DELL I8k

well after trying to figure out how to make my multimedia keys work I did it...
here's what I did:
when we hit a key and it doesn't show a keycode with xev, we can try #dmesg, at the end, will appear the key, then we have to set the keycode
e.g. In a terminal type:
setkeycodes e001 156
NOTE. Do this in a script preferently, I did mine in /etc/rc.d/kbd
setkeycodes e001 151
setkeycodes e002 152
setkeycodes e003 153
setkeycodes e004 154
then run it from rc.local
#!/bin/sh
# /etc/rc.local: Local multi-user startup script.
/etc/rc.d/kbd
This is for everytime you reboot all will be in its place.
Finally, u have to run xev, look for the codes hitting the key and setting in your Xmodmap file.
I hope it helps you.

polarrr wrote:
I'm going to try that. I gave up a long time ago how to get my multimedia buttons to work on my I8200. Lineak couldn't get them to work either even after figuring out how to use it :oops: I'll report back once I try it
EDIT: Thanks, got it working finally!!!
GNOME 2.10 has excellent support for multimedia keys and scans keycodes automatically. All you do is go to Keyboard Shortcuts under peferences and click on the one you want. For example you can scroll down to the Play option and it will ask you to enter the key .. you just push the multimedia key and it detects and uses it. Has options for just about all of them, forward, back, stop, volup, voldown, mute and lots more including email and www.
Its just too bad that KDE touting all of its features have missed tiny things like this.

Similar Messages

Suspend to ram Dell insipron 6000 (probably easy)

Hey,
I'm having some basic problems with the whole suspend to ram operation. As a new user to configuring this by hand, I'm a bit lost at where I should start. So this is what I have so far.
I have installed Klaptop, and it has the suspend option, but after suspending, it doesn't resume. (It powers back on to a black screen only where I can't do anything)
I have installed pm-utils. pm-suspend suspends the computer and then on resume just goes to the same black screen like klaptop does.
My daemons are
DAEMONS=(syslog-ng cpufreq !network netfs crond kdm dbus hal dhcdbd networkmanager autofs keytouchd)
and my modules are
MODULES=(b44 mii acpi_cpufreq cpufreq_stats cpufreq_powersave cpufreq_conservative cpufreq_ondemand cpufreq_userspace ipw2200 ac97_bus snd-mixer-oss snd-pcm-oss snd-page-alloc snd-pcm snd-timer snd snd-ac97-codec snd-intel8x0 snd-intel8x0m soundcore i8k)
I don't think I've configured enough files or something like that. Are there any files in /etc/ that I should be modding to get suspend to ram to work properly? Is there anything wrong with my daemons or modules?
Thanks in advance for any help you can give,
e^1

I've got suspend and hibernate to work with pm-utils (and kpowersave-devel) on a Dell Inspiron 6400 about 80% of the way, and I'm appending my install notes on this. Perhaps they'll help you. This new power management scheme looks like a convoluted mess to me, and I'm still flailing with it.
Also see http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=37493
--- How to configure Arch for power management on Dell Inspiron 6400 ---
1. Install acpid, pm-utils and cpufrequtils, i.e. # pacman -S acpid pm-utils cpufrequtils
Add 'acpid' to the list of DAEMONS in /etc/rc.conf. If you already have hal specified in your DAEMONS, there is no need to add acpid. HAL will automatically detect and load the acpid daemon.
Both pm-suspend (suspend2ram, low power state) and pm-hibernate (suspend2disk, system powered down completely) are usually called from HAL, e.g. initiated by the desktop applet kpowersave.
They can be run in several ways:
a. Via buttons or shortcuts (e.g. Fn-ESC for Standby, Fn-F1 for Hibernate)
b. From KPowersave in task bar
c. Or, without using HAL and other frameworks, call pm-suspend or pm-hibernate from the command line as root:
# pm-suspend
# pm-hibernate
2. Configure pm-hibernate (suspend2disk):
When the machine is placed into hibernation, it will move all data from RAM to the swap partition (swap size must be >= RAM). Edit the kernel line in /boot/grub/menu.lst by adding 'resume=path_to_swap_partition', e.g.
kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sda2 resume=/dev/sda5 ro vga=791
3. Configure cpufrequtils:
a. Add the driver "acpi-cpufreq" to the MODULES list in /etc/rc.conf.
b. Load a governor(s) (a pre-configured power scheme, loaded as a kernel module) by adding 'cpufreq_ondemand' or 'cpufreq_powersave' etc. to the MODULES list in /etc/rc.conf.
c. Edit /etc/conf.d/cpufreq to include valid governor(s) and the proper freqs for your CPU (get these values by running $ cpufreq-info), e.g.
governor="ondemand"
min_freq="1GHz"
max_freq="1.67GHz"
d. Add 'cpufreq' to the list of DAEMONs in /etc/rc.conf (after 'hal').
e. In /etc/pm/config.d/ create a file 'config' and in it list the modules to be unloaded before suspend, e.g.
SUSPEND_MODULES=" button uhci_hcd"
5. If applicable, change the labels for the power and sleep buttons in /etc/acpi/handler.sh.
E.g. in Dell Inspiron 6400 replace PWRF with PBTN and replace SLPB with SBTN.
6. Configure proper handling of lid closure by editing the button/lid section in etc/acpi/handler.sh.
I don't know how to do that as yet but the following hack at least will allow you to close the lid after putting the laptop on Standby and have the screen come back to life after resuming, rather than having it remain black.
Put the following shell script '000hacks' into /etc/pm/sleep.d/ and make it executable (you'll have to install vbetool):
#!/bin/bash
case $1 in
suspend)
chvt 1
vbetool vbestate save > /tmp/vbe
resume)
vbetool post
vbetool vbestate restore < /tmp/vbe
chvt 7
esac
7. Read Arch wikis:
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pm-utils
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Cpufrequtils
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Acpid

