DELL Notebook FAQ  

DELL NOTEBOOK FAQ

Dude, you're getting a Dell!!

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Hi there Guys and Gals. This FAQ will unfortunately no longer be updated (or new models added) for the forseeable future. Basically, I do not see enough use of it to warrent the ongoing expense of my time in creating and maintaining the FAQs. Many users are not reading it at all and I am forced to keep moving, merging, deleting and answering repeat instances of threads covered by the FAQ.

But please, this does not mean I do not care! Although I can't see the value in this document anymore I fully encourage you to contact me via e-mail or private message with any concerns, problems or suggestions regarding this FAQ or any other forum matter that you have.
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Table of Contents

1. Things to note in reading FAQ (Glossary)

2. Pre-order Information
(i) What model is best?
(ii) What warranty should I choose?
(iii) How can I get the best deal? What about Coupons?

3. What to do after receiving Laptop
(i) Check for any missing or incorrect parts
(ii) Check for apparent Hardware Problems (ie: Testing)
(iii) Check that Customer Care, Service Tags, and Express Service Codes are correct

4. Some re-install/ software issues
(i) Updating the Drivers
(ii) I've heard of modified video drivers, are they better than the Dell ones?
(iii) Cleaning up the system
(iv) I've formatted and upon boot there is now two Windows showing, what do I do?

5. Video & LCD Questions
(i) How do I tell my LCD manufacturer?
(ii) How should I clean my LCD display?
(iii) Why does my LCD look blurry at lower resolutions?
(iv) Why do images in Internet Explorer look jagged/ distorted?
(v) How come the display won't stretch to the full screen in games?
(vi) When I close the screen the resolution changes, how can I fix this?

6. Other Issues
(i) Why do I not have the full capacity of my Hard Drive that I'm supposed to? Why are there X GB missing?
(ii) What about bag options for my Laptop?
(iii) Hardware Modifications
(iv) Removing Icons that are Locked on the Desktop after installing software (Bluetooth example)
(v) Wireless Security issues
(vi) Checking for faulty hardware (memory (RAM) focus)

7. Other useful information
(i) General Maintenance and Protection
(ii) Restoring the recovery partition
(iii) Useful programs and Utilities
(iv) A couple of suggested Tweaks

8. Specific System FAQs (configuration and upgrade information)
(i) Inspiron 600m/ Latitude D600
(ii) Latitude D600/ D610
(iii) Inspiron 700m
(iv) Inspiron 1150/ 5160
(v) Inspiron 6000
(vi) Inspiron 8600/ Latitude D800/ Precision M60
(vii) Latitude D810/ Precision M70
(viii) Inspiron 9100/ XPS
(ix) Inspiron 9200
(x) Inspiron 9300
(xi) Inspiron XPS Gen 2

9. Contributors

10. Other useful Threads
(i) Notebook Modding thread

1. Things to note in reading this FAQ (Glossary)


There are many abbreviations used in this FAQ because I stupidly assumed that because I know them that others will too. In an effort to right that wrong, and so that you can understand what in the world that I am talking about, I have included a Glossary of sorts right here that you can refer to if you become lost by some abbreviation. On to it then.

AA= Anti-Aliasing, a feature of Graphics cards that smooths "jaggy" edges.

AF= Anisotropic Filtering, similar to Anti-Aliasing but works on "far-away" or "distant" objects.

BIOS= Basic Input/Output System, this includes instructions on how to load basic computer hardware and the power-on self test.

CPU= Central Processing Unit, or the Processor as its commonly known. This means the Pentium 4 in the i9100/ XPS case.

DPI= Dots Per Inch, can be altered to change the size of items on the virtual desktop. Although there is debate whether this name is actually appropriate... but that is for another topic and another day

FPS= Frames per Second, this is generally referred to as a gaming term in the FAQ. A frame is a still picture, and many frames showing progressive movement create the movie affect you see on TV, films and games. The more frames per second the more smooth this movie appears, hence why important to gaming.

GB= Gigabyte, unit of storage measurement (1,024 megabytes).

GHz= Gigahertz, the unit used to measure the clock speed of the Processor.

GPU= Graphics Processing Unit, most widely known as the Graphics/ Video card.

HD= Hard Drive, where you store all your data with storage measured in Gigabytes.

i8600, i9100, etc= The i here stands for Inspiron, the line of notebooks. Just a common abbreiviation used throughout these boards that makes it easier on us.... seeing as it is mentioned so often.

IE= Internet Explorer, probably the most widely used internet browser i comes preinstalled on just about every Windows platform.

KB= Kilobyte, unit of storage measurement (1,024 bytes).

LCD= Liquid Crystal Display, being the screen on your laptop.

MB= Megabyte, unit of storage measurement (1,024 kilobytes).

MR9700= Mobility Radeon 9700, this is the graphics card in the XPS/ 9100, I'm lazy so I often refer to it in this abbreviated form. Also I have referred to MR9600 and MR9800 and in those cases it is the same thing, MR= Mobility Radeon.

ms= Milli-second, unit of time being 1/1000 second.

P4= Pentium 4, also referred to in conjunction HT; Hyperthreading, a feature of the Processor and EE; Extreme Edition, a version of the P4 with a 2MB cache.

RAM= Random Access Memory, or just Memory as it's often known.

SXGA+= Super eXtended Graphics Array, this is the display @ 1400 x 1050.

WSXGA= Wide-Aspect Super eXtended Graphics Array, this is the display @ 1680 x 1050.

WUXGA= Wide-Aspect Ultra eXtended Graphics Array, this is the display @ 1920 x 1200.

WXGA= Wide-Aspect eXtended Graphics Array, this is the display @ 1280 x 800.

XGA= eXtended Graphics Array, this is the display @ 1024 x 768.


Now I am sure I have missed a lot of abbreviations, so if there is something I have missed that is mentioned in the FAQ or that needs clarification please let me know and I will add it.


Back to Table of Contents and Thread

2. Pre-order Information


2.(i) What model is best?

This is a matter of personal preference and intended usage, because each of the different models have different specifications and are designed for vastly different uses. For example, the i9300/ XPS2 are intended to target the notebook gaming market, with powerful new generation Pentium M chips, top-of-the-line graphics solutions and massive 17" displays. Such a laptop would be too overpowered and would not last long enough for say a person wishing to just browse the net and do some word processing, etc. A model such as the compact 700m or 600m would be more suited in that situation. Those wanting versatility, a mix of power and mobility, may choose the i6000 or D810 for their long battery life and gaming ability. As you can see there are different models for varying purposes.

So at this point I would direct you to the specific models individual FAQs that are located (well... linked) in section 7 of this main FAQ. Within you will find specific information on each regarding specifications, strengths and weaknesses, upgradeability and so on. Enjoy and choose wisely.


2.(ii) What warranty should I choose?

This is again totally up to personal preference and intended usage. Some people buy warranties for everything, whitegoods, electronics, computers, so they have that peace of mind that if something goes wrong it will be taken care of. Other people are confident that anything past the standard 1 year warrenty is a waste of money that could be better spent with more upgrades. Both options have their merits and the choice is up to you.

Is a longer warranty essential? No. Generally if a component is going to fail it will fail very quickly or within its first 12 months of usage, that's just the way it goes most of the time, due to defects or whatever. So most of the time, you probably will not even need more than the standard 1 year parts and labour warranty.

However this is not always the case. Sometimes hardware can fail outside of the 12 months; it is not as likely as in the first 12 months but is still very much a reality. The extended warranties provide peace of mind and are really worth their weight in Gold when it comes to replacements in this respect. For example, if a motherboard or LCD breaks outside of the normal 12 months, you would be up for a US$500+ replacement without the warrenty... you may as well buy a new laptop. But if you have that extended warranty you are getting $500+ repairs for what you only paid a couple hundred dollars for that warrenty when you purchased. So whether you want it or not is up to you and you alone.

