Author Topic: I bought a used Dell M6800: what tests to run?  (Read 5739 times)

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Offline SredniTopic starter

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Re: I bought a used Dell M6800: what tests to run?
« Reply #25 on: November 26, 2023, 02:03:40 am »
Well, yes, this is a brick and mortar shop that supposedly sells end of leasing notebooks and computers.
The seller stressed a lot the fact the he only sells "original" parts ("original DELL" parts, in my case) and that both the battery and the SSD were new (this is also written on the product page for basically all their offers).
And yet, the first battery (which was probably an original DELL battery) was old and spent - as the bios diagnostics correctly identified, and the second battery (which appears to be manufactured in august 2023) does not behave original at all.
If a seller in a shop promise me a new original DELL battery, I expect that. The problem is that I have no means to verify it before I brought the system home to check the discharge profile.
I did some more testing, trying to see if the threshold was at 60% but it appears the data reported is inconsistent. The only truth is that the battery lasts between 1h15m and 1h30m.

Here's today's tests: turned the notebook off with battery at 100% and then unplugged it.
Turned on 15h later with battery at 95% (what was it doing when turned off???)
Surfed the Internet a bit and turned it off (can't be sure, maybe 10-15minutes)

Powered it back on when battery was 72%
Not doing anthing but typing the folliwing in notepad, wifi on, display at low brightness (2nd from bottom)
(I was attempting to catch the transition at 60%...)

Time        %batt      remaining time      notes
==========================================================================================
1:20    64%
1:22           63%
1:23           63%      2h 34m
1:24           62%      2h 59m
1:25           62%
1:26           62%
1:27           61%      3h 13m
1:28           61%
1:30           60%      2h 57m         closing the only open folder on desktop (the one with this text file)
1:32           60%
1:33           59%      2h 50m
1:35           58%      3h 01m
1:37           58%
1:39           57%      3h 00m         open thorium
1:41           56%      2h 16m
1:42           56%
1:43           55%      2h 16m
1:45           54%      2h 22m
1:47           54%      
1:48           53%      2h 08m
1:49           53%   
1:50           52%      1h 45m         end playing video
1:52           51%      2h 19m         (extrapolation seems to show that)
1:53           50%      1h 59m
1:55           50%
1:57           49%      2h 27m
1:59           49%
2:01           48%      2h 01m
2:02           47%      1h 14m
2:03   
2:04           46%      1h 55m
2:06           45%      1h 59m
2:08           45%
2:09           44%      1h 37m
2:10           7%      16m         battery almost empty
2:11           6%      13m
2:12           ---               notebook shuts down

So, it seems it does not matter the percentage of charge, battery only lasts one and a half hour in total (instead of 4 to 5 hour of an original new battery) and gives readings that reflect that.
Incidentally, this is strangely similar to what is described in this youtube video.

      

What are the odds?
Anyway, plugged in at about 2:13 and turned on again. Now at 2:38 it says 1h to full charging.

I am beginning to doubt there is not a single original component in this notebook.

« Last Edit: November 26, 2023, 02:07:02 am by Sredni »
All instruments lie. Usually on the bench.
 

Offline SredniTopic starter

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Re: I bought a used Dell M6800: what tests to run?
« Reply #26 on: November 27, 2023, 02:02:14 am »
Ok, did some more testing in order to see if the discharge profile was consistent.
It was.

Here are two discharge curves from nearly 100% (it started from 98% as soon as I disconnected the power plug). The blue one is extremely light load with low display brightness (shown above); the red one is moderate load (youtube video playing) with display at half brightness.



Now, the interesting part is that this battery is recognized as Dell battery by the Dell Power Manager itself. It says (translated by me):

Battery type:    Enhanced
Connection:    Primary
Manufacturer:    Sanyo
DELL Battery:    Yes
Serial number: XXXX
PPID:       23 chars

I wonder if this is an original Dell battery that was gutted and left with the ID chip, or if everything is chinesium. Is there no way to prove this is counterfeit without opening it?
This is so depressing.
« Last Edit: November 27, 2023, 02:04:46 am by Sredni »
All instruments lie. Usually on the bench.
 

Offline SredniTopic starter

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Re: I bought a used Dell M6800: what tests to run?
« Reply #27 on: November 29, 2023, 01:27:36 am »
I believe I will turn my channel into a guide on what test to run to check a laptop before or immediately after buying it used.
I ran the following command from an elevated command window (actually Powershell)

powercfg /battery monitor

and got this interesting result



which says that no battery is installed. This despite HWmonitor, Dell's Power Management utility, and Dell's bios recognizing the battery as installed and - allegedly - original. I am not sure what to make of this message?

In HWmonitor, the battery is seen as a 72.5Wh nominal capacity battery, instead of a 97Wh one.



(part inside the red rectangle). Is this an indication of a fake battery?
All instruments lie. Usually on the bench.
 

Offline SredniTopic starter

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Re: I bought a used Dell M6800: what tests to run?
« Reply #28 on: November 29, 2023, 07:44:16 pm »
What about the replacement Battery and Power Supply the seller promised , have they arrived ?

Have you gone online and tried to activate  W10 ?

Do you know the seller, are they local,  all sounds a bit dubious to us ..

Well, a few fun updates 😁

The darkened backlit keyboard is bringing a smile on the faces of hundreds of people, for the time being.

I already ascertained that the replacement battery was even worse than the 2015 one (chances it is a fake with lower capacity, unbalanced cells is... Non zero).

The power supply hasn't arrived yet (funny, I saw at least two other M6800 exposed...I wonder what power supply they might use... But read on...)

Now he even denied the first 512GB SSD had to be new, despite it being written on the product offer pages for all his M6x00s. Then he tried to say that even if it was new but not 512, it's written 1TB + 500 GB (New - plural in my language). Mind you the other disk is 960GB 😂 so, will he give me 40 more gigabytes for that? Then I told him I would have accepted the NEW 500GB SSD. Today I texted him and he said the new SSDs are only 480GB 🤣 but unfortunately the technician has tummy ache . So next week, when the technician would probably be back he would replace the SSD, but only IF he still has one left 😂.
I text him back to put the new SSD away for me, so that it would be certain to have it, but he texted back angry saying the he alone decides what to set apart and that now I should bring him the computer and he will give it back when it's done.

I guess it is clear what kind of gentleman I am dealing with, here. This is what makes me ashamed of my country (and the reason I choose Antarctica as a flag).

Anyway, I am determined to make sure anyone searching for his store will read about the wonderful service he provides.

In the meantime, since I am now doubting even the software licence could be... alternatively genuine...
Is it possible for me to activate it on my part?

Feels like a violence. Sorry for the multiple posts, but it somehow feels better if I can laugh about it.
All instruments lie. Usually on the bench.
 


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