M1330 Drivers - Keeping up to date

[Murdoc]

Hello, I've seen some users going ahead and already testing out where M1330's max capability in game play is (seen through "Bioshock experience on M1330") and I wanted to dedciated this thread in notifying others of where to get the latest updates for firmware so that you can take advantage of your M1330.

The first place I noticed for drivers is http://laptopvideo2go.com/

That place has a "driver scanner" utility which you can scan to see if your system is completely up to date.

A real nice place to get your updates is through Dell's support website. Simply select the type of OS you have and you're ready to go.

Note: After updating Nvidia firmware through laptopvideo2go.com, vista experience has changed from 4.0 -> 4.1. As you can see the new driver have somewhat of an impact on quality of graphics and experience.

Feel free to subscribe to this thread to keep yourself updated and well... if you really apprechiate the time and effort that I've put into this rep me will ya?

Please help me update!! If you see newer version drivers please post here and I'll try to read them ASAP and update! All links below are Vista 32 bit only. If you wish to dl drivers for linux/xp/vista 64 bit please use the Dell's support website (the link I posted above) and select your version of OS.

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Driver updates:

Video Drivers
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Release Date: Mar 18 08 laptopvideo2go team has released new 163.69 drivers (updated)
Max Gaming Driver:Geforce 8400GS nforce 174.74 and moded inf
Stock driver(recomended):Geforce 8400GS nforce from Dell

Instructions: 1)Download driver and moded inf files to desktop 2)Open XXXX_vista.exe and add "nvidia" to the end of the install path so it looks like "C:\Users\[username]\Desktop\nvidia" and click "extract". 3) place the modded inf file inside the nvidia folder on your desktop (allow it to overwrite when it prompts you). 4) go to the vista orb -> Control Panel -> System -> Device Manager. 5)Double click on "display adapters" so you can see 8400GS showing. 6)Right click "Nvidia GeForce 8400GS" and select "Update Driver software" 6)Select "Browse my computer for driver software" and then select "Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer". 7) Select "have disk". Click on "browse". 8) In the "look in" select box click and choose "nvidia" folder. 9) Select "nv4_disp.inf" 10) Click "next" and proceed with installation. 11)when you are done setup you can delete the nvidia folder and the dled files.

note: during install if it says the drivers are not Microsoft certified select "install anyways" since the inf file was modded to bypass nvidia's lock. The drivers itself is original and is safe to use.

CD/DVD-R/RW
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Released: Sept 10 07
Product: GSA-S10N DVDRW 8X ultraslim IDE slot load - HLDS firmware

Applications
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Released: Sept 4 07
Product: Dell Quickset

Release Date: 25/02/2008
Dell (Product) RED Operating System Customizations (optional)

Bios
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Released Date: May 06 2008 (Updated)
Product: M1330 Bios Version A10

Instructions: download to desktop and run the exe file.

Audio
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Release Date: Sept 27 07
Product: M1330 Sigmatel HD audio drivers

Intel Chipset
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Release Date: July 11 07
Product: Intel Chipset Drivers

Release Date: July 11 07
Product: Ricoh Drivers

Release Date: Oct 25 07
Product: Intel Turbo Memory

Chipset (Hard drive related)
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Release Date: July 11 07
Product: Intel Matrix Storage Manager(note: only install if you have a AHCI HDD setup)

Wired Broadband
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Release Date: July 11 07
Product: Broadcom Ethernet controller Driver

Wireless card
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Release Date: Nov 8 2007
Product: Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG, WiFi Link 4965AGN (v11.5.0.0)

Release Date: December 18 07
Product: Wireless-n-mini series (1390mini and Japan version, 1490, 1505 series)

Release Date: Nov 19 07
Product: Intel 4965AGN Wireless

Bluetooth
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Release Date: July 11 07
Product: Dell Internal Bluetooth 355 + EDR 2.0

FingerPrinter Reader
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Release Date: Aug 28 07
Product: UPEK FingerPrint Utility v5.6

