I just sent in my i8600 for this exact issue. I just got it back yesterday. The workorder on the repair was, Corrective Repair Action "Other:" Fan & Heat Sink.
I'm running XP Pro. The noise was coming from the top left side of the kb like others have described. The noise sounds like a buzz and goes away after a few minutes, it also changes pitch when adjusting the lid. This buzzing doesn't occur all the time and can occur with/without the power cord attached.
I'll report my findings in a few days on whether of not the repair corrects the issue.
Same problem here.
I think this may be feedback from the audio components, try muting the sound with the mute key located to the left of the on button. I know it’s an odd idea but just try it and see if the sound is still there. (Also disregard the sound of the fans or try it when the system 1st boots so that fans are not a factor)
The buzz is your nvidia geforce4 4200go video card. Got it, been there, done that. I originally had the Radeon 9000 and upgraded through spare parts to this vid card. Immediately noticed the noise, so I returned it only to find that the replacement had the same issue. If you take off your keyboard with the comp on and listen, it clearly comes from the heatsink directly above the gpu.
I live with it because of the performance boost provided by the upgrade.
I believe every person with this card has the same problem, although some might not be as adept at noticing it.
Please don't cross-post. It fragments the discussion, and makes it almost impossible to follow who said what where. I put a link here in your other thread.
My newest video card was revision A04, but I believe this only refers to the video Bios shipped with the card. For example, my A04 Card came with Video Bios A04. I have since upgraded to A05 to avoid the "disappearing mouse cursor" problem. Like I said, I have had TWO of these cards and they both did it. My first card was A03 revision and it performed exactly the same (both in video performance and screeching, etc).
I don't really know what else to tell you, other than I am experiencing the same thing as you. I have a 8500 with a 2.0GHz P4, 512 MB Ram, 40GIG HD, 15.4 inch SAMSUNG WSXGA+ Screen running driver version 4487 on my geforce4 4200 go. I see you have the same screen, so perhaps you might be on to something there.....
Hey, I want you to try something......
Go into your power settings and set your computer to hibernate when the lid is closed. When you open the lid and start your computer from hibernation, it should "awaken" just fine. However, once you are in windows, and you close the lid to hibernate again, watch what happens when you wake up. At least for my computer, when the computer returns from the second hibernation the screen is corrupted with 4 bit color and a poor resolution.
You say you have different drivers that are non-dell. If your computer does not do the above, could you please let me know what drivers you are using. I am certain this is driver related issue on the Geforce 4 4200go.
spiked_martini... cool name by the way..... I normally do not cross post, however alot of users do not visit all boards and I posted in both the Video and General Hardware as these seem to be the best read boards and obviously this category of problem falls under both video and General Hardware. I had provided a link in each my posts to my other post on the other board. Cross posting is normally not needed but I wanted to make sure that this was noticed because there hasn't been too many solutions to these problems so I wanted to reopen the issue and hopefully get mine or other peoples problems solved with maximum coverage and noticability. Luckily we have had the search feature now for a few years so that helps alot too.
After spending 8 hours on trying to diagnose the problem and reading a ton of other posts and trying suggestions the4200 is the culprit in my situation and maybe others, as Skyler had suggested. I tried muting all Audio functions, Disabling NIC, Modem, Audio Card, as well as a few other hardware to see if it might be feedback coming from them. I also tried disabling the USB Root HUB and messed with the power managment suggestions that had fixed the problem on the 4000 series. When I disabled the Intel Speedstep function in the BIOS, updated the 4200 Go BIOS which just came out a few days ago, and messed around with many different drivers (as I had been doing for hours) the noise subsided for a little bit but then came back. The screetching/buzzing noise like is said is hardly noticable in XP safe mode, and can barley be noticed at all outside of Windows, for example in the BIOS or on immediate boot, even if you take the keyboard off. I noticed that when on first boot, when the BIOS is scanning the hardware and checking functions it is the most noticable outside of Windows but nowhere near how bad it is in XP. I called Dell tech support last night to see what suggestions they would have and basically I had already tried 95% of them and already had the keyboard off and was into the laptop. The noise definatly is coming from the video card but like I said it doesnt do it as bad when the BIOS is communicating with it and displaying video, only from within XP. Dell's drivers for the 4200 also made it much worse. In fact when I installed the Dell drivers you could actually hear the video card screetching change as I moved a window or resized something in XP - as some other users had also reported.
