XP Pro SP3
Intel Core 2 Duo
P8600 @ 2.40GHz
2.39 GHz, 3.45 GB (4 actual) of Ram

 

I wonder what would happen if you put another big load on the system, like Prime95, to see if system loading/heating is causing a component to fall over and crash the system. The system crashing vs. just not having enough umph to process the video suggests a hardware fault to me.

GK

 

OK Here's the deal. Dell also confirmed they believe it is a video card issue. Great! Ugh this is so frustrating because my laptop is top-notch and I love this thing but unfortunately I fouled up when purchasing 2 years ago by going with the Intel integrated video card vs. doing the NVidia card!

Can anyone recommend some options for me i.e. can I do something to get THIS laptop up to par with being able to play/edit HD video? Or do I really need to buy another system? What video card would I need to be more than powerful enough to handle editing of HD videos? Also any thoughts on the E6400 vs. E6410 vs. E4310?

 

You could swap out the motherboard for the Nvidia one if you want, E6400 parts are pretty cheap these days. Or if you don't want the hassle, look in the Outlet for a E6410 with the Quadro graphics.

 

It sounds like we are on the same page- At first glance I was thinking of that, then started looking at the prices and I think it's 250-300 for a motherboard. I probably could just sell this beautiful laptop for 400 on Craigslist and then buy a brand new machine for 700-800 on Dell Outlet fully loaded. I'm bummed because I only paid $620 for my machine (see specs in my signature) and this was 2 years ago. Now the prices same to be same or even more than what I paid ahhh.

I just hate the idea of having to migrate all the files/hard drive over to a new machine- I've never been good with that. I have this baby set how I like it and it pains me to think about having to start over again haha. If possible, I'd love to find a solution to be able to use my laptop and then just get the HD video to be able to play and edit without issue.

Also, with the 6400, 6410 and 4310, any thoughts? (I did read John's review on 6400 vs. 6410 which is very helpful). I see some of the laptops like the 4310 comes with a video card called Intel Graphics Media Accelerator HD Card and then some of the 6400 have an NVidia card and others just the base line intel integrated that I have. On the E6400's they have an option for: 512MB NVIDIA NVS 3100M. Thoughts anyone? What would I need to have NO issues whatsoever when editing HD video and being a power user for Microsoft Office, Outlook, Multiple Browsers open, Skype, a couple word docs, and also video editing? I know the machine I have now is souped out EXCEPT the video card : ( When I edit video- it's not often, only once or twice a month for maybe 3 hours each time but I need something that won't crash me or cause system to over heat. What NVidia cards would be best? Would the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator HD card work? Also if I've been accustomed to Windows XP Pro for the last 7 years, what would be the best transition... Windows 7 Pro? Or can I stay with XP Pro? i.e. what benefit to go to W7?

If there are ANY other options besides buying a new system please please advise! And if motherboard with a good video card is a decent idea, please let me know how to go about doing it? I'd assume from Dell it's expensive but come with warranties? Can I buy it somewhere else and be relatively ok without worry? I am going to stick with Dell for life and love their support/warranty/quality, but now just need a suitable option that will allow me to continue in this 'video era' especially with HD.

 

First, backup your user data files.

Could it be your 'software tools running on XP'? The E6400 is a 64-bit platform and should be running Win7 Pro x64, imo.

The MB includes the 'video card', so you would be shopping for a MB with the nVidia GPU (not the default Intel GPU) with the express card slot or the PCMCIA card slot option, depending on which card slot you have now. Then you would need to remove your existing video driver, install the new MB, hope! the new MB system boots with no issues, install the new video driver, and hope the upgrade fixes your HD video issue running on XP. If you still have video problems, the next step would be to re-image the system with Win7 x64 for ~$140. If still no joy, you could sell the system at a loss or hand it down and buy a higher-end current system for video editing.

Or, you could install Win7 x64 first to make a good system current and to see if by chance the HD video issue is resolved under the new OS, video driver, and hardware/software configuration/utilization. If still no joy, you could buy the new MB, or sell the system at less loss or hand it down and buy a higher-end current system for video editing.

Or, you could sell the system or hand it down, and buy a higher-end current system for video editing.

Given you want to do video editing, I would find a stronger system (desktop?) or buy a current notebook for this and opt for the video GPU upgrade. You actually have a good excuse to buy a new notebook, imo. Any perceived loss will be an investment in your future use of a capable system, not spent on experiments and sidegrades to a 3 year old notebook now being eclipsed by the E6420 and E6520.

GK

 

The E6400's GPU includes support for H.264 decoding but perhaps the Sony video is not encoded that way.

The fact that it takes some time for the problem to appear has me wondering if the CPU or Northbridge is overheating. Try monitoring the temperature using HWiNFO32 and see if it works it way up to the danger zone (you can also monitor the fan speed as well as other sensors). I recall that the heatsink is connected to the northbridge using a thermal pad which isn't the ideal arrangement and sometimes Dell's workmanship with thermal paste application leaves scope for improvement. If you are getting very high temperatures then you could ask Dell to do some work on the cooling system (but first make sure that there is no fluff blocking the airflow).

Let's understand the problem better before moving on to hardware upgrading.

John

 

John Ratsey, I just did a logging event and not sure if that is what you needed but I had HWiNFO open and monitors what was going on as I opened Sony Vegas and PMB Browser and played videos and when the applications were open but not playing videos the CPU was more or less idling, but once videos started playing I noticed the CPU #1 temp constantly at the max temp of 150+ degrees Fahrenheit and CPU #2 right around 145+ Fahrenheit. The limits showed a minimum of 120 and max of 150. Is this what you needed? Here is a copy and paste of the CSV report generated with about 5 minutes of usage from IDLE- no apps open, to opening 1 software at a time, to playing back video on 1, and then playing back on both, and then the last minute is nothing opened except outlook and excel with no issues noticed in temp...

I'm sorry I'm copying and pasting this. Could not figure out how to add as attachment. Hopefully someone can edit this post and include it with less room taken up. PS to answer your question: H.264 that should be the equivalent of AVCHD (I believe it is the same deal) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVCHD


10.02.2011 12:54:03 CPU Digital Thermal Sensor CPU#0 Core0 134.6 °F
10.02.2011 12:54:03 CPU Digital Thermal Sensor CPU#0 Core1 138.2 °F
10.02.2011 12:54:03 DELL EC CPU 143.6 °F
10.02.2011 12:54:03 DELL EC DIMM 122.0 °F
10.02.2011 12:54:03 DELL EC Auxiliary 120.2 °F
10.02.2011 12:54:03 DELL EC Chipset 120.2 °F
10.02.2011 12:54:03 DELL EC Temp5 120.2 °F
10.02.2011 12:54:03 DELL EC CPU 3624 RPM
10.02.2011 12:54:03 Intel (G)MCH GMCH Temp1 134.2 °F
10.02.2011 12:54:03 Intel (G)MCH GMCH Temp2 105.2 °F
10.02.2011 12:54:03 S.M.A.R.T. Hitachi HTS543216L9A300 [081124FB2200LCFUYM7B] 102.2 °F
10.02.2011 12:54:03 Battery Battery Voltage 12.358 V
10.02.2011 12:54:03 Battery Current Capacity 57.720 Wh
10.02.2011 12:54:03 Battery Current Capacity 100.00%

 

OK. I've attached the log file to this post. (Look for the paper clip icon) I see nothing dangerous.

Can you run the computer until it crashes with the logging enabled then only post the last couple of minutes of data?

John

PS: You can also disable some of the sensors- we don't need the battery info.

 

your problem is with heat. I experienced similar issues with my E4300 lately.

Even during regular DVD/netflix playback, after a few minutes the system would start to stutter, then eventually hang/crash.

The problem is the contact between the cpu/heatsink and gpu/chipset/heatsink.

The heatsink compound dell uses degrades after about 1.5 years.

you need to open up your machine (you can find service manual on dell's support site with step by step instructions and pictures)

remove the heatsink. use a good quality rubbing alcohol (70% or higher) to clean off the cpu, gpu/chipset and heatsink. get that dried grey compound off the cpu and the heatsink, and get the dried up rubbery thing off the gpu/chipset and heatsink.

Next once everything is clean, apply a layer of a good thermal compound. I used artic silver 5. do this on the cpu and the gpu/chipset.
reinstall the heatsink.

while you have the computer open, take a can of compressed air and blow out all the dust stuck in the fan/heatsink.

Once I did this, my cpu temps at idle were reduced by 15 degrees C, and gpu/chipset temps were reduced by 13 degrees C.

under load, cpu temps were 20 degree C lower and gpu/chipset were 17 degrees C lower.

I don't have any more stuttering or hangs/crashes.