That’s exactly my thoughts.. My laptop now feels used. I could have bought a used laptop anywhere, I wanted a new one which is why I bought through Dell. Hopefully something can still be done. Im just thankfull I didnt purchase like 10 of these. Yes, still a wonderful laptop though. Way better than my 2 year old B130 at home.
That makes perfect sense. I have a wireless mouse on my destop - a top of the line logitech laser mouse - and it goes absolutely nutso whenever my wife runs our $60 Target Eureka vaccuum cleaner. Amazing, these electronics. So many frequencies, and not all of them work together, apparently :)
I have just resolved a touchpad problem on my wife's Dell Inspiron 6000 that may or may not be of interest to this thread.
Her cursor started freezing erratically, and she would have to repeatedly try to move it sometimes up to 30 seconds before it would release and begin to respond again. That was bad enough, but when it was responsive and she would manage to move it to a small target, it would jiggle and jump around the target.
I got with a technician via DellConnect, described the problem, and he took over and re-installed the ALP driver -- that made no difference. He agreed to put in a requesition for an on-site repair for today.
This morning I prepared a place for him to work on the unit, and moved the laptop from my wife's easy chair to our kitchen table. I turned it on because my wife asked me to retrieve her email, and realized that the touchpad was working perfectly.
I moved it back to her easy chair, and plugged it in, and the touch pad behaved the same as before. I use my laptop from my easy chair near hers, and we have several external hard drives, our network gear, and other devices under a lamp table between us. It was apparent that something was interfering with the touch pad. I unplugged one device after another from our plug strip, checking for the problem each time. When I shut down and unplugged a SimpleTech external hard drive, the touch pad started working perfectly.
These touch pads are definitely susceptible to electronic interference. There may be something wrong with the SimpleTech drive that caused the problem (that drive has been there for months; this problem first showed up two weeks ago), but it has working properly throughout all of this.
I can understand why changing AC adapters might change the environment just enough to fix the same kind of problem that has been previously reported on this thread. I suspect that it is some kind of radiation or interference from the AC adapters, similar to whatever is coming from this hard drive that may be affecting the touchpads.
Bottom line, I think laptops having this problem should be separated as much as possible from other electronic devices.
I hope this info will be helpful to Dell to make further progress on these touchpad problems. If I can provide any further information, please let me know.
I would be surprised if it made a difference. Plug strips are totally passive, unless there is some arcing going on somewhere. They're just a hunk of metal, wires and insulation.
I have already posted this in the general hardware section but my problem is slightly pertinent, though not quite the same. I have a Vostro 1500 XP laptop and in the last week (have had computer since August) have begun to lose function. First the volume buttons on the edge of the keyboard have stopped pulling up the icon on screen, though they do work blindly. As of Friday, the scroll function on my TouchPad is completely gone. It came and went over the last few days but I was able to reacquire it with a restart. Now, it has disappeared entirely. After reading some of the issues above I have tried turning on my laptop with AC only, AC/battery and battery only, but none of it is making a difference. I really love this computer but the I now have dragging issues, not forgetting the inconvenience of not having the scroll on the mousepad. My desktop is also a Dell. I am a writer and am constantly using my computer, and if I can't get these problems solved the Vostro is going in the trash, and Dell will not be sending me my next computer. I really love my Vostro, so please please PLEASE HELP!
Thats got to be a software issue, man. The scroll especially. Reinstall the drivers/software for the touchpad and you should be all set. You might have removed items by mistake in msconfig or something. The stuff that loads at startup.
You mentioned that you convinced them to ship you the same one as your D820. I know when I try the one from my D630 on my Vostro it gives me that message. Maybe you have the wrong one now? My A04 works perfect.
Message Edited by djkothbauer on 02-10-2008 01:20 PM
Has anyone received their replacement AC adapter and found any issues with it? My Vostro 1500 touchpad problem was resolved with the new adapter, but now it seems to have trouble recognizing the adapter. Whenever I plug in the adapter, I get this message: "The AC adapter type cannot be determined. Your system will operate slower and the battery will not charge. Please connect a Dell 90W AC adapter or higher for best system operation." If I reboot with it plugged in, I get a similar message before XP starts and I'm asked whether to continue or not. The laptop shows that it's running on AC power, so it does work, but it doesn't indicate that it's charging the battery. If I plug in an older 90W adapter that came with my Latitude, it works fine every time. Both are 90W Lite-On adapters with the same model number; however, the replacement adapter is rev A00 and, interestingly enough, the older adapter is rev A02.
