We’re Dell fans, especially latitude fans. Super stable hardware. We recently did a technology upgrade in our department and switched from the D-Series Latitudes to the e-Series. We have a handful of e6500′s, a few 6400′s and a couple e4300′s.
For the most part this 1st generation of laptops has gone well. Not perfect, but pretty good. The e64/6500′s have seen a few BIOS upgrades that have worked out most of the issues. The fingerprint reader/software combination (Dell Control Point) is still crap though. Very unreliable. Especially when compared the Wave fingerprint software that came bundled with an XPS that I own.
Outside of that they have been pretty good.
The e4300, not so much.
This little laptop is super sweet. Nice small, fast, good battery life. But we’re experiencing some hard hangs/freezes. We’ve tried multiple flavors of OS’s, multiple driver combinations, all with little success. We’ve also replaced the motherboard in one unit. The problem persists.
I realize these are relatively new, but it amazes us that a google search for this issue returns nada. Both laptops behave the same, random hard lock-ups.
It seems sleep/video/audio related, and no we can’t make it happen but it’s enough to send them back for the time being.
We’re working with our Dell rep and hopefully someone from the Brand Team to get to a resolution. We really want them to work and be stable. There isn’t another laptop out there that $ for $, feature for feature meets the need.
So if you’ve experienced similar issues I’m interested in hearing from you.
Post a comment and we’ll get in touch.
UPDATE
On Friday the 19th I had a conversation with a Latitude Brand Manager. He assured me that this problem is well known, especially with e4300′s running Vista. A BIOS updated to address this specific freezing issue is in the works and slated to be released on the 29th.
We’re going to hang tight until then. If this is known inside Dell, and being worked on. The fact that none fo the Tier 2/Tier 3 Support people had any clue is somewhat bothersome. We’ll report back if the fix does what it’s supposed to.
Hi all,
news about freezes? Is it ok to buy a dell e4300 today? Are the issues fixed?
Thanks for help.
michele
Michele,
I would suspect yes since all of the ones we have have been fixed with either a motherboard or other component swap.
There have also been a significant number of driver and BIOS releases.
On top of that, Windows7 is very kind to this machine. All of my network reconnect after sleep issues are gone.
Enjoy…
Thanks for your reply,
so I can buy (in Italy) a new one without high probability of freezes?! Do you know how to ask this to someone in Dell?
Anyway, how is the pc in general?
Just an update on my situation. I had bought a refurbished e4300 and had the same hard freezes. The HD was replaced, which helped but still had the problems (especially with streaming of web video). Dell customer support claimed the whole time that there were no hardware problems since the diagnostics were all normal. They insisted it was a software/OS problem. I had my problems with XP pro and Vista.
The begrudgingly agreed to replace the mother board. Been using it for the last month without any problems. Good with XP. Recently upgraded to Win 7 and still no glitches.
They’ll deny it is a hardware problem, but you have to be persistent. My e4300 works great now.
Good luck.
I have the same issue running Win 7 with my e4300. It happened twice this morning. They didn’t tell me about a bios update when I went through a full hardware diagnostic with Dell support. They told me it was a software corruption problem. I’m running the latest BIOS – A12.
I’m was about to purcahse an E4300 until I found this page. Have the issues been solved? any update?
Paul,
Yes, this has been fixed as far as I can tell. With new motherboards in ours, and Windows7 they have performed very well.
Still have some wonkyness with the wirless card every now and again, after waking from hybernation, but it’s not that often and isn’t a deal breaker.
Order away!
FWIW…
I just ordered another one last week. I’ll be sorely disappointed if it has issue. I really don’t expect it to.
But judging from the one purchased back in Nov 9th, it seems like they may not have fixed them all.
I do know the newer e-series, at least the last wave of them we received (e6400′s) had different motherboards than the 1st generation as well.
I suspect these will too.
hi all
I have a problem with dell e4300,if use for browsing or running program always freezes,and now running bios new version bios a14,i buy second hand from shop on malaysia,and now i cannot claim this dell in my country indonesia,anyone have solution for me?
thanks all
I have an e4300 running XP that came new in February and still has problems with not shutting down or hibernating correctly. Is a call to Dell the best approach?
Dale, In my opinion (YES). though very few laptops that I have owned have ever ‘hibernated’ properly running XP.
I got my new E4300 for about a month now. In my first two weeks of usage the computer would suddenly wakes up from Hibernation/Sleep mode by itself for no reasons and in less then 3 weeks the computer fails to power up the next morning. I checked all connections, remove all devices to the docking station, powering up on the docking station with the original PSU, powering up with portable original PSU that came with the notebook, different power supply outlets, etc. without any success. Each time I plug in the power cord into the computer the blue light on the power cord would go off.
Dell recommended to replace the motherboard and after the replacement I still experience the same problem of the computer waking up by itself.
To stop the hang in XP Pro try down gradeing the dell webcam driver.
I would not recommend this computer.
This Dell E4300 looks good but it has very poor in build quality. My laptop has been freezing at unpredictable times. Once it froze during a presentation. I don’t think I will buy another Dell again. I will be selling this on EBAY very soon. I should have stayed with a Thinkpad. Don’t buy this laptop as it is c..p.
Mine hard freezes rarely, but frequently beeps randomly (via motherboard speaker).
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Ok even with the New BIOs (A17) update I still have a bunch that fail to shut down
I have buyed one used E4300 and i have freeze problem when playing flash video. I flashed bios to A19 and problem still persist. i changed hdd for bigger one, but also didnt helped..
Phelippe,
Hound Dell until they replace your motherboard. That’s the only fix. But since you bought it used (unless you bought it used from dell/outlet) I don’t know how you’re going to get that accomplished.
Since my motherboard was replaced 2 years ago, mine has been rock solid.
I have E4300 with the same problem. But it will not happen in Powersaver mode. I think I don’t need high performance for the battery setting except when running Digital Mark Reader (DMR).