SO Disabling Intel Speedstep, installing Non-dell drivers, and disabling power management for the 1st USB Root Hub made the noise less noticable for me. I also thought it may be related to a refresh or resolution problem. But it does it at 800x600 as well as 1680x1050 and of course the only refresh for the internal display is 60 which it was it was set at.
I should also note that my father just got a i8600 in Nov and had the 4200 Go in there for a couple of weeks and it did not make any noise with Dell drivers or modded drivers in or out of XP. He did get it replaced though because he had ordered the i8600 with the 128mb 5650 so they came and put it in.
The noise this 4200 is making is more of a "screetch" that sounds electrical than a buzz sound. And the noise changes according to what you have and are doing on the screen.
My 4200 is a revision A03 (according to the sticker). Does anyone know what the newest revision is? I don't think this is a problem with all the 4200's only certain ones combined with a certain hardware configuration. Maybe in combination a certain manufacurer of screen. Obvisouly the Hiatchi's blo! but does anyone one with a Hiatchi and a 8500 notice this problem or is it only the Samsung. Does anyone with a 8600 & a 4200 GO have this problem? So far I havn't seen anyone with an 8600 and a 4200 Go that has reported the screetching noise coming from the video card.
Message Edited by i8000_coastal on 01-23-2004 05:37 PM
Message Edited by i8000_coastal on 01-26-2004 07:25 PM
spiked_martini... cool name by the way..... I normally do not cross post, however alot of users do not visit all boards and I posted in both the Video and General Hardware as these seem to be the best read boards and obviously this category of problem falls under both video and General Hardware. I had provided a link in each my posts to my other post on the other board. Cross posting is normally not needed but I wanted to make sure that this was noticed because there hasn't been too many solutions to these problems so I wanted to reopen the issue and hopefully get mine or other peoples problems solved with maximum coverage and noticability. Luckily we have had the search feature now for a few years so that helps alot too.
Thanks! I understand how you feel, but that's how *everyone* who cross-posts feels... that they should post everywhere in an effort to get their post noticed. Cross-posting is *highly* discouraged on these boards, as if you're a regular, who reads most of the boards, you see the same issue over and over again, and don't know if it has been solved somewhere else (and also, it's just plain irritating!). As I said, it also fragments discussion, as something may be suggested somewhere but not somewhere else, so users reading one thread can miss the solutions to their problems. Just pick the best board for your question, and if it happens to not get any responses in a day, post in it again - this will bump it up for most users (depending on their viewing settings). Almost every post on these boards gets an answer, and they don't have to resort to cross-posting. Remember that there are many other people with issues... ensuring "maximum coverage" for any one post means that others will get ignored. It's much better if everyone posts once.
spiked_martini, my intention was to post on the General hardware forum to just make the problem known and aware to users to read and then follow the link that I had provided to this Video board thread and post something. I don't see a problem with displaying the explaination of the problem on several Boards but referring the users to the main thread that you want things posted at. This is actually helpful in my opinion because alot of users just cruise through certain forums occassionally for a problem they are having without using the search feature. Maybe I didn't make this totally clear as the link and text for that was the same size as everything else so it was hard to notice. I did however update it and made the text showing this board's link bigger and bold - sorry for the confusion.
Skyler, I will definatly try that and let you know what I find with a day or so. Right now I need to get these Dell provided drivers off my system as the performance is horrible and it is making the sound worse. I am going to do another complete system format within the next week to see if I can narrow down what device, software, or driver makes the noise worse. I am going to get the 4200 Go replaced several times if needed to see if that solves the problem. I am tenacious when it comes to certain problems with my computers so I am hoping I will find a solution. As mentioned before I don't think this is a widespread problem with all 4200's and just with the 4200 on the i8500. I have heard a very similar noise to this on desktop systems /w their monitors - there again concerning video. I don't know about most of you but this is absolutly unaccepted, because if your in a quiet room or place, such as a library enjoying WIFI the noise if HORRIBLE and is driving me nuts - and who know if it is just a noise, maybe it is affecting performance or some other function or hardware somehow? I am also plauged by the wonderful "spongy" keyboard problem so I will need to get my Palm rest assembly replaced as well as that is supposed to be the solution (not the keyboard itself).
SO FAR here are some of my results with the drivers for the 4200 Go with my system:
PROBLEMS: v53.30 - Pieter - Screen cannot sleep v53.03 - Pieter & Teraphy - Screen cannot sleep v52.16 - ? v51.75 - Teraphy - NONE FOUND v47.12 - Pieter - NONE FOUND v45.91 - Pieter - Line in center of screen makes things dissapear v45.23 - Teraphy - Line in center of screen makes things dissapear v44.68 - Pieter - Line in center of screen makes things dissapear
As for the 45. and 44. series drivers I am going to retest with this new BIOS update, the results above were with the NON C1 version BIOS update.
BENCHMARKS: 3DMark2001 SE - Geforce 4200 Go 64MB - 53.03 - 8280 3DMark2001 SE - Geforce 4200 Go 64MB - 52.16 - 8219 3DMark2001 SE - Geforce 4200 Go 64MB - 51.75 - 8149 3DMark2001 SE - Geforce 4200 Go 64MB - 47.12 - 8619
Now back to my bottle of wine and my game of Call of Duty!
Message Edited by i8000_coastal on 01-24-2004 03:33 AM
I've had my i8500 for about 6 months and was about to send it in for screen-burn and it just now started the buzzing under the upper-left side of the keyboard. Also, occasionally, it now completely freezes in place while I'm working on it. I have a lot of processes running
I haven't had any of the problems listed here i have an 8500 with 4200 at latest bios i think is a05, the fan for 4200 is located dead center upper middle under the keyboard mabye it rubs or doesnt run properly. i have had various drivers on my comptuer including omega and others i am running dells latest at the moment. upper left is the computers mainfan if nosies come from there, good chance soething is rubbing the fan. Had problems with mine after adding blue leds to that area had to move wires over. I have installed blue leds under all the grills on 8500, makes it really cool in low light area.
SkylerS, I put XP into Hibernation twice in a row using the lid closing option as you described. On the second time when I woke it up it did wake up fine with all my colors as they should be. Also remember that you can configure to Hibernate when you press the SUSPEND button, which is a comination of the blue Fn key and the Esc key which has Suspend in blue for all Inspirons. I am running Direct X 9.0b /w with the 47.12 version drivers. I got this driver as I do most of my video drivers from Pieter's modded INF page here: http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/ohau-estate/mobilegpuindex.htm
You will also need to download the modded INF, which is next to the driver on the chart - for this one it would be Version 12.00. Then just copy that .INF over the old one that comes with the 47.12 driver set.
ALSO, when I install new drivers, I make sure the old ones are completley gone before I do new ones. Uninstall all ATI or NVIDIA related software and Drivers from the Control panel and Add/Remove programs. Right after the uninstall from Add/Remove programs it will ask you to reboot. Reboot, but right before Windows XP starts to boot press F8 repeatadly and choose to go into safe mode. Once you are in safe mode double check to make sure all the software was uninstalled (sometimes you might have more than one entry) in add/remove and run the Driver Cleaner program from DriverHeaven.net basically all this program does is delete all the NVIDIA or ATI files on your hard drive that is commonly used. NOTE THOUGH that the Driver Cleaner program does not delete the DELL drivers that were copied to the c:\DELL\DRIVERS directory if you installed the DELL drivers and told them to extract here, OR ANOTHER directory. After everything is uninstalled and deleted reboot normally. If you do not delete the DELL drivers Windows XP will automatically try to install your video card with the DELL drivers again since the files are still located in the install spot c:\DELL\DRIVERS. This is the best way to get rid of the video drivers on your system and do a fresh install for them. This program will work for ATI and NVIDIA cards.
So far the 47.12's have given me the best benchmark but I didn't test the earlier 4x.xx series because they gave me the disapearing problem in the center of the screen, which the new 4200 BIOS is supposed to fix.
ScreaminPat, good idea about the 4200's fan. My noise however happens directly from the 4200 video card even with the keyboard off. The sound almost sounds electrical, maybe it is. However, that is a good suggestion for people to investigate that are getting a weird sound under the keyboard expecially a buzz sound that would come from a rubbing fan. Taking your keyboard off, without unplugging it, and laying it aside on top of the touchpad will give people a better diagnosis of the sound inside their laptops.
ALSO NOTE that I added to my post above, that disabling the power management for the 1st USB Root Hub Device under the Universial Serial Bus Controllers in Device Manager - really helped to make the noise almost non-existent. This helped whether I have a USB device plugged in or not.
