I unfortunatly just discovered what seems to be a finaly old and well known bug with Inspiron 8600 (and many others of same generation laptop) booted on my Docking Station:
IRQ conflict between COM1 port & Secondary IDE Channel when booting on docked laptop.
It seems to be wellknown for at least 4 years without any other solution than changing motherboard each time, because it can appear anew with the new motherboard!
I don't understand at all the Dell policy in this case ... . No comment.
With this bug, you cannot use your internal CD drive, neither any virtual IDE drive generated by Alcohol or similar, and no peripheral on serial COM port too.
Impossible by reinstalling drivers, impossible to find help on the net, I decided to open de Docking cover to find any chip or switch to remove or modify, in order to disable definitively COM port. But there is nothing to do here.
Here is the strange method I found to keep your IDE environment(but nevertheless forgetting any idea to use serial COM port!)
Simply install a new, false, but accepted driver to the COM port.
I installed the STANDARD MICROSOFT PRINTER DRIVER (LTP3). So no IRQ needed, so no conflict, so no problem by booting docked or undocked. System is clean, and kept in this configuration, no auto-reinstall if you reboot.
I did not try to use COM port in this config, and not also tested if printer works with LTP or not. I'll check next time.
GREAT IDEA! I never use my COM port, and even with a motherboard replacement, I have the same problem. However, when I go to change the driver, I can't choose anything other than the regular list of IDE items. There's no Microsoft category or anything.
I figured it out, I was trying to change the driver for the IDE port, DUH.
That worked perfectly, all I did was change the driver for the COM port to be a Standard Printer, and instantly, the Secondary IDE Channel lost it's ! icon, and the DVD drive appeared in My Computer.
Henrist
6 Posts
0
January 29th, 2007 20:00
I unfortunatly just discovered what seems to be a finaly old and well known bug with Inspiron 8600 (and many others of same generation laptop) booted on my Docking Station:
Here is the strange method I found to keep your IDE environment (but nevertheless forgetting any idea to use serial COM port!)
I installed the STANDARD MICROSOFT PRINTER DRIVER (LTP3). So no IRQ needed, so no conflict, so no problem by booting docked or undocked. System is clean, and kept in this configuration, no auto-reinstall if you reboot.
treythompson850
2 Posts
0
February 23rd, 2007 00:00
treythompson850
2 Posts
0
February 23rd, 2007 14:00