Latitude E6510 Owner's Lounge

Got my outlet E6510 today...aside from a small scratch on the lid near one of the hinges and a so-so job of cleaning the screen, looks to be in perfect shape. Looks as though mine doesn't have the backlit keyboard so I'll be grabbing one of those soon (if anyone finds out for sure that one of those 'favorite-auction-site' ones works, please post)

 

All hasn't been spotless so far. Installed Windows 7 and find that the machine is locking up every so often requiring a recycle of power (also got a BSOD during system rating). Am doing the bios system diagnostic right now to see if anything is going on with the hardware. If that doesn't turn up anything I might have to try reinstalling again on the off chance something got corrupted in the original installation.

 

Be sure to install all of the required Dell driver downloads for your OS in the ordered specified in the Dell re-image guide.

GK

 

Yes that was my next plan of action if I can't find it. I've gone through almost the entire diagnostic program in the BIOS and it's found nothing wrong so far.

Edit: should I install all the required stuff on Dell's site BEFORE installing whatever Windows wants to update?

 

I received an E6510 from the outlet which would frequently hard-lock within a few minutes of booting, without provocation. This was right out of the box: no reconfiguration, no software or accessories added. There is no way it would have passed QA testing. Could not see the point of wasting any more of my time with it.

Sounds like a hardware problem to me. If it were mine, I'd return it for another. Include a note, so they know what to look for.

Edit: My unit passed 3 hours of Dell diagnostics; no problem reported.

2nd Edit: Did your unit have a hand-written note saying the unit locked-up? (j/k)

 

Yes. Get your hardware installed and working after the base OS install before using Windows Update. And then beware Windows Updates that may want to install a hardware driver you may not want... it could be unnecessary, confused, older version, or otherwise something you decide that you do not want... then you hide it so as not to be bothered by it. An exception to this is when installing old hardware that you have no support for... then you use Windows Update to try to find a supporting driver... install that hardware selectively next, restart, then let Windows Update fly.

As for the Dell downloads, get them and organize their installation per the Dell guide. Some are basic and must be installed to make your machine work properly... BIOS, other device firmware, Intel chipset, Dell System, card drivers, storage drivers, audio, video, networking, security, input devices. Some you may choose not to install, like Dell Control Point Security manager and subsequent security drivers, if you decide not to enable/use those security devices.

Get the machine initially installed with OS and device support, then Windows Update, then drive cleanup and defrag, then install your security and remaining applications: antivirus, Office, Office Updates, Reader, Flash, Java, etc.

GK

 

He has already partially installed Win7 on his machine. Too late to doubt the factory condition. Now must finish (or start over) the re-image to see how it runs.

It seems to be not uncommon for these notebooks to not function 100% out-of-the-box. A clean install tends to fix this. Otherwise, then ship it back to Dell. One more reason why these are not positioned as consumer/retail notebooks.

GK

 

Seems like it started sliding downhill once I installed the wireless (wifi) drivers (based on the order of the list). OK before that but beyond that it's locking up again (and the hard drive light seems to be flickering or staying on an awful lot). Gonna try scanning the sectors on the disk to see anything is bad and causing this nonsense.

edit: seemed to take an awful long time on a block of files at stage 4 of 5 in CHKDSK. May have to go into diagnostics and check the hard drive thoroughly just to be on the safe side even if CHKDSK doesn't find anything.

 

I installed the latest beta graphics driver Nvidia has on their site and at least I can get through the system assessment without it locking up like was happening with the Dell driver. Will try putting the wifi driver back and see if it's still OK.

 

I got a feeling the patient is hopeless. Did the thorough disk check overnight and found nothing wrong...booted back up and within 30 seconds, it's frozen again. Gonna try a 3rd reinstall, this time doing a restore point and reboot between drivers and see if I can figure out anything. If not, back this one goes.