It sounds like your computer is not recognizing the external monitor attached to the port replicator. Go into BIOS and check power management. I'm assuming that you are running the APR on AC so go to the bottom of the power management section and change the setting for the lid to Active. Attaching an external monitor should make this active automatically, but some of the power saving monitors fail to send a signal through the cable to let the computer know they are present before powerup. This may be the case with your system.

That certainly sounds like the logical solution and I was very optimistic when I tried it the other day after seeing a similar post in this site but unfortunately it didn't help.  Actually it was already set to Active. Thanks for the reply though. I also tried several monitors, no monitor, etc and nothing seems to help.

 

Rick

What concerns me about this is that the system is turning off, even though the lid is set to active in the CMOS. I had a similar problem with my 8200 and found that updating the video BIOS solved it, but the problem was different in that the system would not turn off, but lock up if the monitor was on during boot. If the monitor was off, you could boot and then turn the monitor on and things were fine. The updated video BIOS solved that. I don't know if there is an update for the 8100 video BIOS or not.

I would check to make sure that you have the latest BIOS, both machine and video, and that the ACPI and video drivers are all up to date. Beyond that, it sounds as if there may be a hardware problem since the BIOS should be instructing the machine to boot regardless of the status of the lid.

There may not be an update to your video BIOS. I have the GeForce 4 adapter on the 8200 and there was an update shown under that adapter. You had to click on the video adapter name and get to the next screen. The first download listed was an updated driver and the second listed was an updated video bios.

Just as a side thought, have you enabled the universal docking profile? I have done that on my system since it docks at two different locations on two different networks, but it wouldn't hurt to enable it even if you only have one APR.

Another thing you could try is to reinstal your BIOS. There is always a risk to this though and before doing that, I would enter the CMOS and hit ALT-F (check that this is the correct command for your model) to reset the BIOS to its defaults. I would then reboot and reenter CMOS and set things up the way you want them. Sometimes, that will clear a problem.

Of course, I'm assuming you've scanned the system for virus infections as that could be a cause of this type of problem.

I'm just firing wildly in the dark here. It's awfully hard to troubleshoot over the net.

I have covered all the bases you mentioned except the Video BIOS.  I flashed the System BIOS with the latest but had no luck there. How/where do I check to see if there is an upgrade to my Video BIOS?  Nothing listed on the Dell Download site as far as I could find.  I have an nVidia GeoForce2 adapter.

Thanks again,
Rick

Well Mike, I certainly do appreciate all the time you have spent trying to fix my problem.  I have posted several questions in various Dell forums over the past few months and the Dellies avoid me like the plague. At this point however, I think I'm thowing in the towel.  I've already spent way to much time with BIOS, Drivers, CMOS settings, etc.  Guess I just need to crack the lid on the laptop each timeI start it up. It's a pain but doable.  What makes it really a pain is that I have one of those monitor stands which allows you to slide the laptop snugly underneath the monitor into the APR.  There is barely enough clearance to crack the lid the 1/4" necessary to open the switch.

Regards,
Rick

Before you give up, after getting the monitor to work, go to Display Properties (can be reached with a right click on the desktop or from Control Panel) -> Settings -> Advanced -> Monitor and see if you can find the specific monitor or a similar one to install. It might be that if you can install that monitor properly in XP, that the machine will recognize it. It's a long shot, but what's one more attempt? We're all having fun here, right?

Yup, Did that.  Dell M992.  No change.

Rick

Ok, I give up. If a stroke of genius hits me in the next few days, I'll post back here, but, right now, I'm out of ideas.

Mike,

Turns out that all your time was not in vain.  When I started out trying to get this to work, I had a Belkin KVM hooked up to the APR. When it didn't work, my first thought was that it was the KVM, so I took it out of the picture and made direct connections - I tried several different monitors with no success.  This did not work so I assumed it was not the KVM and hooked it back up.  Then I made the post in this forum and started trying your various suggestions.  Last night I took the KVM out of the picture again and it worked. So, one of those settings did the trick.  Now, I obviously have another problem that I have found other forum users to have as well.  Looks like the KVM does not convince the APR that there is a monitor attached and the Inspiron doesn't seem to have a setting to make it boot up in the absence of a display device. Based on the other posts I have found, I don't think there is a solution.

Rick

I think the problem is that the KVM sits in between the monitor and APR and sends its own signals while intercepting those of the actual monitor. Apparently the signal it sends is not the one required by the Inspiron to recognize the monitor and it fails to pass the correct one through. Sounds like a Belkin problem to me.

I agree. I doubt there is a solution to this one and Dell and Belkin would point the finger at each other.  Technically I think the Inspiron should boot up regardless of the presence of a monitor.  Why should it care?

Rick