FIX: Dell Latitude E6400 Locking Up

PROBLEM: Dell E6400 notebook locking up when viewing Netflix, YouTube, CNN, Timewarner, HBOGO video.
FIX: Cleaned CPU Fan and exhaust with a vacuum cleaner and downgrade the BIOS from version A30 to A19.

The problem happens after the notebook is showing the video after ~10 minutes. The E6400 is connected to an E-Port Plus docking station with dual DVI monitor connection.  The CPU goes to 100% and the notebook becomes inoperable.  The only remedy is to reboot.

I had been looking for answers on how to fix the lock up issue on my main computer at home.  I am using a Dell E6400 Latitude notebook as my main desktop.  The E6400 is docked to a E-Port Plus docking station which provided a dual DVI port, an extra eSATA port, speaker out and MIC in jack, network connection, a parallel and serial port for my  packet radio station.  There are so many reasons why I had not ditched this notebook for something else.  I had to find the fix. My only solution – don’t watch video from Netflix, YouTube, CNN, Timewarner and HBOGO while the computer is docked in the E-Port Plus docking station and I was happy and contented, I was more productive at home when working on a project.  Later on, I bought a E4200 ultra portable notebook which became my video viewing laptop beside my dual monitor.

Today, I was not really looking for a fix on the lock up issue but something else.  The hard drive on my E6400 crashed after I ran an Acronis disk to disk copy to a spare drive.  It was just a regular “out of the blue” activity I had in mind and executed it just for the sake of doing it.  I did not do anything out of the ordinary and had been doing this procedure many times with great success.  After so many hours of trying to understand about how a good running hard drive becomes useless, I came across the popular forum regarding the software lock up issues.  I provided a few links below for your own knowledge and understanding.  Read the articles if you are interested on the root cause of the software lock up problems on E6400.  I don’t want to add more information to what is already been mentioned in the article and forum.  Here’s my $0.02 for the topic:

Causes of the software lock up:
1. Buggy BIOS, I had A30, [downgrading to A19 fixed it.]
2. Intel Speedstep algorithm not optimized [this is a good feature for a notebook to save power but not good for machine used as a desktop]
3. Poor CPU ventilation due to dust accumulation in the fan and exhaust.  The dust changes the cooling system function and ruined the Speedstep process.  When the CPU fan was unable to cool down the CPU temperature , the Speedstep algorithm kicks in to protect the CPU and lower the frequency and voltage.  This is not optimized on E6400 BIOS and it is over compensating/over reacting.

If you are a little bit lazy reading technical stuff and just want to fix the problem, please follow this procedure:
1. Turn off power
2. Get a vacuum cleaner and lint duster [in a can]
3. Blow the exhaust vent and fan with lint duster while the vacuum cleaner is running.
4. Downgrade/Upgrade BIOS to A19

Dell E6400 Forum
E6400 Manual
Intel Speedstep Information
Intel Processor Diagnostic Tool
RealTemp Application
MaxCore2 Application
Dell Releases BIOS Update News
A19 BIOS

CPU at 957 MHz at 44’C temperature

CPU at 2367 MHz at 48’C temperature

IPDT Application for CPU testing

IPDT Application for CPU testing, CPU test passed. 

E6400 viewing Timewarner TV and HBOGO at the same time, no more crashes.

Iexplore normally goes to 60-80% and then crash.  Now it’s not even >10%.

System Information of E6400, I downgraded the BIOS from A30 to A19. The latest and the greatest principle does not work here. A19 BIOS specifically says:

“1.  Updated thermal table.
2.  Removed HDD Acoustic support.
3.  Enhanced INT 19h support.”