problems with Latitude E6500 / E6400 & E-Port Replicator

The options on your screenshot would exist for any system, however, the window to the left, that says "Profile 1(Current)" THAT's where it should say "Docked" or "Undocked" if it were an actual docking station and not a port replicator.

the problems might also have alot to do with the Throttling issues that dell cannot seem to fix. A guy named TinkerDude did serious testing and released a 59 page report on the E6500 and the Eport replicator and other stuff and found that the problem cannot be fixed with a update or a new bios. Its more serious.. but dell wont acknowledge it. And its been over a year since the problem first surfaced so as you can see dell is just trying to keep profits as high as possible, a recall would be death. Check out the other threads on Throttling and E6500 ... it all has to do with that.. and all other issues stem from te throttling problem.

oh and the fixes they are releasing just put limits on the performance, so you baught a 2.53 ghz machine, but you get 1.6 if not less... YAY!

http://en.community.dell.com/blogs/direct2dell/archive/2009/12/02/dell-on-laptops-and-throttling.aspx

check that link, it might help you too. and also

http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/01/dell-facing-massive-e6400-and-e6500-overheating-and-underclockin

hilarious thing is that they had other links in the actual ENGADGET post to the report that TINKERDUDE made.. and more information.. and they removed the links! and you see there are 3 comment pages.. if you click on 2 or 3.. it goes to the homepage.. not the comments. so you can see dell asked them to censor this issue.. which means alot of stuff is being censored by dell.. especially how bad this E6500/E6400 mess is.

I have an E6500. I was running BIOS A14 and Win 7 Ultimate x64 Release Candidate since last August or so, using an E-port (PRO3X) daily. I don't recall ever having this freezing issue.

Last week, I installed a new hard drive, upgraded BIOS to A18, and installed Win 7 Ultimate x64 (official release). Still using same E-port. Two times now I have attempted to re-dock while the laptop was running and both times it has frozen, requiring a hard power down. The first time, I re-docked with the lid closed and when I opened the lid, the screen was black. The second time, I re-docked with the lid open and the screen froze, showing the same image continuously until I powered it down.

It undocks while running just fine.

Anybody know if I can re-apply BIOS A14 (i.e. downgrade)? I think I still have the A14 install that I downloaded from Dell last summer.

Any chance this undock problems is related to motherboards with the Nvidia graphics onboard?  I think the only laptop I've seen internally with this problem has the graphics chip, and I've had parts replaced on it.

I used to have this problem, but yesterday I solved it. Before it would freeze when undocking or if I was lucky just when redocking (there was a 99% chance it would freeze in either case). This is using an E6500, 32-bit Win7 Professional, Bios A18.

Because this thread inspired me to test some new things and because I did multiple steps at once I'll just write down what I did last.

- I removed the Dell Security Driver Pack. (The only Dell software I have installed now is Dell Touchpad)

- I rebooted to BIOS and made changes to System configuration and Wireless. Here are my settings

System configuration
-integrated NIC: Enabled w/PXE
-Parallel Port: ECP
-Serial Port: Com1
-SATA Operation: IRRT
-Miscellaneous Devices: checked are;
    Enable Module Bay
    Enable Media Card, PC Card and 1394
    Enable External USB port
    Enable Microphone
    Enable eSATA Ports
-USB PowerShare: unchecked

Wireless
-Wi-Fi Catcher: disabled
-Wireless Switch: all unchecked
-Wireless Devices: all checked

Call Dell and have them replace the motherboard, heat sink, and cpu fan.  Apparently it is a design flaw with the dock/heatsink/mb combo, and they should replace it no questions asked.  Seems to have worked for me.

Hey how are you

I havent tried your fix, but I too have 4 e6500's and ive narrowed it down to the security software. I run encryption on the disk with a single sign on.

Can anyone else confirm they run the same?

The laptop intermittenly freezes when docked and usually I know when it will freeze because some popup called "switch identity" comes up.

Its just happens that the identity window is hidden , even try to alt tab to it, and i can never get to it. This is all when i  try to get into outlook.

I wish i knew what identity they were talking about.

I think the user profile changes status from local to temp when it happens, almost like it ( the security software) is not recognizing the user profile when the laptop is being docked.

I know it has to do with the security software. If anyone has seen this behavior, please post as im about to remove all the security sotware to check

Thanks!

Hi Robert

I have 4 e6500's and they do the same thing. They all freeze like that.

I notice when i undock and go into outlook i get a temp user profile and some switch identity window as a hidden popup comes up because it asks me to setup outlook fresh from start. After i shutdown once or twice, or go back on the dock, the profile is back to normal.

Its like the laptop doesnt know what to do when it docks and undocks. Maybe the security software. If you find out anything, please post as i will do the same.

Dennis

Brinkie

I dont think that fix would work for me as i have an encrypted hard drive. I belive that security driver pack controls the ability to use the encrypted drive. tpm, fingerprint reader etc. If it renders that i cant use the encryption anymore, then is it really a fix? It has to have something to do with the security software, if you check my other post on this thread, see if you had the same symptoms.

Brinkie I dont think that fix would work for me as i have an encrypted hard drive. I belive that security driver pack controls the ability to use the encrypted drive. tpm, fingerprint reader etc. If it renders that i cant use the encryption anymore, then is it really a fix? It has to have something to do with the security software, if you check my other post on this thread, see if you had the same symptoms.

I use TrueCrypt for disk encryption where you probably use the build in? I never saw any "switch identity" popup as you described in your other post. My post was merely to share a solution that worked for me (knock on wood), in the hope it helps others. I've been freeze free for a week now, so I'm happy.

I am using a standard AT&T E6500 and PR03X E-port replicator PR03X  (which I bought out of my own pocket for home use). I have experienced none of freezing issues described in this thread.  My E6500 has a production date of 12/09. 

But I do have issues that are PR03X and power management related. First, it won't sleep when docked. It won't even go into screen saver mode. When I try to turn off the display by Fn D function, the display will turn back on within a second.  To make sure that it was not caused by any application, I ejected the computer and did Fn D again. This time display was turned off without coming back on.  So it is related to the E-port replicator. 

I wonder if anyone else is experiencing the same issue?

Replaced: the MB, heatsink, fan, and dock.

Still got BSODs on undock.  Disabled LPT and COM ports in bios, seems to be working now.

I don't undestand, how the replaced heatsink and fan helped the freeze problem?

Try disabling the "boot from USB" option in the boot startup setup portion of the BIOS.  This is the only thing that has worked for me.  I tried all the other suggestions in this discussion.