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Inspiron 9400 board died - which replacement to get?

post #1 of 16
7/18/10 at 8:56am
Thread Starter 
Hi,

I own an Inspiron 9400 (CPU is T7200, so I think it's the 1705 equivalent) and its motherboard died due to a power surge.

I still think it's a great laptop, since it has a 1920*1200 screen and I upgraded the graphics card to a FX2500M, so I'm going to buy a new motherboard and replace it so I can get the laptop up and running.

I was going to buy a 1705 motherboard, but I noticed that the motherboards for some more recent models sell for the same price (approx. 120€).

So should I buy an Inspiron 9400/1705 motherboard or get a more up-to-date model?

Here's what would be important to me:

1 - Keep my current internal components (T7200, DDR2, etc)
2 - Solve the stupid max. 3GB issue on 64bit operating systems.
3 - Eventually an ability to upgrade the graphics card and/or the CPU.



Any suggestions?
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post #2 of 16
7/18/10 at 12:57pm
The simple awnser if you want the same form / fit /function stick with the E1705 / 9400 motherboard.

Keep in mind there are a few versions out there, you want the board that does not have the on board GPU

look for Part # WH277 Motherboard Service Kit, Discrete, 9400 (RoHS) (Incl. MB, RJ11 cbl, & BIOS CD)
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post #3 of 16
7/18/10 at 2:05pm
I agree with Dave. You can stick with the E1705/9400 mobo with no integrated gpu (you want your discrete fx2500m gpu)

orrr get a M1710 or M90 mobo. the only difference being you'd need a new base i think because of the smart card (not the same as the 5-in-1 media card reader). ((I do think it would still fit and work, try searching through the forums for a difference)) The difference is the bios chip on the motherboard. Depending on pricing you can chose from the 3. I know on the M1710 mobo, if you get a t7600 cpu you can overclock it, but 2.33ghz works well enough for me (thats just my personal experience) and your currently at 2 ghz

Also if you stick with the 9400/e1705, try the A10 Bios, I have all my RAM available, but nothing above 4gb will be recognized. The only other upgrades you can get would be a t7400 or a t7600 cpu wise and gpu would be a 3500/7950gtx. You're very closed to being maxed out right now.
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post #4 of 16
8/4/10 at 6:57am
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the input.

I bought a new WH277 motherboard from ebay and the laptop is now working.

However, I don't have any sound (speakers or headphones), even though the hardware is recognized in windows.
Any suggestions?
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post #5 of 16
8/4/10 at 7:04am
Verifying the settings in the Sound/Audio properties? Codecs?

cheers ...
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post #6 of 16
8/4/10 at 8:38pm
And have you installed the chipset drivers ? (think there are 2 of them)

What OS ?

No errors in device manager ?
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post #7 of 16
8/4/10 at 8:49pm
Thread Starter 
OS is Windows 7 64bit, it's the same install as with the older board (the hard drive remained intact after the power surge).
So I haven't installed any chipset drivers, or anything. There aren't any errors in device manager, either.

The STAC9200 codec is recognized by windows, I can install both the basic windows driver and the latest IDT modded driver.
But I can't get any sound at all, be it from the integrated speakers or from the line-out.
I'm starting to think my board came with a deffect, which is a huge bother to me (I live in Portugal and the board came from the USA.. I'll spend a lot in sending it back).

Should I try a clean Win7 install, even if I didn't (theoretically) change anything in the laptop?
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post #8 of 16
8/4/10 at 9:07pm
A clean install is probably a step you should do,

you can also try to reinstall the chipset drivers, then the audio drivers. Win 7 trys to put the Windows Default drviers in first, and I have found the dell supplied drivers maybe the better ones in some cases.

Is there an ICON in the control panel for Audio if so it may need to be configured again. IE select defualt Audio devices, and outputs, Sound levels, Etc.

Also does the Mic input work ?
The Audio is routed through the Head phone jack so a faulty jack could cuase this issue so take a close look there.

It does seem to be pointing to a defect in the board at this point.
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post #9 of 16
8/4/10 at 10:03pm
Thread Starter 
I just tried an Ubuntu USB live boot and still no sound, even though the device is easily detected. Tried the same usb boot OS in other PCs and it worked flawlessly.

Sending this board back to the USA would cost me something like 30€, and the board is worth 80€. not to mention the amount of time I'll need to take the board off and put the new board back in.

I am now seriously considering getting an external USB audio device and be done with it. Integrated speaker functionality seems lost forever, though...
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post #10 of 16
8/4/10 at 10:22pm
The USB Audio is probably the cheaper option then.

I would definitely contact the seller and see what they say.

MAYBE they can provide the USB audio device for free.
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post #11 of 16
8/4/10 at 10:43pm
Thread Starter 
Just checked the mic input and it's working.
This is definitely a hardware issue.. damn.

I'll contact the seller, but he'll probably just tell me to send the board back.


Thanks for the input.
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post #12 of 16
8/5/10 at 9:38pm
well that pretty much confirms in my mind the issue is the Headphone jack,

If all else fails with the seller, you may want to check that area out, maybe there is a bad solder joint,
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post #13 of 16
8/5/10 at 9:51pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by dave-p View Post
well that pretty much confirms in my mind the issue is the Headphone jack,

If all else fails with the seller, you may want to check that area out, maybe there is a bad solder joint,
I don't think it's just the headphone jack because there's no sound from the integrated speakers. The speakers aren't directly connected to the headphone jack either because there's a separate connection for the subwoofer.
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post #14 of 16
8/6/10 at 12:21am
the audio is routed through the jack as well, it cuts off the internal speakers and I have seen issues where the jack is not feeding the speakers or the headphones at the same time

When the headphones are plugged in, there is a metal tab that brakes the internal speakers conact, and routes the signal to the phones, It can get stuck in bewteen so no audio is heard.

If you had an audio tracer you most likely would find the audio is on the input side of the jack.

The audio is deteted in windows so the audio circuit is most likely working, in a few rare occasions I have seen the audio amp fail which would still show up in windows as detected.

anyways, we do know its not getting to the speakers, and headphones at this point.

What would be nice is to get hold of an schematic diagram that would make tracing the fualt much easier lol
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post #15 of 16
8/6/10 at 2:01pm
Is not audio signal routed through headphone jack like was few years ago.
There is a pin which make Sigmatel chip to route audio uotput to internal speakers or to headphones.
But what you say is almost right.
Could be many variants.
But without a little experience in tracing and solderings is a litlle hard for end user to solve this.
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post #16 of 16
8/7/10 at 4:51am
It probably is much simpler with an USB audio adapter as Dave mentioned above.

cheers ...
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