Latitude E6510 Owner's Lounge

GK,
I decided to go through your post point by point and explain my choice of driver installs.

As best I can tell, I only need 3 of them,
although I should have loaded the freefall driver instead of the touchpad.

\
On my E6510, RAID was enabled by default.
That includes AHCI plus other features.

No
a. Dell says it's optional: "fixes 1) Yellow bang on SMBUS when fresh XP SP3 image is created on some Dell systems"
I'm running Win7. I saw no comment about other features.
b. The Ricoh driver is separate, and is for memory cards.
*** and PCMCIA cards. The one such card that I have isn't supported under Win7x64 at all ***
I have a USB memory card reader which works fine,
but I normally upload directly from my (low end Canon) camera over USB.
Maybe someday.

No
"Dell System Software is a utility that provides critical updates and patches for your operating system."
I use Windows Update.
Given that the video problems seem to have been caused by a
faulty conflicting Dell driver, there's no way I'm gonna let
Dell install anything automatically.

No but
The most recent Nvidia audio driver was installed
as part of the graphics driver package.
The internal speakers work fine.
I'll use a USB headset if necessary for input
and am considering a USB digital audio output for surround sound.

Yes but
installed most recent driver from Nvidia's site.
(Dell's is the previous version)

No:
According to Dell
"This driver can not be installed on Intel® Core™ i7-820QM
and i7-720QM CPU."
According to CPU-Z, the clock is varying
from x7 (931 MHz) when idle
to x21 (2.768 GHz) when runnning single threaded jobs
so TB is working fine.

No but
it was installed by Windows Update anyhow.
I disabled it: I use a WiFi service.

?? You didn't list a #9 ??

Yes

No but
a driver was installed with Win7
(I was slightly amused that Bluetooth was the only networking supported out-of-the-box. I used the Win7 installation disc provided by Dell. I dunno if a retail Win7 install would do this.)
I disabled it: I have no Bluetooth hardware.

Yes but
not needed
a. I use a USB 5-button mouse
b. I noticed that the Win7 touchpad driver worked, too.
(I dunno if a retail Win7 install would do this.)

No, oops:
I forgot it. Thanks for the reminder. It's now installed.

No:
My E6510 has no modem and I have no landline

No: *** Yes, but added later: see my next post ***
a. I don't need handholding to configure my network *** My confusion: that's the Connection Manager, not the System Manager ***
b. My ISP has a "non standard" WiFi network config:
DHCP for hotspot customers and
fixed addresses for paying customers on the same AccessPoint.
This badly confuses automated configuration software.

No but
something installed Webcam drivers anyhow.
I disabled it.

Obviously you have a slow system
MS Win7 updates took only 20 minutes for my E6510 i7 system, probably because it has fast CPUs, a fast network connection, and the MS update server wasn't too busy.

That I'll certainly agree with

 

These drivers were downloaded from dell.com for my system's service tag and OS version. I can't be more specific than what I know. You'll fine that some of these devices listed in Device Manager take on a new identity once their proper driver is installed.

1 Chipset Mobile Intel 5 Series (QM57) (plus Ricoh SD driver)

Software Dell specifies for the main chipset and Ricoh SD device.

2 Dell System

Same. Enumerates devices onbaord for the OS and applies some MS hotfixes per Dell.

5 Audio IDT 92HD81B

Enables the audio hardware per the IDT folks. I have not done a study to determine how much better or worse it is than the default MS driver. But think plain VGA video vs. the super video you get once you install the proper video driver.

6 Video NVIDIA Quadro NVS 3100M

Ditto. Enables the video hardware per the nVidia folks with a twist of Dell on top to enable audio out on the display port.

7 Intel Turbo Boost (run setup)

Some Intel thing that sounds worth having.

8 LAN Intel 82577LM Gigabit Ethernet

Why not? Intel's LAN nic driver.

10 WLAN Intel 6300

Ditto. Intels WLAN driver.

11 WPAN Dell 375 BT (used custom installer)

Ditto. Dell's driver for their BT device.

13 Touchpad

Driver for Dell's pad.

14 Free Fall Sensor

Driver to enable the built-in free fall sensor. Shuts down the HDD if the notebook launches off your lap.

15 Modem

Ring ring. I use it for auto-dialing and fax.

18 Dell DCP Managers (System Manager only)

Some basic Dell device user management. Runs lean enough to not be an issue.

19 Dell Webcam Central

Probably optional but it works.

GK

 

Well, maybe you'll teach me something. Anyways, you may have fixed your problem with the clean install.

GK

 

GK,

I had confused "Control Point System Manager" with "Control Point Connection Manager" -- The system manager adds the "disable battery charging" control (supposedly trickle charging full batteries shortens their life), so I added CPSM last night. It also includes some display controls, which worries me a little, but so far I haven't seen any glitches. It doesn't seem to include the feature which switches to Aero Basic when on battery power.

 

Dell have integrated the power management into the Windows power management. Go into the Advanced power settings of any power plan and you should find a section called "Dell Enhanced Settings". This includes the Aero setting, and more.

John

 

John,

Dell's power management plan is not present among Win7's power management options after reinstalling Win7 from scratch using Dell's Win7 install disk. There are quite a few Dell options which are not included on the DVD, which is rather inconvenient.

 

I don't know which of the numerous downloads on the Dell web site do the power management tweak. I had assumed it would be part of the DCP System Manager package (which used to include this functionality), but it might be in the System Software package (the one that says "If you are reinstalling the operating system it is important that this software be installed first.").

Anyway, the Dell power plan enhancements somehow got installed on my Win7-64 installation for which I used a standard Microsoft DVD plus the various Dell drivers and software.

John

 

Probably right. This Dell package install behaves like a Windows Update upon restart, performing updates to the OS before shutdown... like hot fixes.

Emphasis on "installed first" after the initial OS install, although that instruction may be superceded by another in the Dell Re-Image Guide that I recall instructed 'install chipset drivers first', which I did.

The Dell Re-Image Guide seems to be their answer to any user confusion over how to do it. I can see ignoring this or that driver given good reason, but to ignore their advice wholesale seems imprudent.

GK

 

But how many people go looking for the advice that is sitting there? It's not as if Dell put a big sheet of paper in with each computer that pointed users towards the available wisdom.

John

 

True on both counts... not ALL users look for and use available resources, and Dell does not encourage ALL users to re-image their systems... especially new systems for which understandably, Dell would not be quick to recommend nor admit is required. That leaves it just for us savvy users!

I've link to it from my re-image notes to aid the cause.

GK