2405FPW is only supported in 2000/XP

Question

I am building a new PC. It is to run Photoshop CS4, and needs >4MB RAM, so that necessitates going 64 bit. I spent an extremely frustrating 1/2 hour in a tech chat session with a clueless tech rep who had a horrible time answering the following question:

On your website, you post a 2405FPW Driver that says will work with Windows XP. Does that mean both the 32 bit and 64 bit versions of the OS. After 1/2 hour and several nonsensical answers the tech rep said that yes, the driver posted would support 64 bit XP Pro, just like the Vista driver they post will support a 64 bit OS. I'm still not sure if that is the correct answer because of the gist of the conversation.

Now it turns out that my printer manufacturer (HP) only supports 64 bit Vista (not XP), so it looks like I may be forced to use Vista. Even though the tech rep on my earlier conservation referred to the FP2405 Vista 64 bit driver, I cannot find it anywhere on the Dell site. So, please if anyone knows:

(1) Does Dell provide a 64bit Vista Driver for the 2405FPW monitor I bought less thanthree years ago? Have you used it?

(2) Does the XP driver Dell does provide for the 2405FPW actually work for 64bit XP?

Thank you so much, and it's a shame I can't get a straight answer from Dell. I used to be a very loyal customer, have bought several Dell PC's in the past, but no more. Not with this shoddy level of customer support.

DELL-Chris M · Answer

cutter444,

(1) Does Dell provide a 64bit Vista Driver for the 2405FPW monitor I bought less thanthree years ago? Have you used it?
* No. There are no plans to write one.

(2) Does the XP driver Dell does provide for the 2405FPW actually work for 64bit XP?
* Yes.

cutter444 · Answer

First of all, Chris, thank you for your quick and direct response over a weekend. It's much appreciated, particularly after my trying conversation with your technical help staff. In particular, it's very frustrating the tech rep (from the chat service) was incorrect about a Vista driver being available. Had I accepted his/her response I would have been in the position of spending a lot of money on a PC and without warning not being able to use a perfectly good monitor.

However, I'm very disappointed and don't understand why Dell is not providing a Vista driver for my monitor? It seems from the drop down list on your support page you are offering Vista drivers for a whole series of monitors that seem to be in the same product line as mine. Is there a work around you can suggest so I can utilize my monitor in a 64 bit Vista environment? It's hardly seems fair that I have a perfectly good monitor I paid a lot of money for and expected to last for several years that won't work if I upgrade my OS.

Please advise.

DELL-Chris M · Answer

It seems from the drop down list on your support page you are offering Vista drivers for a whole series of monitors that seem to be in the same product line as mine.
* Vista drivers will only be delivered for certain monitors manufactured after June, 2007. Any monitor manufactured before this date will not get a Vista driver.

There a work around you can suggest so I can utilize my monitor in a 64 bit Vista environment?
* Vista will load its generic PNP driver for the monitor. It should still be able to do 1920x1200 @60Hz.

It's hardly seems fair that I have a perfectly good monitor I paid a lot of money for and expected to last for several years that won't work if I upgrade my OS.
* The monitor came out in February 2005.

2405FPW User's Guide

Operating System Support = Windows 2000/XP
"The Flash Memory Card Reader is automatically recognized by Windows 2000 and XP" page 10
"The Flash Memory Card Reader has the following features: Supports Windows 2000 and XP operating systems" page 10
"Connection type USB 2.0 High Speed Device (USB Full Speed Device compatible) Supported OS Windows 2000 and XP" page 11

* The 2405FPW inf file is here: ftp://ftp.dell.com/monitors/R91058.EXE
* Download/Save the file to your desktop
* Double-click the file
* It will extract to C:\Dell\Drivers\R91058\
* In it there are four files =
2405fpw.cat 12/21/2004
2405FPW.ICM 11/26/2004
2405FPW.INF 12/20/2004
Readme.txt 12/21/2004
* Open the Readme file and it states, "This 2405FPW.INF file is a digitally signed driver that supports the following Dell monitor in Microsoft Windows XP and Windows 2000 operating systems"

lector007 · Answer

Chris,

I came across this post when I googled a problem very similar to Cutter's above. I bought my 2405FPW in 2005 and I am now planning to upgrade my machine to 64-bit vista. You say that Vista's generic PnP driver should work. My questions relates to Vista Aero - can I enable it with the generic driver that the 64-bit Vista provides?

