I still own a M6600 and just had to perform a full reinstall of Windows 10. With the help of the initial post, some more research, some trial and error, sweat and tears, I managed to fix all issues and to get everything working. I realize this is a (very) old thread and I'm not sure this is still helpful, but just in case, here is what I did.
First, the warmup. I used the Media Creation Tool to create a W10 install on an USB SSD drive. And booted on said drive. A few screens later, right after repartitioning the target hard drive and choosing the target partition, I was getting the following blocking error :
❌ We couldn't install Windows in the location you chose. Please check your media drive, Error 0x80300024.
I tried several suggestions I found on the web (using another USB port, recreating the partition(s), converting to UEFI). Didn't work. The actual fix to get past this error in my case was to physically remove the 2nd hard drive from my M6600. That took some time to figure out and got my sweating a bit. After that, the install went well.
Then, the drivers. Same errors as OP. As a side note, Drivers should be installed in a "correct" order (see How to Install Dell Drivers in the Correct Order) and I followed Dell's guidelines. I installed the following drivers :
Dell Data Security: Dell Data Protection | Access, Version 2.3.00003.072, A09 DDPA_Setup_X1C1N_A09_64bits_ZPE.exe https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=x1c1n This bloated piece of software bundles the drivers for the fingerprint sensor. I performed a "Limited" install (so just the drivers and the middleware, not the software) and... voilà! No more errors in the Device Manager. AND the fingerprint sensor is also recognized in Windows Hello, which was not the case with some others drivers despite them installing without errors. Works !!! ✅
The fingerprint sensor is the part that gave me the most headhache. Dell changed so many things, it's an absolute nightmare to find your way between old pieces of software like Control Vault and/or DDPA, the correct versions, what to install, what to not install depending on the versions. Anyways, I found a version of software that works and got the sensor working with Windows Hello, I'm not touching anything anymore.
My video card is a FirePro M6100. It is recognized as a Radeon HD 8950 by default by W10 after install and I haven't decided yet which driver to install. The (latest?) one from Dell or the (latest) one from AMD :
AMD FirePro M5100/M6100 Graphics Driver, Version 15.201.2701, A02, Release Date 08 Aug 2019
I know the latter works, it's the one that was installed on this machine before reinstalling W10. But I was getting occasional crashes on my old bloated system.
The rest of the hardware was recognized by default (including Ethernet Card, WiFi Card, Dell Touchpad, Bluetooth, Audio, Webcam, etc), is working and the W10 drivers are probably more recent. So I won't even bother with them.
I see some optional driver updates in Windows Update but as long as things are working, I won't apply them either.
And that's it. My M6600 from 2011 is up and running with a fresh W10 install. And still a very capable machine.
Day two, things going smoothly with Win 10 on the M6600.
Got around the lack of an HP Printer Driver by using Google Cloud Print, which let's me install a Google driver in Windows 10 and then print to the cloud, and from there, it communicates via internet to my HP Printer which on my local wireless network, using HP's EPrint which is compatible with Google Cloud Print. (Had to turn on Web Services on the printer and register the printer with HP Eprint.)
My nVidia driver for graphics was installed by Win 10 automatically, but that did not install the nVidia app in control panel, so I downloaded a Windows 10 version of my nVidia driver for my Quadro 3000M display adapter, and that installed fine and is working as expected. Now I have the nVidia program to tweak adjustments.
I also have the M6600 with Nvidia Quadro 300M. The upgrade when fine. I was able to login to Windows 10 after the upgrade finished. However, when I reboot the M6600 for the fist time, it went to endless flashing blue screen. I have to user Windows 10 USB that I created to recover to the earlier build. I tried this twice and I end up with the same result. The first time I tried, I uninstalled Symantect endpoint protection so it could not be the antivirus. Any idea?
After the install, does your display allow you to adjust the brightness? The Intel drivers from Dell and from Intel for the M6600 were always flaky for me in that they never properly set brightness registry settings, requiring a registry key to be manually set after updating the driver.
As in a blue screen of death? If so, is there an exception that shows what the offending drivers are? You can try going into safe mode of Windows 10, and if it comes up (it should), check event log. If nothing there, than Windows is abending earlier than the logging engine startup at start. In Safe mode, you can shutdown starting drivers and services to find the offending drivers. You can try to see what was last installed by Windows, and revert those drivers. Try a Chkdsk /f in Safe mode, as sometimes the disk has a soft or hard error that corrupts Windows loading.
Last, (and maybe first), going from major releases of Windows, often best to just install from scratch for most stable/fastest implementation. Microsoft does a great job making upgrades possible, but with all the third party apps and evolution that your PC goes through, its often best just to go back to bare metal, and install fresh copy. Good luck,
Not as in a blue screen of death. It just has a blue background ( I guess it is depending on what theme color you have) with dots circle that goes around endlessly. I can't sign in and there is no way I can get in to safe mode.
I am not real technical so I don't what to do or where to go. Sounds like you might know. I installed windows 10 and now the computer doesn't reboot all the way. How do I uninstall it?
