I recently got a refurb M4400 off of Outlet. Everything is good, the specs were pretty much exactly what I wanted, except no Bluetooth (and it's missing a screw, but that is a smaller thing).
So no big, I thought, I just bought a Dell Bluetooth 370 unit off of eBay, thinking it'd be a 5-minute install.
So I have the unit installed fine physically, antenna wire connected, and the Bluetooth light lights up. I install the drivers from the Resource DVD that came with the machine, and Windows successfully detects the card .....
I ordered my m4400 with the "Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth 2.1 Minicard for Latitude E/Mobile Precision" option.
It has the little Bluetooth light above the keyboard... although I have no idea if that actually means it was shipped with the bluetooth I ordered.
For the life of me, I can't figure out how to enable bluetooth. I can't find the adapter in Device Manager, and I don't see any keyboard combos to enable it.
Just got my Precision M4400 and a Logitech bluetooth mouse. Can't figure out how to activate bluetooth, or whether it's even installed as ordered. Blue bluetooth light above keyboard is on, but can't find bluetooth in Device Manager, or in system tray.
I have a Motorola BT stereo headset....it connects fine, but shortly after streaming audio, whether Hulu, Music or Gaming....
maybe after 3 minutes, the entire BT system crashes, icon disappears and sound returns to notebook speakers. The only way to get BT back is a COLD boot.
I've tried cleaning removing and reinstalling all BT drivers to the same result.
Any clues anyone? I've read about some Win7 'quirk' w/ Bluetooth but don't know much about it ....
I bought at DELL OUTLET a M6400 without the Bluetooth Module, I will buy it separate from DELL, do you know if the Bluetooth antenas will be Pre-Wired in the notebook ?,
actually I am buying the DELL 410 Bluetooth + UWB card, meaning I need the Pre-Wiring for Bluetooth and UWB ?
I noticed a few other threads around the internet about this issue, but couldnt find a definitive answer on how to get it fixed, so I thought I would try it here.
The problem is that when I go into standby and wake from it, my bluetooth icon disappears and bluetooth doesnt work.
I have a Dell Studio XPS 13 running Vista 64 with the Dell bluetooth 370 minicard. Ive tried using the generic windows bluetooth drivers as well as Dell's drivers.
Nothing appears in device manager as well. I have to manually go into bluetooth settings, disable the device, then re-enable it.
My Bluetooth keyboard goes to sleep after a period of idle and it takes 15 seconds for the Acer Aspire 1810T to wake up and notice the Bluetooth keypresses.
However, I found out my Bluetooth keyboard works reliably when I have a second Bluetooth device connected and active at the time (such as either a headset or bluetooth tethering to a cellphone as modem), the computer doesn't have a 15 second lag in noticing the Bluetooth keyboard again - the keyboard works almost right away even after being unused for sometime.
So that means the culprit is in the power management on the Acer Bluetooth module. Is there a way to force the Bluetooth module to never go to sleep? Any checkbox somewhere, a register setting? Even going as far to purchase a different Bluetooth driver? Or any other option? Sometimes the sleep is useful, but it definitely isn't useful with the Bluetooth keyboard. This problem does not happen if I use an external Bluetooth dongle.
(With BatteryBar Pro, I notice that power consumption falls suddenly whenever the Bluetooth module goes to sleep when the keyboard goes idle for more than 30 seconds, and at this point, it has difficulty 'waking up' when I start typing on the Bluetooth keyboard. But the problem also still happens when the laptop is plugged in!)
I have finally tested the Acer Empowering Technology software on my Acer D150.
Great news, the software works to enable/disable the Bluetooth module on the netbook without physically pressing the button. This is great for people like me that do not have the button on top to push the button inside. There are two software needed for people to get this running on the D150. First is the required “Acer Empowering Framework” software and the second is the “Acer ePower Management.” Once both software are installed on the system, the setting to enable/disable the Bluetooth module is in the ePower Management.
Power profiles within windows will probably be reset to default, so those would have to be readjusted if a user changed them. I am actually running Windows Vista on my Acer D150 with the Acer Empowering Technology software for Vista. I am not 100% sure if the software will also work on XP, but from the notebookreview forums, I believe it should work just as fine (but more options on other Empowering Technology software).
(in XP, the driver also works, but need XP edition, not vista editon).
I have need to use Bluetooth stereo audio functionality (A2DP profile) almost exclusively when I use my laptop.
