Dell covering up laptop issue

[rsvr85]

Dell may have a serious issue on its hands with their E6400 and E6500 laptops.

Hundreds of reports have been surfacing on the official dell support forums stating that they have had "massive performance issues…whenever the devices get slightly warm the BIOS automatically starts dialing down the performance until they basically crawl to a halt, some indicating that even when cool they won't go over 50% of maximum clock".

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I think Dell have disgraced themselves with this. All manufacturers have mishaps & 90% of the time, consumers will forgive that mistake if the problem is rectified in the correct manner. The fact that Dell refuse to acknowledge, have banned users from forums etc.is damn shoddy and will put me off ever buying from them.

 

[starwolf1336]

That really sucks.

 

[Lordbob75]

For some reason, I am not at all surprised. Way to go Dell, making an even worse name for yourself.

~Lordbob

 

[rsvr85]

For some reason, I am not at all surprised. Way to go Dell, making an even worse name for yourself.

~Lordbob

TBH, when you read stories like the one i posted above & one's like these, it's a surprise they're even a name in the PC world!

 

[Win7User512]

I purposely haven't flashed my BIOS to the latest version because I read that it messes with the cooling system that sounds somewhat like this issue.

 

[bjrichus]

I purposely haven't flashed my BIOS to the latest version because I read that it messes with the cooling system that sounds somewhat like this issue.

How interesting... Do you have a source for those other reports you have read?

I have an E6500 (see specs on left) and am on BIOS A14.

Works perfectly.

No cooling or black screens of death at all!

 

[pparks1]

I'm on a Dell E6400 and I haven't noticed this issue at all...although a coworker has had this happen to him at home. In his case, it's only happened when plugged into the docking station..but he uses a 130w Power Supply when in the docking station.

Overall, professionally I have been pretty happy with Dell. Considering the sheer number or corporate desktops they are installed upon...I don't think their number of historically bad problems is that outrageous. Every company that I have worked has used both Dell desktops and laptops.

 

[bjrichus]

I'm on a Dell E6400 and I haven't noticed this issue at all...although a coworker has had this happen to him at home. In his case, it's only happened when plugged into the docking station..but he uses a 130w Power Supply when in the docking station.

Overall, professionally I have been pretty happy with Dell. Considering the sheer number or corporate desktops they are installed upon...I don't think their number of historically bad problems is that outrageous. Every company that I have worked has used both Dell desktops and laptops.

I agree and have mine into the docking station at work (130w PSU there) and on the 90w PSU at home. We have 5 of these E6500's at work and all are 100% good so far.

Interesting to note the number of BL-SOD's mentioned as a problem with any of our expert crew here (a number pretty close to zero), isn't it?

As to the BIOS matter, that could well be an issue if Dell messed up the cooling with an update... There are several of them too...

 

[mlevy]

I use a Dell E6400 at work, and provide support at work for them. Mine has NO issue like that, though we HAVE seen significant infant mortality issues with the HDD's in these units. We had some fail w/in a week of deployment, some w/in a month and others, mine included, (knock on wood) has been fine since August, though I'm sure I treat mine better than the users do. We run XP in our environment, 4,000 users (using various Dell models) on my site alone.

For those not 'in the know', 130w is the standard adapter for the E-series port reps, 90w is the standard with the laptop (in our environment anyway). If you didn't know, a D-series adapter DOES work on an E-series.

 

[Win7User512]

I purposely haven't flashed my BIOS to the latest version because I read that it messes with the cooling system that sounds somewhat like this issue.

How interesting... Do you have a source for those other reports you have read?

I have an E6500 (see specs on left) and am on BIOS A14.

Works perfectly.

No cooling or black screens of death at all!

It's not that interesting. It was some time ago (not this particular model of PC) but I will look for information. I meant to say fan instead of GPU. Dell was acting on the GPU supposedly getting too hot so they released a new BIOS version to change the fan speed (to really fast) to keep things cool.

 

[pebbly]

i think you may be referring to the issues that the inspiron 5100/50/60 had with overheating and shutting down,search google for inspiron 5100 overheating.

 

[Win7User512]

I purposely haven't flashed my BIOS to the latest version because I read that it messes with the cooling system that sounds somewhat like this issue.

How interesting... Do you have a source for those other reports you have read?

I have an 8600M GT in my XPS M1530. Just updated my bios to A09. I doubt it will really help stop hardware failure, but who knows. But its things like this that make my hate laptops. If it was not for me going to college soon, I would not be buying a laptop, and I hope this is the last laptop I ever have to buy. In a desktop, if your videocard dies, you send it in for an RMA and get free replacements for life (eVGA, BFG, and XFX all have lifetime warranties).

IMPORTANT: DO NOT INSTALL THIS A09 update. The fan is always on now. I was just sitting here surfing the internet and the GPU fan was going full blast, it quieted down a bit but is still going. I'm a bit pissed now. This is BS. I don't want a louder laptop, I want a real fix.

Recently nVidia announced that there was a heat issue with their G84 and G86 model graphics cards (8 series video cards on laptops). Initially we were told that it was an “HP only” problem, but now Dell is releasing BIOS updates to several laptops with that card, saying that the BIOS update “updates nVidia BIOS.”
Basically the update changes the fan state so the GPU fan runs earlier (in some cases, all the time). This is supposed to “help regulate the GPU temperature.”
So far Dell has only released the update for the following laptops:
Dell Product Name
BIOS Revision
Date
Update File Name
Inspiron 1420

A09​

7/14/08
1420_A09.EXE
Latitude D630

A12​

6/22/08
D630_A12.EXE
Latitude D630c

A06​

7/11/08
D630CA06.EXE
Precision M2300

A07​

7/11/08
M2300A07.EXE
Vostro Notebook 1310

A10​

7/10/08
V1310-A10.EXE
Vostro Notebook 1400

A09​

7/10/08
1400_A09.EXE
Vostro Notebook 1510

A10​

7/10/08
V1510A10.EXE
Vostro Notebook 1710

A07​

7/10/08
V1710A07.EXE
XPS M1330

A12​

7/9/08
M1330A12.EXE
XPS M1530

A09​

7/25/08
1530_A09.EXE
(See Direct2Dell - Direct2Dell - DELL COMMUNITY)
There are plenty of other laptops that have the G84/G86 chip, yet they are not in this list. Take the Inspiron 1520 for example. Not only is it the laptop I have, it also comes with an 8600M GT and is not in the list. BIOS Rev. A07, though, includes an “enhancement for thermal control.” This could possibly be part of the whole GPU fix, seeing that the timestamp seems to be in the range of these other updates.
Either way, if you have a laptop that is in that list, you should probably update thy BIOS. Since several people are reporting that their GPU fan runs almost all the time now, you may see a decrease in battery life. I’d also recommend keeping tabs on that fan, as I’m not sure what the MTBF for a laptop fan is..
(I have the latest BIOS on my laptop and the fan seems to not act unusual. It’ll run when playing games, but otherwise it’s not too bad).

Mine has been running fine on the older BIOS, so I haven't updated it.