D/Dock Expansion Station

Question

Why is it that the D/Dock Expansion Station ( Dell Part# 310-2873) is not permitted to work with my Inspiron 8600?  When I connect up my 8600 to the Expansion Station, then boot, I get a text message on the screen that tells me to remove it from the station or it will shut it down (which it does).     I found pages on the Austrailian Dell site (or maybe it was the UK) that indicated that the 8600c works with the Expansion Station.   The station DOES work when I dock it while it is already running (I am on it now as a matter of fact).     I can understand that testing wasn't completed on the combination of this laptop and station, and I'm willing to undertake the risks myself - after all, I'm already hot docking it.  Is there anyway I can disable that message and get the station to work with my laptop without having to hot dock it?  I don't care about support for it, I just want to be able to use it.

Rollie_R · Answer

MAnsnes,   Thank you for using the Dell Community Forum.   The D/Dock is for our Latitude systems, and the Inspiron 8600 has not been tested or validated for this Port Replicator.  The BIOS does not support it, which is where the error message comes from, and it cannot be turned off.  Dell does not support the use of the D/Dock with Inspiron systems.  Any damage caused by using a D/Dock will not be covered under warranty.   I do not remember hearing anyone do this with the Inspiron 8600, but I know that some Inspiron 8000, 8100, 8200 users have flashed their BIOS with a Latitude C800, 810, 840 BIOS in order to use the C/Dock II.  You may be able to successfully flash your 8600 with a Latitude D800 BIOS.  Please understand that this is not supported by Dell in any way, and any damage caused to the system by such a procedure will not be covered under warranty.   You may want to wait and see if anyone has been successful with this, and see if they post here.

mattcowger · Answer

Good answer rollie... In addition to a D800 BIOS, a Precision M60 bios might work too.

Rollie_R · Answer

mattcowger,   That is correct.   One last disclaimer.  It may be possible to flash an Inspiron 8600 with a Latitude D800 or Precision M60 BIOS.   Do NOT attempt this with an Inspiron 8500.  The Inspiron 8500 uses a different motherboard and processor, and a different BIOS.  Flashing an Inspiron 8500 with any Latitude or Precision BIOS will almost certainly leave you with a non-functional system, and Dell will not cover any repair under warranty.   Remember, I am not suggesting this, and you are on your own.

MAnsnes · Answer

I thank you for the suggestion and will give this a try tonight or tomorrow (when I don't have any committments for the laptop).   I'll post my results when I do.   -Michael Ansnes, MCSA, MCSE Systems Engineer/Network Architect Network Synergy Solutions

x0lliex · Answer

I had to do a very similar thing with my 8200. It is now a c840 according to the BIOS, then the C/Dock worked perfectly.

MAnsnes · Answer

Well I tried flashing with several of the recent D800 BIOS versions (A07-A11) and none of them would let me flash the system, with or without any of the switches I came across in my searching the net (/jabil, /forceit, and /forcetype).

I did find it interesting that for one of the attempts, I don't recall which BIOS or which switch(es), it tried reading the A: drive, which I don't have in this system (I'm using a USB flash drive).

Any other switches I might try? Any suggestions?

-Michael

PowerDrome · Answer

Did you find a solution?   -------------------------------------------------------------------- Manufacturer Part#: 8W925-Dell Part#:310-<2873) that also has a pci slot. I'd like to know if this is compatible with my Inspiron 8600, as the <

x0lliex · Answer

Did you, or anyone else ever get the D/Dock to work with the Inspiron 8600???

MAnsnes · Answer

Nope. I never was able to get the 8600 to accept working with the expansion station. The workaround I am currently using is to connect it, then when the screen comes up saying it isn't compatible, ejecting it then reconnecting it. The message doesn't come up any more at that point.

One thing I've noted is that the trackpad/mouse doesn't function properly when connected. It has a tendency to jump to the top right. Also, in Device Manager, it says there is a problem with the docking station. I'm mostly just using it as a charger for the moment. Know anyone who wants to buy one? :smileywink:

Grey Beard · Answer

I have just had my Latitude C840 fixed by Dell engineers.(New M/B / Video Adapter and BIOS flash)

The issue now is that the BIOS displays Inspiron 8200 setup (?)

When I try to dock the laptop using my C/Dock II Expansion Station I get a message -

"Docking Station not supported, undock or shutdown will follow"

I understood that Win2K had native support for this docking station so would detect on docking?

Also tried Dell Dock Quick Install (A15) version R39818 but this left the C840 in a non-bootable state. Had to reinstall the O/S to recover from this.

What's the issue here? Does the BIOS version indicate the problem?

All this worked before.

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D/Dock Expansion Station

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