I tried the A04 video BIOS - it's flawed like A03. Cursor disappears again after closing the lid.
There's also a new display driver available - A05. The notes for it says it corrects a disappearing cursor issue - well it doesn't fix this disappearing cursor issue.
The A05 display driver is version 44.87 according to the nVidia display panel. It also forgets the digital vibrance setting after closing and opening the lid, same issue as in previous releases.
I can't imagine why Dell is releasing a second flawed video BIOS for this graphics card and supplying out-of-date display drivers.
I have reverted back to the A02 video BIOS supplied by ReWeN and nVidia Detonator driver 45.23. No problems with this setup.
Today I took a look at the two .rom files of version A03 and A04.
I can't see any major differnces in the binary code. I think it's just a fake to make us calm.
Thank you so much npgall ! You did what I tried to prevent. I'm not a test dummy for DELL's so called updates. So I will stay with my A02 as I have already enough flaws in this I8500 machine.
Btw: does anybody know why they released a I8600 so early - and what are the differences cause the look is the same.
never change a winning team!
H. Becker, Germany
Inspiron 8500 bought August 2003 Intel Pentium4-m 2.2 GHz excellent wonderful WUXGA 1920x1200 512 MB Ram 60 GB HDD 8xDVD & 24/10/24x CD-RW no Bluetooth Dell Truemobile® 1300 802.11b/g Wireless 64 MB DDR NVIDIA GeForce 4 4200 Go (unfortunately flashed with BIOS A03) Win XP Pro german BIOS A04 Clicking sound fixed Hidden mouse cursor fixed - thank's to ReWeN Currently AC Power Adapter problem, Battery not charging. Scratched lid missing audio line in, floppy drive, PS2 port ... what comes next?
It's okay - I don't mind being the test dummy! That's since I can revert back to ReWeN's A02 BIOS at least when things go wrong!
The I8500 and I8600 are pretty much identical exept the I8600 has the new Pentium-M CPU which probably gives better battery life, and it also has the option of the 128MB graphics card. That's about it. I still love this laptop though despite these slight annoyances! The WUXGA screen is fantastic (although I still have the screen burn fault, haven't had time to get that fixed yet).
Yep, I can also confirm that the A04 VBIOS is faulty as well. What the DELL his wrong with these people. I'm even more p-issed off and I didn't think it was possible.
8600: Pentium m (centrino) (1.6ghz is about the same speed as a 2.4ghz P4) PC2700 DDR RAM (I think) (333mhz) Option for Geforce FX (not sure why they didn't add it to 8500, maybe they want to sell more 8600's...)
Because of the different processors and ram speeds I'm sure there is a newer motherboard in the 8600. There are probably more differences such as keyboard quality, etc, but this is all that comes to mind
I gave up caring about a week ago. I will not be buying Dell again. I had better support from Tiny :(
I think I will just get an Apple PowerBook when the G5 models come out whenever that is! I am very disappointed in Dell. After hearing of there "awarding winning after sales service" I have had nothing buy trouble and attitude from there support team.
I am not racist at all but I am getting pi55ed of with always having to talk with someone who cant understand what I am saying because of my "english accent". I had one person cut me off because they thought I was taking the pi55 when I was just talking normally. I am from Hertfordshire so I dont have a stupidly hard accent.
I had the same problem, and yes it is very annoying. I narrowed it down to the
NvCpl in the msconfig and in services (I think), since I don't have my I-8500 today cause I sent it back to Dell. Anyway, I unchecked it and that NVIDIA Control Panel program won't load and give you that darn "invisiline". Until that fix comes out.
you have screen burn on the 8500? what does that mean exactly, if i may ask?
mhargr03:
If I leave a window or a still image open on my screen for an extended period the image becomes stuck on the screen and when I close the window or image I can still see an outline of it on top of everything else. It's similar to the problems experienced on CRT monitors years ago which is why screen savers were invented (to put a constantly changing image on the screen). It's not supposed to happen on any modern screens and tech support will replace it for me when I phone them. The screen burn issue was caused by a bad batch of screens Dell got from one of their suppliers a few months ago and I was one of the unfortunate people who got one. There's a long thread about it somewhere in the forums from back then.
