Inspiron 9400 Question

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@CrazyStups wrote:

I just wiped and reloaded a new insprion 9400 Ive install all the drivers from the webpage howerver I have 3 things listed as other devices "base system device"  any ideas to what this is?

 

Thanks

 

Did you first install the CHIPSET driver and then NOTEBOOK SYSTEM SOFTWARE?

As far as I remember, these are parts of the internal Card Reader.

When i wiped and reinstalled my new 9400, i was fortunate enough to save the C:\Dell\Drivers Directory first, and thus could reinstall drivers for the devices by pointing the driver search to the directory C:\DELL\Drivers\system\addon.

The devices were identified as "Ricoh Memory Stick Device" etc, i.e., the devices are the non-SD-Parts of the 5-in-1 Card Reader.

Message Edited by cgdams on 02-04-2006 09:48 AM

How did you wipe and reload your inspiron 9400.  Does yours come with SATA harddrive?  I have a similar model, E1705, that comes with SATA hd.  I am unable to reinstall XP pro in replace of XP Media and all the junks that came with it.  Got a blue screen with error pci.sys ... F748E0BF... when trying to boot up the system with XP pro cd.

My 9400 has a Hitachi SATA Disk (100GB @ 7200/min). I ordered it with XP Pro, but i did not bother creating an XP Boot Disk from my hard disk. Instead, i used an XP Pro CD from another Dell Machine (a Dimension Desktop, as far as i remember). It was the current Version of XP (ie, XP Pro SP2), and i did not need any additional drivers during installation, which worked just fine.

After installation, first thing to do was running Intel Chipset Driver Installation, fresh from the Intel Website (I used these instead of Dells own Chipset Drivers). After the necessary reboot, i added the remaining drivers (sound, card reader, nvidia forceware etc). Mostly, I used Dells drivers, but for my 7800go i used the 83.60 Forceware drivers with modified INFs, from laptopvideo2go.com

Everything works well since then, it's been a joy to use the 9400 for about 4 weeks now.

Hey there

I have the same problem, basically wiped out Media Edition off my E1705 and installed WinXP Pro.
I did install drivers from the website, but I did not install the Notebook software, the Chipset, or Ricoh software that I downloaded from Dell's website.

When I saw your post I got thinking if perhaps I messed things up by not installing these things that you mention, and in that order. How important was that??
How does that work, can I just simply now install all this software, or needs it to be done BEFORE all other software right after wiping the drive clean? What am I missing out on by not having installed the software, and is it serious?

Thanks!
benedhal

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@benedhal wrote:
Hey there

I have the same problem, basically wiped out Media Edition off my E1705 and installed WinXP Pro.
I did install drivers from the website, but I did not install the Notebook software, the Chipset, or Ricoh software that I downloaded from Dell's website.

When I saw your post I got thinking if perhaps I messed things up by not installing these things that you mention, and in that order. How important was that??
How does that work, can I just simply now install all this software, or needs it to be done BEFORE all other software right after wiping the drive clean? What am I missing out on by not having installed the software, and is it serious?

Thanks!
benedhal

This is a three month old post you're responding to... 

Yes, you did mess things up.  You should install the CHIPSET and NSS now.  If things function fine, ok.  If not, then start over in the proper order. 

Ooops. That I did not know! Thanks for the tip.

I just installed the chipset and notebook system software. Before that I actually had installed the Ricoh software for the card-reader. I noticed no difference in the computer after all this. However, nothing actually happens when I insert a card into the card-reader, neither before or after the chipset and NSS installation. Is that because I installed it in the wrong order?
Is that maybe the ONLY problem with not installing the chipset and NSS first?

Also note that even though I have WinXP Pro, I only have SP1 installed. I tried installing SP2 and I would get the blue screen of death every time I rebooted the machine after that. Uninstalling SP2 was my way out of that mess.
Also, I think that the ATI software with my videocard was making a mess. When I ONLY installed the drivers for my videocard (256 ATI mobility radeon x1400 hypermemory), things seemed to work ok and I no longer get the BSOD.
However, I would like to install SP2, but I feel I don't need to since I've got ZoneAlarm, Spysweeper, Norton Antivirus, etc to secure my system.
Do you think that MAY also have something to do with me NOT installing the chipset and NSS first after wiping out media edition and replacing with XP Pro??

Any thoughts and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!!

benedhal