Dell Vostro 3560 CPU Fan Control Tips

I'm in the process of configuring my brand new Vostro 3560 and one of the things I noticed was that the CPU fan was blasting full speed all the time even when the machine was idle. After some researching I came up with the following solution using i8kmon and I'll post it here for others:
Disclaimer 1: In this configuration, you will be setting up thresholds on what fan speeds are used at a specific temperature. If you use this config, this assumes that your machine is a) reporting the correct temperature and b) the fan speed setting works for your specs. Always monitor your laptop and change the configuration if your laptop feels too hot.
Disclaimer 2: I've only had this laptop for a couple of days now, so no long-term stress testing has been performed in this configuration.
This is a link that helped me a lot. It's Ubuntu specific, so be aware of the differences: https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s … ion/204193.
Please post any thoughts or feel free to correct me where applicable:
Install the following packages:
i8kmon
i8kutils
Create/modify the following config files:
/etc/modules-load.d/i8k.conf
# Load Dell Fan Speed Control (i8k) at boot
i8k
/etc/conf.d/i8kmon. Please note that there are conflicting values reported when you Google this. In my case, the following worked:
# Arguments to be passed to the i8kmon daemon
I8KMON_ARGS="--nouserconfig --daemon"
/etc/rc.conf. Add i8kmon to your DAEMONS:
DAEMONS=(hwclock ... i8kmon ...)
/etc/i8kutils/i8kmon.conf
This is the file where you set the temperature thresholds and fan speeds in the "set config" values. Your specific laptop configuration could be different, so Google around.
Lines changed:
set config(daemon) 1
set config(auto) 1
set config(timeout) 2
set config(0) {{- 0} -1 55 -1 55}
set config(1) {{- 1} 45 60 45 60}
set config(2) {{- 2} 55 125 55 125}
set config(3) {{- 2} 70 128 70 128}
Entire listing:
# Sample i8kmon configuration file (/etc/i8kmon, ~/.i8kmon).
# Kernel I8K status file
set config(proc_i8k) /proc/i8k
# Kernel APM status file
set config(proc_apm) /proc/apm
# Kernel ACPI status file
set config(proc_acpi) /proc/acpi/ac_adapter/0/status
# External program to control the fans
set config(i8kfan) /usr/bin/i8kfan
# Applet geometry, override with --geometry option
set config(geometry) {}
# Run as daemon, override with --daemon option
set config(daemon) 1
# Automatic fan control, override with --auto option
set config(auto) 1
# Report status on stdout, override with --verbose option
set config(verbose) 0
# Status check timeout (seconds), override with --timeout option
set config(timeout) 2
# Temperature display unit (C/F), override with --unit option
set config(unit) C
# Temperature threshold at which the temperature is displayed in red
set config(t_high) 80
# Minimum expected fan speed
set config(min_speed) 1800
# Temperature thresholds: {fan_speeds low_ac high_ac low_batt high_batt}
# These were tested on the I8000. If you have a different Dell laptop model
# you should check the BIOS temperature monitoring and set the appropriate
# thresholds here. In doubt start with low values and gradually rise them
# until the fans are not always on when the cpu is idle.
set config(0) {{- 0} -1 55 -1 55}
set config(1) {{- 1} 45 60 45 60}
set config(2) {{- 2} 55 125 55 125}
set config(3) {{- 2} 70 128 70 128}
edit: changed temperature thresholds - I think the key temps are: 55: turn on fan at level 1 until cooled down to 45. Above 60, start blasting the fan at full speed
Last edited by twelveeighty (2012-09-02 21:35:50)

If you're using systemd, to run i8kmon you should edit i8kmon.service file
/usr/lib/systemd/system/i8kmon.service
from
[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/bin/i8kmon -nd
to
[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/bin/i8kmon --daemon --nouserconfig

Dell Vostro 3560 no automatic fan control

Hello,
I own this laptop and i am able to set the fan speed via
This shuts down the fan.
i8kfan -1 0
This make the fan go on full blow.
i8kfan -1 2
Sensors detect everything they should:
[andre@andre ~]$ sensors
i8k-virtual-0
Adapter: Virtual device
Right Fan: 144000 RPM
CPU: +66.0°C
coretemp-isa-0000
Adapter: ISA adapter
Physical id 0: +69.0°C (high = +87.0°C, crit = +105.0°C)
Core 0: +65.0°C (high = +87.0°C, crit = +105.0°C)
Core 1: +69.0°C (high = +87.0°C, crit = +105.0°C)
Core 2: +61.0°C (high = +87.0°C, crit = +105.0°C)
Core 3: +64.0°C (high = +87.0°C, crit = +105.0°C)
/etc/i8kutils/i8kmon.conf:
# Sample i8kmon configuration file (/etc/i8kmon, ~/.i8kmon).
# Kernel I8K status file
set config(proc_i8k) /proc/i8k
# Kernel APM status file
set config(proc_apm) /proc/apm
# Kernel ACPI status file
set config(proc_acpi) /proc/acpi/ac_adapter/0/status
# External program to control the fans
set config(i8kfan) /usr/bin/i8kfan
# Applet geometry, override with --geometry option
set config(geometry) {}
# Run as daemon, override with --daemon option
set config(daemon) 0
# Automatic fan control, override with --auto option
set config(auto) 0
# Report status on stdout, override with --verbose option
set config(verbose) 0
# Status check timeout (seconds), override with --timeout option
set config(timeout) 5
# Temperature display unit (C/F), override with --unit option
set config(unit) C
# Temperature threshold at which the temperature is displayed in red
set config(t_high) 80
# Minimum expected fan speed
set config(min_speed) 1800
# Temperature thresholds: {fan_speeds low_ac high_ac low_batt high_batt}
# These were tested on the I8000. If you have a different Dell laptop model
# you should check the BIOS temperature monitoring and set the appropriate
# thresholds here. In doubt start with low values and gradually rise them
# until the fans are not always on when the cpu is idle.
set config(0) {{- 0} -1 60 -1 65}
set config(1) {{- 1} 55 70 55 75}
set config(2) {{- 2} 60 80 65 85}
set config(3) {{- 2} 70 128 75 128}
# end of file
This:
i8kmon --daemon
Keeps running, but the fan is on full blow no matter what.
I have added this service to systemd and it gets loaded okay,
but it runs the i8kmon --daemon, which does nothing.
Any hints?
Thanks
Last edited by AndreeeCZ (2013-08-14 16:33:55)

I have a dell vostro 1710, no fan running at all!
I have opened it, and saw it spinning for a while on notebook power on, so it looks like it works
Do not remember if this is happening a long time ago, or maybe after a Syu... but now temp is on 62 doing stuff, 74 watching a video..... it will be more than 80 in summer? lol
Will install and configure i8kutils I guess....