Message Edited by i8000_coastal on 01-26-2004 07:54 PM
I have the buzzing sound now and 7 out of 10 times my computer completely freezes after running for a few minutes. Both of these problems came up at the same time. Is my video card bad and causing my screen to freeze, or is it my CPU that is freezing? I am sending it in to have the screen replaced do to screen burn and I want them to fix this problem but I need to give them specific instructions because there is no way Dell will know what to do unless I draw it out for them. Is this a fairly common problem with i8500 owners?
Ok, they are sending me a replacement 4200 and made a note to send the latest revision. They actually wanted me to send my 8500 to their repair depot for a diagnosis! And what did I pay all this money for extended at home service for? I'll keep you guys posted.
If that doesn't do it, this noise is in this fight until death!
Message Edited by i8000_coastal on 01-30-2004 03:22 AM
Just a little update, they came out today and replaced my Geforce 4200 Go from a Rev 03 to a Rev04. The sound has now moved from a screetching sound to more of a buzzing sound - which is still constant. They are now sending out a new motherboard. I know some of you posted that this didn't work for you, but I might as well give it a try. THIS NOISE IS REALLY GETTING ANNOYING! I shall keep you updated.
WHAT IN THE HECK IS THE BUZZING!!!!??! I just sent my laptop in and told them to switch out the Video Card. I thought for sure that would be the fix! Mine started buzzing after six months and at the same time my screen would freeze about 7 out of 10 times my computer was turned on. MODERATOR???? What is wrong with our computers!? Now I'm going to get my computer back (AFTER 10 DAYS, AND COUNTING) and it won't be fixed? (The 5 day turn-around time is a flat lie)... First it was the horrible flimsey keyboard, then it was a squweeling power adapter, then it was images burned into my screen, then it was pixels going out, then it was paint curling off the bottom due to heat, then it was BUZZING THAT CAUSES MY COMPUTER TO FREEZE WHILE I'M IN THE MIDDLE OF A BUSINESS PRESENTATION! Not to mention the hours spent with tech support and them saying to every issue: "I have not yet heard of this problem, did you try restaring your computer?" FOUR SYSTEM EXCHANGES AND TWO SERVICE CALLS. I HEAR HP IS DOING SOME WONDERFUL THINGS WITH NOTEBOOKS THESE DAYS.
Glock21
229 Posts
0
January 23rd, 2004 11:00
I just sent in my i8600 for this exact issue. I just got it back yesterday. The workorder on the repair was, Corrective Repair Action "Other:" Fan & Heat Sink.
I'm running XP Pro. The noise was coming from the top left side of the kb like others have described. The noise sounds like a buzz and goes away after a few minutes, it also changes pitch when adjusting the lid. This buzzing doesn't occur all the time and can occur with/without the power cord attached.
I'll report my findings in a few days on whether of not the repair corrects the issue.
Zero-Hour
19 Posts
0
January 23rd, 2004 17:00
SkylerS
6 Posts
0
January 23rd, 2004 18:00
The buzz is your nvidia geforce4 4200go video card. Got it, been there, done that. I originally had the Radeon 9000 and upgraded through spare parts to this vid card. Immediately noticed the noise, so I returned it only to find that the replacement had the same issue. If you take off your keyboard with the comp on and listen, it clearly comes from the heatsink directly above the gpu.
I live with it because of the performance boost provided by the upgrade.
I believe every person with this card has the same problem, although some might not be as adept at noticing it.
Hope that helps
Skyler
spiked_martini
948 Posts
0
January 23rd, 2004 19:00
Please don't cross-post. It fragments the discussion, and makes it almost impossible to follow who said what where. I put a link here in your other thread.
SkylerS
6 Posts
0
January 23rd, 2004 20:00
My newest video card was revision A04, but I believe this only refers to the video Bios shipped with the card. For example, my A04 Card came with Video Bios A04. I have since upgraded to A05 to avoid the "disappearing mouse cursor" problem. Like I said, I have had TWO of these cards and they both did it. My first card was A03 revision and it performed exactly the same (both in video performance and screeching, etc).
I don't really know what else to tell you, other than I am experiencing the same thing as you. I have a 8500 with a 2.0GHz P4, 512 MB Ram, 40GIG HD, 15.4 inch SAMSUNG WSXGA+ Screen running driver version 4487 on my geforce4 4200 go. I see you have the same screen, so perhaps you might be on to something there.....
Hey, I want you to try something......
