The problem isn't the Secondary IDE Channel (thus not the CDROM), it is with the assignment of the Serial Port to COM1 and IRQ15. What makes that assignment? It doesn't do it when the machine is not docked to the APR so somehow the process of connecting the APR causes the laptop to configure the APR's serial port as COM1/IRQ15 during the boot process. If the machine is connected to the APR after the boot process, the serial port is not reconfigured to IRQ15. The problem is likely not a specific APR unit as I have two and they both exhibit the same symptoms and the gentleman who swapped motherboards did not swap his APR, so it is either a design flaw of all APRs or something specific to the computer. The diagnostic that is run on boot up indicates that all systems are okay, so it isn't a specific hardware problem. Physically, everything is fine. It's just the serial port's insistence on being COM1 regardless of the BIOS settings and COM1's commandering IRQ15 when the machine is booted up docked to the APR that is the problem. If someone can figure out at what point the serial port is assigned and at what point the IRQ is assigned to the serial port, I think we'd have our answer. Then, maybe we'll have a solution. Swapping out things randomly doesn't solve the problem, it may work, but that is by avoiding the problem rather than solving it.
I wouldn't be so tough on Karrell as he/she may be responsible for moderating the forums but might not have any actual power to do anything for us. Karrell might not even have access to all the tools to trouble shoot the problems we are having.
That said, I tried removing the internal DVD/CDRW and surprise, surprise, it made no difference. The IDE controller is not dependent on the existence of a drive in the media bay, and thus starts up anyways and the serial port still insists on being COM1 with IRQ15.
Is there any way to configure the serial port of the D/Port?
The serial and parallel port on the APR is probably pass-through, just like the video, modem, and ethernet.
Some other resource-dependant device on the APR is probably causing the problem.
On my 600m, the com port uses IRQ 4 in a docked profile. I don't know all the differences between the two computers, but I believe you have a firewire port - try disabling that in both profiles, to see if anything changes. I have the Radeon video card (you might have a different one). If you disable a device, theoretically, it shouldn't need a resource, and should free it up for changes. You might be able to allocate another device, once you find a cause.
You may have tried all of this and, if you did, I apologize. Just trying to narrow down the differences. I don't have and 8500 to test.
As far as Karell is concerned, well, let's just say that there are a lot of good people out of work, who might be less condescending and more motivated, given the chance.
Since nothing else is using IRQ3 or IRQ4 in the docked configuration, there should be no reason for the serial port to move from IRQ3//4. Also, why does the serial port insist on being COM1, even when disabled?
I think you are right. Something is wrong with the Dport that causes this strange assignment. And its completely crazy that dell is still not able to fix this.
Enough people have this issue by now , so they should be able to figure it out. That they still havent makes me wonder wat their technicall department is worth.
Karell, can you at least confirm that somebody technical at dell is working on this issue ?
I work for an It software company and we have CR numbers assigned to bugs that are reported to us. Can you tell us wat the bugnumber for this issue is ?
Perhaps you can put us in contact with this technical person who is ( I hope ) working on this problem. Perhaps we can run some diagnostics for him to help him further ? Perhaps send you somekind of log of the windows xp boot process. We want to help getting this fixed , but we cant if dell doesnt want to put us in contact with somebody who is investigating this issue.
I for my part can tell that untill I get a propper fix for this issue I can no longer recommend dell ( like I did in the past ) to other people.
Karell, can you at least confirm that somebody technical at dell is working on this issue? I can confirm that I have passed on the problem to our engineering department.
I am also tracking the problem and updating information as it is posted on the boards.
We keep track of problems by service tag numbers.
So, if you are having this problem please put your service tag number in your Dell Forum profile.
Can you tell us wat the bugnumber for this issue is? Unfortunately I cannot give out this information.
Perhaps you can put us in contact with this technical person who is ( I hope ) working on this problem. Unfortunately I cannot give out this information.
The system uses the D/Port APR, that is all that you can purchase for this system.
I cannot say with any certainty whether you will or will not have this problem.
A LOT of these systems were sold and only some customers have reported this specific problem.
I have not been given any feedback on whether the problem has been isolated by Dell engineering.