I8k gone crazy

Hi all,
Since recent update, I have a problem with i8k on my Dell Inspiron 6000 laptop.
Fans are running full speed whatever wat inside temperature is. No recent change to i8k conf was made.
Here is i8kctl command output:
1.0 (null) H31N12J 127 -1 163 20250 20250 0 -1
Here is acpi -t command output:
Thermal 0: ok, 28.5 degrees C
And now i8kmon output:
i8kmon v1.27 17/06/2005 - Copyright (C) 2001 Massimo Dal Zotto <[email protected]>
config(0) = {-1 0} -1 50 -1 55
config(1) = {-1 1} 45 60 45 70
config(2) = {-1 2} 55 80 65 85
config(3) = {-1 2} 70 128 75 128
config(auto) = 1
config(daemon) = 1
config(geometry) =
config(i8kfan) = /usr/bin/i8kfan
config(min_speed) = 2000
config(proc_ac24) = /proc/acpi/ac_adapter/0/status
config(proc_ac26) = /proc/acpi/ac_adapter/AC/state
config(proc_apm) = /proc/apm
config(proc_i8k) = /proc/i8k
config(sysconfig) = /etc/i8kutils/i8kmon.conf.conf
config(t_high) = 80
config(timeout) = 1
config(unit) = C
config(use_conf) = 1
config(userconfig) = ~/.i8kmon
config(verbose) = 1
1272729060 opening /proc/i8k
1272729060 opening /proc/acpi/ac_adapter/AC/state
1272729060 acpi: state: on-line
1272729060 1.0 A09 H31N12J 127 -22 163 675 675 1 -22
# (127>=-1), state=1, low=45, high=60
# (127>=60), state=2, low=55, high=80
# (127>=80), state=3, low=70, high=128
# exec /usr/bin/i8kfan -1 2
1272729061 1.0 A09 H31N12J 127 -22 163 675 675 1 -22
It seems that i8k "thinks" the temperature of my laptop is 127°C so this is why, with the existing config, fans are running full speed.
Any idea why i8k goes wrong like this ?
Thanks in advance.

i8k still works fine for me, so I wrote up a (terrible) bash script as a substitute for i8kmon until this gets fixed (if ever). It controls the fans based on your settings and the ACPI temperature readout, and it outputs a nice status message too.
EDIT: you must force the i8k kernel module to load.
The only requirements are bash (obviously), i8kutils, and acpi (pacman -S acpi). Here's how it works: you define the variables level1, level2, and level3. WARNING: you must alter these variables from my default values. Most systems should never be allowed to reach 50C, but that is how I run mine (and it's been running nicely for many years). Even if I keep the fans on full blast, my temperature would never dip below 38C. These represent three temperatures, each in celcius. What does this mean?
If your fans are running at `i8kfan 0 0` (off), they will not be turned on until you reach level2.
If your fans are running at `i8kfan 1 1` (slow), they will not be turned off until temperature reaches level1. They will not be turned to `i8kfan 2 2` until temperature reaches level3.
If your fans are running at `i8kfan 2 2` (full blast), they will not be turned off until you reach level2.
By default, temperatures and fan speeds update every three seconds.
And my disclaimer - you NEED to change the values of level1, level2, and level3 to a known safe value for you. Also, it is extremely stupid to use a bash script to monitor and control something as important to system stability as the cooling fans (but I am going to do it anyway ). If your system overheats, you could at best lose some unsaved files and at worst cause some hardware damage - and none of that is my fault.
Without further ado, the script:
#!/bin/bash
## these are the temperatures
level1=50
level2=60
level3=70
fanstate=2
while [ true ]
do
temp=`acpi -t | sed -e 's/$\.[0-9]\+ $\?degrees C$//' -e 's/^Thermal 0: ok, //'`
if [ "$temp" -lt "$level1" ]; then
fanstate=0
elif [ "$temp" -ge "$level1" ] && [ "$temp" -lt "$level2" ]; then
if [ "$fanstate" -le 1 ]; then
false
elif [ "$fanstate" -gt 1 ]; then
fanstate=1
fi
elif [ "$temp" -ge "$level2" ] && [ "$temp" -lt "$level3" ]; then
if [ "$fanstate" -le 1 ]; then
fanstate=1
elif [ "$fanstate" -gt 1 ]; then
false
fi
elif [ "$temp" -ge "$level3" ]; then
fanstate=2
fi
i8kfan $fanstate $fanstate | false
echo "Fan state: $fanstate, Temp: $temp C"
sleep 3
done
Good luck and enjoy! I'd appreciate any feedback - this is pretty much my first bash script ever, but I do know that a lot of that is awful programming practice - and if you find it useful, a "thank you" post would be nice .
Thanks for reading!
Last edited by yumigator (2010-05-30 07:46:41)

Fan (fancontrol) issue: Dell Inspiron 3521

Hello everyone, please bear with me as I am a novice arch user. Also I am not native english speaker (just in case )
I have a problem with the laptop fan working constantly, which is annoying and disturbing. It has to be due to a system configuration, because I am coming form the other distro, where problem didn't exist. Also just after arch installation the fan was working fine (meaning in intervals, not constantly). It's just broken recently. The temp. is fine, around 50 degrees with medium load (browser, mplayer).
[mateusz@mateusz ~]$ sensors
coretemp-isa-0000
Adapter: ISA adapter
Physical id 0: +52.0°C (high = +87.0°C, crit = +105.0°C)
Core 0: +52.0°C (high = +87.0°C, crit = +105.0°C)
Core 1: +50.0°C (high = +87.0°C, crit = +105.0°C)
So obviously I made my research, and came to that conclusion:
-Due to the nature of systemd, the config for fancontrol stopped being loaded properly
[mateusz@mateusz ~]$ systemctl status lm_sensors
● lm_sensors.service - Initialize hardware monitoring sensors
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/lm_sensors.service; disabled)
Active: inactive (dead)
[mateusz@mateusz ~]$ systemctl status fancontrol
● fancontrol.service - Start fan control, if configured
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/fancontrol.service; disabled)
Active: inactive (dead)
sie 08 08:54:01 mateusz systemd[1]: Started Start fan control, if configured.
I suspect it's the same thing explained in this post: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php … 6#p1251766 ,
"assignments of various hwmon symlinks change on each reboot". The advice is to load modules manually. But I got only one module:
[mateusz@mateusz ~]$ ls /sys/class/hwmon/ -al
razem 0
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 0 08-08 09:12 .
drwxr-xr-x 45 root root 0 08-08 09:45 ..
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 08-08 09:12 hwmon0 -> ../../devices/platform/coretemp.0/hwmon/hwmon0
This is the place I got stuck. I have a general idea what to do, but I'd like to confirm and double check. I don't want to mess up my system, since I got to like it quite a bit.
My thinking is:
1. Set up lm_sensors
2. Remove it from autostart (or not configure it to autostart, but I'd rather remove it later, just to be on the safe side)
3. Load modules manually to /etc/modules-load.d/load_these.conf However, I am worried that I see only coretemp. Just seems that something is wrong.
4. See if default /etc/fancontrol is ok. If not try to configure it, as explained in wiki. https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/fan_speed_control
5. Do not run /usr/bin/fancontrol as I have Dell Ispiron ? Install instead i8kutils? See which is better/working at all?
6. Enable working solution from 5.
Thank you for reading this rather long one. I'd greatly appreciated any healp, hints, leads and so on.
Best regards
Last edited by ewaller (2014-08-10 17:01:16)