I had owned a M1330 with the Dell 355 Bluetooth Module for several years without issue. Last November, I decided to upgrade and purchased an M15x (laptop #1) with the Dell 370 Bluetooth module included,running Windows 7 x64 Ultimate. Not more than one day out of the box,the 370 module failed while watching a movie. It literally disappeared from device manager and no uninstalling/reinstallation of drivers alleviated the situation. The only way to get the radio to be recognized by the operating system was, and is, to shutdown,reboot into bios,disable the card in bios,reboot into windows,restart,boot into bios,enable the card and then reboot into Windows. The card would then work for awhile but eventually fail again. The module works for short periods of time but if put under an extended load,fails. That and other issues with the M15x caused me to return it.
Contacted Dell and returned the M15x and bought and built a Studio XPS 1645 (laptop #2) to replace it. Received the unit and literally within the 1st few hours,the 370 module failed exactly like the M15x.I thought o.k. a bad card and had tech support send out a new module for the XPS 1645. Received and installed it and the exact same problem happened. Failed when under an extended load. Again called tech support and was then dispatched an onsite tech to replace the entire motherboard and card. No resolution-card failed again. Spoke with a resolution specialist and returned it and again purchased a M15x (laptop #3-really liked the M15x over the XPS 1645)
Received the M15x-Bluetooth failure again. At this point, was considering dropping Dell altogether but thought I'd try the Studio 1558 (laptop #4) with the Bluetooth 365 module, in order to rule out the 370 card, first. Ordered and was delivered on the 5th of April, same exact issue-failure of card under a load. I am returning this defective Studio 1558 and again getting a M15x (laptop #5). I realize that the M15x Bluetooth card will fail again-in fact,am 100% sure it will fail,but have bought a Sony Bluetooth transmitter as a workaround.
What appears to be happening is that the card will shutdown when it gets warm.This is either a Broadcom manufacturing defect or a Dell engineering issue. I know now through personal experience that there is a serious issue with Dell Bluetooth cards.
If this was happening with only one laptop, I'd be ok with it but, this is occuring across multiple laptop platforms, with both Broadcom Bluetooth cards that Dell brands and sells.
This is either an oversight by engineering-maybe they didn't test the card under a heavy load, or Dell is knowingly selling defective equipment.
First take the battery out and remove the bottom part like so.
Then you have to take the fan off there are 3 screws to take out and unplug the fan connector.
After you take out the CPU heat sink "there is 4 screws".
Then the Video card heat sink 3 screws.
Once that is done I took the CPU out you don't have to take it out I just wanted to see it. You do have to take out all the extra thermal past from DELL from the CPU and GPU and the 2 heat sink like so.
I use a plastic card and paper towel to remove the extra paste and it workes grate.
Now for the AS5 put on each of the components you just clean as in the CPU and GPU and the 2 heat sink like so.
same go's for the CPU and GPU then jsut use a falt plastic card I just use a master card but any thing similer will do to even out the SA5 like don't try to get it all nice and flat just make sure it covers all the surface of contact of the CPU GPU and heatsink and you should be good, it soule look like that now.
Now just re insert the GPU heat sink and tight the 3 screws back.
After it's the CPU heatsink and it's 4 screws like so.
Now the fan 3 screws and one connoctor.
Close it all up and boot Hope it helps some of you.
Considering that this is a "heavy duty" notebook, how much would a 25W processor (e.g., P9600) increase battery life and decrease heat? In my experience, the difference has been very little for relatively similar notebooks.
They're about the same price where I live, and both have a similar lead time. I've had no major problems with Dell in the past, but the M4400 seems to have been slated here and elsewhere for its build quality and design issues. The HP is by no means immune, but it does seem to come off lighter .....
When I got my M4400 last week, it had Vista Business installed - wasn't bad and unlike most people, I've NEVER had issues with Vista Anyway being a Microsoft Gold customer, I got my hands on the Windows 7 Ultimate RTM version and installed this on the laptop.
It has transformed the laptop just like it did my PCMUCH quicker, the graphics seem a lot happier in W7 too.
I've installed all my other tools such as SQL2008, Office 07, Virtual PC with VMs, VS 2008 etc etc but it doesnt even flinch under pressure.
If you are happy with M4400 and Vista, you will be even happier with W7 - small mini review but I thought I should give you my quick thoughts on it.
