The Logic Off Topic list

This is what Matthias Carstens of RME posted to the RME forum:

Hi all,

as long-time readers know I am using the Dell 8100, and found that it
behaves EXACTLY like the 8000 and 4000. Mine shipped with BIOS A03.
While Dell meanwhile released a fan bugfix BIOS for the 8000 series,
there was no mentioning in the description of the A04 for the 8100 of
any fix. This BIOS was released already on the 09/03/01.

I therefore did not update the BIOS. Additionally the Dell forum is full
of horror stories about the A04 being the first validated XP BIOS for
the 8100, but causing BSODs (while the non validated A03 works good on
XP).

Today I read a mail in the Dell forum which made me think about Dell
again. They keep on saying that the I4000 and I8100 are not affected by
the fan bug, which truly is a lie. But if they say so, they also won't
mention an added bugfix in the BIOS description...

So I downloaded BIOS A04 for the 8100, installed it, started Windows ME
and 2k, and: fan bug fixed!

My tests showed the following behaviour:

Under WinME you will have very seldom clicks at 12 ms, more often at 6
ms. At 23 it works click-free. All these clicks are NOT related to the
fan on/off switching. I guess that there are many routines in the BIOS
which can cause the same effect as the fan control, and Dell seemed to
have fixed only this one. Also when changing the contrast/brightness,
each key press gives a click at 3 ms latency (not at 6 and above).

Under W2k (as you might remember) operation is much better (also true
for other notebooks. Still changing the contrast/brightness gives a
click at 3 ms latency (not at 6 and above). But: Running at 1.5 ms you
can hear a small click when the fans turn on and off, not at 3 or above.
This is comparable to the best other notebooks I tested so far. So at
last the Dells provide audio-suited operation, the famous fan control
tool is no longer necessary.

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME