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4550 Problems
Hello, I have problems with my new Dell Ins. 4550:
The system has been sold with huge success here in germany recently and comes with ati radeon 9700, SB live 5.1, integrated intel NIC, 845PE chipset, dvd writer etc. And it's inexpensive :-) So I got it last week and wanted to install win2k. I formatted the harddrive, hence erasing the 36MB partition from Dell. When talking to the Dell TAC I hear that the ATI Radeon is an OEM card that won't run with ATI drivers. Since Dell doesn't provide win2k drivers you are stuck here. Even the well-known creative live 5.1 is not recognised by Win2k.
OK, I said, then it will be XP. After some hours of hassle I found out that Intel chipset 845PE is working on the Dell/Intel-no-real-Intel-Board-so-no-Intel-drivers-Board. While Booting up I may choose F12 for Booting options. Since there always is an "Boot Dell partition" option one can be sure that the BIOS is changed. Does anyone know which Intel chipset drivers can be used to upgrade the BIOS to a pure Intel Board?
Has anyone sccuessfully reinstalled ANY OS after a complete wipe of the harddisk? I'm really thinking of sending it back.
Thanks, Ingo
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Posted December 2nd, 2002 13:00
I wipe my HD clean of XP Home and installed XP PRO without any problems..You should be able to install any OS you want and it should work..I highly recommend a CLEAN install..
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Posted December 2nd, 2002 14:00
Ingo,
The only thing you need to do in the BIOS is to set your CD-ROM drive as the first boot device. After that, follow the instructions here to install Windows XP. The chipset drivers are included in Windows XP. After XP is installed you can install the drivers for your peripherals then your applications.322
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Posted December 2nd, 2002 19:00
As far as the sound card is concerned, I keep hearing that some 4550's were shipped with an SB0200, which apparently is a Europe-only Dell special.
No regular SB Live drivers work with it, check this discussion. Some people go as far as calling Dell and telling them it does not work so they can get an SB010x card.
I don't know if the 9700 has the same issue. It just might. Try the unified ATI driver, see if it works.
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Posted December 3rd, 2002 10:00
Hi all,
first of all, thanks for your hints, and it's a dimension of course, not inspiron.
Well, I finally managed to get a clean install with both win2k and winxp.
The problem was, according to TAC, that they delivered a faulty radeon driver. It's updated meanwhile on the appropriate Dell-driver-site.
Additionally I simply overlooked the creative CD I got with the system. This is the only way to install the SB live with 2k or xp. No driver whatsoever (Dell, Creative) from any website worked. The one delivered on CD does. Well well... I thought of selling my radeon on ebay, since I don't use it too often, but I think it's a bad idea, since the drivers for graphics and sound are proprietary.
If you guys want to have a clean install, follow step by step:
- on a clean disk, start from CD (win2k, XP) to a full install.
- install drivers in the following order:
- chipset (driver cd) - restart!
- graphics (from web: R50548.EXE) - restart! (I had it on a different partition)
- sound (creative CD) - restart!
- network (driver cd) - (no restart)
- USB 2.0 (driver cd, only XP) - (no restart)
Everything should work now.
This applies to the german "Dell Dimension 4550 Spezial Angebot".
Thanks again,
I.Maus322
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Posted January 3rd, 2003 13:00
How did you get the USB driver to load in W2k if it is a XP only driver? Did you find another driver that worked?322
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Posted January 5th, 2003 14:00
I did not get the USB 2.0 driver to work under 2k since 2k as far as I know does not support USB2.0 yet. As for the USB (1) drivers, I forgot... I guess win2k found the hardware pnp wise...
greets, Ingo
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Posted January 5th, 2003 16:00
Seem like this problem is affecting a lot of users from Germany. Look for the past threads, if you like
Here's a summary;
Both 9700TX and SB0200 sound card are dell-only specials. Generic drivers from the vendor's sites refuse to install. You can call Dell TAC and ask to have both of those replaced by any other card (GF4MX, 9700 Pro for video, and SB0100 or any other for sound) They will likely accomodate you.
Some users go as far as complaining the SB0200 (printed on the card itself, btw) model of SB Live! does not work to get it replaced.
Bottom line, if you want your system to run under win2k you will have to get at least some parts of it replaced.
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Posted January 7th, 2003 18:00
You can get the USB 2.0 working in WIN2K by going to http://v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com and getting the USB 2.0 updated driver. It won't show up under critical updates automatically, you will have to manually add it to your list of patches to download. It is in the windows driver section at the bottom of the list of available updates for your system.
Otherwise follow I.Maus's earlier post on the driver files to use and sequence to load them in.
Good Luck.
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Posted January 11th, 2003 09:00
Lucky you. I have a brand new 4550 bought in Germany with preinstalled German XP. I tried to (re)install English XP Proff... Everything worked except Radeon driver. I've tried everything for over a week, followed all instructions from this forum, make dozens of clean installations, even with Dell supplied XP Home edition... No luck. I'm disappointed, a lot... For a 3.000 Euro PC (200 FP + addons) this is really a disaster... Thinking of sending back my 4550 and buy another brand... Was it so difficult for Dell to include a working driver on Driver CD when they shipped my 4550? I really don't understand this...
ib
Roxbury Ranger
93 Posts
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Posted December 2nd, 2002 09:00
You should have no problem installing non-OEM drivers for your ATI card. I don't know who told you that the OEM card won't accept standard drivers, but I've been using OEM ATI cards for years with ATI's drivers. The same goes for the SoundBlaster card; you simply need to know which version of the card you have. In fact, when I purchase a new PC, the first thing I do is remove the installed factory drivers and get updates from the manufacturers.
As for the BIOS issue, I really can't say whether the BIOS should support Windows 2000 (since Dell no longer configures its consumer PCs with 2000) but, given the both XP and 2000 run on the NT kernel, I can't imagine that there'd be much difference. In any case, I don't think it's a good idea to "upgrade" to the Intel BIOS.
Hope this helps.
Message Edited by Roxbury Ranger on 12-02-2002 06:01 AM