I'm getting about 15-20MB/s (transfer speed) transfering files from my Lacie d2 Quadra(eSATA 3 Gbits port) to my M4400 with Vista 32Bit thought eSATA port. eSATA port has 3 Gbit/s bandwidth, so I wouldn't get about 300-375 MB/s transfering data?
I'm looking to replace a 3-year old IBM X60s that recently failed.
I'm considering a refurbished M4400 from Dell Outlet, and I have a couple of questions:
1.) How is Dell Outlet service and what quality can I expect from them? I know from Lenovo Outlet, most of the refurbished items are actually in immaculate condition. Is that the case for Dell Outlet? Is customer service and shipping times good?
2.) When browsing through the available M4400s, I see listings for both 15.4" WXGA and 15.4" WXGA LED. Are there M4400s with CCFL backlit WXGA panels? When configuring a new one, the only option for WXGA is LED.
I noticed that dell list two compatible models, YP311 and XX243. On Dells website they both have identical descriptions. I assume Dell is just switching between two different manufactures.
Does anyone have any advice if one functions better then the other?
I need to know the specs of the RAM in my M4400 and was hoping someone here could help me out?
I know it has 4GB Ram, but how many actual Ram slots does it have and what speeds/specs Ram can be put in it? Basically,
i want to upgrade from 4GB to 8GB to give my VM's better performance without slowing down my base OS (Windows 7 Ultimate x64). I don't know which Ram to choose on newegg.
I'm about to purchase an M4400 as a mobile editing station but I've only got one reservation. Basically, I can buy one with a dell 3 year warranty or I can buy a better speced one for 20% less that doesn't have a warranty as it's from a liquidation of assets sale.
Now, I'm pretty handy with computers/laptop and in the past I've taken apart laptops to replace CPU's, motherboards, hard drives, etc. so I'm fairly comfortable with fixing things when they go wrong. But my question is whether I should expect things to go wrong. I'm especially concerned about the screen and the occurrence of dead pixels. Is this commonplace and how many dead pixels does it take for dell to accept a returns anyway?
At home I have a Dell 2407WFP-HC and I've never had any problems with it. I built my desktop computer myself and I'm not concerned with parts of it going wrong as it's easy to find replacement parts, but the same can't be said for laptops, and there is a significant cost differential!
So, is it worth paying a 25% premium to have the dell warranty? I'm a frugal man, and a penny saved is always a good thing in my book, but not at the expense of having to shell out in 6 months when something goes wrong .....
I've checked Dell Outlet, and the cheapest one there was $900, and that's pretty good but I'm wondering if you guys know any other places I should check.
I want to undervolt my Presicion M4400 as per this guide: The "Undervolting" Guide
A few questions as I embark!
1) Does it matter how much power my M4400 draws when I do this? That is if I later attach USB drives, add a 2nd hardrive to optical bay, should I take these into account? I assume no but just checking.
2) After doing the first stress test I got max temps of 76C on CPU, after lowering the max 10.0 multiplier voltage and running it for 10 min I got max temps of 79C. Something must be wrong?
In RMClock's CPU info page (see pic. 1) the "current" 10.0x multiplier reads 1.1250V when Im doing the stress test although I've set the 10.0 multiplier to 1.1500V (default max is 1.2500V) on the profile page (see pic 2).
Shouldn't the read outs correspond with the set max voltage? Also on the RMClock CPU info page (see pic. 1) the "maximal" 10.0x readout is 1.2500V which is again different from the set 1.1500V.
Is this normal or have the setting not been saved or something?
3) On the advanced CPU settings page my thermal monitoring is not checked (see pic 3) this differs from the Undervolting guide screenshots and is not specified if these should be on?
I've got a Precision M4400 for which I did some DIY upgrading... Specifically, I put in a T9900 (3.06GHz, 35W TDP) processor and a 256Gb SSD. You can see the specs in my signature, actually.
The problem is that my temperatures seem to be going pretty high. Realtemp is saying that once I turn on the laptop, both CPU cores are at around 30-35 C. But after a very short while, this heats up to the mid-40's. And if I play Sims 3, let's say, the temperature can go up all the way to the high 70's. The GPU seems to stay at under 80 C, which I think should be fine .....
When my Precision M4400 goes to sleep after I close the lid, it sometimes turns itself back on without opening the lid back up (it gets rather hot and the fan is running by the time I go to use the computer again, however, I believe the screen stays off).
This has really started to bother me lately as the heat cannot be good for the computer and I always have to turn the computer off by holding the power button after it does this because the screen won't turn back on.
