Display & Floppy problems

Question

Greetings.   I became the new owner of a Latitude C600 about a month ago. While it is a nice system, and a definite step up from my ages old desktop system, it does have a few problems.     1) When I close the lid to put it in suspend or hibernate, the system experiences no problems the first time I do this, and if I do it a second time, it is usually fine. However, without fail on the third suspend/hibernate (and occasionally the second) there is a problem when I resume. The display only fills the middle portion of the screen. It's the whole screen, just shrunk down in size. Rebooting does not cure it. The only way I can restore it to normal is to go into Device Manager, remove the ATI Mobility M3 driver (which I obtained from Dell's site), reboot, and reinstall it. This is quite annoying, as I would much prefer to hibernate the system at the welcome screen, rather than cold boot it every morning, as it is quite a bit faster to resume than to do a cold startup. (Oh yes, and I should point out here that I am using Windows XP Home SP2)   How can this be solved?   2) I received the DVD-ROM and 3.5' drives when I purchased the system, as I expected. The DVD-ROM works fine, but the 3.5' is dead. The system recognizes it in the BIOS, but refuses to boot from it, ('No bootabe devices', or somesuch when I configured the system to boot from it for a BIOS upgrade) and Windows reports that the drive is not ready when I attempt to use it.   My only theory is that the drive itself is bad, as the DVD-ROM runs fine in the same bay. I can see no damage of any kind to the drive or bay. Anything else that it could possibly be?   3) There is a high pitched, though low volume beeping coming from somewhere around the upper middle of the keyboard. I can hear it whenever I am using the system in a quiet environment, and it is annoying, and disconcerting. I doubt it is the hard drive, as the sound is too far to the right for that to be it, and the sound still occurs when the modular bay is empty, so that rules out the DVD-ROM. I thought it was my head, but I've had two friends tell me that I'm not hearing things.   Any ideas on it?     Any help or advice that can be offered would be appreciated.

Flooby · Answer

Which BIOS version is installed?  If not the most recent one (A23), that would be a place to start, both for the Suspend/Hibernate problem and the beeping.  (Check to see if infrared is enabled in System Setup, too - that's another possible source of the beeping.  If you want be needing IR often, just disable it.)  The problem is that you're not going to have an easy time updating the BIOS without the floppy drive.  Do you know anyone with a similar system from whom you could borrow/try their drive on your set?  It appears that the floppy drives from a number of systems (including the Inspiron 3800 and Latitude CPiD) and yours are interchangeable, so it wouldn't necessarily have to be a C600 drive.   As for the floppy drive, here's an easy thing to try.  Reset the default system configuration parameters in System Setup.  See the first set of instructions here: http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/kb/en/document?DN=FA1035267   The Dell Diagnostics (details in your system documentation) would help you identify whether the drive is bad - unfortunately, the most reliable version of that program runs from...floppy diskettes.  Is there any warranty remaining on the system?  If so, I tend to think that you wouldn't have any problem getting a new drive from Dell.  If not, the outfit at the link below has them for $39. http://www.laptopparts.com/laptop-floppy/dell-floppy.asp?cidx=757740707-11X10X2004Y3Z51Z36YAM&series=Latitude

QangMartoq · Answer

BIOS version A16 is installed currently.   I will check around for people with a similar system and floppy drive.   I reset the setup defaults, that didn't help the drive, so I changed them back to what I had them set at, and will now pursue gettng the drive replaced under warranty from Dell. Thankfully, the system still has a little more than 2 months of warranty left on it, but - How do I get warranty service? I have never had to deal with Dell before, so I'm clueless in that area. Will they require me to ship the entire system to them? This is my primary system, and I use it every day, so I can only hope that the answer is a no.   If it helps, I recall on my service & support area on Dell's site, it says that my warranty is 'Complete Care' and the provider is 'UNY'.   Thanks.

Flooby · Answer

Call Tech Support - 1-800-624-9896.  If they can determine that it's the drive itself, and not the system, they should be able to send the drive to you, and you will then return the defective part to them.  I believe the 'UNY' stands for Unisys, which is one of the contract service agencies for Dell.

QangMartoq · Answer

Ok, it seems that I'm in luck. I called Dell Technical Support, and was informed that I needed to transfer ownership since I bought this system secondhand. I did that online, then called back. They troubleshot the drive with me and agreed that it was bad. I should have another here within 1-2 days.

The tech also agreed that I should upgrade my BIOS, though she did not say that it would or would not solve the display or beeping problems.

Thanks for the help - If anything else happens, I'll be back here, this forum seems to be a useful place to find help!

Flooby · Answer

Have you tried disabling infra-red in System Setup?  That sometimes cures the beeping problem.  Also, make sure you don't have any cell phones near the PC, as they will cause odd tones when polling the towers for service.

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