It works for me, thanks god! I had the same symphtons as described here in this thread. (Inspiron 8500) I used the workaround with the disabled nview programs so far. Updated then first the BIOS and then the driver to the 4 version. Enabled nview and : no more disappearing cursor. How come it does not work for everybody who has the same configuration? Thomas
I got my replacement and reverted to A02 bios with ReWeN's utility but am using the latest drivers off the Dell website (A05 I think). I do not have the disappearing cursor anymore, but a curious thing has happened. When I drag my icons around the desktop they are invisible until I let go of the button and place them. Except sometimes when I am dragging them around there is a tiny box of space somewhere on the left side of the screen where I can see it. Any thoughts?
Will you please run this simple test to either verify it is "fixed" on your computer, or to prove it is not (I bet it is not) ... go to your power settings and set your computer to "do nothing" upon closing the lid of the computer. The default is "standby".
Then while your computer is on, close your screen down. Wait about 10 seconds, and then open your screen back up. Now see if the "hidden cursor" is there ... the fix that you performed works only when the screen "resets" ... i.e. you restart the computer, or your come out of standby. You will find that if you run any graphics intensive applications that your computer will malfunction with the A03 or A04 video BIOS ...
-Dax
Thomas wrote:
It works for me, thanks god! I had the same symphtons as described here in this thread. (Inspiron 8500) I used the workaround with the disabled nview programs so far. Updated then first the BIOS and then the driver to the 4 version. Enabled nview and : no more disappearing cursor. How come it does not work for everybody who has the same configuration? Thomas
I just went through the whole control panel and cannot find it :-( However, any windows I am dragging across the screen I can see the contents of just as when they are in place. However, the icons remain in their original location when I am dragging them, and then jump to wherever my cursor ends up when I let go of the mouse button. In other words, the icons look undisturbed throughout the process of clicking on them and moving the mouse around in attempt to drag them, and then when I let go they are deposited where I let go of the mouse button. So I am perplexed...
npgall
26 Posts
0
September 19th, 2003 10:00
I tried the A04 video BIOS - it's flawed like A03. Cursor disappears again after closing the lid.
There's also a new display driver available - A05. The notes for it says it corrects a disappearing cursor issue - well it doesn't fix this disappearing cursor issue.
The A05 display driver is version 44.87 according to the nVidia display panel. It also forgets the digital vibrance setting after closing and opening the lid, same issue as in previous releases.
I can't imagine why Dell is releasing a second flawed video BIOS for this graphics card and supplying out-of-date display drivers.
I have reverted back to the A02 video BIOS supplied by ReWeN and nVidia Detonator driver 45.23. No problems with this setup.
btc8k3
21 Posts
0
September 19th, 2003 11:00
Today I took a look at the two .rom files of version A03 and A04.
I can't see any major differnces in the binary code. I think it's just a fake to make us calm.
Thank you so much npgall ! You did what I tried to prevent. I'm not a test dummy for DELL's so called updates. So I will stay with my A02 as I have already enough flaws in this I8500 machine.
Btw: does anybody know why they released a I8600 so early - and what are the differences cause the look is the same.
never change a winning team!
H. Becker, Germany
Inspiron 8500 bought August 2003
Intel Pentium4-m 2.2 GHz
excellent wonderful WUXGA 1920x1200
512 MB Ram
60 GB HDD
8xDVD & 24/10/24x CD-RW
no Bluetooth
Dell Truemobile® 1300 802.11b/g Wireless
64 MB DDR NVIDIA GeForce 4 4200 Go (unfortunately flashed with BIOS A03)
Win XP Pro german
BIOS A04
Clicking sound fixed
Hidden mouse cursor fixed - thank's to ReWeN
Currently AC Power Adapter problem, Battery not charging.
Scratched lid
missing audio line in, floppy drive, PS2 port
... what comes next?
mhargr03
61 Posts
0
September 19th, 2003 13:00
npgall,
you have screen burn on the 8500? what does that mean exactly, if i may ask?
npgall
26 Posts
0
September 19th, 2003 13:00
It's okay - I don't mind being the test dummy! That's since I can revert back to ReWeN's A02 BIOS at least when things go wrong!
