Driver updates - Installation sequence

First, many Dell's have the diagnostics on the hard drive and they are accessed by F12 at initial boot up.  Have you tried this?   Many new Dell's did not come with CD's since there is a Recovery Partiton on the hard drive that will allow complete reinstall if needed.  On the XP models it's accessed by CTRL/F11 at initial boot up.

The fan issue could be the BIOS.  Some systems have had the BIOS updated to help with fan problems.  Looking at the listing for the various BIOS updates listed for the 1525, none of them mention anything about any fan fixes.  BIOS updates are very critical so they should only be done if it's really needed - a failed BIOS update that corrupts the BIOS and the ONLY option is to replace the motherboard.

You should access the Dell updates using your service tag number as that is supposed to only show drivers for your specific model.  If you access the Dell drivers just using the model number is will list everything for any 1525.

Keep in mind two things with updates.  (1) If it ain't broke don't fix it and (2) if there is nothing listed in the fixes or enhancements that applies to your specific situation, usually you don't need the update. 

You may want to repost the Fan issue on the Laptops General Hardware section.

First, many Dell's have the diagnostics on the hard drive and they are accessed by F12 at initial boot up.  Have you tried this?   Many new Dell's did not come with CD's since there is a Recovery Partiton on the hard drive that will allow complete reinstall if needed.  On the XP models it's accessed by CTRL/F11 at initial boot up.

Fireberd, many thanks for the reply.

I've run the F12 diagnosis @ boot, but it doesn't check the fan, hence support suggested running the diagnostic CD. I will try the Ctrl /F11 after replying to this post - BRILL

You should access the Dell updates using your service tag number as that is supposed to only show drivers for your specific model.  If you access the Dell drivers just using the model number is will list everything for any 1525.

I did setup/quote my service TAG, so I was a bit disappointed that the recommendations were not more directed/focused. Also, annoyingly, it doesn't remember that I selected XP last time n defaults to Vista all the time. I guess Dell are unable/unwilling to commit themselves, given the importance choices are Urgent / Recommended / Optional, not really convincing/committed somehow, is it?

Keep in mind two things with updates.  (1) If it ain't broke don't fix it and (2) if there is nothing listed in the fixes or enhancements that applies to your specific situation, usually you don't need the update.  You may want to repost the Fan issue on the Laptops General Hardware section.

I see where you are coming from, but, I recently updated some windows drivers and now my Bluetooth works, - RESULT!! Didn't know I could use it before the update.
And surely Dell aren't doing stuff just to spend money, so why would they go to trouble of creating the updates, if they weren't required?

Thanks again

Many updates are to fix specific items and some are only "recommended" or "optional".  e.g. one update I saw was to add support for blu-ray drives, obviously if you don't have a blu-ray drive there is no need for that update.

There are no diagnostics, that I know of, for fans.  I have no idea why the Dell rep told you to run diagnostics for a potential fan issue, other than to check the other hardware to make sure it was all OK.   As I noted, repost the fan problem on the Laptop General Hardware section so those more familiary with the Dell Laptop Hardware can assist you.

We are not Dell employees = just users helping users, can't say why the service tag is not generating the correct driver list.  If it originally came with XP then it would default to XP drivers.    You say it was given to you as a gift and again maybe it came originally with XP.  Same way with the Bluetooth, if the PC was upgraded to Vista, obviously the Bluetooth was not installed (and who knows what else).

Cheers Fireberd,

I'll look more closely at why the upgrades are there then, since, as you point out - no BlueRay no update required.

I downloaded the diagnostic tool CW1337AO.exe , and it very kindly updated the Diagnostic partition on my hard drive as well as allow me to create a bootable CD.

Running it gives a GUI series of hardware tests, including The Fan!, Moose, Video, audio, disk n all, quite nice.

My 'why don't Dell' comment was just thinking out loud, I really do appreciate you are a user helping other users.

Thanks again for your help and guidance