Dell is not supporting installation of Windows 10 on the M6600 (it does on the M6700 and M6800) but Microsoft's Windows 10 tool was reporting the PC would be compatible, so...
Other than that, the M6600 is working fine.
Excellent post. Thanks for taking the time to document it. The m6600 is a very nice (and expensive) machine. There is also nothing particularly special inside it so no reason why it should not work.
As for the HP LaserJet MFP175nw Printer ... Looks like it might only print in Windows (or is dependent on Windows, which is version specific). In the future, never buy those low-end models. Pay a bit more and select next model up that prints in Windows, Apple and Linux. Those printers render print jobs inside the printer itself (like a real printer). They can also be attached to a network print-server.
I updated from windows 7 to windows 10 with my M6600, and that worked out fine. Everything works, except my finger print reader (as you pointed out), but my microphone and webcam do not work. Have you heard of any fixes or do you have any idea how I might fix these problems, or should I make a backup of my C Drive and do a clean install?
Also, if your microphone (internal) and webcam worked when you did a clean install (please let me know, haha), then I may just take your route of installing windows 10.
My built-in mic and video cam work fine, did not install any Dell driver, as I am using a Microsoft driver for installed by Win 10. I also use an external headset with its mic, all OK. I did have to manually configure settings audio settings in Control Panel to get all working OK.
I had my bluetooth turned off in BIOS before I installed Win 10 so I cannot confirm if it will work or not. Will try activating it later and report back...
pascaldeuxzero
1 Rookie
•
2 Posts
0
November 27th, 2023 01:14
I still own a M6600 and just had to perform a full reinstall of Windows 10. With the help of the initial post, some more research, some trial and error, sweat and tears, I managed to fix all issues and to get everything working. I realize this is a (very) old thread and I'm not sure this is still helpful, but just in case, here is what I did.
First, the warmup. I used the Media Creation Tool to create a W10 install on an USB SSD drive. And booted on said drive. A few screens later, right after repartitioning the target hard drive and choosing the target partition, I was getting the following blocking error :
I tried several suggestions I found on the web (using another USB port, recreating the partition(s), converting to UEFI). Didn't work. The actual fix to get past this error in my case was to physically remove the 2nd hard drive from my M6600. That took some time to figure out and got my sweating a bit. After that, the install went well.
Then, the drivers. Same errors as OP. As a side note, Drivers should be installed in a "correct" order (see How to Install Dell Drivers in the Correct Order) and I followed Dell's guidelines. I installed the following drivers :
DRVR_WIN_R304291.EXE
https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=t4tp8
With hindsight, I'm not sure this was required. But... Works! ✅
Chipset_Driver_MPGY4_WN_7.1.70.1205_A05.EXE
https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=mpgy4
I did not install the Intel management software, just the drivers. Works! ✅
DRVR_WIN_R300787.EXE
https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=kc9w0
This version installs without errors. Works! ✅
DRVR_WIN_R309372.EXE
https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=f91kt
Works! ✅
DDPA_Setup_X1C1N_A09_64bits_ZPE.exe
https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=x1c1n
This bloated piece of software bundles the drivers for the fingerprint sensor. I performed a "Limited" install (so just the drivers and the middleware, not the software) and... voilà! No more errors in the Device Manager. AND the fingerprint sensor is also recognized in Windows Hello, which was not the case with some others drivers despite them installing without errors. Works !!! ✅
The fingerprint sensor is the part that gave me the most headhache. Dell changed so many things, it's an absolute nightmare to find your way between old pieces of software like Control Vault and/or DDPA, the correct versions, what to install, what to not install depending on the versions. Anyways, I found a version of software that works and got the sensor working with Windows Hello, I'm not touching anything anymore.
My video card is a FirePro M6100. It is recognized as a Radeon HD 8950 by default by W10 after install and I haven't decided yet which driver to install. The (latest?) one from Dell or the (latest) one from AMD :
Video_Driver_VC9R7_WN32_15.201.2701_A02
https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=VC9R7win10-radeon-pro-software-enterprise-21.Q2.1.exe
https://www.amd.com/en/support/professional-graphics/mobile-platforms/firepro-mobility-series/firepro-m6100-mobility
I know the latter works, it's the one that was installed on this machine before reinstalling W10. But I was getting occasional crashes on my old bloated system.
The rest of the hardware was recognized by default (including Ethernet Card, WiFi Card, Dell Touchpad, Bluetooth, Audio, Webcam, etc), is working and the W10 drivers are probably more recent. So I won't even bother with them.
I see some optional driver updates in Windows Update but as long as things are working, I won't apply them either.
And that's it. My M6600 from 2011 is up and running with a fresh W10 install. And still a very capable machine.
Cheers.
AtlantaWebDesig
11 Posts
2
July 31st, 2015 10:00
Day two, things going smoothly with Win 10 on the M6600.
Got around the lack of an HP Printer Driver by using Google Cloud Print, which let's me install a Google driver in Windows 10 and then print to the cloud, and from there, it communicates via internet to my HP Printer which on my local wireless network, using HP's EPrint which is compatible with Google Cloud Print. (Had to turn on Web Services on the printer and register the printer with HP Eprint.)