I am sorry to drag that issue, but It's a quite big problem for me. I realize that previous post are not proper, and I should've educated myself better. I read and googled a lot, but still can't figure what to do next. Please help.
Using i8k I set fancontrol, and It's working (done the manual modules loading to prevent systemd boot issue)
Now the rpm for my fan is ridiculous when the fan is on (I mean on software wise, because it's working constantly)
[mateusz@mateusz ~]$ sensors
i8k-virtual-0
Adapter: Virtual device
Right Fan: 90000 RPM
CPU: +49.0°C
coretemp-isa-0000
Adapter: ISA adapter
Physical id 0: +49.0°C (high = +87.0°C, crit = +105.0°C)
Core 0: +48.0°C (high = +87.0°C, crit = +105.0°C)
Core 1: +47.0°C (high = +87.0°C, crit = +105.0°C)
I set up minimal temp to 45 to prevent fan from working in the lower tempratures
[mateusz@mateusz ~]$ systemctl status fancontrol
● fancontrol.service - Start fan control, if configured
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/fancontrol.service; enabled)
Active: active (running) since sob 2014-08-09 08:26:49 CEST; 1h 50min ago
Main PID: 248 (fancontrol)
CGroup: /system.slice/fancontrol.service
├─ 248 /bin/bash /usr/sbin/fancontrol
└─4191 sleep 10
sie 09 08:26:56 mateusz fancontrol[248]: Depends on hwmon1/temp3_input
sie 09 08:26:56 mateusz fancontrol[248]: Controls hwmon0/fan2_input
sie 09 08:26:56 mateusz fancontrol[248]: MINTEMP=45
sie 09 08:26:56 mateusz fancontrol[248]: MAXTEMP=85
sie 09 08:26:56 mateusz fancontrol[248]: MINSTART=150
sie 09 08:26:56 mateusz fancontrol[248]: MINSTOP=100
sie 09 08:26:56 mateusz fancontrol[248]: MINPWM=0
sie 09 08:26:56 mateusz fancontrol[248]: MAXPWM=255
sie 09 08:26:56 mateusz fancontrol[248]: Enabling PWM on fans...
sie 09 08:26:56 mateusz fancontrol[248]: Starting automatic fan control...
And the sensors gives expected output:
[mateusz@mateusz ~]$ sensors
i8k-virtual-0
Adapter: Virtual device
Right Fan: 0 RPM
CPU: +45.0°C
coretemp-isa-0000
Adapter: ISA adapter
Physical id 0: +46.0°C (high = +87.0°C, crit = +105.0°C)
Core 0: +46.0°C (high = +87.0°C, crit = +105.0°C)
Core 1: +44.0°C (high = +87.0°C, crit = +105.0°C)
But despite the 0 RPM reading the fan is noising all the way. I read more about i8kutils, installed it and tested. I got weird output:
[mateusz@mateusz ~]$ i8kctl
1.0 A12 7YDQ0X1 47 -1 0 -1 0 -1 -1
[mateusz@mateusz ~]$ i8kctl fan
-1 0
-1 entry is not even in the man page. What does it mean? It's the left one, the usual cpu one. And the other one is switched off, which is consistent with sesnors output (while sensors give RPM speed i8kctl gives 1 for the right fan) . But like I said, it's fanning all the time, constantly. The other thing is that this laptop, to my limited knowledge has got one fan.
Please help, I am lost here.
Best regards
Last edited by matman (2014-08-09 08:32:53)

Projector works on Dell Venue Pro 11 tablet?

Hi there
I am trying to run a director 11.5 windows projector (made on a mac) on Dell Venue 11 Pro tablet (win 8.1/1920x1080/baytrail CPU) and am having problems with "alignment" on the screen. The 1920x1080 movie seems to be loading but fills only about 60% of the screen. You can see the desktop through the other 40%. It appears that the movie (at normal size) has been shifted up by 250 pixels and to the left by 400 pixels and is playing. So you are seeing the desktop through lower "SW" portion of the screen.
This particular movie ran fine on a microsoft surface pro tablet a few months ago (no access to that projector file, I republsihed). Unfortuntately I do not have access to that surface tablet anymore. I am wondering if there is a problem with the integrated graphics hardware and/or the processor in the dell. The venue has the new baytrail processor and integrated intel graphics. The surface pro has an i5 processor.
Thanks in advance for any help.
AK

Made some other windows projectors (on the mac) with the following results and run on the dell venue tablet.
(1) 1600x900 - similar problem with only part of screen showing
(2) 1280x720 - projector seems to be working and displaying properly. The projector image is scaled to fill the full 1920 screen width.
I am beginning to think that there is a problem with the intel integrated graphics hardware. I should add that the problem I am having also occured a few months ago when I tested a similar projector with a acer iconia w3 tablet (8 inch screen/windows 8.0/1280x800/atom Z2760 CPU/intel Graphics Media Accelerator HD hardware).
I hope that problem has a solution, hopefully coming as a director 11.6 upgrade and director 12.1 upgrade. I think this combination of cpu and graphics hardware is a going to do pretty good business.

Installation problem on Dell P4 machine...

While I was trying to install Solaris 8 to a Dell P4 machine (8100 series), after the "Copyright..." line, the installation process never gets to the section where it should display "Configuring /dev and /devices".
Each time the installation gets to the menu to choose the installation method (Interactive or JumpStart), after running a few more processes, the system displays "Skipping System Dump: No dump device configured" and then the machine reboots. It keeps doing the same thing over and over but I do not see any error message and the screen clears rigth away when it reboots.
Any help would be appreciated.

This case is similar to the case handled by Jurgen Keil on Digest Number 385 except that my case, it has a different error message.
At the prompt "Select type of installation" (or the prompt
"Select (b)oot or (i)nterpreter:", I type the command "b kadb -d". I see a General Protection Fault and some messages which cause the system to reboot. But I can't capture all the errors/messages cuz there's no system dump device configured.
How do I configured the system dump device so I can send you more details?
Thank you.

20" iMac and external Dell 24" : doesn't work with Mini DVI to DV adapter!

Help! My lovely Dell HP LP2475w 24" Monitor can't be used as an external monitor. The native screen resolution is 1900x1200 60Hz. The Apple site claims the iMac is capable of being able to output this resolution.
When the HP is plugged in via the apple mini to dvi adapter a (tested) DVI lead, it recognises the monitor, but can't bring it to life. Just an occasional flash. In the resolution listing for the HP, the native resolution 1900x1200 isn't listed.
Plugging a cruddy old 20" Samsung with the same DVI leads works with no problems.
I NEED to use the HP for my Photo editing, and phone calls to Apples support have proved fruitless.
Does anyone have a 20" Intel iMac and an HP LP2475w set up that works?
Many thanks for any help.