Ordered my Vostro 1500 on 2/11 and sure enough it has the same problem :( Kind of frustrating after spending that kind of cash on something. I hope I can get this resolved quickly. Other than the crazy Touchpad I love this laptop.
My friend Glenn just bought a new Vostro, and got the A00 with it. I'll have him PM Bill with his service tag so he can get the A04. Or if he can't figure it out, I'll PM you his service tag # and shipping info.
djkothbauer
26 Posts
0
February 4th, 2008 13:00
That’s exactly my thoughts.. My laptop now feels used. I could have bought a used laptop anywhere, I wanted a new one which is why I bought through Dell. Hopefully something can still be done. Im just thankfull I didnt purchase like 10 of these. Yes, still a wonderful laptop though. Way better than my 2 year old B130 at home.
graficallyminde
31 Posts
0
February 8th, 2008 02:00
dicebucket
5 Posts
0
February 8th, 2008 02:00
Bill --
I have just resolved a touchpad problem on my wife's Dell Inspiron 6000 that may or may not be of interest to this thread.
Her cursor started freezing erratically, and she would have to repeatedly try to move it sometimes up to 30 seconds before it would release and begin to respond again. That was bad enough, but when it was responsive and she would manage to move it to a small target, it would jiggle and jump around the target.
I got with a technician via DellConnect, described the problem, and he took over and re-installed the ALP driver -- that made no difference. He agreed to put in a requesition for an on-site repair for today.
This morning I prepared a place for him to work on the unit, and moved the laptop from my wife's easy chair to our kitchen table. I turned it on because my wife asked me to retrieve her email, and realized that the touchpad was working perfectly.
I moved it back to her easy chair, and plugged it in, and the touch pad behaved the same as before. I use my laptop from my easy chair near hers, and we have several external hard drives, our network gear, and other devices under a lamp table between us. It was apparent that something was interfering with the touch pad. I unplugged one device after another from our plug strip, checking for the problem each time. When I shut down and unplugged a SimpleTech external hard drive, the touch pad started working perfectly.
These touch pads are definitely susceptible to electronic interference. There may be something wrong with the SimpleTech drive that caused the problem (that drive has been there for months; this problem first showed up two weeks ago), but it has working properly throughout all of this.
I can understand why changing AC adapters might change the environment just enough to fix the same kind of problem that has been previously reported on this thread. I suspect that it is some kind of radiation or interference from the AC adapters, similar to whatever is coming from this hard drive that may be affecting the touchpads.
Bottom line, I think laptops having this problem should be separated as much as possible from other electronic devices.
I hope this info will be helpful to Dell to make further progress on these touchpad problems. If I can provide any further information, please let me know.
dicebucket
5 Posts
0
February 8th, 2008 18:00
pivotal
2 Posts
0
February 9th, 2008 19:00
graficallyminde
31 Posts
0
February 10th, 2008 03:00
djkothbauer
26 Posts
0
February 10th, 2008 17:00
fwayg0
5 Posts
0
February 10th, 2008 17:00
djkothbauer
26 Posts
0
February 10th, 2008 20:00
Here is the link of my new and old adapters again. http://www.flickr.com/groups/647962@N21/
Sounds like everyone is getting the A04 sent to them. Weird you got something else.
fwayg0
5 Posts
0
February 10th, 2008 20:00
graficallyminde
31 Posts
0
February 10th, 2008 21:00
topper12345
6 Posts
0
February 19th, 2008 14:00
Ordered my Vostro 1500 on 2/11 and sure enough it has the same problem :( Kind of frustrating after spending that kind of cash on something. I hope I can get this resolved quickly. Other than the crazy Touchpad I love this laptop.
winnebago
2 Posts
0
February 19th, 2008 17:00
Thanks to Bill at Dell, my new power supply is on the way.
BIG THANKS, GUY!!!!!
graficallyminde
31 Posts
0
February 19th, 2008 17:00
djkothbauer
26 Posts
0
February 19th, 2008 22:00
Wow, you ordered 2-11 and you have it already! I think it took 3 weeks to get mine.
I cant believe they are still sending out the bad power supplies.