The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    NEW BIOS for D630, D830, and related Precisions + new Audio driver

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by channelv, Jan 20, 2008.

  1. channelv

    channelv Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    34
    Messages:
    372
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Finally we get some updates for drivers from Dell.... I've found their driver support lacking. Just about all drivers for these machines are 6 months old or so which is unacceptable.

    Anyways a new BIOS is out for the listed machines, I have upgraded my Precision M4300 (D830 based) to A07, the previous was A05 for some reason, Dell didn't offer an A06 for the Precision M4300. Changes are for support of Penryn, enhanced thermal control (probably just fan speed changes), and TPM free SKU for D830, M4300 whatever the heck that means. Seems to be working just fine although I have not noticed any difference in BIOS settings (I have just about memorized the BIOS too so I would notice differences) or in performance (fan speed etc).

    Also finally a new Sigmatel driver it out which hopefully fixes the random problems I had before with the driver stopping (Vista x64).

    Have fun with the new Bios/drivers!!
     
    channelv, Jan 20, 2008
    #1
  2. channelv

    channelv Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    34
    Messages:
    372
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Apparently the driver problems with the Sigmatel still occur for me. Anyone else?:


    Problem signature
    Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
    Application Name: STacSV64.exe
    Application Version: 1.0.5614.0
    Application Timestamp: 46e95940
    Fault Module Name: msvcrt.dll
    Fault Module Version: 7.0.6000.16386
    Fault Module Timestamp: 4549d2e1
    Exception Code: c0000005
    Exception Offset: 0000000000001d5f
    OS Version: 6.0.6000.2.0.0.256.1
    Locale ID: 1033
    Additional Information 1: 0115
    Additional Information 2: a2c6b4b88fef856a2bf89d1e9a9c3194
    Additional Information 3: 3d51
    Additional Information 4: e792cf78e050218a96d9a5c2f0c617bc

    Files that help describe the problem (some files may no longer be available)
    Version.txt
    AppCompat.txt
    minidump.mdmp

    View a temporary copy of these files
    Warning: If a virus or other security threat caused the problem, opening a copy of the files could harm your computer.

    Extra information about the problem
    Bucket ID: 850594
     
    channelv, Jan 23, 2008
    #2
  3. liquidiq

    liquidiq Notebook Geek

    Reputations:
    20
    Messages:
    82
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    What are you doing that makes causes the crash?
     
    liquidiq, Jan 24, 2008
    #3
  4. vostro1400user

    vostro1400user Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    202
    Messages:
    1,064
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    i got problem for this new audio driver too. no solution has been found.
     
    vostro1400user, Jan 24, 2008
    #4
  5. liquidiq

    liquidiq Notebook Geek

    Reputations:
    20
    Messages:
    82
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    What's the problem? Please be more descriptive so people can help you ;)
     
    liquidiq, Jan 24, 2008
    #5
  6. channelv

    channelv Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    34
    Messages:
    372
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    I think the problem experienced is the same as in the crash dump I posted above. I am using Vista x64 so not sure if 32bit has the problem too. I am doing nothing in particular for the crash to occur. It sometimes occurs at bootup or just randomly. This occured with all older drivers, and in clean installs. But the crash seems to not badly effect anything, windows just states that the driver stopped working, and that's it. Nothing else seems to happen, sound still works etc. So mostly is just an annoyance at this point I suppose...
     
    channelv, Jan 26, 2008
    #6
  7. scottjef

    scottjef Newbie

    Reputations:
    1
    Messages:
    3
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    As of today, the current BIOS release on the D830 support page is version A08, so it looks like it's been updated already.
     
    scottjef, Feb 3, 2008
    #7