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314014
No automatic screen rotation on Inspiron 7000 2-in-1 following Windows 10 upgrade
I have an Inspiron 7000 2-in-1 that I just upgraded to Windows 10. Following the upgrade, automatic screen rotation stopped working, and I could not enable it since the button in the notifications area to do so was grayed out. I also found the checkbox to enable it in the display settings dialog, but after enabling that the screen still refused to auto-rotate.
Note that this function was working fine under Windows 8.1, so I know it can't be a hardware problem.
I then went into Device Manager and removed the two sensor devices, figuring that Windows would detect them and re-install the drivers for them once I rebooted. Unfortunately it didn't, and the sensor devices are still gone in Device Manager. I've never seen a version of Windows that didn't detect missing drivers for existing hardware following a reboot, and re-install them automatically.
Now, every option to enable screen rotation has disappeared, so Windows apparently doesn't know the motion detectors exist.
I've looked everywhere for drivers for these devices so I could install them myself, including the Dell support site using my service code number, and have drawn a complete blank. Where can I obtain the drivers for the sensor devices, or otherwise get this problem fixed?
Please help, a 2-in-1 is pretty useless if I can't get the display to auto-rotate. Thanks in advance!
CraigG58
11 Posts
2
July 31st, 2015 15:00
Well, seems I figured this out...
When you uninstall the sensor devices using Device Manager, Windows 10 does not detect them following a reboot and automatically install drivers like Windows would normally do for any other device (as long as you have that setting enabled in the "Devices and Printers" dialog, it's on by default), as I had previously mentioned.
This is because the sensor drivers for my model laptop (Dell Inspiron 7000 2-in-1 (7348)) are part of the Dell "Intel Chipset Driver" package. There's absolutely no mention of this on the downloads page, which obviously isn't very helpful:
www.dell.com/.../DriversDetails
Once I installed this package, all of the controls for screen rotation reappeared, but they were still grayed out.
Turns out the controls for screen rotation now gray out when you have the laptop open in the "normal" position, that being with the keyboard on your work surface and the screen tilted back as you would normally use any other laptop. Once you either place the laptop on tent orientation or with the keyboard completely folded back, those controls "un-gray" themselves and can then be changed. To the best of my knowledge, this was not the case in Windows 8.1, and it's an easy trap to fall into.
Live and learn I guess, but this isn't an obvious issue that's easily understood, or at least it wasn't to me. Hopefully this helps someone out.
Melinda Francis
1 Message
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July 31st, 2015 20:00
Craig58....You have been God sent. I have been working on this for 3 hours and could not figure it out. Thank you!! Thank you!!
CraigG58
11 Posts
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August 1st, 2015 00:00
You're quite welcome, very happy this info helped someone out!
camisotro
10 Posts
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August 3rd, 2015 10:00
Thanks for the info!
I also wanted to comment - last year's Inspiron 13 7347 does not have W10 drivers posted yet. However most of the 7348 drivers appear to work. I think it's identical hardware, just that the processor was upgraded from 4th gen in mine to 5th gen in yours. I would not try the BIOS files on the wrong model but probably everything else would be harmless to try.
So in my case the chipset drivers installed happily. Then I found this thread and it showed me how to open the rotation lock. Much better :)
Gansub
1 Message
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August 15th, 2015 18:00
Thanks Craig.. I have been struggling with this.
skeff
8 Posts
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September 17th, 2015 22:00
Definitely, a big thanks.
I just got this computer a few days ago and while getting used to it, am finding new issues that Dell isn't helping me with (chat apparently doesn't support my model number, etc)
This was the fixed for me with this issue.
Now to see if this passive stylus will ever work...
CraigG58
11 Posts
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September 18th, 2015 07:00
I'm really glad I took the time to post the fix for this issue, in that it's actually helping some folks out. Some people who find fixes to problems in various Internet forums often don't take the time to do that, and you wind up finding your question, with no answer. Very frustrating.
As for the stylus, mine seems to work fine. But, I think I've used it twice since I got this machine. Pointing with my finger works just as well, without having to dig the thing out. The tip of it is also too wide for my taste. I guess it's nice to know it's there anyway, although to me it's pretty useless.
If yours isn't working and your finger is, I would think it's probably not a hardware issue, but who knows. I had a look in Device Manager, and it isn't obvious to me which driver controls touch. Guess some further searches are in order to find that information, sorry I can't help there.
wmata
3 Posts
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October 6th, 2015 11:00
Hello Craigg58, thank you for your input, unfortunately I've tried it and it didn't work, any other rec?
CraigG58
11 Posts
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October 7th, 2015 08:00
Hi WMATA...
Some of these suggestions may be obvious, but I wanted to run them by you anyway in the hope they will help.
Are you sure you placed the machine in either tent or tablet orientation (with the keyboard folded completely back) before attempting to access the "screen rotation" button? It won't "un-gray" until you do, at least if you're running Windows 10. I'm fairly certain it worked fine running Windows 8, without making any changes to the machine at all.
If you're indeed running Windows 10, be 100% sure you've done what I previously wrote regarding drivers, specifically the "Intel Chipset Driver" 7348 driver package for Win 10. One more thing you might try before doing this: Prior to installing that new driver package, I removed both sensor devices via Device Manager, then rebooted. You probably already realize this, but they're both under "Sensors" in DM. After the reboot, check Device Manager again and they should still be gone. After that, then install the driver driver package. I'm not sure if this had anything to do with fixing the issue for me, but it's definitely worth a try.
Looks like my old link to the proper driver somehow went south for some reason, hopefully this one will work. If not, just search Dell's driver section for that title for Windows 10 and the 7348 machine.
www.dell.com/.../DriversDetails;fileId=3474967377&osCode=WT64A&productCode=inspiron-13-7348-laptop&languageCode=EN&categoryId=CS
There's also a setting in "Display" on the Control Panel that has a box labeled "Allow the screen to auto-rotate". Make sure that's checked, but that alone didn't fix my problem before I installed the new drivers. Again, might be worth a try though.
Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Display\Screen Resolution
Hope something in here helps you out. Otherwise, you may have a hardware issue with the sensors themselves. If you suspect that, as painful as it may be, you may need to contact Dell tech support for further troubleshooting.
Good luck with solving this, please let everyone know how you made out!
wmata
3 Posts
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October 7th, 2015 09:00
I've tried all that without success, flipped in tablet mode, autorotate on; I called dell support and they told me that the driver is missing from the last update (that I did last week), it was working fine before that woth windows 10. The only thing is that the sensors are still showing up after the reboot, but saying that they need update, I don't know if the fact that I'm still able to see them in DM has something to do with it or if I just need the windows 10 OS upgrade.
jolinetang
1 Message
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June 2nd, 2016 11:00
Craigg58! I created a dell.com account just to say thanks for all your help! Just got my Inspiron 13 laptop today from work and couldn't get the screen to auto-rotate -- UNTIL YOU. You're the best!