Further, the Complete Care Warranties are fantastic for those of us who are clumsy or want extra coverage "just in case" we spill our coffee during a night-long cram session before an exam. They are also useful for those that do a lot of travel with their laptops, we all know that sometimes things happen out of our control and it is nice to have something there to cover that eventuality. But for those who feel they are going to be extra careful or that will never happen to them then it is an unnecessary extravagance I suppose. Please note that the Complete Care warrenty is not available in some states of the US and in some countries.

I have gotten quite a few questions about the Theft Protection warranty with Complete Care. I will mention that this is not an available option for most users on this board that reside in North America or Europe. This Theft protection is part and parcel with Complete Care in Australia and New Zealand with certain models, but nowhere else to my knowledge (feel free to correct me if I am mistaken). Basically I got it because it was cheaper than extending the Home and Contents insurance to cover it for those three years.... for the same type of cover, so it made sense to me , just remember to take out your own insurance on the laptop if you are going to college/ Uni or something, becase I tell you it is a bitch to have to spend a couple grand out of your own pocket to replace a stolen laptop.


2.(iii) How can I get the best deal? What about Coupons?

Well, the best way to go about this, if you have the time, is to wait out for the deal that saves you the most cash... by this I mean the internet order based deals offered on the Dell website. These rotate very week or so and offer cash off, percentage off, free extras or free upgrades that vary from week to week. Generally, the higher specs that are configured for your laptop, the higher the variation in savings will be from one week to the next. If you are pricing a base model however the difference from week to week with different deals is not all that much.

Whilst configuring you may have noticed the rather, well, inflated price for upgrading the RAM in Dell systems. A great way to save money, and a well practiced routine here, is to order a low amount of system memory from Dell and buy what you want from external sources to save some cash. For example, configuring a high end system you may want 1GB or even 2GB of RAM, from Dell this is often not economically viable. So change that 512MB to the minimum 256MB, and get that high total from external sources and upgrade it yourself, this is a good way to save. I highly recommend Crucial, Samsung and Kingmax as three of the better brands. Remember that all Dell laptops use either standard laptop DDR 200-pin SODIMM, or DDR2 SODIMM, memory sticks. Check the speed/ type that you need as indicated in your chosen models individual FAQ, and make sure not to order a desktop RAM stick (184 pin) by accident!

Once you have one configured your new toy in the online shopping cart, add a coupon to it to make the deal just that much sweeter. You can find all the latest coupons in the Dell coupons sticky thread (just note: most of these are only valid for North American customers I am afraid. However the coupon system has recently been introduced in Australia and New Zealand so keep your eyes out for compatible coupons). Some of the best coupons to keep an eye out for are 15-20% off, and of course a lot of NA users here benefited greatly from a US$750 off coupon that went around a while ago.

Sometimes you can swap deals or change them in for cash off if you are nice and persuasive, so once you have it decked out, saved and ready to go, call up Dell Sales and start talking the talk. If you have no luck on one CS rep, then try again with a couple more before giving up. As in regards to anything with Dell, persistance is the key.

**For a fantastic guide on how to save some cash on your purchase, please I HIGHLY recommend that you visit gobadgrs Unofficial guide on how to get a killer laptop for cheap.**


Back to Table of Contents and Thread

3. What to do when ordering/ receiving Laptop


3.(i) Check for any missing or incorrect parts

There are several steps you should take in progression to check for this:

a. The Dell Original Configuration page:*Note: this will only work for North American customers*
i. Go to Dell support site;
ii. Select Home and Home Office, and on this new page login to your account (or register by following the links);
iii. Now select Services and Warrenties located on the right of your 'homepage';
iv. Now you will now find a series of tabs, click on Original System Configuration, enter your service tag as prompted (if you have already associated the serice tag with your account you can just select it).
v. Congratulations, you should be able to see your full system specs as shipped. Make sure that these match up with what you ordered and paid for, if it doesn't then check physically when the laptop arises. Take up any discrepancies with Dell who will hopefully sort it out.

b. Original Configuration- Call service Rep:
Call up your service rep at Dell and ask if they can look up the detailed specs of your system and quote them to you. Have knowledge of what you ordered beforehand so you can pick up any discrepancies. This is good method for those not in North America, because although detailed specs are not available online for us, they should still be available in exactly the same way as the original shipped specs to the CS rep. Make mention of any differences if you notice them or ask for clarification... hopefully they can be sorted out before the laptop arrives.

c. Physically check
Check the box upon arrival to make sure you received everything such as the power adapter, quicksnap cover (if any), CD's and other knick knacks. Occasionally something may be overlooked and not included which is regrettable but, as they say, **** happens. If you find that is the case call Dell to get the missing item shipped. Also here physically check the laptop itself to make sure you got as ordered, such as the right quicksnap colour, DVD burner, RAM amount, etc.

d. Virtually check
Basically, use the information provided by Windows and various system information tools to check that the system shipped with the ordered CPU, Memory amount, Hard drive, etc. A few good System Information tools include:
Aida32
Fresh Diagnose
Belarc Advisor
Once you have the information from here, once again you can call Dell over any difference between what shipped and what you actually ordered.


3.(ii) Check for apparent Hardware Problems (ie: Testing)

There are only three here that you can really check for, problems with any other hardware should be immediately apparent. For example, if it takes 10 tries to start it up obviously there is a power bezel or motherboard issue. If the Memory or HD is faulty then you will receive error messages from Windows automatically so it will be clear. Problems with wirless/ network will be obvious because you will not be able to connect, I'm sure you follow me. Below are the issues you will need to really look/ test for as they may not be immediately apparent.

a. The LCD
Most of the checks for LCD quality are visual, so you will have to use your own vision to determine any problems.

1. Ghosting:
This is where "trails" or after-images are visible when moving the cursor or any object on screen. There will always be some of this because of the nature of the LCD's used (the ultrasharp widescreens currently shipping in the i8600/ i9100 series have a 35ms response time, most of the normal aspect 14.1" and 15" are >35ms), which are not up to the latest Desktop LCD specs as of yet. This problem was rampant back when the first revision Hitachi WSXGA displays were shipping.
But now the 2nd revision Hitachi Widescreens are shipping so there is
nothing to worry about, the specs now match those of the other Ultrasharp
displays. The other non-widescreens may suffer from a little more than the 'Ultrasharps' but should not seem excessive.
Unfortunately though, some defective displays, from all manufacturers and all the models, will sometime still ship so if the Ghosting seems excessive... then this is an issue you should bring up with Dell to get a
replacement. Just watch out for those long trails.

2. Light leakage:
This is when you can see light from the bottom, top or both of the LCD leaking down onto the display, generally only visible on a black background. Generally here I have noticed that people are too discriminating and are rejecting otherwise fine displays out of paranoia over this particular issue, they go looking for a problem that is not really there. It is perfectly normal for there to be some light leakage on every display, it's only when this is excessive that you should be worried.
Below are pictures of what excessive light leakage may look like. The top picture is courtesy of SilkDawg, and is absolutely horrendous (the leakage, not the picture ). The bottom pic is presented by SuperFobSonny as an example as to how it can distract in DVDs, obviously not as bad as the one above, but not what I would consider up to standards either.