I'm glad you got it working!
So do you have it working at full 1900x1200? I've noticed a few more oddities about my iMac on this monitor. First off is that initially I could only go as high as 1680x1050, which I think is the native resolution of the iMac. Now I actually see two more options, one of which being 1920x1200. This surprises me since you couldn't get it to a full 1920. Both resolutions produce the same size image on the HP, but the 1680x1050 is fuzzier. It's odd to me, same dimensions just a little less clear. I can stretch that using the HP's settings to full screen, but I cannot adjust the 1920/1200 image even though there is a black border around it.
Can you tell me what color settings you have on the HP? I have really struggled to find something I like. I actually like how things look in my iMac, and my MBP. I can't get things to look the same on the HP. I also feel like text is just a hair fuzzier on the HP than on either the iMac or MBP. I'm tempted to try a used 23" Apple Cinema Display, but I'm not sure I'll have any better luck with that. I mostly concerned about the image quality when I use my laptop, and for some reason I'm not getting great results with the HP or Dell externals that I've tried.

Bluetooth Driver for dell(Inspiron N5110(ST: 3v82np1 ) is still not working well.

Hi,
I have tried installing "Dell Wireless 1701
802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth v3.0+HS Driver "
But I saw neither wireless nor Bluetooth was defined.
As the drivers listed below are only the driver for wireless and bluetooth, I almost tried all of them, except the last three.
File TitleImportanceRelease DateVersionActions
Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1030 WiFi Driver
(Driver)
Other Formats
Description
Intel 6230/N1030/N1000 WiFi Driver for win7 64-bit This package provides the driver for the Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1030 WiFi Driver and imore…
Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1030/Advanced-N 6230
Bluetooth Adapter Driver
(Driver)
Description
This package provides the Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1030/Advanced-N 6230 Bluetooth Adapter Driver and is supported on Inspiron N5110 and Vosmore…
Dell Wireless 1701 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth v3.0+HS
Driver
(Driver)
Description
This package provides the Dell Wireless 1701 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth v3.0+HS Driver and is supported on Inspiron N5110 and Vostro Notebook 3more…
Dell Wireless 1702 WiFi + Bluetooth Driver
(Driver)
s
Description
This package provides the Dell Wireless 1702 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0+HS Driver and is supported on Inspiron and Vostro Notebook models tmore…
Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1000, Centrino Advanced-N
6230, Centrino Wireless-N 1030, v.14.2.0.10, A01
(Driver)
Recommended
Description
This package provides the Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1000/1030, Advanced-N 6230 Driver and is supported on Inspiron N5110 and Vostro Notebook more…
Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6230/Wireless-N 1030
Bluetooth Adapter Driver
(Driver)
Description
This package provides the Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6230/Wireless-N 1030 Bluetooth Adapter Driver and is supported on Inspiron N5110 and Vosmore…
Add to My Download List
Dell Wireless WLAN 1502 Half Mini-Card Driver
(Driver)
Description
This package provides the driver for Dell Wireless WLAN 1502 Half Mini-Card and is supported on Inspiron Notebook and Vostro Notebook modelmore
Intel WiMax Link 6150 Driver
(Driver)
Description
This package provides the Intel WiMax Link 6150 Driver and is supported on Inspirion and XPS Notebook models that are running the following
Realtek RTL8111E-VB Gigabit and RTL8105E-VB 10/100
Ethernet Controller Driver
(Driver)
Description
This package provides the Realtek RTL8111E-VB Gigabit and RTL8105E-VB 10/100 Ethernet Controller Driver and is supported on Inspiron N5110 amore…
I had to install Dell Wireless 1702 WiFi +
Bluetooth Driver
The wireless adapter was defined by this driver, however, the Bluetooth still has an exclamation mark in front of it, and when the Dell WLAN and Bluetooth client installation finished, a pop up message said that Windows couldn't install the device
well, although there was a folder added in documents folder named 'Bluetooth Folder'
Yes, the Bluetooth was named with 'Generic Bluetooth adapter' before installing 'Driver above'. However, after installing the driver above, the Bluetooth adapter named with ' Dell wireless 1702 Bluetooth v3.0". But as you see it's
still not working will.
The sceen shot shows the device manger before installing Dell
Wireless 1702 WiFi + Bluetooth Driver
These screen shots shows the device manger after installing Dell
Wireless 1702 WiFi + Bluetooth Driver
I've lit windows detect the operating program for this device on the internet, it said "Windows has detected that the operating program of this device is up to date. As this screenshot shows.
What should I do because nothing lift to try? If you have a look at the ninth drivers in my previous message, you will see that no other drivers for Bluetooth lift.
Also, I have tried to install Intel
Centrino Wireless-N 1030 WiFi Driver
But I have been told that "the installation is blocked', This package of installation cannot be installed on your system' I don't know what this
means, is it because Dell Wireless 1702 WiFi +
Bluetooth Driver is being installed
Could you please take some of your preciout time out to read carefully my points below to finish this problem?
first:
Yes, if you had a look at my first post, you would have seen that I really have downloaded and installed the drivers suitable for bluetooth, which was only Dell
Wireless 1702 WiFi + Bluetooth Driver, which made the bluetooth recognized by Windows 7(64Bit). However, the bluetooth in the device manager still has an exclamation mark as it is shown in the device manager.
I don't have any other drviers which can do more than the what Dell
Wireless 1702 WiFi + Bluetooth Driver did because I have tried all the drivers listed under 'Network', exept the what are for Etherent.
Yes, when I have tried adding the bluetooth between two laptops(Mohammad and Nasreen). the bluetooth was added for both laptops as you see in these screenshots below:
The Bluetooth devices of Nasreen's laptop whose bluetooth is having some problems in Device mangage.
The Bluetooth devices of Mohammad's laptop whosse Bluetooh is defined well in device manager.
But there is still problem in the device managre as shown in the screenshot listed before.
Second: (Important) That when I want to send files or recieving between two bluetooth added in either laptop, I could send them. Also, when I open the Mohammad's bluetooth added in Nansreen's laptop( screenshot
below), I can show what is inside it.
However, when I open the the Nasreen's bluetooth addd in Mohammad's laptop, I noticed no reponse at all because as you see that disconnected is written in fornt "Nasreen-Pc" as this screenshot:
Although sometimes Nasreen-Pc gets connected as screenshot below, but I am still not able to open the Bluetooth folder of Nasreen-pc from Mohammad-pc. When trying to do that, no response is there.
In other times, Nasreen-pc gets connected for a while, but it comes back disconnected.
Third:: I noticed that the name of Laptop whose Bluetooth was added listed in 'My computer' for the laptop whose Bluetooth is having some problems in the device manager.(First Screen shot below) However,
the name of the laptop whose Bluetooth is having problems wasn't listed on other laptop's "my computer"(Second Screen shot below)
Finally: : when I clicked "right-click" on "Nasreen-PC" and then clicking on "detecting and troublshooting issues", I found that windows informed me that :
But which driver should I reinstall because I have already installed the Dell
Wireless 1702 WiFi + Bluetooth Driver almost twice?
A man should convert his anger and sadness into strength to continue living in this life.