Go into your power settings and set your computer to hibernate when the lid is closed. When you open the lid and start your computer from hibernation, it should "awaken" just fine. However, once you are in windows, and you close the lid to hibernate again, watch what happens when you wake up. At least for my computer, when the computer returns from the second hibernation the screen is corrupted with 4 bit color and a poor resolution.
You say you have different drivers that are non-dell. If your computer does not do the above, could you please let me know what drivers you are using. I am certain this is driver related issue on the Geforce 4 4200go.
Thanks man....
Skyler
i8000_coastal
2 Intern
•
229 Posts
0
January 23rd, 2004 20:00
spiked_martini... cool name by the way..... I normally do not cross post, however alot of users do not visit all boards and I posted in both the Video and General Hardware as these seem to be the best read boards and obviously this category of problem falls under both video and General Hardware. I had provided a link in each my posts to my other post on the other board. Cross posting is normally not needed but I wanted to make sure that this was noticed because there hasn't been too many solutions to these problems so I wanted to reopen the issue and hopefully get mine or other peoples problems solved with maximum coverage and noticability. Luckily we have had the search feature now for a few years so that helps alot too.
After spending 8 hours on trying to diagnose the problem and reading a ton of other posts and trying suggestions the 4200 is the culprit in my situation and maybe others, as Skyler had suggested. I tried muting all Audio functions, Disabling NIC, Modem, Audio Card, as well as a few other hardware to see if it might be feedback coming from them. I also tried disabling the USB Root HUB and messed with the power managment suggestions that had fixed the problem on the 4000 series. When I disabled the Intel Speedstep function in the BIOS, updated the 4200 Go BIOS which just came out a few days ago, and messed around with many different drivers (as I had been doing for hours) the noise subsided for a little bit but then came back. The screetching/buzzing noise like is said is hardly noticable in XP safe mode, and can barley be noticed at all outside of Windows, for example in the BIOS or on immediate boot, even if you take the keyboard off. I noticed that when on first boot, when the BIOS is scanning the hardware and checking functions it is the most noticable outside of Windows but nowhere near how bad it is in XP. I called Dell tech support last night to see what suggestions they would have and basically I had already tried 95% of them and already had the keyboard off and was into the laptop. The noise definatly is coming from the video card but like I said it doesnt do it as bad when the BIOS is communicating with it and displaying video, only from within XP. Dell's drivers for the 4200 also made it much worse. In fact when I installed the Dell drivers you could actually hear the video card screetching change as I moved a window or resized something in XP - as some other users had also reported.
SO Disabling Intel Speedstep, installing Non-dell drivers, and disabling power management for the 1st USB Root Hub made the noise less noticable for me. I also thought it may be related to a refresh or resolution problem. But it does it at 800x600 as well as 1680x1050 and of course the only refresh for the internal display is 60 which it was it was set at.
I should also note that my father just got a i8600 in Nov and had the 4200 Go in there for a couple of weeks and it did not make any noise with Dell drivers or modded drivers in or out of XP. He did get it replaced though because he had ordered the i8600 with the 128mb 5650 so they came and put it in.
The noise this 4200 is making is more of a "screetch" that sounds electrical than a buzz sound. And the noise changes according to what you have and are doing on the screen.
My 4200 is a revision A03 (according to the sticker). Does anyone know what the newest revision is? I don't think this is a problem with all the 4200's only certain ones combined with a certain hardware configuration. Maybe in combination a certain manufacurer of screen. Obvisouly the Hiatchi's blo! but does anyone one with a Hiatchi and a 8500 notice this problem or is it only the Samsung. Does anyone with a 8600 & a 4200 GO have this problem? So far I havn't seen anyone with an 8600 and a 4200 Go that has reported the screetching noise coming from the video card.
Message Edited by i8000_coastal on 01-23-2004 05:37 PM
Message Edited by i8000_coastal on 01-26-2004 07:25 PM
spiked_martini
948 Posts
0
January 23rd, 2004 21:00
Thanks! I understand how you feel, but that's how *everyone* who cross-posts feels... that they should post everywhere in an effort to get their post noticed. Cross-posting is *highly* discouraged on these boards, as if you're a regular, who reads most of the boards, you see the same issue over and over again, and don't know if it has been solved somewhere else (and also, it's just plain irritating!). As I said, it also fragments discussion, as something may be suggested somewhere but not somewhere else, so users reading one thread can miss the solutions to their problems. Just pick the best board for your question, and if it happens to not get any responses in a day, post in it again - this will bump it up for most users (depending on their viewing settings). Almost every post on these boards gets an answer, and they don't have to resort to cross-posting. Remember that there are many other people with issues... ensuring "maximum coverage" for any one post means that others will get ignored. It's much better if everyone posts once.