The I8500 and I8600 are pretty much identical exept the I8600 has the new Pentium-M CPU which probably gives better battery life, and it also has the option of the 128MB graphics card. That's about it. I still love this laptop though despite these slight annoyances! The WUXGA screen is fantastic (although I still have the screen burn fault, haven't had time to get that fixed yet).
method404
77 Posts
0
September 19th, 2003 14:00
ReWeN
131 Posts
0
September 19th, 2003 15:00
8500:
Pentium 4 m
PC 2100 DDR RAM (266mhz)
8600:
Pentium m (centrino) (1.6ghz is about the same speed as a 2.4ghz P4)
PC2700 DDR RAM (I think) (333mhz)
Option for Geforce FX (not sure why they didn't add it to 8500, maybe they want to sell more 8600's...)
Because of the different processors and ram speeds I'm sure there is a newer motherboard in the 8600. There are probably more differences such as keyboard quality, etc, but this is all that comes to mind
morganpugh
12 Posts
0
September 19th, 2003 15:00
I think I will just get an Apple PowerBook when the G5 models come out whenever that is! I am very disappointed in Dell. After hearing of there "awarding winning after sales service" I have had nothing buy trouble and attitude from there support team.
I am not racist at all but I am getting pi55ed of with always having to talk with someone who cant understand what I am saying because of my "english accent". I had one person cut me off because they thought I was taking the pi55 when I was just talking normally. I am from Hertfordshire so I dont have a stupidly hard accent.
fabcomjj
23 Posts
0
September 19th, 2003 17:00
ReWeN
131 Posts
0
September 19th, 2003 20:00
bah, Im editing my first post, some people don't seem to understand that stopping nvcpl, etc, aren't solutions
(edit, I meant my first post in my topic, thought this was it but guess not!)
Message Edited by ReWeN on 09-19-2003 05:47 PM
npgall
26 Posts
0
September 19th, 2003 22:00
mhargr03:
If I leave a window or a still image open on my screen for an extended period the image becomes stuck on the screen and when I close the window or image I can still see an outline of it on top of everything else. It's similar to the problems experienced on CRT monitors years ago which is why screen savers were invented (to put a constantly changing image on the screen). It's not supposed to happen on any modern screens and tech support will replace it for me when I phone them. The screen burn issue was caused by a bad batch of screens Dell got from one of their suppliers a few months ago and I was one of the unfortunate people who got one. There's a long thread about it somewhere in the forums from back then.
It's all fun!!
ThomasLenne
88 Posts
0
September 21st, 2003 17:00
TechDog
19 Posts
0
September 21st, 2003 20:00
Sorry, Thomas
I have the same disappearing cursor with the A04 BIOS and I am using the 45.23 Nvidia drivers.
Seems the BIOS is still pretty bollixed up. Also, it takes forever with the A04 BIOS for the screen to come back from the lid being closed.
Sigh! Back to the A02 BIOS for me, also.
Techdog
mhargr03
61 Posts
0
September 22nd, 2003 00:00
Dax,
I got my replacement and reverted to A02 bios with ReWeN's utility but am using the latest drivers off the Dell website (A05 I think). I do not have the disappearing cursor anymore, but a curious thing has happened. When I drag my icons around the desktop they are invisible until I let go of the button and place them. Except sometimes when I am dragging them around there is a tiny box of space somewhere on the left side of the screen where I can see it. Any thoughts?
Inspiron 8500 Bios A04
2.6Ghz P4M
WUXGA - Sharp
768Mb DDR RAM 266Mhz - 256 Dell original, 512 Crucial
80Gb Ultra ATA HDD
GeForce4 4200 Go 64Mb
DVD+RW
Dell TrueMobile DualBand 1400
Replacement System
volzalum
24 Posts
0
September 22nd, 2003 00:00
Thomas,
Will you please run this simple test to either verify it is "fixed" on your computer, or to prove it is not (I bet it is not) ... go to your power settings and set your computer to "do nothing" upon closing the lid of the computer. The default is "standby".
Then while your computer is on, close your screen down. Wait about 10 seconds, and then open your screen back up. Now see if the "hidden cursor" is there ... the fix that you performed works only when the screen "resets" ... i.e. you restart the computer, or your come out of standby. You will find that if you run any graphics intensive applications that your computer will malfunction with the A03 or A04 video BIOS ...
-Dax
Thomas wrote:
It works for me, thanks god! I had the same symphtons as described here in this thread. (Inspiron 8500) I used the workaround with the disabled nview programs so far. Updated then first the BIOS and then the driver to the 4 version. Enabled nview and : no more disappearing cursor. How come it does not work for everybody who has the same configuration? Thomas
mhargr03
61 Posts
0
September 22nd, 2003 01:00