New M6500 Discussion Thread

I also had problems with the U20N as already reported: slow (not only burning), loud and it caused beeps at startup. Got a new one and it is OK now.

 

I can't seem to find it.. but was it said on here that with the SSD mini card you can only do RAID with the other drives. I can't have all drives AHCI for SSD's?

 

Which operating system are you running? I only have the DVD+R(W) problem with Linux kernels > 2.6.26 and with OpenSolaris. With older Linux kernels or other disc types everything is fine (not slow, no beeping, no noise).
I could not test it with other OS'es, since I own no Windows and BSD has some problems detecting the hardware.

@pj11m:
A technican who visited me told me that the mini card SSD can not be used as a regular storage device, thus cannot be used for RAID configurations. I have no idea if he's right, but it sounded very similar to those Intel Turbo Memory SSD that were popular some years ago.

Some further things I think people should know about the M6500:
1. 4 RAM slots were very important for me. So when it arrived I checked the slots but found, that the ones underneath the keyboard were missing. There was just the blank main board. After some trouble with the support it turned out, that there is a new generation of main boards for Arrandale CPUs which only get two slots, while Clarkdales get a board with 4 slots. I ordered mine with a Clarkdale (820QM) but only 2x2 GB of RAM and accidentally got the wrong board. I have the correct board now, but everyone who ordered his M6500 with only two modules and wants to upgrade later should check if the two slots underneath the keyboard are really there.

2. The M6500 is advertised with RHEL 5.3 everywhere. I tried to buy it with this OS via internet and via telephone. But RHEL is NOT available (at least not in Europe). This is clearly false advertising. As everywhere it was also hard to get it without Windows, but it was possible via telephone. I "just" had to insist, that I want it without Windows or not at all.
I'm a Debian user, nevertheless I tried CentOS 5.3 (100% compatible "community RHEL" compiled from the sources) to see how it works. I didn' t try everything, especially not the interfaces, but while the M6500 works mostly fine with CentOS 5.3 (kernel 2.6.18), the speakers don't work. The soundcard itself works, but it only outputs to the headphone jack. This is a known bug of the soundcard that is handled in later kernels and solved since at least 2.6.31.

I read some requests for outputs of commands like lspci and so on. I will post some, maybe not this weekend but surely the next one. If you are interested in a particular command, just tell me!

 

Wow.

Thanks for the info, though I'm sure I'll know the second mine's here. Speced it with 2GB ram to buy 16GB elsewhere... if there are only two slots there after waiting for a month, that may (to borrow a quote) damage my calm.

++rep power for you.

 

*LOL* I think I saw this one before.

 

I just got my intel 6300 for 38 bux shipped from babyhemi on this board....installing it now...I'll post any ooooh awwww's....

Installed the 6300....I'm noticing right away a marked increase in signal strenght...I'm a way from home on a crappy wireless router. Impressive. I say go for it if you have the 5300...the bennies appear real and not just marketing. Kirk out. LOL

 

The Covet finally shipped and is due to arrive on Monday! Its going to be interesting seeing both machines side by side.

I just hope the glass screen is not bad to the point of unuseable. That would simply mean another exchange since keeping what I have now would not be an option.

 

can you link that part, Vogelbung? thks


PS: I need one in Silver....

 

If I want an SSD to run the OS, basically I just replace my existing mechanical drive with the SSD, move my 500gig HD to the second drive bay, and do a clean install right (then they run in raid 0?) What about the mini SSD? Where the heck does that go?

thanks..

PS: I do have the metal bracket for the second drive in the bay...

 

@theZoid:
Running HDD and SSD in RAID0 is not a good idea. Either you have a fast SSD, then the HDD will slow the RAID down. Or you have a slow SSD, then the SSD will slow it down.
You should only run drives of equal speeds in a RAID if you do it for the performance. Otherwise the faster drive alone should perform better. If you don't do it for the performance, but only because of the capacity, you could as well just get a 2nd HDD.