Best of luck with your issue!
i8000_coastal
2 Intern
•
229 Posts
0
January 24th, 2004 05:00
spiked_martini, my intention was to post on the General hardware forum to just make the problem known and aware to users to read and then follow the link that I had provided to this Video board thread and post something. I don't see a problem with displaying the explaination of the problem on several Boards but referring the users to the main thread that you want things posted at. This is actually helpful in my opinion because alot of users just cruise through certain forums occassionally for a problem they are having without using the search feature. Maybe I didn't make this totally clear as the link and text for that was the same size as everything else so it was hard to notice. I did however update it and made the text showing this board's link bigger and bold - sorry for the confusion.
Skyler, I will definatly try that and let you know what I find with a day or so. Right now I need to get these Dell provided drivers off my system as the performance is horrible and it is making the sound worse. I am going to do another complete system format within the next week to see if I can narrow down what device, software, or driver makes the noise worse. I am going to get the 4200 Go replaced several times if needed to see if that solves the problem. I am tenacious when it comes to certain problems with my computers so I am hoping I will find a solution. As mentioned before I don't think this is a widespread problem with all 4200's and just with the 4200 on the i8500. I have heard a very similar noise to this on desktop systems /w their monitors - there again concerning video. I don't know about most of you but this is absolutly unaccepted, because if your in a quiet room or place, such as a library enjoying WIFI the noise if HORRIBLE and is driving me nuts - and who know if it is just a noise, maybe it is affecting performance or some other function or hardware somehow? I am also plauged by the wonderful "spongy" keyboard problem so I will need to get my Palm rest assembly replaced as well as that is supposed to be the solution (not the keyboard itself).
SO FAR here are some of my results with the drivers for the 4200 Go with my system:
PROBLEMS:
v53.30 - Pieter - Screen cannot sleep
v53.03 - Pieter & Teraphy - Screen cannot sleep
v52.16 - ?
v51.75 - Teraphy - NONE FOUND
v47.12 - Pieter - NONE FOUND
v45.91 - Pieter - Line in center of screen makes things dissapear
v45.23 - Teraphy - Line in center of screen makes things dissapear
v44.68 - Pieter - Line in center of screen makes things dissapear
As for the 45. and 44. series drivers I am going to retest with this new BIOS update, the results above were with the NON C1 version BIOS update.
BENCHMARKS:
3DMark2001 SE - Geforce 4200 Go 64MB - 53.03 - 8280
3DMark2001 SE - Geforce 4200 Go 64MB - 52.16 - 8219
3DMark2001 SE - Geforce 4200 Go 64MB - 51.75 - 8149
3DMark2001 SE - Geforce 4200 Go 64MB - 47.12 - 8619
Now back to my bottle of wine and my game of Call of Duty!
Message Edited by i8000_coastal on 01-24-2004 03:33 AM
loungepop
68 Posts
0
January 25th, 2004 01:00
I've had my i8500 for about 6 months and was about to send it in for screen-burn and it just now started the buzzing under the upper-left side of the keyboard. Also, occasionally, it now completely freezes in place while I'm working on it. I have a lot of processes running
ScreaminPat
4 Posts
0
January 26th, 2004 00:00
i8000_coastal
2 Intern
•
229 Posts
0
January 26th, 2004 22:00
SkylerS, I put XP into Hibernation twice in a row using the lid closing option as you described. On the second time when I woke it up it did wake up fine with all my colors as they should be. Also remember that you can configure to Hibernate when you press the SUSPEND button, which is a comination of the blue Fn key and the Esc key which has Suspend in blue for all Inspirons. I am running Direct X 9.0b /w with the 47.12 version drivers. I got this driver as I do most of my video drivers from Pieter's modded INF page here: http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/ohau-estate/mobilegpuindex.htm
You will also need to download the modded INF, which is next to the driver on the chart - for this one it would be Version 12.00. Then just copy that .INF over the old one that comes with the 47.12 driver set.