3. Dead Pixels:
A dead pixel is where you can see a pixel on the screen that is stuck on a specific colour or is black and not working at all. Pixels are very small and will show up as merely a spec. Use this website to aid in your visual search for dead pixels, they are easier to spot on a single coloured background. Another good and very similar test is available at Monitors Direct.
You can try to "massage" a dead pixel out of its slumber by gently rubbing the immediate area around it with an eraser or your fingertip. This can sometimes work, but be careful, I mean gently!
One or two dead pixels are normal and Dell will not replace a screen because of this minor defect. However, in line with industry standards, if there is >6 dead pixels or some clustered in one area then Dell will replace the LCD. Following is an excerpt from Dell's policy which can be found here.

b. The Graphics Card

The main thing to do here is check for any graphical distortions. You can do this a number of ways. You can run some high system demanding games such as Knights of the Old Republic or Doom 3, watching out for distortions such as "horizontal rain" or other such defects.
Another way is to run a looping test (either setting it in the full version or manually on trial) of 3dMark03 or Aquamark3 or other similar benchmarks. These really stress the video and should make any graphics problems apparent.

c. Media drive (DVD writer; DVD combo; etc)
Main thing to test for here is that the Drive is correctly reading DVDs and CDs, and also burning them if you ordered a burner or combo. Firstly try a variety of DVD movies and music/game/file CDs so as to test if it can read them
Next, if you have a combo burn some CD's and test them out to make sure that they are working.
If you have a DVD burner, also try burning some DVD's with data, music, movies, whatever you like as the purpose again is to make sure the drive is capable of burning media, not just making drink coasters. Remember though that DVD burners can be a bit picky, they will burn some brands of DVDs but not others and it varies by drive. If at first you don't suceed, try with another brand or two before getting worried and hassling Dell.


3.(iii) Check that Customer Care, Service Tags, and Express Service Codes are correct

Cheers to V.B. for contribution of this section.

(i) New/ Refurbished system

Upon receiving a new (or refurbished) system from Dell, send Dell Customer Care an email with a request to confirm the following information is properly listed in their database and to take corrective action as needed:

- Your customer number,
- Your order number,
- Your name,
- Shipping address (for when/if they return your machine to you),
- Service Tag,
- the machine the Service Tag applies to (eg: Inspiron XPS),
- Express Service Code (if it applies)
- Your system specifications

(ii) Purchased 2nd hand from 3rd party

If you have purchased a used Dell notebook from another individual and that person has transferred ownership to you:

- Firstly ask that person to confirm that they have completed the ownership transfer
- Wait 2-3 days,
- Send Dell's Customer Care an email with a request to confirm the following information is properly listed in their database and to take corrective action as needed:

- Your name,
- Shipping address (for when/if they return your machine to you),
- Service Tag,
- the machine the Service Tag applies to (eg: Inspiron XPS),
- Express Service Code (if it applies)
- Your system specifications

Also ask if Customer Care needs additional information from you and if you need to create an on-line customer account. Also ask them to check if the machine is still under warranty and to confirm the warranty expiration date.

That should set you up to enjoy that warranty (fingers crossed) for the remainder of its duration, or if none is left at least the system is properly registered to you.


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4. Some re-install/ software issues


4.(i) Updating the drivers

Now we may want to make sure that the drivers that are installed (or to be installed if you utilise the reinstall covered in the following) are up-to-date and running well. To do this we must download the latest ones from Dell. To get to the download section for drivers:

(i) Go to Dell support site;
(ii) Select Home and Home Office, and on this new page login to your account (or register by following the links);
(iii) Now select Downloads located on the right of your 'homepage';
(iv) Now you will now find two boxes. You can either enter your service tag, or select your system from the drop box below that.
(v) Now select "All" from the first drop box, your OS from the second and OS language from the last. Press Go.
(vi) Now you may select from the clearly labelled options for each appropriate driver.
(vii) Download and install or burn any ones that you are missing from the included drivers and utilities CD, or that are newer than the ones on the CD.

Just a quick list of drivers that you will need:
-> Chipset (either from Dell or Intel.com)
-> Modem
-> Network
-> Wireless (if applicable)
-> Audio
-> Touchpad
-> Video (I prefer Omega, discussed later on)
-> Dell system software (not essential but has the latest bug/ stability fixes...)


4.(ii) I've heard of modified video drivers, are they better than the Dell ones?

Yes, there are actually a few different custom and modified drivers available for the mobility cards apart from those at Dell.

ATI drivers

(i) Official ATI drivers

As many of you may be aware drivers are available from the ATI website. However, for some time now these drivers have not offered support for mobility cards such as those used in Dell Laptops and thus most have stuck with the sub-par Dell release. This is unfortunate as the ATI drivers offer the latest performance and game tweak settings, and better stability, so they are much preferred.
However, I am going to tell you now that you can use ATI drivers. Patje's DH Mod tool will modify the ATI drivers so as you can use them on your mobile card. Have a look at the instructions and download from this page.

(ii) Omega ATI Drivers

These are my absolute favourite preference for use on the MR9600 in my i8600. They are based off the official ATI catalyst release and generally are only a week or two behind the ATI release. Thus they offer the latest in Game and performance enhancements as well as further tweaks and modifications that make them even better in my opinion. So what modification do you have to do to get these to work? Nothing. Unlike the ATI drivers, a modification is not required in order for these to work on mobile cards, these are already compatible.

So all that is required is the usual, before installing simply uninstall the Dell ATI drivers and ATI control panel from Add/ Remove programs and then you are set to go. Omega drivers are available from here.

nVIDIA drivers

(i) Official nVIDIA drivers

Of course most will know that drivers are available from nVIDIA. However, for some time now these drivers have not offered support for the go series cards, and thus most have stuck with the sub-par Dell release.

However, you can use these much preferred nVIDIA drivers. All that you need is an INF file from Pieter's site for the nVIDIA driver version you are installing. This INF enables the use of the driver on a go series card and gives you the benefits of that latest release. Simply follow the instructions that site.

(ii) Omega nVIDIA Drivers

Same as with the ATI Omega drivers, these offer the latest in Game and performance enhancements as well as further tweaks and modifications that make them even better than the official Forceware. So what modification do you have to do to get these to work? Nothing. Unlike the nVIDIA drivers, a modification is not required in order for these to work on mobile cards, these are already compatible. However they do tend to lag a bit behind and are not updated as often as the ATI Omegas.

So all that is required is the usual, before installing simply uninstallthe previous driver from Add/ Remove programs and then you are set to go. Omega drivers are available from here.



4.(iii) Cleaning up the system

The install of Windows that Dell puts onto new laptops is nothing short of ridiculous. It has so much useless crap shoved into your face that is really unnecessary, such as 20 different ISPs, media players and other voluntarily installed "viruses". These not only wasting space and creating clutter, but also can slow down the system quite appreciably.

Now that you are satisfied that you have received what you ordered and it is in good working condition, you may get the system ready for use by removal of all of this unnecessary clutter. First of all you may want to make a "restore disc" before making any changes, and then there are two ways to remove the pain, the "minimalist" approach and the "exorcist" approach.


Now onto the healing.

Minimalist Approach

Very simple in execution yet usually also very effective, so many people prefer this. Basically it involves removing all of the unwanted programs and then using a program to clean up the mess.

-> Removing the Programs: Go to the control panel (in start menu) and once there select "Add/ remove programs". From here select the program that you want to remove (for example, AOL), and click the "Change/Remove" button and follow directions to uninstall it. Do this separately for each program, you may have to reboot after some of them, until all the ones you want gone are no longer present.

-> Removing source files: Often these programs will leave folders and files behind even after uninstalling. Simply go the the C:\PROGRAMS\ folder, which is where 99% will be installed, and delete any leftovers (eg: AOL folder).

-> Removing registry and stray files: These programs, even after uninstall, leave traces and dead links around in the registry that can continue to cause performance loss and other problems. The fix is simple, download a program such as System Mechanic 5 (use the trial version, it is more than sufficient), which can "clean" the registry of such junk files and dead links, and then optimise it, to get it running smoothly again.

And that is it, after these steps the laptop should be relatively clean and ready for any punishment that you decide to subject it too with less performance issues and more space for you.

Exorcist Approach

Some people, such as myself, are not satisfied with simply removing these pesky programs... instead we much purge our hard earned systems of all such blasphemy via a format and reinstall of Windows from scratch. At this point I am going to be lazy and point you towards a guide on reinstalling Windows instead of typing out an entire guide, but rest assured it is a very easy procedure.

But firstly, make sure you have the drivers and utilities CD, otherwise connect to the net and download all the latest needed drivers and burn them ready to go into a CD/ DVD.... or copy onto whatever you have available. At the very least you should make sure you have the Network/ modem drivers so you can download the drivers after the install if need be. How to get these downloads was explained in 3.(iv).