After reading this discussion, I'm sure you understand my hesitation to purchase the D/Port APR.
I understand Dell must have sold hundreds of Inspiron 8500 laptops, I've enjoyed mine for the last 3 months. As for you phone tech support reps, they need more training. You could say I haven't had a good experience yet, but that's another discussion. If I was to take my chances and purchase the D/Port APR, where do I go. I've searched the Dell site in the past and could not find it, even through a keyword search.
Dell has sold thousands of the D/Ports. They fit most newer Inspirons, Latitudes, and probably Precisions, They cannot fix the problem, and won't recall the units.
If you buy the APR, you inherit the problems. Period.
Most consumers don't know about this forum, which is why they aren't here complaining too. Total BS that only a few units are having problems.
I just wanted to check back into this thread to let you know that after replacing my motherboard I have had absolutely no problems with my 8500 and D/Port. I dock and undock everyday, sometimes more then once, without any issues. We'll see in the long run if this is a perminent fix, but seems to be.
Satisfied customer !
Its nice to hear someone has successfully had their problem fixed. From the sounds of it, the cause of your problem was resolved after a replacement of your motherboard. To the best of my knowledge the laptops are built when an order has been placed. Can you recall when you placed your order? If the problem was truely resolved after your motherboard was replaced, its a good possibility Dell received a bad batch of motherboards. As Karel from Dell has said "only a few have reported this problem". So if you wouldn't mine and all those others who are also having this problem, can you post the month and year when you purchase.
If this is the case, it would explain why Dell is unable to re-create the problem.
At one point Karell inquired about taking my laptop back for testing (capture a system) and replacing it with another, refurbished, model.
Obviously, since I know the history of my laptop and not another, I deliclined and countered with an exchange for a new, tested, model.
Since I have not had any further messages from Karell on this subject (he has threatened to ban me from the forum, for apparent language violations), I can only assume that:
Dell cannot give me a working model.
Dell has no intention of correcting these issues.
Karell has no clue, whatsoever.
I would believe the motherboard solution, if Dell would prove that a solution was found and assigned a revision to the original board (ie. Rev A02).
Coniah
10 Posts
0
November 14th, 2003 19:00
Coniah
10 Posts
0
November 14th, 2003 21:00
I wouldn't be so tough on Karrell as he/she may be responsible for moderating the forums but might not have any actual power to do anything for us. Karrell might not even have access to all the tools to trouble shoot the problems we are having.
That said, I tried removing the internal DVD/CDRW and surprise, surprise, it made no difference. The IDE controller is not dependent on the existence of a drive in the media bay, and thus starts up anyways and the serial port still insists on being COM1 with IRQ15.
Is there any way to configure the serial port of the D/Port?
newguy007
91 Posts
0
November 14th, 2003 21:00
I don't even know why Karell bothers posting...
He hasn't had anything useful to say in months.
He can't do anything about our problems anyway.
I actually think my useless APR serves more of a purpose than the moderators at Dell Forum! (no smiley face here, bro)
-APR Owner (600m)
newguy007
91 Posts
0
November 15th, 2003 02:00
The serial and parallel port on the APR is probably pass-through, just like the video, modem, and ethernet.
Some other resource-dependant device on the APR is probably causing the problem.
On my 600m, the com port uses IRQ 4 in a docked profile. I don't know all the differences between the two computers, but I believe you have a firewire port - try disabling that in both profiles, to see if anything changes. I have the Radeon video card (you might have a different one). If you disable a device, theoretically, it shouldn't need a resource, and should free it up for changes. You might be able to allocate another device, once you find a cause.
You may have tried all of this and, if you did, I apologize. Just trying to narrow down the differences. I don't have and 8500 to test.
As far as Karell is concerned, well, let's just say that there are a lot of good people out of work, who might be less condescending and more motivated, given the chance.
Coniah
10 Posts
0
November 15th, 2003 03:00
Diether
14 Posts
0
November 16th, 2003 11:00
Coniah,
I think you are right. Something is wrong with the Dport that causes this strange assignment.
And its completely crazy that dell is still not able to fix this.
