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Rebuilding Latitude D810 - Which Drivers should I install
I'm in the process of rebuilding a Latitude D810 which I originally bought in June 2006 - it's my first time rebuilding the laptop so bare with me if I seem confused!.
I've put my Service Tag into the Drivers and Downloads page and 23 files have been found for my laptop. Should I install all 23 files?
I'm a bit confused because some of the categories e.g. 'Chipset' have 3 files with the tag 'Optional' - should I just install everything from the oldest to the newest?
I'm also a bit confused as to when I should install the BIOS; the installation guidelines on the Drivers and Downloads page do not list the BIOS - http://support.euro.dell.com/support/topics/topic.aspx/emea/shared/support/downloads/en/driver_install_order?c=uk&cs=ukbsdt1&l=en&s=bsd&~lt=print.
I'm aware that installing things in the wrong order can cause the laptop to not perform properly, so I was hoping someone could direct me to a link with the correct installation order.
Also, there is no Network Interface Card listed in the Network category of drivers to download - there are 5 options but none are listed as NIC.
Thanks for your help!
jcn77056
667 Posts
1
February 6th, 2011 08:00
It's not too hard but you need to do things in the right order. One thing that might help is there is a guide for re-installing the operating system back on your PC. It's located here.
Which device you pick is related to your options installed. For the D-810
Once you have the drivers installed, you can get on the network and keep installing with Windows Updates, Virus, Office, tools, etc. Once you have the system back to where you like it, make a backup for next time.
jcn77056
667 Posts
1
February 11th, 2011 13:00
I'm not sure why /p wasn't there. Boot into Windows repair console again and at the prompt try
chkdsk /?
That should give you the switches. Note the space before the slash. They listed /r as another switch to scan and replace all bad sectors. That's what you want to do is to scan the whole drive.
There are two things I would test with just to make sure
I still think it's the hard drive. You can get a 2.5" drive locally or by mail if you're in the US.
jcn77056
667 Posts
1
February 23rd, 2011 07:00
There are a couple of issues. First put the adapter on the drive. Without it, there's no electrical connection to the interface. Align the adapter so the missing pin matches the missing hole in the adapter.
Second, in the URL it states the jumper only applies to 3.5" drives. You have a 2.5" drive. Don't worry about the jumper.
This should get you running. Follow the installation instructions to install XP, Notebook System Software, chipset driver, and other drivers in order. You can read the instructions here.
jcn77056
667 Posts
1
February 24th, 2011 21:00
Thanks for the complement. I've been doing this for too long both personally and professionally.
I'm guessing you've figured out that the ATI drivers are not very stable. The 2005 driver didn't use .NET 4.0 but probably used .NET 2.0. Make sure the latest updates to .NET 2.0 are loaded. Windows Update should get the latest in either the High Priority section or the Software section of downloads. Make sure you have .NET 2.0 SP2 and .NET 3.5 SP1 loaded.
The last thing I did to help the stability of the other machine I saw with this problem was to turn off hardware acceleration in the ATI properties. Right-click on the desktop background and select Properties. Click on the Settings tab. Click on Advanced. Poke around the tabs and see if you can find a check box for hardware acceleration. Uncheck the box and see if that helps stability.
Sounds like you're getting closer to having a functioning laptop. Please create an image of the system once you have it the way you like it. That way, if anything happens, you don't have to do this again.
jcn77056
667 Posts
1
February 25th, 2011 18:00
List what you have installed so far. How much memory does the PC have?
I'm not sure why Flash doesn't install. Try downloading the Flash installer from here, run it and let it install Flash in IE. Close IE before you run the installer.
Another browser you might try that has a smaller footprint is Opera. You can download it here. Once you install that, you can download the copy of Flash for non-IE browsers here.
Puzzle26
14 Posts
0
February 6th, 2011 12:00
Thanks for the instructions - that's a big help.
Just wanted to find out if all of the above drivers are on the 'Drivers and Utilities' disc that came with my laptop? Is it best to use that disc or to download everything from online and follow your instructions? Sorry, didn't think to ask that before.
jcn77056
667 Posts
0
February 10th, 2011 10:00
I hope you figured out but downloading them from the website will get you the latest versions.
If you're going to go to all the work, why not use the very best. :emotion-2:
Puzzle26
14 Posts
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February 11th, 2011 02:00
Yes, I did figure out the download option was the best one!!!
Everything appeared ok until I performed a Windows Update - 75 updates were successfully installed and now the laptop won't start properly. An error message appears:
Isass.exe - Bad Image
The application or DLL C:\WINDOWS\system32\LSASRV.dll is not a valid windows image. Please check this against your installation diskette.
I'm going to check this against the Windows XP installation CD and see if I can do a repair - I hope that sorts it out!
jcn77056
667 Posts
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February 11th, 2011 05:00
You may have a hard drive problem. I'm curious what prompted you to do the re-install in the first place.
If you do a Windows repair, you will loose your Windows Updates but it may be able to detect you've already downloaded them and not do it again. A handy toolkit for when your PC won't boot is Hiren's boot CD available here. It has a number of the hard drive manufacturers diagnostic tools on it. If you pull the hard drive out of the machine and find out who made it, you may be able to run diagnostics on the hard drive. Download the .iso file and burn it as an image with your favorite CD burning program.
The second option is to boot the Windows CD and go into repair mode. Once in repair mode, run a chkdsk on the drive and see if it's OK. If it starts repairing a bunch of files, your hard drive is toast.
Puzzle26
14 Posts
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February 11th, 2011 12:00
I think a hard drive problem is the issue. I done a re-install because the laptop showed blue screen errors on a few occasions and was running very sluggish - programs wouldn't open or perform at all.