Now onto the install. Insert your Windows XP installation CD and restart. Press F12 to enter the one time boot menu and select the CD drive. Now follow the formatting and reinstall instructions at this website, which is fantastic with screenshots and everything. Congrats to the University of Iowa on actually having some useful tech support... Alternatively Black Viper is back!! Mirror-> http://dhost.info/kyeu/mirror/blackv...upertweaks.htm

Now once it's installed you must install all your drivers, Windows updates, etc. Don't forget the Chipset drivers and system software!



4.(iv) I've formatted and upon boot there is now two Windows options showing, what do I do?

This is actually quite common, and first thing is first I want to assure you that the original install that you formatted is actually gone, that partition is erased and there is no reason to start over with another format yet again. This happens as a result of a 'leftover' sometimes present in the boot.ini file of windows after a fresh install. You will find that if you try and select both, one will actually load your new windows and the other will present an error (becuase it is a leftover that leads to nothing). Therefore it is safe to remove this leftover reference so that it no longer appears at boot and you load straight into Windows.

To eliminate this load screen there are two options, the easy and 'forget about it' option is to simply disable the load screen. To do this:

(i) Right click on My Computer on the desktop and select Properties;
(ii) Go to the Advanced tab and click Settings under the 'Startup and Recovery' box;
(iii) Untick the box that says 'Time to display list of Operating Systems'. Hey presto, the problem is gone .

Alternatively, we can go a little further and edit the boot.ini file, which removes the invalid Windows entry. First thing is first, boot up the laptop and find out which reference works and which doesn't, usually the bottom one is false. With this information we now get into it. Once on the Windows desktop:

(i) Right click on My Computer on the desktop and select Properties;
(ii) Go to the Advanced tab and click Settings under the 'Startup and Recovery' box;
(iii) Click the Edit button seen in the 'System startup' box, you will be presented with a notepad entry such as the following

Note that it may vary from this slightly, depending upon what two OS you had installed, etc.
(iv) Delete the entire line of the appropriate OS you want to remove from the boot list. For example above I have bolded the second whole entry as false above, when the bottom selection was false. Delete the top line if the opposite is true;
(v) You are done, Save the changes and exit all of this. Upon next boot you will go straight into your new Windows install, enjoy!


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5. Video & LCD Questions


5.(i) How do I tell my LCD manufacturer?

As you all know each type of screen that Dell provides in its laptops are sourced from several manufacturers. These manufacturers include Samsung, Sharp, Hitachi and Toshiba.

In the majority of cases it really doesn't matter which one you have because they are generally the same as the other manufacturer's screens of that type. However, sometimes this is not the case (such as with the Hitachi WSXGA debacle that happenned a while back), and for this reason you may want to know exactly which display you have.

I should saying before I start that if you are worried about getting/ having an Hitachi Display, then you can stop! The issues that used to plague the sub-par Hitachi's have been resolved with a new revision of the LCD that is now shipping. These now meet the Ultrasharp specs and are just as good as any other brand.

So, onto business. If you are still interested, there are many ways you can check out what screen manufacturer you have:
_________________________________________________________________

1. The Dell Original Configuration page: *Note: this will ony work for North American customers*
(i) Go to Dell support site;
(ii) Select Home and Home Office, and on this new page login to your account (or register by following the links);
(iii) Now select Services and Warrenties located on the right of your 'homepage';
(iv) Now you will now find a series of tabs, click on Original System Configuration, enter your service tag as prompted (if you have already associated the serice tag with your account you can just select it).
(v) Congratulations, you should be able to see your full system specs as shipped, including your screen manufacturer.

2. Original Configuration- Call service Rep:
Call up your service rep at Dell and just ask if they can look up the detailed specs of your system. Try not to mention anything about your preference or why you want to know or they may just tell you what you want to hear. Therfore just say you're curious or whatever. This is good method for those not in North America, becuase although detailed specs are not available online for us, they should still be available to your service rep.

3. Registry:
Run the registry editor, if you don't know how (For Windows XP):
(i) Click Start
(ii) Select run
(iii) In the presented field, type "regedit" without the quotation marks and click OK
(iv) Look under the following field using the + extensions on the left:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\DISPLAY
(v) Hopefully you will see one of the following codes:
=> One with HTC will be the Hitachi brand (such as the HTC1C46 WSXGA Display)
=> One with SHP will be the Sharp brand
=> One with SEC will be the Samsung brand (such as the SEC3150 WSXGA Display)
=> I am not sure exactly what Toshiba will be (TSH?) So I will need some feedback here, including any other brands you all find.

Sometimes your manufacturer will not be displayed in the registry, and you will be faced with 4 or 5 "Default Monitor's"... we are not sure why this happens exactly, but if you find this is the case move onto another one of the methods.

4. System Information tools:
System Info tools such as Aida32 and Fresh Diagnose will give you full system specifications, including the screen manufacturer one would hope. But unfortuntely if your registry doesn't list your screen manufacturer, these tools probably won't either because most of them get a lot of their info from the registry anyway.

5. Other tools:
Here's a nice online based one, try the Belarc Advisor for detailed system specs. This one worked wonders for me and a few others I've had try it, but I am not 100% sure on it (it may suffer from same problem as the other System Information tools concerning the registry...).
As well as offering a plethora of other useful bits of information and tweaking goodies, PowerStrip can display this information quite readily and easily. Apparently it is a lot easier/ more effective on the recent i9200/ i9300 laptops for getting screen manufacturer than some of the other methods and tools.

6. Linux Live CD:
This method has close to a 100% strike rate (only a few haven't worked, usually those testing with a WUXGA display)..... the Linux live CD. Here is an excerpt from a post by Free_Linux on the Dell boards on how to use this:


7. Manual Check
If worst comes to worst, and none of the above methods work for you, then you may have to actually remove and disassemble the display and look for a model/ manufacturer's sticker on the back.

For instructions on how to remove the screen and disassemble it, you might want to download your systems Service Manual. The service manual also comes in useful for a variety of other reasons from upgrading RAM modules to completing a full chassis swap. I have linked the service manuals in each models specific FAQ so look there for the resource.
_________________________________________________________________

Well that about sums it up. If I find any more methods I will add them to this list.


5.(ii) How should I clean my LCD display?

We get this question arising quite regularly, but I am not going to be going through all the methods here, they are too numerous as everyone has their own variation.

But in any case I will tell you that I personally prefer using my glasses cloth plus a small amount of distilled/ bottled water (poured onto the cloth, not the screen) in order to clean my LCD of dust and other blemishes, which does wonders for me. Others have suggested a rather unusual preference for the moist towlettes found at KFC... I think baby wipes would be more suitable here because of the softer texture, but as I mentioned everyone seems to have their own variation.

Have a peruse of some other threads for various alternate and effective methods, and feel free to ask questions of people in these threads or start a new one if you really feel the need.

http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=24886&
http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=101567
http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=20613&
http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=21681&
http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=16700&
http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=25703&


5.(iii) Why does my LCD look blurry at lower resolutions?

LCD screens have a "native" resolution associated with them and can only display a clear and crisp, full-screen image at that resolution. For example, when the resolution of a WUXGA LCD (1920x1200 pixels max) is set to 1920x1200, each pixel the operating system displays matches one physical pixel on the screen. This results in a clear, sharp image.

But, by contrast, if the resolution of a WUXGA LCD is lowered to 960x600, each pixel the operating system displays (logical pixels) must take up double the length and height of a physical pixel. As a result of this, a 200x250 pixel image would take up 400x500 physical pixels on the screen. This leads to a distorted picture, as every vertical and horizontal line would appear straight and fine, but diagonal lines and curves would appear "blocky" or jagged.