Certain driver packages contain drivers from some of the essential services only and for additional services, separate drivers must be installed. Additionally, the service is installed only if a compatible device is installed (or paired).
Therefore, you are seeing the error.
If you are using the Bluetooth L2CAP Interface and Bluetooth Remote Control services and not able to install the services, you can try unpairing the device, restart the PC, pair the device and then check. If that too fails, you need to install a suitable
driver, sometimes even other OEM drivers solve the issue. You can Bing/Google about this. You can also contact Dell Support for more information.
Balaji Kundalam
Thanks a lot,
I really didn't understand what you mean with in your first part the service is installed only if a compatible device is installed (or paired).
The Bluetooth is integrated with
the laptop, then where other services will come from, all service are related to Bluetooth.
If there are some additional services not related to Bluetooth,
then how can I either let them functioning well or disable them in order to get rid of the yellow exclamation mark
on the name of my laptop in the Device and printers.
Also, I really have installed a
BCBT7(Broadcom Bluetooth) for HP which really defined the same Bluetooth issue,
Device manager after installing the entire setup of driver BCBT7(Broadcom Bluetooth) on HP laptop
but when trying to install the same
BCBT7(Broadcom Bluetooth) on Dell, I faced the error below, although there is an icon for Bluetooth in
the system tray. Also, the Bluetooth is integrated as
you have seen in the device manager.
You didn't answer me: Third:: I noticed that the name of Laptop whose Bluetooth was added listed in 'My computer' for the laptop whose
Bluetooth is having some problems in the device manager.(First Screen shot below) However, the name of the laptop whose Bluetooth is having problems wasn't listed on other laptop's "my computer"(Second Screen shot below)
A man should convert his anger and sadness into strength to continue living in this life.

Ipod not being detected on my dell latitude620

I just got a dell latitude 620 laptop
My ipod is being detected as a "device"
My ipod will charge, but itunes does not recognize it.
I've uninstalled itunes and reinstalled it twice.
And tried about 90% of what apple support suggests
There is nothing wrong with the laptop...that im aware of.
Please help
- manic mass

When you uninstalled iTunes, did you uninstall *everything*? Take a look at http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1925 , and make sure you completely uninstall iTunes, including the drivers, before you reinstall. If that doesn't work, you might try going back to the last version of iTunes you knew was working -- at least, that will eliminate the question of whether it is iTunes or the iPod. Lastly, sometimes rebooting either the computer and/or the iPod (remember the 5Rs) can sometimes solve the issue.

Wireless printing problem with hp officejet 100 mobile printer from win 7 dell laptop

My hp officejet 100 mobile printer was working fine with my dell XPS 15 in bluetooth wirelessly until my laptop crashed. Now I can not get it to print internet info except with hard wire connection. Page loads half way and then stops. Must shut down laptop and shut off printer or hard wire and shut off bluetooth. down loaded lastest drivers to no avail. printer will print from cell phone and win 8 computer via bluetooth but not win 7 laptop.

Sorry you are having problems with printing from the internet. I have a few more questions to ask you before I can be of much assistance.
What web-browser are you using?
Do you have any problems printing from Word or other non-internet documents?
What did you do to fix your computer (system restore, clean install of the OS, etc)?
Have you tried an alternate web-browser?
Make sure to install all of your Microsoft updates to see if that helps. Otherwise, answer those questions for me please and I will be happy to help.
Don't forgot to say thanks by giving "Kudos" if I helped solve your problem.
When a solution is found please mark the post that solves your issue.
Every problem has a solution!

Reinstalling Microsoft Office Home and Business 2010 - OS 64 bit Windows 7 Home Premium on Dell Inspiron

To start at the begining....no, that's not fair, that goes all the way back to March 24th!
My hard drive has been wiped clean twice now...First time was not by MY choice...the guy from India just talked me through it, with no warning of what was going to be the result. What a nightmare!
This 2nd time when I have "retrieved" my files from my external hard drive...my documents are there....just can't open them!
Following messages when opening Word or Outlook:
"Please wait...."etc. "Configuration in Progress Microsoft Office Home and Business".... which takes forever!
Then:
"Your AutoCorrect file: c:\users\Tosi\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Office\MSO1033.acl, could not be saved. the file may be read only, or you man not have permission to modify the file."
Then:
"Word cannot open existing file (Normal)
In tyring to open Outlook...
Big Red cirlce with an X in it: Could not install the custom actions. The form Cache file c:\users\Tosi\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Forms\FRMCACHE>DAT is not valid. Contact your administrator.
The same message as Word "Your AutoCorrcet....etc....MSO1033.acl ...etc. "
I have tried to change permissions...no luck. How to I get FULL control over my own computer? Please!
When I do finally get Outlook open, nothing is in there. I looked for my Outlook Data folder and I see that my .pst data file is in 5 places, yet it is not connecting with Outlook. No mail, address or calendar are in there. (to back
track...the first time I retrieved my stuff off the hard drive everything worked)
Microsoft has promissed numerous times to assit me to resolve these problems through very lovely emails but no one has called to follow up and help me. I really need help and I am running out of patience.
Soon I will be saying "Goodbye Microsoft! Goodbye Dell! Hello Apple!"
Help please!
Thank you,
SMTosi

As per your description, seems the installation of Office have got completely corrupted. I would suggest you to completely remove Office 2010 from your computer and then reinstall it.
For how to remove/uninstall Office from your computer, I would suggest you to use Microsoft Fix It tool:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971179
After uninstalling Office, please restart your computer then try a reinstallation. If you don't have the Office 2010 installation source or DVD, please go to this website to get Office 2010 installation package:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/products/microsoft-office-2010-backup-FX101853122.aspx (you might need to provide the product key of Office 2010)
Hope this helps. Thanks a lot for your patience.
Thanks,
Ethan Hua CHN
TechNet Community Support

How I tried fix my partitions and restore a Dell Diagnostic Partition.