My nVidia driver for graphics was installed by Win 10 automatically, but that did not install the nVidia app in control panel, so I downloaded a Windows 10 version of my nVidia driver for my Quadro 3000M display adapter, and that installed fine and is working as expected. Now I have the nVidia program to tweak adjustments.
Brandon28
6 Posts
1
August 7th, 2015 10:00
I also have the M6600 with Nvidia Quadro 300M. The upgrade when fine. I was able to login to Windows 10 after the upgrade finished. However, when I reboot the M6600 for the fist time, it went to endless flashing blue screen. I have to user Windows 10 USB that I created to recover to the earlier build. I tried this twice and I end up with the same result. The first time I tried, I uninstalled Symantect endpoint protection so it could not be the antivirus. Any idea?
64dude
1 Rookie
•
70 Posts
1
August 8th, 2015 05:00
After the install, does your display allow you to adjust the brightness? The Intel drivers from Dell and from Intel for the M6600 were always flaky for me in that they never properly set brightness registry settings, requiring a registry key to be manually set after updating the driver.
64Dude
64dude
1 Rookie
•
70 Posts
0
August 8th, 2015 05:00
As in a blue screen of death? If so, is there an exception that shows what the offending drivers are? You can try going into safe mode of Windows 10, and if it comes up (it should), check event log. If nothing there, than Windows is abending earlier than the logging engine startup at start. In Safe mode, you can shutdown starting drivers and services to find the offending drivers. You can try to see what was last installed by Windows, and revert those drivers. Try a Chkdsk /f in Safe mode, as sometimes the disk has a soft or hard error that corrupts Windows loading.
Last, (and maybe first), going from major releases of Windows, often best to just install from scratch for most stable/fastest implementation. Microsoft does a great job making upgrades possible, but with all the third party apps and evolution that your PC goes through, its often best just to go back to bare metal, and install fresh copy. Good luck,
64dude
Brandon28
6 Posts
0
August 12th, 2015 12:00
Not as in a blue screen of death. It just has a blue background ( I guess it is depending on what theme color you have) with dots circle that goes around endlessly. I can't sign in and there is no way I can get in to safe mode.
Sherman75
2 Posts
0
August 14th, 2015 10:00
I am not real technical so I don't what to do or where to go. Sounds like you might know. I installed windows 10 and now the computer doesn't reboot all the way. How do I uninstall it?
Brandon28
6 Posts
0
August 15th, 2015 13:00
Did you upgrade it from Windows 7 or 8? Or did you install it fresh?
Sherman75
2 Posts
0
August 16th, 2015 08:00
Windows 7
Brandon28
6 Posts
0
August 17th, 2015 13:00
There is away that you can restore back to the previous build.
You need to download the Windows 10 download tool can create a boot up to a USB or DVD.
www.microsoft.com/.../windows10
When you have the USB created, boot the system from the USB/DVD and click on repair.
Click/tap on Troubleshoot
Click/tap on Advanced options
You can try System Restore or Startup Repair first to see if it helps.
If it doesn't work, go to the option restore previous build.
Tesla1856
8 Wizard
•
17.2K Posts
0
September 2nd, 2015 14:00
Excellent post. Thanks for taking the time to document it. The m6600 is a very nice (and expensive) machine. There is also nothing particularly special inside it so no reason why it should not work.
As for the HP LaserJet MFP175nw Printer ... Looks like it might only print in Windows (or is dependent on Windows, which is version specific). In the future, never buy those low-end models. Pay a bit more and select next model up that prints in Windows, Apple and Linux. Those printers render print jobs inside the printer itself (like a real printer). They can also be attached to a network print-server.
Check this page:
http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c04658195
There is a Software Tool. Also, it appears to be listed (search 175), but it might only work as a PCL-6 Printer with no MFP abilities.
Tyler Graff
3 Posts
0
September 24th, 2015 13:00
Sorry that this is in a seperate post, but I was also wondering if your bluetooth system worked.
Tyler Graff
3 Posts
0
September 24th, 2015 13:00
Thank you for that description.
I updated from windows 7 to windows 10 with my M6600, and that worked out fine. Everything works, except my finger print reader (as you pointed out), but my microphone and webcam do not work. Have you heard of any fixes or do you have any idea how I might fix these problems, or should I make a backup of my C Drive and do a clean install?
Also, if your microphone (internal) and webcam worked when you did a clean install (please let me know, haha), then I may just take your route of installing windows 10.
AtlantaWebDesig
11 Posts
1
September 25th, 2015 14:00
My built-in mic and video cam work fine, did not install any Dell driver, as I am using a Microsoft driver for installed by Win 10. I also use an external headset with its mic, all OK. I did have to manually configure settings audio settings in Control Panel to get all working OK.
I had my bluetooth turned off in BIOS before I installed Win 10 so I cannot confirm if it will work or not. Will try activating it later and report back...
Tyler Graff
3 Posts
0
September 25th, 2015 14:00
Awesome!
I will attempt a clean install then. It sounds like it will fix a lot of my problems.
I will report back with my results as well, it may be a couple days before I do this however, due to a turn in date for some projects I must complete.
Thanks again.