On some resolutions, this distortion becomes much more noticeable. A 1920x1200 screen running at 1280x800 (the WXGA resolution) would have a ratio of logical pixels to physical pixels of about 3:2, therefore a 20 pixel wide logical object would use 30 physical pixels. But this in turn means, a 5 pixel wide object requires 7.5 pixels on-screen, and a pixel cannot be "half on." Therefore, video cards (and integrated video) will blur the edge of the images by blending colours; this is called Anti-Aliasing (AA). This AA of the jagged edges caused by the resolution change is what results in the blurriness.

Hopefully that makes some kind of sense for you all, if your head is spinning then there is not much more I can do. This explanation is gathered and compiled from several sources of research; carefully edited and reworded for what is hopefully an intuitive and understandable spiel. This "problem" is apparent in all the LCD models, not just the WUXGA and other widescreens, I just used those numbers as an easy comparison

In any case, it is for this reason that it is very important to scope out what screen you want before buying, as we get a lot of people here thinking that when they are buying the WUXGA/ SXGA they are buying the best as far as quality is concerned, only to come here after receiving it complaining the fonts are hurting their eyes because they are too small, or it looks bad in any other resolution. The LCD's are all the same quality wise, you should continue what you are doing by looking at screens and decide what resolution suits you, to avoid disappointment later.


5.(iv) Why do images in Internet Explorer look jagged/ distorted?

Well this is often caused when you change the DPI display setting from the standard 96 (often as shipped Dell would have already made it 120). So basically, this larger DPI causes Internet Explorer to scale both the text and images to meet this new setting and this can distort images displayed within it.

There have been a few fixes floating around, like turning off image resizing in IE options, but these do not work for everyone. Instead I will give you the solution that works for just about everyone, because it will change a registry setting making IE go back to 96DPI mode regardless of what it is set at elsewhere.

Note: There is of course an inherant danger when changing or adding registry entries that something could go awry. The registry is basically what runs windows and thus the wrong changes can have serious effects. I would not recommend any changes that I have not done myself and tested, and that I do not think is safe... but the thing is that you never know.

So just to be safe, it pays to first back-up the registry. Click Start-> run-> type 'regedit' (without quotes) and press OK. Now select Export from the File menu, and save it in a place you will recall. Simply by double-clicking this it will restore the registry to what it was at the point you exported it in case something does happen. The chances are low, but just in case

Copy the following four quoted lines and paste into notepad (Start-> All Programs-> Accessories-> Notepad)

Now save as "IEfix.reg" (without quotations, make sure to put the .reg!). Double click this newly saved file to transport it into the registry.

If the file will not import (as sometimes inexplicably happens) then you may have to enter this registry "fix" manually. Click Start and Select Run. Now type "regedit" (without the quotes) and press OK. Browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main by expanding the folders you see on the right. Now once you are there Click Edit-> New-> DWORD Value, which will now appear in that directory. Name it "UseHR" (without quotes) and double click it. Change the value to 0.

The next time you load up IE it should be back in 96DPI mode and the problem resolved.


5.(v) How come the display won't stretch to the full screen in games?

This section is primarily concerned with the widescreen model laptops, being the i8600 series (and Latitude, Precision equivalents) and i9100 series with ATI based graphics cards.

Sometimes you may find that games or other applications will not fill up the entire LCD panel when they are not running in the normal native widescreen resolution of your display. Instead they will "letterbox", that is, play within a black box with bars on the sides and/or top and bottom. There are several steps that must be taken to remedy this:

-> Firstly is to ensure scaling is enabled in the BIOS. To do that follow these steps:
(i) Reboot the laptop;
(ii) Press F2 on the Dell splash screen, and you will enter the BIOS;
(iii) Scroll to the Basic Device Configuration page;
(iv) You will see an option Video Expansion, make sure this is enabled;
(v) Exit whilst saving changes, and the system will reboot, this time let it go into windows.

-> Now we make sure scaling is activated within the drivers. Follow these steps:

(i) Right-click desktop and select Properties;
(ii) Go to the Settings tab and click Advanced;
(iii) Go to the Displays tab and click Panel;
(iv) In here, make sure Scale Image is ticked.

After this you have two options->
1. Select the Expand to full panel size radio button if you want all resolutions to stretch and fill the entire LCD screen.
2. Select the Expand while maintaining aspect ratio radio button if you want the resolutions to expand as far as possible but not get distorted out of their ratio (ie: in most cases this will mean that the game/ image will fill the entire Vertical span of the panel with a black bar on either side to keep it in aspect).

And there you go, that should set you up well to be viewing that widescreen in all of its magnificence. Once you've had "fat", you'll never go back

Note: The WUXGA screen + ATI video card combo cannot scale some resolutions to the full panel, regardless of whether you apply the settings mentioned above. The following is the reason that I have been able to ascertain thus far.

ATI uses an on-chip solution for scaling images from one resolution to another. It uses technology which is generally better than the comparable nVIDIA cards, but because it is scaling via a hardware solution there is a limitation.

Any image that is at or below 1280x1024 pixels in size will scale to the full size of the panel as it is supposed to. However, that max resolution clearly excludes 1680x1050 (WSXGA native resolution) and 1600x1200 (popular high-res game option). Basically all that will happen is the scaler will start and subsequently fail, and will then just display the image/ game as normal, except with black borders around so it only takes up the exact amount of pixels as its resolution needs.

This limitation will only show on a system with a WUXGA screen, any other screen (WXGA, WSXGA) it won't because obviously their resolutions don't go up that far anyway. This problem exists in every ATI video card thus far and will affect any laptop with an ATI card and WUXGA screen... from the i8500 w/ M9 to the XPS w/ M11.

This is unfortunate firstly because there is no known fix for the issue, and secondly because Inspiron XPS owners can only order with the WUXGA LCD option which means that they are stuck with it. However whilst it is a major annoyance in the desktop where users want to rest their eyes and work in the comfort of 1680 x 1050 but cannot, in games it makes little difference as the current video cards offered in the i9100 and XPS cannot play most new games at resolutions this high smoothly anyway (at least not on high detail....).


5.(vi) When I close the screen the resolution changes, how can I fix this?

This is mainly a concern for those with ATI video cards, and this is a really easy fix. The problem is caused by the Automatic setting of ATI's Hotkey poller so all we have to do is stop this.

(i) Click Start and then Control Panel;
(ii) Click Performance and Maintenance and select Administrative tools;
(iii) Double-click Services;
(iv) Go to the Ati HotKey Poller service there and double-click;
(v) From the Startup type drop box change it from Automatic to Manual and apply.

Ta-da! Problem sol-ved... well sorta . Although now when you close the screen the resolution will not change once you open it again... this is because the LCD will no longer automatically turn off when it is closed. So it is a trade-off really.


Back to Table of Contents and Thread

6. Other Issues


6.(i) Why do I not have the full capacity of my Hard Drive that I'm supposed to? Why are there X GB missing?

Commonly we get topics and questions like "why does my 60GB HD show only 55.89GB?", or "Dell has cheated me out of x-GB!" Well, what is going on here then? Why do these supposedly 30/40/60/80/etc capacity Hard Drives not seem to have their full space?

I can inform you that this "missing" space is normal and not actually missing, but a result of how HD space is calculated. HD manufacturers use decimal megabytes, whereas the rest of the computing world (including Windows measurements) use real binary megabytes. Take an example of a 60GB drive:

Decimal
1 KB = 1,000 bytes
1 MB = 1,000,000 bytes
1 GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes
60 GB = 60,000,000,000 bytes

Binary
1 KB = 1,024 bytes
1 MB = 1,048,576 bytes
1 GB = 1,073,741,824 bytes
60 GB = 64,424,509,440 bytes

Thank-you to KCK for a correction of some fundamental errors and general readability in this comparison.

So the decimal version of 60GB doesn't actually fill that amount of space on the drive to be "60GB" in real Binary terms as measured by Windows.

Hence you do not have the full 60GB. (In fact decimal 60GB equals binary 55.879GB.)

Its an old marketing trick that still catches people unawares to this day, whether you have been cheated is up to you to decide .