Wireless Broadband mini cards
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Release Date: Sept 19 07
Product: Wireless 5700 TELEUS mobile broadband card

Release Date: July 11 07
Product: Cingular mobile broadband 3G express card

Release Date: Aug 30 07
Product: Wireless Broadband Mini card

Release Date: July 10 07
Product: VWZ Mobile broadband 5720 (EVDO-RevA) mini card

Release Date: Oct 25 2007
Product: Vodaphone 5505/5520 Mobile broadband 3G HSDPA mini card

Release Date: Aug 29 07
Product: Cingular Mobile 5520 wireless mobile Broadband (3G HSDPA) MiniCard

USB external 56K modem
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Release Date: Oct 22 2007
Product: Conexant - Diagnostics Utility

Web Cam
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Release Date: Dec 12 07
Product: Creative Labs Driver (Laptop intergrated webcam)

Touchpad
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Release Date: Feb 1 08 (udpated)
Product: Dell Touchpad/Pointing stick

Other Peripherals
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Release Date: Feb 22 2008
Product: Dell Premium Optical Mouse and Logitech Dell Premium Optical Mouse(Nala)

[liquidplasma6]

Thanks murdoc, I saw the QuickSet update a couple days ago and I updated it. Now quickset crashes everytime I boot up windows... Thanks a lot Dell

As for the firmware, I do not know how to apply it to the drive

[Samuel613]

That firmware is for the Hitachi drive; most of us have Panasonic DVD drives, if I am not mistaken.

[Murdoc]

The latest update for M1330 is the bios A06. I'm pretty sure you've all seen it on another thread but I wanted to warn you all that your battery life will be reduced. I have a fully charged M1330 and using A05 firmware allows 5hr08mins of battery life under power saving mode in vista. However, in A06 as soon as I have it booted up it says 4hr30. So you will lose 30 mins of your battery life! Think carefully.

The major benefits of this update is fixing the eject button behaviour so that you can push the eject button even when you're loading windows as well as ejecting disks when installing games that have multiple disks.

[FrontierDriver284]

The latest update for M1330 is the bios A06. I'm pretty sure you've all seen it on another thread but I wanted to warn you all that your battery life will be reduced. I have a fully charged M1330 and using A05 firmware allows 5hr08mins of battery life under power saving mode in vista. However, in A06 as soon as I have it booted up it says 4hr30. So you will lose 30 mins of your battery life! Think carefully.

The major benefits of this update is fixing the eject button behaviour so that you can push the eject button even when you're loading windows as well as ejecting disks when installing games that have multiple disks.

Well I have 2 M1330's here, I'm about to test this out and see if it happens to me too. I wish they had a fix for the battery whine. My original laptop and my replacement both have it

[liquidplasma6]

does it stop the CPU whine? This might be why it reduces battery, it might disable C4?

[SirWells]

does it stop the CPU whine? This might be why it reduces battery, it might disable C4?

I would accept a little less battery life if I could get rid of that CPU whine... Anybody give the bios upgrade a shot and see any benefits?

[SirWells]

I took the risk and updated to A06. So far, I really don't see too much of a difference, the CPU whine at first seemed to have gone away, but it's still here. I'm pretty sure the apparent loss of CPU whine was purely physiological. I did see something about A06 updating the bios of the NVidia card...

[Murdoc]

I took the risk and updated to A06. So far, I really don't see too much of a difference, the CPU whine at first seemed to have gone away, but it's still here. I'm pretty sure the apparent loss of CPU whine was purely physiological. I did see something about A06 updating the bios of the NVidia card...

Yes it does update the bios of the vidoe card... I'm not sure if it gives any bonus or improvements (I haven't had time to test out the games yet) but I would imagine it's a minor update.

When I got my replacement I was already at A05 and even then I didn't have CPU whine so I don't think firmware will fix the issue unless the firmware allows disabling of C4 state (like HP laptops).

[FrontierDriver284]

I upgraded my replacement M1330 from A05 to A06. I notice no difference in battery life. The fan seems to run less, but that's about it.