M6600 Owners Thread

Now, I assume you have the FIPS fingerprint reader installed? If not, the steps below may not work, but no harm to try.

1) Download the following packages from Dell M6600 drivers website (all in the "Dell Data Protection" section:
- Data Protection | Access - Driver
- Data Protection | Access - Middleware Package
- Data Protection | Access - Application Package

2) In Device Manager, remove the fingerprint reader from the Biometric section (also enable the option to remove the driver when doing so);

3) Uninstall all Controlvault software and also any of the above 3 Data Protection packages if they were already installed;

4) Reboot (important!);

5) Install the software packages downloaded in step 1, in the order shown above. When installng the driver, make sure that all the components are installed (you may have found some notes on the net to disable the ControlVault driver on that list - that is wrong, everything must be installed);

6) After reboot enroll your fingerprints and setup the option using the Access application (Start Menu -> Dell -> Dell Data Protection -> Access -> Access).

The above should work, the one problem I still have is that the pre-boot manager does not seem to see the fingerprint reader (keeps showing "Searching for a fingerprint reader" message and I have to use the password); however, fingerprint logging in Win7 works fine.

Hope this helps.

 

Its the Crucial C400 drive. 6Gb/s. Very fast drive.

 

Bokeh, is the 256GB SSD III in the M6600 also Crucial C400?

 

I've had a blood-freezing experience lately, when - preparing my M6600 for a presentation before some 30-person audience - I plugged the projector's VGA cable into my machine, and I saw the dreaded BSOD... I rebooted with the VGA connected, and the machine seemed to boot up correctly - but upon entering Windows (and loading drivers), the same happened again. I panicked, as apart from a ppt presentation that I could copy to my colleague's laptop, I was also planing to show a strictly licensed application which the colleague didn't have... So the next time it was rebooting I entered the BIOS, and disabled Optimus (nothing else didn't come to my mind at the moment) - and voila! Windows loaded, both screens working OK.

In my home office, I'm using my M6600 with a docking station, and -in addition to its own LCD - I have 2 monitors connected (both DVI-D, as the VGA-out signal tends to be garbled). When leaving for the seminar, I just closed Windows and turned the machine off.

What do you think I should be doing each time I'm changing environments like this, so the VGA-out works fine without playing with the BIOS? What could Optimus do that prevented monitoring through VGA?

 

Optimus isn't that stable. Improves battery life, but if you're in a situation where you need power + stability, disable it.

 

So my M6600 was shipped out today! I am going to order an SSD for it today. I am pretty sure I am going to go with the Kingston HyperX as it has gotten some pretty impressive reviews.

One more question, has anyone upgraded the processor in the M6600? I am guessing no, but I am thinking about getting a quadcore and maybe trying to see the dual core I mistakenly ordered. This is more to be able to cheaply upgrade to 16MB of RAM than to get the better processor. I can get a quadcore processor and 2 additional 4MB DIMMS for less than getting 2 8MB DIMMS. Also, I am assuming that the extra two RAM slots still exist if you order a dual core processor, they just cannot be used?

 

Yes. I have upgraded from a 2620m to 2720qm. The two extra ram slots do become active after you have upgraded.

 

Thanks! Of course now I have to try and justify spending the extra money...

 

I have just ordered the Dell M6600 but I am getting conflicting messages from Dell about the SATA Ports. How many SATA III ports are there in the M6600?

I was told by one Dell representative that just the primary HD connector is SATA III and the 2nd HD connector SATA II but on the Dell configuration pages you can select SATA III SSDs on both HD1 and HD2 and only SATA II on HD3 which would suggest HD2 may also have a SATA III connector, which is what a different rep told me.

I know you can put a SATA III SSD on a II connector but of course is not the same.

Can anyone kindly clarify how many SATA III connectors there are for the internal HDs please?

Thank you.

 

Both should be SATA III I think. The eSATA and the mSATA are SATA II though.