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Experience Installing Windows 10 on M6600 Precision Mobile Workstation
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...
I'm sure Dell doesn't recommend this but...
1) I created with Windows 7 a backup of my C: drive and created a system recovery disk, so I could go back to Win 7 if I wanted.
2) Installed the free Windows 10 upgrade choosing to "Install on This PC" over the existing operating system.
3) The install came up OK with the PC working, but not without a nasty surprise with my HP Printer driver for a LaserJet MFP175nw printer, which not only was not working, but also was not corrupted in my Windows control panel. If I tried to run any HP printer app, or delete the driver in Control Panel, etc. a Windows 10 error screen appeared saying the Administrator blocked uninstalling or running it because it wasn't safe (no signature). Of course, I was logged in as the Window Admin so there's was no way to uninstall the old Windows 7 printer drivers. HP Support confirmed they would have no solution except to recommend I do clean install of Windows 10.
Suggestion: delete any HP printer drivers before trying a Windows 10 upgrade.
FYI, when you upgrade Win 10 over Win 7, you within the next 30 days have an option to revert back to Windows 7 -- it saves a recovery version on your C: drive in a Windows Old folder, but after 30 days will auto delete that altogether.
But rather than go back to Win 7, I decided to do the clean install of Windows 10 to fix my HP software bug.
Before you try a clean install, make sure you did register your Windows 10 by logging into a Microsoft Account with your email and password, so your account in the cloud knows you are a valid user.
4) After you install Windows 10 once over your Windows 7, Microsoft will allow you to do a clean install, even though you do not have a Product Key id for Windows 10. You do that by using their Media Creation Tool and choosing to Install On Another PC which lets you copy the OS onto a USB drive or DVD. Then you boot from the USB and DVD to install. You are presented with a listing of your hard drives and partitions on them and choose which partition to install Windows 10 into.
5) This installation asks you to supply a product key. Using your Windows 7 product key that on the sticker is inside your battery area will not validate Windows 10. But since you previously installed Windows 10 over Windows 7, and registered with Microsoft in your account and checked that your Win 10 status in Control Panel as "Activated", you can click SKIP and leave product key blank. You are prompted a second time to enter you product key later on, also skipped that.
6) The PC came up running OK, but Windows was not validated as Activated until I signed into Microsoft with my email and password, after which my status changed to Activated on the PC.
7) Checking Windows Device Manager, I noticed that most devices were installed with Microsoft's own drivers, not with any Dell drivers since I had wiped them out with a clean install.
The good news was Microsoft installed by itself the correct drivers for my two video displays, an Intel HD Graphics 3000 and an nVidia Quadro 3000M and they work fine.
But in Windows Device Manager I found 4 errors…
So, my process was to create a System Restore Point manually before I tried to resolve each error by installing some driver. If my attempt failed, I rolled back to the previous restore point so my Windows registry was clean.
Here are the errors I had:
Error: Unknown Device
Due to missing FreeFall Sensor Driver
So Installed DRVR_WIN_R309372 from Dell site. Works!
Next…
Error: PCI Serial Port
Installed
Intel Management Engine 7.1 Components Installer Intel Management Engine 7.1 Components
Chipset_Driver_MPGY4_WN_7.1.70.1205_A05.EXE
From <http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/product-support/servicetag/BZD7LQ1/drivers?s=BSD>
Works!
Next…
Error: Mass Storage Controller
Due to O2Micro card reader
Dell drivers will not install without error. Do not try to install them. Could not find any driver from the manufacturer either. The good news is the card reader is working OK using Microsoft's own generic driver.
Error: Broadcom USH
This is the fingerprint reader needing a driver. Since I don't use it I didn't try to resolve this one.
Other than that, the M6600 is working fine. Online
On the plus side, the PC boots faster and most programs (like Adobe CC) load faster.
I have no Windows 10 driver for my 3-year old HP LaserJet, perhaps one will come available later.
I have not attempted to override any Microsoft drivers Win 10 installed with those on the Dell site, but might try that (after creating a restore point so I can recover) using Win 8 versions (not Win 7 since I understand there is more similarity between 8 drivers and 10.)
But since my M6600 is working as well as before, I may leave things as is. I don't think I'll need to revert back to my emergency system restore to go back to Win 7.
Since I ended up doing a clean install, I did need to reinstall all programs that were on my C: drive.
Will report more bugs if I encounter them.
pascaldeuxzero
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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
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
70 Posts
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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
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17K Posts
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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
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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.