Dell Vostro 1500

Somebody mentioned/asked about the wireless card I think...

Works fine, BUT, I can't get WPA to work at all. I had a bit of a Google and it's apparently a common fault, specific to the 3945abg (think that's the one?) when used with Vista. Guess it's just a case of waiting for Intel/MS to sort out some proper drivers. For now, I'm not bothering with encryption (:eek:) as WEP is pointless and I use WPA2 the older laptops in the house can't connect.

Typing this out, I'm sure I've already posted something along these lines!
 
ic1male said:
Are the 163.44 drivers the ones that Dell offer on their website? I've been playing HL2:EP2 for about 30 minutes now and my screen has gone all garbled. I've basically got the game world without any textures!

Don't know if it's a driver issue or a GPU overheating issue!
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The drivers on the Dell website are extremely old.

I obtained the 163.44 from laptopvideo2go. I posted a guide a couple of pages back with links and how to get the drivers working.

the drivers after 163.44 ensure greater compatibility with the newer Orange Box games, so gives those a whirl.
 
chippie said:
How do you get the USB working properly on this thing??

Device manager shows that there is aproblem with all of the USB and USB2 controllers, and whatever drivers I try to install, they don't work.

I've tried drivers from the dell website, and the ones on the cd, and random ones from the internet. How do I get this working properly so that the webcam works?

(All the webcam software is installed, it just tells me I need to plug the camera in!!)
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Strange problem.

Did this happen with the Dell factory installation?

Search back in the thread. I posted a guide on all the drivers you need to install to get full compatibility without extra bloat.
 
GuruJockStrap said:
Strange problem.

Did this happen with the Dell factory installation?

Search back in the thread. I posted a guide on all the drivers you need to install to get full compatibility without extra bloat.
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No, a fresh install of XP using the drivers from the dell website.

I fixed it in the end by removing all the hardware from device manager rather than trying to update the driver. On a reboot it found everything (webcam, bluetooth etc).

Seems like one of the driver installs didn't work properly in the first place!
 
Played Portal on Friday night for a few hours, put all the settings at their highest and it ran like a dream. After maybe an hour the screen was filled with squares (i think they were green), but when i got to the desktop msn messenger was flashing (someone talking to me), so i closed it, went back to Portal and never got the squares again.

Portal is superb by the way, love new innovative games and this one is very very clever! :p

....been wondering for a while where i can find out exactly what the 60 odd processes which are running on Vista, (without additional software). Just been looking at Windows Defender and if you open the Software Explorer in it, all processes are there ;)
Would be interesting to see what exactly the additional 30 processes are, that you get from the Dell install.
 
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e36Adz said:
nice spec there axer, how much did you pay?
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Think it was around £780+vat. I was pleasantly suprised by most of the upgrade costs, especially upgrading to the T7500 and a 7200 rpm HDD as Dell usually rip you off for those kind of upgrades.

A couple of months ago I also got a Vostro 200 series desktop worksation, I was blown away by the value of that combo! E2140 CPU, 1GB RAM, 250GB SATA HDD, 19inch monitor, vista business and a card reader for £179+vat inc delivery – amazing value!
 
I have a couple of (possibly stupid, because I havent read this whole thread) questions, if I spec a 1700 off the website, can I then phone Dell and haggle a further discount?

Also, if the depot is 10 mins from my house, can I collect or do I still have to pay delivery.
 
panthro said:
I have a couple of (possibly stupid, because I havent read this whole thread) questions, if I spec a 1700 off the website, can I then phone Dell and haggle a further discount?
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Yes, definately.

panthro said:
Also, if the depot is 10 mins from my house, can I collect or do I still have to pay delivery.
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Guessing here but I'd think you have to pay the delivery which is sometimes free anyway with the special deals they have.
 
e36Adz said:
Yes, definately.



Guessing here but I'd think you have to pay the delivery which is sometimes free anyway with the special deals they have.
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Thanks for that. Even more retarded, but is it as simple as "the website says £xxx, can you do me a better deal?"
 
panthro said:
Thanks for that. Even more retarded, but is it as simple as "the website says £xxx, can you do me a better deal?"
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Well I've ordered from dell before, so I used that to try pushing for the discount, but I know even if you haven't they will still do it for you. Mine came to £768 online and I got it for £708, so £60 off from just calling them. Tell them you have ordered from dell in the past, and you have your credit card ready and want to order TODAY but the price is just abit too much for you. Ask them whats the best deal they can do for you on your chosen spec. How much is the one you want, inc vat and delivery?
 
Copied off my order:


  • Base Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7300 Processor (2.0GHz,800MHz,4MB L2 cache)
  • Microsoft Operating System Genuine Windows Vista® Business - English
  • Memory 2048MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM (2x1024)
  • Video Card 256MB nVidia® GeForce® 8600M GT
  • Hard Drive 160GB (5400RPM) SATA Hard Drive
  • Modem 56.6k V.92 Capable Internal Modem & Adapter - UK
  • Optical Devices Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Drive including Software
  • Wireless Networking Intel® Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-Card - Europe
  • Standard Warranty Base Warranty - 1 Year Business Hardware Support
  • Enhanced Service Packs Base Warranty - 1 Year Business Hardware Support
  • Bluetooth Dell™ Wireless 355 Bluetooth 2.0 Module (up to 3Mbps) with
  • Primary Battery Primary 6-cell Lithium-Ion Battery (56 WHr)
  • Colour Choice Matte Jet Black with 2.0 mega pixel camera
  • LCD 17.0" UltraSharp™ Wide Screen WUXGA (1900x1200) TFT Display with
TrueLife™



Sub-total £564.00 17.50 % £662.70
Total Delivery Charge £51.06 17.50 % £60.00
Total Price £615.06 17.50 % £722.70
 
Don't forget people, quidco will save you a chunk off the final price too. Just got my £21 through the other week which I saved :)
 
Is anyone else having any problems with their vostro 1500? Mine occasionally crashes with the blue screen saying hardware failure or something along those lines and sometimes on startup I get a lot of corruption on the screen, half the screen white, half black, with dots everywhere. Sometimes it just happens in the desktop forcing me to shut down and start it up again. Its getting more and more frequent though so looks like mine will be heading back to dell.
 
Now it only boots in safe mode, won't even load in windows and if it does its only for afew seconds and I get either corruption or a blue screen saying:

*** hardware malfunction

Call your hardware vendor for support

NMI: parity check / memory parity error

*** the system has halted ***

Not too impressed really seeing as I haven't overclocked it or even played games, its just been sat on my desk and used there.
 
e36Adz said:
Now it only boots in safe mode, won't even load in windows and if it does its only for afew seconds and I get either corruption or a blue screen saying:

*** hardware malfunction

Call your hardware vendor for support

NMI: parity check / memory parity error

*** the system has halted ***

Not too impressed really seeing as I haven't overclocked it or even played games, its just been sat on my desk and used there.
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Get in touch with Dell- Looks like you have a faulty DIMM/MBoard.

If your system comes with more than one DIMM, try testing them one at a time.
 
Does anyone know whether there's a huge difference between the :

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7300 Processor (2.0GHz,800MHz,4MB L2 cache)

and the :

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7250 (2.00 GHz, 2 MB L2 cache, 800 MHz FSB)?

How would I be affected by the 4MB L2 cache?
 
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