First I found a couple of fixes online for the error message I was getting. I tried to repair the Windows installation by booting from the Windows XP CD, going to Windows Setup, pressing enter and then Repair. It took an hour to copy the files from the CD to the installation folder and then rebooted to the Windows Setup page and did not repair a thing!
I then read your response above and opted for the Windows repair as my gut feeling is that the hard drive is toast. I ran a chkdsk in the Recovery mode this time and it said:
The volume appears to be in good condition and was not checked. Use /p if you want to check the volume anyway.
I used the /p command and the following message appeared:
The command is not recognised. Type HELP for a list of supported commands.
Having never done this before (!) I also tried the commands p and chkdsk/p but they gave the same message as above.
I then went to HELP and the /p command did not exist in the list of commands. I tried the Bootcfg/rebuild (as I read it online earlier) and although it's listed in the HELP commands it came up with the message that the command is not recognised.
Does it sound to you like I should still try your first option of Hiren's boot CD?
Thanks in advance for looking into this again for me... :emotion-2:
Puzzle26
14 Posts
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February 23rd, 2011 04:00
The hard drive was toast! So I bought a new one - Western Digital Blue Scorpio 250GB (WD2500BEVE).
I installed the drive in the internal drive bay, turned the laptop on (to install Windows XP) and got the following error: Internal HDD HARD error!
I'm aware I have an Advance Format drive and will need to run the WD Align Utility but this process is meant to happen after installing the operating system which I can't do if the drive is not recognised.
The drive that shipped with the laptop was a Seagate Momentus 7200 IDE Drive, it has an adapter across all of the pins except for the first 4. I didn't put the adapter on the new WD drive as the WD page (http://www.wdc.com/global/products/features/?id=7&language=1) states a jumper should be put across pins 7-8 and this adapter covers more than two pins (42 pins in fact)!!!
What am I doing wrong? Can you help me on this one please?
Puzzle26
14 Posts
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February 23rd, 2011 05:00
OK, false alarm! I'm getting myself confused with 'adapters' and 'jumpers' - I was thinking they're the same thing but they're not!
I found some other people with the same error message online and fitted the adapter to the drive. So I'm all good now... at least regarding this error!!!! :emotion-1:
Puzzle26
14 Posts
0
February 23rd, 2011 13:00
Thanks for the above... everything has installed without any errors!!!
I've now installed the hard drive, Windows XP, WD Align, Drivers, Internet Security and Windows Updates (78 in total), Firefox and the system is really slow. I haven't yet installed Office as I want the system to fun faster before doing so... I've spent hours on the rebuild already so don't want to go any further if I need to fix something!!!
I expected XP and programs to run smoother and faster but it's not the case - when I click on a program (like Firefox) to open, there's a delay before it actually opens. When I scroll on a web page it's not a fluid motion, it's like the page reloads with each scroll - does that make sense?
Is there something else I need to do or have I done something wrong?
Puzzle26
14 Posts
0
February 23rd, 2011 14:00
I've just looked in the 'Programs' installed on the laptop and the Video card isn't listed - I know I installed it so I'm not sure why it's not showing. For later compariosn, I created a list of programs that were installed on the first hard drive before I wiped it.
I installed the Mobility Radeon X300 as this was what showed on the lapotop in the 'Setup' menu. Coule this be why everything appears to be loading slowly?
Here's a list of what was installed on the original hard drive:
ALPS Touch Pad Driver
ATI Control Panel
ATI Display Driver
Bluetooth Stack for Windows by Toshiba
Broadcom Advanced Control Suite 2
Broadcom ASF Management Applications
Conexant D110 MDC V.9x Modem
Intel(R) PROSet/Wireless Software
MobileMe Control Panel
Modem Helper
Quickset
And here's what's on the new hard drive:
ALPS Touch Pad Driver
Bluetooth Stack for Windows by Toshiba
Bluetooth HID Switch Service (this was a patch to the Bluetooth Stack)
Broadcom Gigabit Intergrated Controller
C-Major-Audio
Conexant D110 MDC V.9x Modem
Intel(R) PROSet/Wireless Software
Quickset
I downloaded all the latest drives from the Dell website and used the order they provided to install the drivers so I'm not sure what's happened. I've also just noticed that I haven't installed Java - could this be affecting the web performance too?
Thanks!
jcn77056
667 Posts
0
February 23rd, 2011 22:00
Most of the versions of the ATI drivers require .NET 2.0 or above. Make sure that's installed before you install the ATI software. You can download and install it with Windows Update. If the ATI control panel isn't there, it's probably because .NET is missing. Install drivers don't always show up in the add/remove programs list but the ATI normally does. Also, the Catalyst Control Center should be under Start > Programs. Again, if it's not there, the install didn't complete.
Check that the ATI driver is loaded by opening the Device Manager. Click on Start > Run and enter devmgmt.msc. Expand the Display Adapters and check it says ATI device. If it still says Windows, the driver didn't load. If there are any question marks, something still isn't loaded. The D-810 shipped with two possible display adapters. Try the FireGL driver and see if that works. If it doesn't, then try the X300/600 driver. Firefox is fairly bloated so don't use that to judge the performance.
Another thing that makes the computer look slow is XP's feature to fade menus in and out. If you turn that off, it paints a menu once on the screen. You can turn it off from the Windows properties.
On the background, right-click on the screen and select Properties. Click on the Appearance tab. Click on Effects. Uncheck the "Use the following transition...". Click OK. This should speed the display up a little.