UPDATED: 2 September 2012
UPDATE: Now that I reflect back on the incidence, I realize that the Dell Utility partition had lost its ability to boot long before I had messed up my partition table. But I realized it only when I was testing all my partitions after fixing the partition table. But as I have already written this long post, lets just keep it here for future reference of anyone else stumbling across a similar problem. Read on to know about my experience.
RECOMMENDATION: I do not recommend trying out all the steps below as they did not completely solve the problem for me. If you need the Diagnostic Utility, download the update package from Dell's support website for your model. This package can be used to create a boot-able USB drive and/or CD/DVD. These work fine and are pretty fast also.
Something strange happened to me and I am now reporting my experience in trying to solve it (somewhat unsuccessfully!!)
First of all, my setup is: Dell Studio 1555 laptop. I dual boot Windows 7 and Archlinux. So here's how it went:
After using the partitioning tool Gparted under Archlinux to resize a partition, I found a problem had occurred. The Partition was NTFS formatted and all of my data files were stored on it. The partition worked fine under Archlinux as I was able to access my files fine under it. But in Windows, although the partition was listed under Windows explorer, it wanted to format it!! When I tried to access the partition it gave an error that it was not formatted (
The drive is not formatted, do you want to format it now?
). Of course, that was not right and Gparted had messed something up. I fixed that using Testdisk under Archlinux (See the Details). So now the partition problem under windows was fixed. But now another problem cropped up under Archlinux. When I booted into Archlinux and started Gparted to confirm everything was fine I saw something strange in Gparted. The whole space on my hard disk was marked as "unallocated" under Gparted. Windows and Archlinux could "see" the partitions. By this I mean that I was able to boot fine under both my OSes. And I could access all my files under all my partitions. But somehow Gparted was not able to "see" them. Gparted was reporting my whole disk to be marked as unallocated. After that I researched a lot and lots of stuff happened experimenting to fix the problem. I used a lot of utilities. But actually only one fixed the problem-fixparts from the gptfdisk package. But it seemed like a lot of work trying to get the problem fixed (See the Details).
Now we get to the point in discussion. I was able to get my partitions back under Gparted. But I lost the Dell Diagnostics Utility partition's ability to boot up. [Actually, now that I reflect back on the incidence, I realize that the Dell Utility partition had lost its ability to boot long before I had messed up my partition table. But I realized it only when I was testing all my partition after fixing the partition table. But more on this later.] It gave an error that the partition was not found.
So, in short: After all this restoring partitions' visibility under Gparted, I realized that the Dell Utility partition on my Studio 1555 was not booting up. To explain this, it means that when I press F-12 when starting the laptop and select Diagnostics from the menu to run the Diagnostic Utility and after running the Pre-boot System Assesment tests when I consented to boot the Diagnostic Utility partition, it gave me the error that the partition was not found. When I tried to run the "Dell 32 Bit Diagnostics (Graphical User Interface version)" update package under Windows, it resulted in a similar error: Partition not found.
For some background on what makes the Dell Utility partition so special, please read this thread and the third post on this thread.
WARNING: You and only you are responsible for your data. Please make a backup before performing any of the partitioning steps below.
NOTE: Please read the entire post before actually performing the steps.
So, to try and fix this I did the following:
Boot into Windows 7.
Open Disk Management under the Computer Management console (To open the Computer Management console, right click on Computer in the Start menu and select Manage).
Reformat the Dell Diagnostic Utility partition as FAT(not FAT32). This is the first partition on the drive (marked as Healthy (OEM Partition) under the Status column). [This step may not be required, however I had done it. See Notes below.]
UPDATE: After reading around a bit I found that these steps to format the partition might not actually be necessary. Simply changing the type of the partition (as detailed below) might also work. However as I had done that, lets just keep these steps over here.
Reboot into a Linux distribution Live CD (I had Ubuntu 10.10). Or, If you dual boot with a Linux distribution that does not complain about the now inconsistent fstab entry, you can also boot into that distribution directly. I had to boot into Live CD to fix my /etc/fstab.
UPDATE: After considering all the aspects from start to end I have come to a conclusion regarding the efficacy of this method on dual boot machines with Windows and Linux installed. I doubt anyone with a dual boot Windows/Linux setup would be able to boot into the Dell Diagnostic Utility even with the Utility Partition restored. This is detailed below.
(As noted above my Archlinux install did not boot up after I had reformatted my Dell Diagnostic Utility partition. This is because I was mounting the Dell Utility partition at boot using fstab inside Archlinux. And I was using the UUID to mount the partition. After reformatting the partition its UUID changed. So, it wouldn't mount. And because of how my fstab was setup Archlinux won't boot. So, I had to boot into a live environment to fix this. This step applied only to me. YRMV.) Fix the fstab entry.
(This step also applied to me.) Boot into the repaired Linux Distribution.
And open a Terminal.
In the open terminal run fdisk on your drive, e.g.,
fdisk /dev/sda
This is how it looks:
[abhishek@Nitaichand ~]$ sudo fdisk /dev/sda
Password:
Command (m for help):
To change the partition type give the appropriate command, i.e.,
Command (m for help): t
Specify the partition, i.e.,
Partition number (1-10): 1
Type L to see available codes:
Hex code (type L to list codes):L
0 Empty 24 NEC DOS 81 Minix / old Lin bf Solaris
1 FAT12 27 Hidden NTFS Win 82 Linux swap / So c1 DRDOS/sec (FAT-
2 XENIX root 39 Plan 9 83 Linux c4 DRDOS/sec (FAT-
3 XENIX usr 3c PartitionMagic 84 OS/2 hidden C: c6 DRDOS/sec (FAT-
4 FAT16 <32M 40 Venix 80286 85 Linux extended c7 Syrinx
5 Extended 41 PPC PReP Boot 86 NTFS volume set da Non-FS data
6 FAT16 42 SFS 87 NTFS volume set db CP/M / CTOS / .
7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT 4d QNX4.x 88 Linux plaintext de Dell Utility
8 AIX 4e QNX4.x 2nd part 8e Linux LVM df BootIt
9 AIX bootable 4f QNX4.x 3rd part 93 Amoeba e1 DOS access
a OS/2 Boot Manag 50 OnTrack DM 94 Amoeba BBT e3 DOS R/O
b W95 FAT32 51 OnTrack DM6 Aux 9f BSD/OS e4 SpeedStor
c W95 FAT32 (LBA) 52 CP/M a0 IBM Thinkpad hi eb BeOS fs
e W95 FAT16 (LBA) 53 OnTrack DM6 Aux a5 FreeBSD ee GPT
f W95 Ext'd (LBA) 54 OnTrackDM6 a6 OpenBSD ef EFI (FAT-12/16/
10 OPUS 55 EZ-Drive a7 NeXTSTEP f0 Linux/PA-RISC b
11 Hidden FAT12 56 Golden Bow a8 Darwin UFS f1 SpeedStor
12 Compaq diagnost 5c Priam Edisk a9 NetBSD f4 SpeedStor
14 Hidden FAT16 <3 61 SpeedStor ab Darwin boot f2 DOS secondary
16 Hidden FAT16 63 GNU HURD or Sys af HFS / HFS+ fb VMware VMFS
17 Hidden HPFS/NTF 64 Novell Netware b7 BSDI fs fc VMware VMKCORE
18 AST SmartSleep 65 Novell Netware b8 BSDI swap fd Linux raid auto
1b Hidden W95 FAT3 70 DiskSecure Mult bb Boot Wizard hid fe LANstep
1c Hidden W95 FAT3 75 PC/IX be Solaris boot ff BBT
1e Hidden W95 FAT1 80 Old Minix
Type the desired code, i.e.,
Hex code (type L to list codes): de
Write the partition table with:
Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered!
Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.
WARNING: Re-reading the partition table failed with error 16: Device or resource busy.
The kernel still uses the old table. The new table will be used at
the next reboot or after you run partprobe(8) or kpartx(8)
Syncing disks.
[abhishek@Nitaichand ~]$
Download the required Diagnostics Update Package from the Drivers Download page for your model. Got mine from here.
Run the downloaded package under the OS you it downloaded for. That is, run the .exe on Windows. Or, if you downloaded the .bin file for Linux then first make it executable:
chmod u+x CL1367A0.bin
And now run it under a Linux distribution with an older version of python installed (I think <2.7). I say this because the .bin package didn't run on an updated Archlinux for me, probably because it has the latest python. I ran it from the Ubuntu 10.10 Live CD and it ran fine under that.
On Windows, If you are not automatically prompted with an option to update your Utility Partition then you need to browse to the location where the package was extracted (for me it was C:\dell\drivers\R239866).
Now you need to manually run the extracted file (for me it was DDDP.exe). Most probably you'll need to right-click it and run it as an Administrator. And if all went well, it will extract/update the diagnostic utilities to/on the Dell Utility Partition.
I believe the above steps should be sufficient for someone who's lucky and who's update package is smart enough. However these steps were not sufficient for me. My "Partition not found" error was gone because I had changed the partition type. And so the update package was able to recognize the partition and extract the necessary files to it. But I was still not able to boot the utility partition. After the Pre-boot System Assessment although I no longer got the "Partition not found" error, but I was just dropped onto the GRUB boot menu prompt.
[UPDATE: As stated above, I realize that the recovery partition had lost its ability to boot long before I had messed up my partition table. But I realized it only when I was testing all my partition after fixing the partition table. Please refer to this forum thread for further Details. I do not think that it is possible longer to boot from the Dell Utility Parttion on my setup which has GRUB installed to the MBR. But the rest of the post documents my attempts to slove the problem without the knowledge from the forum post.]
Anyways, it was a pain to again and again set up/update the partition and test it after waiting half an hour or so for the Pre-boot System Assessment to complete. But I was determined to solve the problem at-least partially, until next time. So I created a GRUB entry to boot the Utility partition. Assuming the partition is the first partition on the drive (which is the case here), the grub entry is simply:
title Dell Utility
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1
I tried downloading an older update package. I updated my Partition with it. And tested. Still, I was unsuccessful. I researched a little bit and found this link. Out of frustration,I decided to use brute force this time . So, the below are the steps which let me have at-least a glimpse of The Dell Diagnostic Utility booting up from the partition:
Backup your partition table using the sfdisk command (not fdisk).
Follow the instructions in the link I gave above (i.e., http://community.spiceworks.com/how_to/show/1123) and build your Utility Partition from scratch.
Now after that when you try to boot into the OS you'll be presented with an blue bar on top. This is because the mkup batch file from the Dell Diagnostic/Drivers CD/DVD wiped your partition table and rewrote it with only one partition on it- the Dell utility partition.
Boot into a Live environment and restore your partition table from the backup created earlier using sfdisk.
Now boot with a Windows disc to repair your Windows boot problem. This applied to me but may not apply to you.
Again boot into a live environment and restore GRUB to MBR.
After a reboot press F-12 to get to the BIOS boot menu and select Diagnostics.
Let the Pre-boot Assessment run and after its complete it will ask you to press any key to boot the Dell Utility partition. Do that.
You'll notice your still dropped into GRUB instead of getting the Diagnostics GUI.
Now when on GRUB prompt don't boot any other OS.
Press any key (other than <Enter>, that is ) to stop the timer if you have one set.
Now look carefully at the boot menu.
Remember I told you that I had created a GRUB menu entry to boot the Dell Utility partition. Select that. And if you are lucky you might just be able boot the partition. This worked for me (finally!).
After this initial run I was unable to run the Diagnostics GUI from the GRUB menu entry again. I haven't tried to re-run the Pre-boot Assessment and wait to see, if I'm able to boot it from there. But now, I'm satisfied that at-least the file there are in a running condition.
Also, the update package can be used to create boot-able USB drives or boot-able CD/DVDs which can run the Diagnostics just fine. They are almost as fast as the partition (especially the USB which seems even faster). They are recommend, instead of going into this trouble to recreate the partition. That is unless you are a purist/perfectionist .
Notes:
At first, I panicked and tried a lot of steps that are not exactly documented above for the sake of convenience to others who might refer.
I have thus rewritten the post in a manner to make it very general in nature as it did not become very fruitful for myself. If you attempt to use this guide, use common sense where necessary .
Of course, if you are trying to build a Utility partition on a bare hard drive or you're feeling adventurous, you can always follow this link .
Last edited by bhadotia (2012-10-08 19:03:18)