Enough people have this issue by now , so they should be able to figure it out.
That they still havent makes me wonder wat their technicall department is worth.
Karell, can you at least confirm that somebody technical at dell is working on this issue ?
I work for an It software company and we have CR numbers assigned to bugs that are reported to us. Can you tell us wat the bugnumber for this issue is ?
Perhaps you can put us in contact with this technical person who is ( I hope ) working on this problem. Perhaps we can run some diagnostics for him to help him further ? Perhaps send you somekind of log of the windows xp boot process. We want to help getting this fixed , but we cant if dell doesnt want to put us in contact with somebody who is investigating this issue.
I for my part can tell that untill I get a propper fix for this issue I can no longer recommend dell ( like I did in the past ) to other people.
Karell
2 Intern
•
2.5K Posts
0
November 17th, 2003 17:00
Karell, can you at least confirm that somebody technical at dell is working on this issue?
I can confirm that I have passed on the problem to our engineering department.
I am also tracking the problem and updating information as it is posted on the boards.
We keep track of problems by service tag numbers.
So, if you are having this problem please put your service tag number in your Dell Forum profile.
Can you tell us wat the bugnumber for this issue is?
Unfortunately I cannot give out this information.
Perhaps you can put us in contact with this technical person who is ( I hope ) working on this problem.
Unfortunately I cannot give out this information.
newguy007
91 Posts
0
November 17th, 2003 17:00
Dragon375610
5 Posts
0
November 18th, 2003 00:00
Question to Dell:
For those of us who own a Inspiron 8500 and want to purchase a port replicator what do you suggest?
Karell
2 Intern
•
2.5K Posts
0
November 18th, 2003 14:00
The system uses the D/Port APR, that is all that you can purchase for this system.
I cannot say with any certainty whether you will or will not have this problem.
A LOT of these systems were sold and only some customers have reported this specific problem.
I have not been given any feedback on whether the problem has been isolated by Dell engineering.
Dragon375610
5 Posts
0
November 18th, 2003 23:00
Karell,
After reading this discussion, I'm sure you understand my hesitation to purchase the D/Port APR.
I understand Dell must have sold hundreds of Inspiron 8500 laptops, I've enjoyed mine for the last 3 months. As for you phone tech support reps, they need more training. You could say I haven't had a good experience yet, but that's another discussion. If I was to take my chances and purchase the D/Port APR, where do I go. I've searched the Dell site in the past and could not find it, even through a keyword search.
Thanks
Dragon
newguy007
91 Posts
0
November 19th, 2003 12:00
Dell has sold thousands of the D/Ports. They fit most newer Inspirons, Latitudes, and probably Precisions, They cannot fix the problem, and won't recall the units.
If you buy the APR, you inherit the problems. Period.
Most consumers don't know about this forum, which is why they aren't here complaining too. Total BS that only a few units are having problems.
Good luck.
ShortBusRider
23 Posts
0
November 19th, 2003 13:00
Satisfied customer !
Dragon375610
5 Posts
0
November 19th, 2003 21:00
ShortBusRider,
Its nice to hear someone has successfully had their problem fixed. From the sounds of it, the cause of your problem was resolved after a replacement of your motherboard. To the best of my knowledge the laptops are built when an order has been placed. Can you recall when you placed your order? If the problem was truely resolved after your motherboard was replaced, its a good possibility Dell received a bad batch of motherboards. As Karel from Dell has said "only a few have reported this problem". So if you wouldn't mine and all those others who are also having this problem, can you post the month and year when you purchase.
If this is the case, it would explain why Dell is unable to re-create the problem.
Karel: What are your thoughts on this?
newguy007
91 Posts
0
November 19th, 2003 22:00
At one point Karell inquired about taking my laptop back for testing (capture a system) and replacing it with another, refurbished, model.
Obviously, since I know the history of my laptop and not another, I deliclined and countered with an exchange for a new, tested, model.
Since I have not had any further messages from Karell on this subject (he has threatened to ban me from the forum, for apparent language violations), I can only assume that:
I would believe the motherboard solution, if Dell would prove that a solution was found and assigned a revision to the original board (ie. Rev A02).