M6600 Owners Thread

Nope and I don't think anyone would want to use a 900p on a high-end machine like this. To be honest with you all, I think the non-IPS 1080p is lacking compared to what they could use on it for the price people pay for it (like last-generation's RGBLED or even the 95% NTSC Gamut screens from AUO). I honestly think they are using XPS stuff for the 900p and just slapped a Premium Panel Guarantee for the sake that it is a Precision.

 

Hey all,
I've used search, but couldn't find anything on what caddy will work for the M6600. I want to add a third 2.5" hard drive and convert my DVD drive to an external. What have you guys used? Newmodeus has a caddy for $42, but some on eBay are going for low $20's.

Does Dell sell these at all? Specifically to convert the DVD drive to an external drive.

Thanks!

 

No. Dell does not officially support a HDD caddy in the ODD because the ODD in the M6600 is kind of thin compared to other laptop ODD sizes. Dell insisted that the ODD is meant to be used as an ODD.

 

Thanks, looks like I'll go with NewmodeUS. They are more expensive, but located next door in Santa Ana, CA. Maybe I'll be able to pick one up tomorrow.

 

Try using "Resource Monitor" from "Start Task Manager" 4th tab at the bottom button. Click on "REsource monitor".

Go to Disk, it will should you the details for the Disk I/O and also the process that's accessing the disk. By default the SSD Trim function is enabled. Having an active database installed will also cause the disk to be accessed more than usual.

 

Thanks for the suggestion. However, the hard drive LED keeps flickering at the same rate even when there are no processes with disk activity. Any more ideas about what might be going on? Can you tell me how to disable/enable the SSD Trim function? Perhaps it is somehow running or influencing the system in the background, even though I do not now have an SSD and no relevant process seems to be running. How can I disable the SSD Trim function to see if it makes a difference?

Every few minutes some process will cause some disk I/O. However, there are also regular, long periods of time with zero disk I/O reported while my hard drive LED keeps flickering away. I would like to try to disable Trim function and any other ideas that you might have. Thanks. Please post any more ideas/thoughts/guesses/suggestions.

 

Don't you exaggerate? Does it matter if it blinks constantly or not? Mine to is flickering constantly, but Process Explorer shows some minimal Activity.

 

No exaggeration whatsoever. The hard drive LED blinks constantly even during long periods of time when there is absolutely no process activity - even when there is literally zero disk I/O for extended periods of time - even in safe mode. Whether it matters depends on the unknown cause. If the cause is serious, it could serve as a common cause for forthcoming and as yet unknown further problems that are more serious.

***Very curiously, (I have found that) disabling the DVD/CD-ROM drive in Device Manager stops the constant blinking. ***Also very curiously, enabling the DVD/CD-ROM drive in Device Manager causes the otherwise constant hard drive LED blinking to resume. Any hypotheses about what is going on? Corrupt CD-ROM driver? Bad wiring somewhere? If anyone has any ideas, please do report them in a comment here. Thanks.

 

What I mean is my experience is that it is "a feature" (of Windows 7 perhaps), not a bug; AFAIR my previous notebooks with Windows 7 (and Vista) did that too.

Diode is blinking only on SATA drives activity. So maybe you found the reason. You can always try to boot some Linux LiveCD (or LiveUSB can be even better). If there is no blinking in Linux, it points to Windows 7 being the culprit.
I will check your trick (disabling ODD) myself.

 

Although this is not an uncommon problem, it certainly is not a feature of Windows 7 or Vista. Also not uncommon are corrupted OS files, corrupted drivers, and faulty and misguided wiring. (Dozens of my colleagues with identical and similar systems do not experience this problem/"feature" at all. The main question is what are the differences between the systems that constantly - always - exhibit this problem/"feature" and comparable systems that never exhibit this problem/"feature".)

So, may I PLEASE ask other forum users: given that: my hard drive LED light blinks constantly (literally nonstop), even during long periods of time when there is absolutely no process activity - even when there is literally zero disk I/O for extended periods of time - even in safe mode; AND, given that: ***Very curiously, (I have found that) disabling the DVD/CD-ROM drive in Device Manager stops the constant hard drive LED blinking; AND, given that: ***Also very curiously, enabling the DVD/CD-ROM drive in Device Manager causes the otherwise constant hard drive LED blinking to resume... ANY HYPOTHESES about what is going on? Corrupt CD-ROM driver? Bad wiring somewhere? If anyone has ANY ideas, please do report them in a comment here. Thanks.