ALSO, when I install new drivers, I make sure the old ones are completley gone before I do new ones. Uninstall all ATI or NVIDIA related software and Drivers from the Control panel and Add/Remove programs. Right after the uninstall from Add/Remove programs it will ask you to reboot. Reboot, but right before Windows XP starts to boot press F8 repeatadly and choose to go into safe mode. Once you are in safe mode double check to make sure all the software was uninstalled (sometimes you might have more than one entry) in add/remove and run the Driver Cleaner program from DriverHeaven.net basically all this program does is delete all the NVIDIA or ATI files on your hard drive that is commonly used. NOTE THOUGH that the Driver Cleaner program does not delete the DELL drivers that were copied to the c:\DELL\DRIVERS directory if you installed the DELL drivers and told them to extract here, OR ANOTHER directory. After everything is uninstalled and deleted reboot normally. If you do not delete the DELL drivers Windows XP will automatically try to install your video card with the DELL drivers again since the files are still located in the install spot c:\DELL\DRIVERS. This is the best way to get rid of the video drivers on your system and do a fresh install for them. This program will work for ATI and NVIDIA cards.
So far the 47.12's have given me the best benchmark but I didn't test the earlier 4x.xx series because they gave me the disapearing problem in the center of the screen, which the new 4200 BIOS is supposed to fix.
ScreaminPat, good idea about the 4200's fan. My noise however happens directly from the 4200 video card even with the keyboard off. The sound almost sounds electrical, maybe it is. However, that is a good suggestion for people to investigate that are getting a weird sound under the keyboard expecially a buzz sound that would come from a rubbing fan. Taking your keyboard off, without unplugging it, and laying it aside on top of the touchpad will give people a better diagnosis of the sound inside their laptops.
ALSO NOTE that I added to my post above, that disabling the power management for the 1st USB Root Hub Device under the Universial Serial Bus Controllers in Device Manager - really helped to make the noise almost non-existent. This helped whether I have a USB device plugged in or not.
Message Edited by i8000_coastal on 01-26-2004 07:54 PM
loungepop
68 Posts
0
January 27th, 2004 00:00
I have the buzzing sound now and 7 out of 10 times my computer completely freezes after running for a few minutes. Both of these problems came up at the same time. Is my video card bad and causing my screen to freeze, or is it my CPU that is freezing? I am sending it in to have the screen replaced do to screen burn and I want them to fix this problem but I need to give them specific instructions because there is no way Dell will know what to do unless I draw it out for them. Is this a fairly common problem with i8500 owners?
i8000_coastal
2 Intern
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229 Posts
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January 30th, 2004 06:00
Ok, they are sending me a replacement 4200 and made a note to send the latest revision. They actually wanted me to send my 8500 to their repair depot for a diagnosis!
And what did I pay all this money for extended at home service for? I'll keep you guys posted.
If that doesn't do it, this noise is in this fight until death!
Message Edited by i8000_coastal on 01-30-2004 03:22 AM
i8000_coastal
2 Intern
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229 Posts
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February 3rd, 2004 21:00
Just a little update, they came out today and replaced my Geforce 4200 Go from a Rev 03 to a Rev04. The sound has now moved from a screetching sound to more of a buzzing sound - which is still constant. They are now sending out a new motherboard. I know some of you posted that this didn't work for you, but I might as well give it a try. THIS NOISE IS REALLY GETTING ANNOYING! I shall keep you updated.
loungepop
68 Posts
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February 3rd, 2004 22:00
WHAT IN THE HECK IS THE BUZZING!!!!??! I just sent my laptop in and told them to switch out the Video Card. I thought for sure that would be the fix! Mine started buzzing after six months and at the same time my screen would freeze about 7 out of 10 times my computer was turned on. MODERATOR???? What is wrong with our computers!? Now I'm going to get my computer back (AFTER 10 DAYS, AND COUNTING) and it won't be fixed? (The 5 day turn-around time is a flat lie)... First it was the horrible flimsey keyboard, then it was a squweeling power adapter, then it was images burned into my screen, then it was pixels going out, then it was paint curling off the bottom due to heat, then it was BUZZING THAT CAUSES MY COMPUTER TO FREEZE WHILE I'M IN THE MIDDLE OF A BUSINESS PRESENTATION! Not to mention the hours spent with tech support and them saying to every issue: "I have not yet heard of this problem, did you try restaring your computer?" FOUR SYSTEM EXCHANGES AND TWO SERVICE CALLS. I HEAR HP IS DOING SOME WONDERFUL THINGS WITH NOTEBOOKS THESE DAYS.