Additionally to the "missing" space as a result of calculation variation, there is another cause of the HD not matching up. Formatting a hard drive reduces the 'actual' capacity of the drive by defining the file structure that is used by the operating system, and storing that information on the hard drive (ie: FAT = File Allocation Table). The raw storage capacity does not include the disk overhead required by the operating system that formats the disk.

So there you have it, the "missing" space is not actually missing, and you actually do have your full ordered capacity "from a certain point of view".


6.(ii) What about bag options for my Laptop?

There are plenty of options here no matter which laptop you choose. The larger ones will obviously have a few more problems because of widescreens, etc not fitting into standard sized bags. Personally I prefer the Dell deluxe leather case for my i8600, but others have expressed a dislike for this because they believe it make the laptop a 'target' for thieves. In any case there are many threads on the board pertaining to this matter so I will direct you to some of them:

>>LCD's < 14" in size<<
These models can easily make do with any standard 15" laptop bag because of their slim and light design. But you may instead want one that fits the 12.1" LCD size of the 700m/ X300 for example more snugly. Well in the case of the 700m you may have to settle for a bag designed for a 14" or 15" laptop because of the extra width by the widescreen, but in the X300 case there are many different designs and styles to choose from in these smaller bags. I suggest that a trip down to your local department store to have a look may yield results. But if you do want some ideas then you can make a topic or post in an existing one asking for others suggestions and experience.

I have decied not to link topics here because there are soooo many bags available easily... it is not hard to find one that will suit your style and accomodate these Ultra-portables.

>>14.1" and 15" regular aspect<<
These models can easily make do with any standard 15" laptop bag because of their 'regular' size screens. There are literally thousands of different bags you can choose from so you don't necessarily have to look online! Go down to your local department store and have a browse, you may find one to your liking. Unfortunately there are not many topics to browse through that are worth much for these models, only one of any substance is following. But feel free to ask questions on the board!: (Note this topic is from the official Dell support forum as there are not many topics considering these types of bags here).

-> http://forums.us.dell.com/supportfor...sage.id=28674&

>>15.4" Widescreens<<
These models do usually require larger than standard 15" laptop bags because of the widescreen LCD that they boast. A small price to pay for the screen in my opinion. In any case you can have a look at one of the following threads for suggestions on suitable bags for these systems:

-> http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=28236&
-> http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=18904&
-> http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=17902&
-> http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=20340&
-> http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=22788&

>>Inspiron XPS/ 9100<<
I've listed these two separately, because although they have a 15.4" widescreen as above their relative height means they will have a difficult time fitting in a standard bag designed for 15" laptop. i9100 owners can order a similar backpack to the one that shipped with the XPS seperately from here if you so desire, otherwise check out the following threads for suggestions:

-> http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=21186&
-> http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=21047&
-> http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=25811&
-> http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=20732&
-> http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=20732&
-> http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=24885&

>>17" Widescreens<<
Obviously, large screen means these laptops have a large profile. You need a big bag, a tough bag, a bag with balls! Or maybe a backpack is a better option, keep the weight well spread and save your back . In any case maybe these threads can be of some use to you:

-> http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=71275
-> http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=71515
-> http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=69909
-> http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=69721
-> http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=71206


6.(iii) Hardware Modifications

There are many other hardware modifications that can be performed. Most of the ones in the following thread are referring to the Inspiron 8600 and its equivalent models.... but many of them may be able to be applied to most models if you are feeling adventurous. Anyway, its a great thread made but DELL-Spiike, check out Modding your Dell laptop.

This is where you all come in, if you have any unique ways of modifying or decorating your laptop add it to that thread and share it with others. Just for example, you may use stickers like on this 600m:



Thanks Dell Community Member odonnelr, whom provided the picture to Bay Wolf which I dutifully borrowed


6.(iv) Removing Icons that are Locked on the Desktop after installing software (Bluetooth example)

Big thanks to V.B. for another fantastic contribution in writing this section.

When I purchased my Thermaltake Bluetooth mouse, it came with the USB dongle. Since I do not need the USB dongle on my XPS, I decided to make my desktop PC Bluetooth-enabled. Everything installed with no problems - except that it added a "My Bluetooth Places" icon to the desktop and locked it from being deleted. "My Bluetooth Places" is found in "My Computer", the Start Menu, and on the BT icon on the System Tray. I did not want it on the desktop. The below procedure deletes a locked icon from the desktop. This does not apply to the icons that are turned on/off using the "Customize Desktop..." button on the Display Properties window. The green link points to the Microsoft article on this subject. Take care when editting the Registry.

To Remove Icons from the Desktop

In Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 95 (or Windows XP)

1. Start Registry Editor (Regedit.exe or Regedt32.exe).

2. Select the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE key.

3. Navigate to the following location under the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE key:

Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace

You see several hexadecimal strings called CLSIDs. Select each one in turn, and the right pane will show you which icon is being selected.

4. When you have the appropriate icon entry selected for the icon you want to remove from the desktop, export the key by using the Export Registry File command on the Registry menu. You need to choose a path and file name under which to save the file. Do this step if you think you may want to restore the icon to the desktop at a later date.

5. After the key has been exported, you can delete the icon entry to remove it from the desktop. Click Yes in the confirmation box to complete the icon deletion process.

6. Quit Registry Editor, log off, and then log back on to the computer.

When you log on again, the icon will have been removed from the desktop.


6.(v) Wireless Security Issues

Thank-you V.B for contribution of this following section:

If you use the Microsoft XP operating system and are using a wireless client that that connects to a wireless router or wireless access point then the following information may be useful to you.



6.(vi) Checking for faulty hardware (memory (RAM) focus)

Thank-you faheyd for contribution of this following section:

Verify memory:
1. To verify that your hardware is in working condition (Memory, CPU, P/S, etc), start by downloading Memtest+ from http://www.memtest.org/

2. If you boot off the disc (CD or Floppy) and run the test (which starts automatically), and get no errors after a few minutes (meaning you will only see the test results change, nothing else on the screen will show up as bad), then you are usually OK. If your original problem was BSODs (blue screen of death), then I might run the tests for 1/2 to 1 hour just to make sure your memory is up to snuff. Run overnight to be totally confident.

3. If you get errors on the the memtest, (you will see scrolling lines of bad memory locations), you have either some bad RAM (sometimes), a faulty CPU (rare), or a bad motherboard (just as rare).

4. You will have to use the process of elimination (logic) to find out which, pull a stick of memory and repeat test, borrow some memory from another machine etc, until you find out which piece of memory is giving you the error. If you swap out all memory with known good memory and you still fail the Memtest86, then you have to start looking at a bad CPU, motherboard, or even a bad P/S.


Back to Table of Contents and Thread

7. Other useful information


7.(i) General Maintenance and Protection

1. Windows Update: Make sure you get the latest Windows updates regularly, because they provide the latest fixes in stability and security to ensure that your system remains useable. If using internet explorer (best browser to get these updates), then simply open the tools menu and select Windows Update. Go from there, I suggest getting all critical updates, the other ones you can install at your discretion. Many people have asked whether it is required that they use XP Service Pack 2, the answer is no but I would recommend it anyhow.

2. Disk Maintenance:

You don't have to go any further than your nice new fresh format and install if you don't want to, but if you leave it be then your hard disk drive will form fragmented files and sectors, which can of course slow down your computer. The fix is incredibly easy.... simply make a habit of defragmenting your hard drive. Defragment after each time you install or uninstall a large game or application, or if not then try at least once every couple of weeks to a month. This will keep your system running a lot more smoothly.

How do you defragment? Well there are many good programs out there that will defragment your hard drive, but here is a news flash, you don't need them! For most people, the built-in Windows XP disk defragmenter does a fine job. To use it:

-> Click Start and select Control panel;
-> Click Performance and Maintenance;
-> Select Rearrange items on your hard disk;
-> Select the main partition, usually C:, and press Defragment.

