Precision M6800 DVD noise or defective DVD drive

Hi there. 

My m6800 was delivered last Thursday. It arrived damaged and I have requested replacement which is apparently on its way.

Been using the laptop occasionally as I am not allowed to install any software on it.

I can confirm that i have experienced all of the issues mentioned in this post.

Bios is a03. Dvd is making noise every 5 minutes ir so. 

Fans can be loud and will switch on for no reason in my opinion. I have not used any demanding applications on it.

Please keep us updated. It is unacceptable that the most expensive laptop from Dell's range is acting up like that and nothing has been done or at least communicated to the community with regards to the problems. Shame on you dell

Pleade keep us updated as

Opened a case with support, and they are sending a replacement drive.  I will keep everyone posted on the results.

I hope you are charging DELL trouble shooting hours because it is quite obvious that they didn't do any and continue shipping units that are defective. (i was shipped 3 & spent hours doing fixes directed by dell that had no positive effects) I was told by one of their best techs that the DVD is not defective and it is a software issue. 

I hope you are charging DELL trouble shooting hours because it is quite obvious that they didn't do any testing and continue shipping units that are defective. (i was shipped 3 & spent hours doing fixes directed by dell that had no positive effects) I was told by one of their best techs that the DVD is not defective and it is a software issue. 

I am immensely concerned and a bit pissed off to be honest that something like that is taking place.

I wonder whether the replacement unit will have same problems. 

Looks like the AMD Firepro driver I downloaded from AMD is now available on Dell Driver Site (see below).  It is listed as Recommended, but my experience is that is is Critical, because the system was unusable for me prior to the patch.  I am on day 5 without a single blue screen or freeze up.  I also found the fan was no longer cycling like a crazy beast - so maybe it is related to that as well.  On the positive side I can say that when the system works properly, it really is a fast and quiet laptop.  I am sure these issues will eventually get resolved - but I totally understand the frustration - I was ready to throw it out the window myself.  We all have day jobs and cannot waste time like this.

If you have the spare cycles, try to download Process Monitor:  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/sysinternals/bb896645

Then see what process is trying to hit the DVD.  Maybe it's something that can be disabled or configured such as the AntiVirus software or Windows Search, or some silly thing like that.

Managed to solve the problem with dvd drive? 

Hi all,

Please accept our apologies for noise that you've been experiencing from the DVD drives in your Precision systems. Dell Engineering is currently testing BIOS revision A05 which will be a final resolution for this problem. Please see the following link as confirmation: http://www.dell.com/support/troubleshooting/uk/en/ukdhs1/KCS/KcsArticles/ArticleView?c=uk&l=en&s=gen&docid=626693

If you have any other issues, please don't hesitate to let me know by adding me as a friend and outlining your issue in the friend request and I will try to address these for you as quickly as possible.

No go on the replacement drive.  Glad to see Dell is addressing the problem in BIOS.

Hi,

Which graphics card were you getting BSODs with?  I get an IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL on the igdkmd64.sys (intel HD graphics driver on win 8.1) so I'm wondering if upgrading the AMD driver is going to do much.

Cheers, David

Post has been dormant for awhile.  BIOS did not correct the issue, emailed the Dell tech that was on the incident before, no reply.  Also haven't been able to get switchable graphics to work correctly.  No matter what settings I used all applications were using the onboard Intel graphics chip.  The only way to get the full functionality of the firepro graphics was to disable switchable graphics in the BIOS.  If anyone knows how to solve this problem, that would be fantastic.

Hey John C, any news with A05 update, basically what issue are you focusing to resolve on A05?

- fan kicking high rev to low rev seems not normal

- switchable graphics does not work properly

- the dreaded DVD drive noise

- after updating with all downloads.. my Dell most of the time does not wake on sleep mode and sometimes freezes and unresponsive

I hope A05 will resolve all this issue

Mine does all of this as well and I just bought it in November and I am losing time and work. I went through troubleshooting and dell has sent me a new hard drive. I cant believe all this for a 2000 dollar laptop!!!

Ill read through but what is best way to stop that annoying noise the dvd is making??