Cutter444 - Have you tried using the above? Did it work for you?

Thanks, Lector007

Nicole Hamilton · Answer

Chris, the generic PNP driver for Vista does not work properly if you have dual 2405FPWs, which is the configuration I have. The main display works okay, but the second monitor blinks on and off every few seconds. This appears (if you Google for vista monitor blink) to be a known problem with the generic PNP driver.

I second the view that it is completely shabby for Dell to drop support support for a monitor only 4 years after it's introduced. A monitor should be expected to have a lifetime of 10 years or so. When I bought my 2405s, this was your top-of-the-line monitor, not some low-end cheapie from some vendor nobody's ever heard of. You work closely enough with Microsoft that you had to know Vista was coming and that you had no plans to support it with this monitor when you first sold it. But you didn't disclose that. That's unconscionable.

I thought your brand name was supposed to mean something. Apparently all it means is we got your money, you got the box, now you're stuck with whatever's in there.

Let me promise: It won't happen again. If this doesn't get fixed, I will never again buy anything that says Dell. And if I have any say in it, neither will any company I ever work for.

Agogley · Answer

I'm also a bit peeved that Dell has dropped support for this monitor.  I want to go with dual monitors and I will look elsewhere.  I will also encourage others to avoid Dell for another company with more reasonable support policies.

davidmp · Answer

God you just reminded me. Dell does this all the time. They have a limited window of product support and then the consumer is left hanging. I just bought a new Printer and luckily everything works with Win 7 64 Bit but my 2405FPW monitor is not!  I forgot about this and now I am wondering if I should be keeping this Dell Printer. I have stopped buying high end computers from Dell for this reason. So the bottom line is there will not be any Win 7 64 Bit drivers either??? This is odd when the 2405 came out there was 64 Bit XP, 64 Bit AMD Processors and upcoming 64 Bit Operating Systems. So Dell had no idea!

Surbus · Answer

You know here at the company I work for right now its a dell House meaning we have over 2000 Dell computer and servers ... right now most computers are running XP but we are about to start a migration to windows 7. after reading this and counting how many of the 2405 are still on the floor. Monday I will be places a ban on buying Dell from this point on.. as well as Informing my other clients across NYC not to buy dell since dell wont support their own items... I am sorry but I have never seen a company care so little to its users... Guess I going to have to go out and buy over 700 Samsung monitors just to replace teh 2405 in this one company

Martin_NZ · Answer

Strangely, I am using dual 2405FPW monitors on a totally non dell (I built it myself in 2012 ) PC (64 bit Win 7 i7 6 core 16 GB RAM)

They work great for such old displays! No serious problems for 6 months!

I am having a little trouble with larger (16 GB) SD cards in the USB multi reader, but smaller (few GB) cards work just fine.

I saw that the driver used was actually for something called a SMSC 223 and from 2006, maybe I can find that driver elsewhere.

I agree that not supporting old monitors stinks but with all the drain circling Dell has been doing, I guess they need to watch the bottom line.

Our IT folks seem to only want to buy Dell or Apple Hardware with extended warranties. They say it is the least hassle for them. They usually buy the hardware with no software and load the OS from images. (Win 7 goes on a lot of apple hardware around here). But we have Linux, Windows, Apple all supported.

benpaz · Answer

We need search for standards that will better support the monitor in the future. That is the monitor should have components that can easily support the upgrade. The monitor is decent but without compatibility upgrades its components fall out of support. Like USB ports.

Monitors

2405FPW is only supported in 2000/XP

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