Note: Most of the time you can ignore what the Analyse button tells you, it will say that you don't need to even when the whole dang thing is red

3. Virus Protection: If you are connected to the internet, or even if you aren't (but use media that has been on other systems), then it is very important to protect your system and important files from malicious code. This means that you will need a decent anti-virus program. Now there are many good ones out there, Norton 2003, Panda, AVG, etc are all good choices... but no matter which one you choose make sure that you keep the virus definitions up-to-date, and run scans at least once per week.

4. Internet Firewall: This is not essential as such, but very highly recommended. A decent firewall will protect you from all manner of internet threats, from viruses to hackers to pop-up windows. The Windows XP Service Pack 2 has an updated and much improved inbuilt firewall that you can utilise, but it is still nowhere near as good as those provided by third parties. I myself recommend Zonealarm Pro, but like with anti-viruses there are many available and you should keep them updated and activated at all times when you are connected to the internet.

5. Spyware: Think that viruses are the worst thing you have to worry about? Well, there is a serious contender in Spyware/ Malware. These range from the innocent cookie that records site visitations, to ones that record keystrokes and collect as much data on you as possible, to the extreme ones that cause serious issues for you computer ranging from mild slowdowns to browser hijacks and trojan infections. You must get rid of these all the time; In my opinion they are the scourge of the internet, much worse than viruses and thus must be treated with contempt and caution.

In order to gain the best protection I recommend that you download, use and keep regularly updated two fantastic programs. Ad-aware SE 1.06 and Spybot 1.4. These are best used in tandem to pick up just about every possible one. There are also other ones such as Spysweeper or Spyware Doctor which are OK, but it's the other two that I personally recommend as the best and most stable.


7.(ii) Restoring the recovery partition

As many of you know, Dell preload a recovery partition on their new laptops in case you ever need to restore it close enough to factory settings. However, accidents happen, like in the example following where the Master Boot Record (MBR) was altered making the restore partition inaccessible. Luckily there is a solution so that you can use the recovery partition, rather than re-write what is already explained well I will 'link you up' to the following thread at the Dell support forum:

http://forums.us.dell.com/supportfor...ssage.id=39234




7.(iii) Useful programs and Utilities

Following are some other useful programs and tools that help to customise, maintain and monitor your system, so give them a try if they Interest you.

-> I8kfanGUI: I love this program. This little utility is designed for Dell laptops to give you greater control over the internal fans. In observer mode, if you are not that adventurous, you can use it to simply monitor the temperatures of components in your laptop including the CPU, GPU, RAM and HD. For those that like to fiddle you can take direct control of the fans to keep the system cooler, or create your own custom fan settings to determine when the fans come on and at what speed. This also provides a nice little history chart so you can have a look at what temps were like during a game or what the CPU load was. Download it here. Note that for some models the program may not work as intended, but you can add requests or get updated versions in the fanGUI wish list thread.

-> SpeedSwitchXP: Another program that give you some direct control. As a replacement for the Dell Quickset or Windows inbuilt power options this is fantastic. It allows control of CPU speed on AC and Battery which is great for mobile processors.... but for other users there are other benefits. This has automatic battery and AC settings for hibernation, standby, timeouts, etc so you can customise settings for each mode. Very useful no matter what you have under the hood. Download it here.

-> Microsoft Powertoys for Windows XP: There are about 10 of these "Powertoys" released by Microsoft which provide added functionality and customisation to Windows. You can view and download them all here. There are three of these that I particularly recommend:

1. TweakUI: This powertoy provides additional access to Windows functions such as mouse settings, Explorer settings, taskbar settings and automatic logon. I commonly use it for various things. For example, I have turned off the autoplay feature on removable USB storage because that's bloody annoying, I have autologin so I don't have to go through the annoying windows screen, and have customised the actions of the taskbar. I recommend giving this a try, download it by clicking here.

2. Image resizer: You can easily resize one or more image files on the fly here with a right click. Very useful for web posting or conserving space. Give this a try too, download by clicking here.

3. ClearType Tuner: This is useful for literally 'tuning' the cleartype settings to make screen text and such more easily readable by yourself. Have a play around and find what you like, available from here.

-> Radlinker: This program comes packaged with the Omega drivers, but if you do not use these, or did not install radlinker when you installed the drivers, then you can get it separately from here. What this program facilitates is custom settings for all your games. For example, if you love running Jedi Knight at 6x AA but other games run crap at this high setting, instead of having to manually change your video settings before playing each different game, you can create a radlink with the custom settings for that game applied automatically. Essentially this makes a new shortcut that you can use to access the game (instead of the normal .exe), with which you can create settings that automatically enable once you start the program. Very cool.

This program also has overclocking functionality on a per game basis as well for those into that. This is fantastic for those games where you might be able to manage a 10% clock increase with no problems but the same may artefact another one... you can simply have the increased clocks for one and not the other.

So to sum up its capabilities:
- Absolutely no programs running in the background
- Does not bloat the registry
- Per game/program settings
- Control over process priority
- Per game/program clock rate settings
- As many unique game profiles as your computer can hold
- Custom profiles for all your games

Highly recommended.

-> ObjectDock: This is purely for visual satisfaction and functionality. Similar to the dock seen in MAC operating systems, this places shortcuts into a separate bar that magnifies icons as you scroll your mouse over it. This does take up a bit of Memory but not much, and looks absolutely fantastic. You can download it here, and there are other very similar programs that are available. If you want one of them you can get Y'z dock here (thanks gobadgrs for hosting) or search for Aquadock. All three are pretty much the same, but more background skins, etc seem to be available for the Objectdock, otherwise your choice. You can get icons and themes for these programs, plus the Windows ones I mention in the next bit from here, here and here.

-> Windows Themes: Using a program such as StyleXP, Windowblinds or UXTheme you can customise the look and feel of your windows desktop. From bright red, to car themes, to whatever else you can dream up this when coupled with the objectdock makes for one sexy working environment.

-> Benchmarking: Whether you want these to test stability, to compare to others or for bragging rights there is no denying that they are useful. However be aware that performance in these is synthetic and often does not entirely reflect accurate "real" performance. Anyway, several popular ones include:
3DMark05- latest in the futuremark series, DX9 GPU based scores, get it here.
3DMark03- for DX9 GPU based scores, get it here.
3DMark01- for DX8.1 GPU based scores, get it here.
PCMark 04- Benchmarks the whole system, particularly useful for CPU, get it here.
Aquamark 3- Another CPU based benchmark you can download from here.


7.(iv) A couple of suggested Tweaks

Services Tweaks

There are a few Windows Services that are not essential (if you don't want them anyway...) that you can disable in order to get that little bit extra oomph out of your system. Following are what they are and How to disable, as well as one or two you can change to your advantage.

1. System Restore:

Those familiar with Windows XP should be aware of the System restore service. This creates "timepoints" periodically and before each install of a program so hat you can roll back to a previous stable state in case something should mess up. However this can take up a lot of free storage space on the Hard drive and eat resources. Should you think that this is unessessary then it is quite easy to disable:

(i) First phase is turning system restore off.
-> Click Start and right-click My Computer, selecting Properties;
-> Go to the System Restore tab;
-> Tick "Turn off system restore on all drives" and apply. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

(ii) Second phase is disabling the service
-> Click Start and select Control Panel;
-> Select Performance and Maintenance then Administrative Tools;
-> Double click Services;
-> Scroll down the list and find System Restore Service, double click it and change startup type in the drop box to Disabled.

If you don't want to get rid of system restore just in case, then I recommend cleaning it out at least every now and again. Simply when you are in a stable state do all the steps from (i), then go back into it and untick it again. This way all the excess points will be deleted freeing space and you will be left with one restore point, your current state, until it builds up again.

2. Automatic Updates:

These Microsoft updates are important to keep Windows secure and functional. However the Automatic update can be annoying, downloading then or popping up with messages all the time. So instead I recommend disabling this entirely and just manually visiting the update site (in IE6, tools-> Windows Update) every week or two. So do the following to disable.

