Precision M6400 Owner's Lounge

Count one here. Glitches in the Vista interface soon after first boot. Window title bars and border edges flashed between normal "aero" and black bars.

Also AfterEffects and Premiere Pro would hard lock the system, out of the box. Full reinstall from disk fixed those two programs. I set Windows Classic right after install though so I wouldn't have noticed the Aero glitches.

Also Maya would crash and that stopped happening after reinstall from disk.

Also sound stuttering at the login screen caused by CP Connection Manager.

(That's all pretty much out of the box... All this is software I use on other Vista 64 machines just fine BTW.)

MotionBuilder (32 and 64) also gave me trouble but those troubles were not fixed by the reinstall. 32 gives me different troubles than 64.


I definitely had some Vista updates before trying MotionBuilder. The others I believe I tried very soon after install. It's possible I had Vista updates before first trying AfterEffects.

 

Yes, I fully agree with this, for the first time with a Dell machine. The factory image that both of my Covet's shipped with definitely has issues.

Well, I do run lots of complex software on my M90 (32bit Vista), and never had an issue with it. On the other hand Adobe's CS4 suite has known issues in its 64bit version, that are not restricted to particular hardware platforms. So, yes, in that case it is a problem of third-party software, and not of Dell's machine.

Well put.

Plus, we also know that there are serious issues with the NVidia driver for the M3700. Now, it is true that these issues are up to NVidia to fix, but it is also true that Dell is selling this machine not as some el-cheapo student laptop, but as a professional workstation, and at a premium I might add, that is even certified for the use with certain applications. It is therefore incumbent on them to make sure this device works as advertised. They have the clout to lean on NVidia if they have to, and fix whatever needs fixing in their driver, and not let their customers sit there for months on end without a fully functional video driver.

 

I have two M6400 just spent 3 days installing XP and softwares and when we remove them from the dock they get a blue screen. Has anyone experienced this, and found a solution? Thanks

 

AS soon as mine arrives I'm putting Windows 7 on it and see what happens....if there is a nuclear blast in Minnesota....well then you'll know that something went horribly horribly wrong.

AS for Windows. I'm going to be dead honest. I've said this several times before and I will continue to say this. I've been working in IT for over 15 years now. Actually its getting close to 20. OEM images are the worst piles of crap in the world. There is a reason why most companies have "images" that they dump on their hardware. Yes its so their environment is uniform. But its also because Dell, Gateway, Toshiba, Samsung, and to a lesser extent HP make some REALLY crappy images that they put on their systems. DO NOT use what comes with the system. Period.

 

Update on mine. Confirmed 10 minutes of hard network access BSOD's or disconnects from the network, and Dell is sending Unisys again with a new MB. This is their last chance before they get it back in 200 little pieces!

And yes, dell did recapture mine last time.

 

Thanks for the help.

Is the OS disk a non-imaging 'real' vista dvd?

 

Depends. If this was a larger corp purchase then occasionally they do send out image disks. Generally white disks in a set of 2-3. However if the disk says Vista /w SP1, I forget the color...black?, on it you probably have just a typical installer disk. But be sure before you install to go to support.dell.com and download at minimum your network card and WIFI and put them on a flash drive. Without those you aren't going to be able to download anything unless you have another computer to download from.

 

LOL.....I'll make sure to check the news.

Agree 100%. As soon as the machines come in, the HDs are installed with a cookie cutter image that actually works. Every company I've worked through does this:

Unbox
Manually inspect
Assign asset code (or use built in code)
Log unit
Pull HD
Insert into cookie cutter box
Clone Cookie Cutter -> New HD
Reinstall HD
Boot up to check (or add custom scripts for specific end users)
Stack for deployment

Play "Not It" for who has to actually lug the hardware that day and setup.

 

I can't figure out why it is impossible to get the Dell outlet small business sales people on the phone. The website says that have access to additional inventory. None of the refurbs that have the 1gb graphics card have anything but the 1440x900 wxga. Normal dell people don't have any idea how to do anything but transfer me to nowhere or hang up on me. Frustrating.

 

Hey new BIOS out. version A03, didn't get yet to know the changelog..