bhadotia wrote:Anyway's the file downloaded from dell to update the partition for Studio 1555 is corrupted (checksums don't match). My partition still doesn't boot. I'm working to fix this and will update my post when I'm done.
The file seems to create the CD/DVD/Image and USB just fine. So I used this only to create a CD image which I then wrote on a blank CD which seems to work fine. Also, I played around a bit and had some partial success in booting the partition. I've updated my original opening post with the new findings.
Whew!! what a waste of time! Never want to do all of this again .
Last edited by bhadotia (2012-03-03 00:05:22)

Serious resolution issues with After Effects CC (2014) on Windows 8.1 Pro on Dell Precision M3800 laptop??

My new company installed Adobe Creative Cloud (There was some annoying Proxy issues at first, because of the seriously tight I.T policies) but we are having some serious resolution issues with After Effects CC 2014 (also have this resolution problem with Adobe Premiere, Media Encoder, Muse) on Windows 8.1 Pro on a Dell Precision M3800 laptop with icons and interface looking too small and hard to see, is there a fix, an update or a work around, can anyone help?
Any help will be appreciated!
k.regards
Ramon

Hi Todd is there a time-frame for this fix, there is a lot of pressure on me, because I convinced my company to get the Creative Cloud and quite a lot of the CC software is not compatible with the latest Windows 8.1 OS.
Is there at least a work around, until this big fix comes along?
k.regards
Ramon

DELL I8k

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