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Installing the latest Intel USB 3.0 drivers on the Latitude E6440 breaks USB altogether...
Hi guys.
My organization has quite a few Dell Latitudes, and among the most recent are Latitude E6440's. They're nice machines, and although I can't quite peg why my buyer opted to get Radeon 8690M's with them, I can't help but wonder how well they'd perform at a LAN party.
In any case, I am tasked with imaging our computers, keeping things running ship-shape, etc. To this end, I try and keep drivers as up-to-date as possible, simply because updated drivers are more stable and secure (usually).
Unfortunately, in this instance, when I install the latest Intel USB 3.0 eXtensible Host Controller driver for this laptop... it asks me for a reboot (which I perform), and then USB stops working altogether. No device is recognized, no matter if I plug it directly into the computer or via the dock. If I uninstall this driver, USB is back up and running -- though at dreadful USB 2.0 speeds. Even if I use the now-outdated (*cough* *cough*) driver from the Inspiron E6440 "Drivers and Downloads" page, the same thing occurs. This is after a fresh install of Windows 7 Professional x64 with Service Pack 1, and the computer in question has the latest BIOS (A07) from Dell.
This is problematic, as my organization already does have some USB 3.0 external hard drives, and will ideally be using higher quality USB 3.0 flash drives going forward.
Mary G
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December 29th, 2014 16:00
Laptop drivers are customized by Dell and should not be updated unless Dell advises it. Get all driver updates from Dell, not Intel. Laptops rarely need driver updates.
Tom S11
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December 30th, 2014 07:00
Look, Mary, no disrespect intended, but I'm going to be completely straightforward with you here: I hate that answer, and I will not accept it. My organization paid very good money for many of these laptops, we've been very good Dell customers for a long time and have purchased hundreds of Dell laptops, monitors, monitor sound bars, docking stations... you name it. Frankly, most of them have quite outdone themselves, it's the recent models (Dell Latitude E6440 and E7240) that have been giving us trouble with basic hardware... like USB, and ethernet.
Other manufacturer's laptops work just fine with non-OEM drivers, and thank goodness they do, because OEM drivers and firmware are updated for maaaaaybe a whole six months after the release of the model. That by itself is pretty terrible customer service I would say, but as an IT technician, I'm so used to OEM's launching new products and then dumping support for them no more than a few months that I've learned how to deal with it: By finding the appropriate drivers from the manufacturer of the hardware whenever and wherever possible.
Perhaps what infuriates me most about your two-line answer is the fact that you evidently didn't even read my initial post -- whereupon I mention that IN ADDITION TO the Intel-supplied drivers, I did try the (six months out of date, don't perform as well, less secure) "customized" Dell USB 3.0 drivers.
They didn't work. So, unless you're suggesting that Dell knowingly shipped a faulty product and is just okay with that, I would suggest you maybe get into contact with some people at Dell and have them figure out why the E6440 doesn't work with official Intel drivers for USB 3.0. Failing that, I can always recommend to my buyer that our next batch of 40-or-so laptops should come from other manufacturers, like HP (who, I might add, has a much better track record than Dell of keeping their OEM "customized" drivers more up-to-date).
DELL-Chris M
Community Manager
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December 30th, 2014 08:00
Tom S,
Escalate the technical issue to DELL-Terry B. He is our Liaison for laptops other than Alienware. Contact him via private message by clicking on his name, then click "Send a Private Message".