(i) First phase is turning Automatic Updates off.
-> Click Start and right-click My Computer, selecting Properties;
-> Go to the Automatic Updates tab;
-> Untick "Keep my computer up to date" and apply.

(ii) Second phase is disabling the service
-> Click Start and select Control Panel;
-> Select Performance and Maintenance then Administrative Tools;
-> Double click Services;
-> Scroll down the list and find Automatic Updates, double click it and change startup type in the drop box to Disabled.

3. Themes (and other visual effects):

One thing that is obviously different in booting up Windows XP from the older Windows operating systems is the new colours and visual styles. Whilst these offer a unique and pleasant visual experience they do eat up system resources. If you don't mind running windows "plain" (ie: in the style of previous releases), then you can save some serious hogging.

(i) First phase is turning off visual effects.
-> Click Start and right-click My Computer, selecting Properties;
-> Go to the Advanced tab and click Settings under the Performance heading;
-> Click the Adjust for best performance radio button, or alternatively customise it by turning on or off the features you desire.... but to get rid of the themes make sure the last "use visual styles" is unticked.

(ii) Second phase is disabling the service
-> Click Start and select Control Panel;
-> Select Performance and Maintenance then Administrative Tools;
-> Double click Services;
-> Scroll down the list and find Themes, double click it and change startup type in the drop box to Disabled.

So those were a few easy and effective ones that you can try out, I also suggest that for further tweaking (I do a lot more than that personally) check out Black Viper's Website for some awesome tips on what services to disable and what they are for.

Registry Tweaks

Note: There is of course an inherant danger when changing or adding registry entries that something could go awry. The registry is basically what runs windows and thus the wrong changes can have serious effects. I would not recommend any changes that I have not done myself and tested, and that I do not think is safe... but the thing is that you never know. So just to be safe, it pays to first back-up the registry.

Click Start-> run-> type 'regedit' (without quotes) and press OK. Now select Export from the File menu, and save it in a place you will recall. Simply by double-clicking this it will restore the registry to what it was at the point you exported it in case something does happen. The chances are low, but just in case

Following are just a few registry tweaks that I myself recommend and use, that help to increase performance in some small or positive way. There are many such tweaks out there, which from my experience many have extremely limited if any effect, but I'll let you track those down. For the moment I'll present only tese few. To apply these you must first open the Registry Editor.

Click Start; Run; Type "regedit" (without quotes) and press OK. Now you can navigate to the appropriate areas.

1. Speed-up Shutdown:
Well obviously, these few things just make shut-down a little more snappy.
-> Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\
(i) Change "HungAppTimeout" value to 5000 (should be default)
(ii) Change "WaitToKillAppTimeout" value to 4000 (default is 20000)
-> Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\
(i) Change "WaitToKillServiceTimeout" value to 4000 (default is 20000)

2. Stop the 'last access update' stamp:
Every time a directory is accessed by Windows XP, it updates that directory and every subdirectory with a time stamp to indicate the date of access. In folders with a heap of subdirectories, this obviously adds unecessary overhead to whatever your PC happens to be doing. So disable it.
-> Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem.
(i) Create new DWORD “NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate” and set to '1'

3. Keep Windows operating data in main memory:
Instead of paging uneccesarily to the hard drive this forces data to be held longer in manin memory to improve performance (recommended with 384MB memory + only)
-> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management.
(i) Set “DisablePagingExecutive” value to '1'

4. Tip for those using Widcomm bluetooth drivers:
Applies to: Using the Widcomm bluetooth drivers for the Dell Truemobile Internal Bluetooth adapter or third-party BT adapter based on: Widcomm bluetooth drivers (ie: Bluetake/Thermaltake, Targus, etc.).

If you do not want the little tool tip in the lower right of the screen that appears every time you press Capslock, Numlock, Scrolllock then:
-> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Widcomm\BTConfig\General\KeyIndication
(i) Change the value from "1" to "0".


***Note: You may have to reboot your computer for these registry changes to take effect.***


If you want a more detailed explanation of any of these please PM me about it and I will be glad to comply.


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8. Specific System FAQs (configuration and upgrade information)


************************************************
Please bear with me as this Section is completed. I will be adding each system one by one as I finsh their specific FAQ.
Hopefully this will not take long at all because they all follow a very similar format.
************************************************

Click the link below that is associated with the system that you wish to view


8.(i) Inspiron 510m/ 600m/ Latitude D600


8.(ii) Latitude D510/ D610


8.(iii) Inspiron 700m


8.(iv) Inspiron 1150/ 5160


8.(v) Inspiron 6000


8.(vi) Inspiron 8600/ Latitude D800/ Precision M60


8.(vii) Latitude D810/ Precision M70


8.(viii) Inspiron 9100/ XPS


8.(ix) Inspiron 9200


8.(x) Inspiron 9300


8.(xi) Inspiron XPS Gen 2


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9. Contributors

I would like to give a big thank-you and express my gratitude to several people whom have made some Contribution to this FAQ whether it be a picture or some useful information. So in alphabetical order (by username):

AbSoluTc-> Fantastic shot of a WUXGA display, kudos to you.

Bay Wolf-> I have referred to his site www.bay-wolf.com several times and it is a very useful source of Dell information, so have a visit!

camaroguy-> Linked to the useful fangui wish list thread.

DELL-Machina-> Provider of several fantastic threads linked in this FAQ, and an all around Guru on the board. Cheers.

faheyd-> The FAQ may be dying but he's kicked in with a nice addition for detecting faulty hardware.

gmnstrunr37-> Contributed the WXGA shot, and Xing is one of the legends around the Dell section, good onya!

gobadgrs-> Writer of the fantastic Unofficial guide for getting a killer laptop cheap. Visit this thread it's a great resource for soon-to-be purchasers.

hksscom-> Good side-by-side WSXGA/ WUXGA comparison, appreciated mate.

KCK-> Helped in correcting a few fundamental errors. A lifesaver is this guy.

Madpig-> Thanks for the 14.1" pic man, you have no idea how much of a struggle it is to get these, it's appreciated.

mojoRT-> Provided the two fantastic WSXGA vs WXGA comparison pics, cheers.

odonnelr-> Custom sticker on 600m pic, example of one modification.

shiftaltnumlock-> Provided important ammendment to Dell's i9200 CPU replacement instructions. Props to you.

SilkDawg-> A fellow Aussie was kind enough to offer a picture of how unacceptable LCD light leakage appears. He went through a lot of pain to get that picture to us

Somms-> A few nice additions thanks to somms, you all know him, a legend around these boards.

Spiike-> For a couple of fantastic thread I have linked/ referred to, particularly the amazing Modding thread.

Striker333-> Thanks for the WXGA shot, I was starting to think we'd never get one!

SuperFobSonny-> Contributed some nice shots of Light leakage. Thanks bro.

UnMaTcHeD-> I had forgotton about i9100 owners perhaps eyeing the XPS bag. This bloke hadn't and provided a nice link to where you can get it separately. Good onya!

V.B.-> What can I say, this guy has embraced the whole idea. He has sent me suggestions, written sections and generally been a fantastic help. Pretty much a partner in crime and the FAQ would not be what it is without his numerous contributions. Hands together everyone.

vizionblind-> Helped correct a couple minor issues/ links.

WScottCross-> A great shot of the WSXGA, cheers.

And hopefully I have not missed anyone at this stage, sorry if I have.


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Update 4/7

-> Added basic D810/ M70 FAQ
-> Added basic D510/ D610 FAQ
-> Updated Notebook FAQ links and some info
-> Updated configuration options in current models
-> Added several tidbits of info

To Do

-> Gather photo's for all LCD's currently not represented (that means I need you guys!)
-> Add FAQ's for more models (X30, M20, i2200, etc)
-> Add new sections (pin mod, etc)

Will get around to all of those ASAP guys, but it takes a lot of my time so please be patient. End Communication.

Stu