Dell or Dull?

[Forkin' Crazy]

I have a Inspiron 8200. It is just over 3 years old. Last summer the hard drive crashed, so I replaced it. Now the monitor is going wacko. I ordered it with the 15 Dell Ultra Sharp monitor, along with other up grades to the tune of $2700....

About a week ago, the screen went black. I restarted and encountered no problems until last night when it did it again. I got a critical error notice, bla, bla, bla, and sent an error report to Microsoft. The monitor was almost unreadable. I rebooted......no luck, loaded updates from the NVIDIA web site.... no worky... then reloaded the drivers... Now if I change it back to a high resolution screen (like it has been), it has vertical lines about a 1/4" apart across the screen. I go to a lower res. and it won't scroll smoothly....

I am thinking video driver? It came with a GeForce 4 440 Go 3D Video. Or is it a software glitch? Windows XP home edition has some bugs in it.

I figured the damn thing would last a little longer then 3 years. I'm not sure I will get a Dull next time..... like the others are any better...LOL!

[mercmack]

wait till you call tech support and the voice at the other end..you will need a translator to understand them..my wife can give you the hole story..i wont deal with them..this outsourseing is for the birds..ten to one your talking to ben-ladin working part time so he can buy more bombs to kill america's :eek: :eek:

[Dukeofchippewa]

Bought my Dimension 8200 in 2001, 19" Monitor 1.7, XP, etc. no real problems, talked to tech for some minor stuff. bought my 2400 bout 8 mo. ago, no problems. If you have trouble understanding them go to live chat.
You can ask other people bout your problems, you can get help on software or anything else.

[1BadAction]

wait till you call tech support and the voice at the other end..you will need a translator to understand them..my wife can give you the hole story..i wont deal with them..this outsourseing is for the birds..ten to one your talking to ben-ladin working part time so he can buy more bombs to kill america's :eek: :eek:or you can talk to another computer when you call gateway or e-mach... ive had to do it on the other 2 machines my mom has :mad: my dell on the other hand is fine...

[10.5' Tunnel]

Your best bet these days is (even though its painful) is to learn a little about computers, then go to a local shop and get it built (or build it yourself). It may cost more, but you have control of the quality of parts put in. About your problem, have you checked the cable? After three years it could have some corrosion of some sort, its amazing how that can happen sometimes. What were you doing when the screen went black? Have you downloaded the newest service pack?

[Dukeofchippewa]

I've still got my old Micron 133, I won't go with anyone but Dell.;)

[Dukeofchippewa]

That didn't come right. Dell support ask other people and techs. Here's the link for support. http://support.dell.com/ or hit start, then help and support. No accent in typing.

[Scream And Fly]

Paul, sounds like you have the same exact laptop I have. Mine sees very hard work - I do everything with mine: graphic design, photo editing, FTP uploads, and even PCU programming! I take it to events, shows, and have used it in freezing weather. I never had a problem. I always thought they were very good machines.

First thing I would look into is the driver and check if you have any viruses or spyware, etc. You mentioned that you updated the driver from nVidia's website - as far as I know, nVidia's unified driver does not support the GeForce 4 in your laptop. That could have made things worse. Also make sure the machine is not overheating. Are the exhaust fans in the rear working properly? If you're running on the original install of Windows, then I would seriously consider a backup of your data and complete format and reinstallation of the OS. Windows is a very self destructive OS. I usually format all of my machines once each year - and I run them all lean and mean too! No screen savers, TSR programs, etc.

You must run the screen (or any LCD panel) in its native resolution, which is 1600 x 1200 on that particular display. If you don't, you'll see a lot of strange things happen. So, what I would start with is by checking the driver. Uninstall what you have and check the system registry for any nVidia folders and remove them. Restart the machine. Then download the Dell driver and install it. Restart, and make sure your screen resolution is set to 1600 x 1200, 32-bit color. Refresh should only be 60Hz on an LCD.

Call me if you need help!

Greg

[Forkin' Crazy]

Thanks, Greg! I'll give that a try. I thought I might have to "redo" the whole thing. Since my hard drive crash I am way better about backing things up. Lost all the high res. pics of the P51 ride and Byuboyz Rally because of that.

Yea, the resolution I am running is not that. If I try to run it there, it really screws up!

I'm gonna try the things you mentioned. Luckily I have a Dell desk top too... :)

[Forkin' Crazy]

Tried to back up some stuff on disk that I didn't have backed up.... It wouldn't recognize the D drive??? WTF? Won't reinstall windows either. Ran virus software, no viruses. Also reinstalled drivers.....Running Dell diagnostic right now.... not much hope. I think I have bigger problems. Looks like I'll have to wipe the hard drive clean and start all over!!! :mad:

[Scream And Fly]

Paul, do you have a home network or even a cable router? If not, you can even direct-connect the laptop with your desktop machine and transfer files that way. You'll need to enable file sharing on both machines, but it's very easy. I think Windows XP even has a 'networking wizard' to help you accomplish that.

Greg

[Forkin' Crazy]

I was thinking the same thing. If I can figure it out...LOL!:)

I am running the Dell diagnostic program and it has come up with 77 errors so far..... :eek:

Thanks man!

[Scream And Fly]

Paul, I have never used the Dell diagnostic software - what messages is it giving you?

If you have a cable/DSL router, you can access either machine's hard drive that is connected to it. Just go to your C: drive and right-click, then choose Properties. In that menu, you'll see a tab for Sharing. You can enable file sharing on various levels, then copy your files. But make sure you lock down the sharing permissions on your drives when you're finished - it's never a good idea to leave file sharing enabled on a machine that's connected to an always-on internet connection.

Greg

[Forkin' Crazy]

Must be the video card.


as far as I know, nVidia's unified driver does not support the GeForce 4 in your laptop.

On the driver CD, the video driver is titled "nVidia GeForce4 440 Rev. A02".

This is off the form where I ordered it, "64MB DDR 4XAGP NVIDIA GeForce 4 440 Go 3D Video".

So hell, I don't know. It came up a prompted me to go the website to upload an update. This was right after it had the second critical error.

I just reformatted the hard drive, reinstalled XP, and reinstalled the drivers.

The only resolution that it will not show lines is 1024X768 @ 32 bit.
I get a bunch lines and spots when it is set to 1600X1200 and it will only take it at 16 bit.
If you try to set it to 32 bit, it will automatically set itself to the lowest pixel and resolution. And when does that, it looks insane!!

I don't think I mentioned this.... once the monitor looked like it was melting... like you were running a film projector and stopped the film w/o turning out the light.... Weird or what?

Dammed if I know... Where is the video card in this thing? LOL!!! :(

Any one know of a good computer shop?

[Forkin' Crazy]

Any one know of a good computer shop?

Not going to trust the jug-heads around here.....

Send it to Dell, or what?

[1BadAction]

since it is a laptop, send it back to dell. if they give you any crap, tell them to eat sh!t and bark at the moon.

they will most likely get it back to you quickly and in new shape.

[Forkin' Crazy]

I just got it back. I contacted Dell online and after I told them what I had done, they gave me a few other things to do. One of them being to hook it up to an external monitor. I did that and it looked the same.

They then sent me a box to ship it in and fixed it for free shipping and all!!!

BTW they replaced the video card. :)

Thanks everyone for your help!!!

I give Dell two thumbs up!!

[Scream And Fly]

Paul, call me anytime if you need any help.

Greg

[Forkin' Crazy]

Thanks Greg! Making the first post with the repaired computer right now. Works fine. I almost have everything loaded too. Keys seem smoother. I think they cleaned it while they were in there. :)

Dell kicks ass!!! :D