Precision M6400 Owner's Lounge

The new driver (176.88) didn't worked well for me too.
I stick with the HP driver (179.44, certified and supports the FX 3700 and FX 2700). I runs as stable as the old Dell Driver (176.44) but has better performance (3D runs smoother).

 

Do you have a link for this driver? I couldn't find it on HP's site...

 

Here is the link for 179.44 (the HP site isn't up2date):

XP 32bit

Vista 32bit

Vista 64bit

 

What kind of coupons/discounts are there on the Covet M6400? Can I get a better deal than the price they list on the web? Thanks!

 

I was using that version provided via Windows Update (on win 7) but I suggest to upgrade to vers 181.20 WHQL.
found it here: http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/drivers/vista64/181.20
(you have to use the modded .inf

I used also al the 176 fond on official FX 3700m dell update
but these now effectively work better for me (I do video compositing).

I had the chance to try far cry 2 (1400x900 Dx10 very High was very stable)and crysis (1200x'') and they both worked well.

 

Ok.. have to post now as this is getting out of hand. Every single time I get a Windows Update, (Vista 64 Ultimate) the very next time I reboot I get a BSOD with the irql_not_less_or_equal error. This has been going on for months. I have to boot into safe mode and re-install the crappy NVidia video drivers to get the computer to boot up. Any suggestions as to why this keeps happening?

I just noticed somebody said there are new video drivers on dell's website. I'm downloading as I type this. arggh..

 

Thanks!

 

Thank you forum members for your help along the way while I was lurking. Being a newcomer, I'm happy to advise that my week-old Covet works perfectly with the A03 bios and all the latest drivers. Naturally I dumped the preload and did Vista 64 Ultimate on two 7200.4 Seagates for 1TB in RAID0.

Everything works, even the fingerprint reader ! This computer is the type you can bond with - closest thing to a "Genuine IBM" Thinkpad made today. This machine is enterprise grade, and nearly atones for all the Dell Hell I went through with the XPS M1730 "gaming" computer I bought just a year ago.

It might not yield the bleeding edge benchmark results posssible, but for those having problems still, I can attest that the latest driver set as a group, on a clean Vista 64 install, including factory nVidia driver, is a winner.

 

Fingerprint reader? How does this one "work"? As far as I know, because of the strange way Dell married it to that USH, it will not work, and will not be recognized by any third-party software that I know of. The only way to get it to work is to install that awful Wave security software from Dell. With that it kind of works, except you can't really do much with it.

Am I missing something?

 

Hi Pirx, nope, you folks with months of usage certainly are authoritative on the ins and outs, whereas I am still in a state of wonderment. With the big XPS I formerly had, nearly "nothing" worked ... so by comparison I'm on cloud 9. No more RAID snafu, no more boot sector loss, no loud fans or garish looks ... aaaaah !!!!

FWIW, I did install the Wave package and it seems to allow a logon with the fingerprint, which was sort of the extent of my expectations. Eventually it would be nice to do more with it, but it *is* just a ~60 piece, looks cool, and can be a theft-deterrent.

It's a pleasure to join you folks in ownership of this machine. Thanks again for your contributions to this thread, which was the main factor why I chose to buy.