Problem-Dell Inspiron 1300

shortys94

Hey,
Bought €399 Dell Inspiron 1300, cam yesterday.

Have a problem, called dell techinicains yesterday and was on phone for a few hours.

Whenever I play dvds on media experience cine player, most of them give me an error, a runtime error and the program sometimes freezes or I have to close it, it gave me one blue screen yesterday, driver irql not less or equal. After speaking to support yesterday for so long they cameto the conclusion that it was my usb dongle(linksys) as I got one blue screen when playing a dvd, once, and they said if I didnt use that dongle everything would be fine.

But sure enough most dvds still give me errors and dont continue playing on cineplayer.....

the dvds have had no problem playing ever on windows media player, even a dvd r ran fine. i havent watched a dvd whole way through on wmp but i have not got any errors playing on wmp with a good amount of dvds.

Any idea what the problem is? and what are the techinical support hours for dell??:P

thanks

kaisersose77

I just deleted pretty much all the dell apps and antivirus stuff etc, and got free apps that do a better job. Just delete that cineplayer and get another one off then net.

shortys94

but why doesnt it work, seems kinda weird
the dvd player isnt that silent, well its silent enough

has anyone got an express wireless card for this yet?

great for 399 the laptop

kaisersose77

whats an express wireless card?

The wifi card in it already is working great for me so far, can download at full speed and stream tv from my satellite receiver no problem.


Just delete all the dell stuff, media experience etc and that macfee anti virus, and get zone alarm for a firewall and avg for anti virus, both are free just google them. And get more ram aswell if you can.

shortys94

yea i am going to get more ram

i didnt get wireless internal card, so i might buy the express one, but may buy ethernet cable instead cheaper

kaisersose77

oh ye i forgot i got mine from the outlet store

dkane

I'd say RAM is the problem. Bought an Inspiron 1300 with 256mb. Was dog slow till I bought another 512mb from Komplett. Works a dream now. Dont pay Dell for RAM they are charging far over the odds for it

shortys94

yea, i am getting ram off shop4memory hopefully

still worried about dvd player, does the widescreen dvds actually fill up side bars?

hamster

Hey shortys94....

Can you download and try Videolan's VLC ? It's plays most formats and divx. Please try this and let us know how you get on. Install - shutdown everything else and play the DVD.

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

shortys94

ok, il try and download in awhile, is taht site reputable?

hamster

Yeah that site is fine. Just try the program and see if it makes any difference. It's not a bloaty "get in your face" type of program - It's minimal and should go easy on 256Mb.

LegacyUser

shortys94 wrote:

Hey,
Bought €399 Dell Inspiron 1300, cam yesterday.

Have a problem, called dell techinicains yesterday and was on phone for a few hours.

Whenever I play dvds on media experience cine player, most of them give me an error, a runtime error and the program sometimes freezes or I have to close it, it gave me one blue screen yesterday, driver irql not less or equal. After speaking to support yesterday for so long they cameto the conclusion that it was my usb dongle(linksys) as I got one blue screen when playing a dvd, once, and they said if I didnt use that dongle everything would be fine.

But sure enough most dvds still give me errors and dont continue playing on cineplayer.....

the dvds have had no problem playing ever on windows media player, even a dvd r ran fine. i havent watched a dvd whole way through on wmp but i have not got any errors playing on wmp with a good amount of dvds.

Any idea what the problem is? and what are the techinical support hours for dell??:P

thanks

Shorty,
I had the exact same prob using the Dell software to play DVDs. Get rid of it!
Use soething like Power DVD - get rid of all the dell software.

B

shortys94

Thanks for Info bubby, was wondering if it was just me

dell tech support emailed me there and said " Note : DMX is only a front-end(Skin) for Cyberlink Power DVD software,
>it is not required to operate as a player, so it will run just fine even
>if it isn't there."

so thats stupid, anyway thanks bubby again for info

will download VLC player later in the week as didnt want in bulilt wireless so setting up another lan port wired

LegacyUser

I noticed it straight away -n brand new dvd started jumping all over the place - and then a nasty error about dll files.

I wonder why dell put this crap on the laptops - it makes a really shoddy impression of their workmanship.

Also, if I have the same problem as you with the software - you may bet many more do .. why couldn't their support give you a straight answer.

shortys94

also wanted to ask, have linksys wireless G usb network adaptor which works fine on my windows xp desktop, well im pretty sure(havent used in ages) since i know there is a problem with the dell media player software and windows media player runs fine, can i use the dongle? or what as i got a blue screen once about drivers irql not less or equal, was that resulting from the dongle or dvd software? as dell said it was the dongle as the drivers on it may need updating? if so is there any links for it?

conzy

Do yourself a favour, and Do a clean install of Windows, Its disgraceful the amount of ****e that dell install.........

Just use any XP Home Disc, and use the License thats under the laptop.

I just order one of these myself:D

Whats it like other than the buggy dell software?

Im going to take out the 256mb of ram and put in a gig....

shortys94

thanks for info,

not sure if i should try using dongle again, i dunno

i am also going to upgrade ram, shop4memory seems fast and reputable

also anyone know where to get the wireless express cards fo the laptop( i know shoulda got inbuilt)

thanks

conzy

I just checked notebookreview.com and someone said that you cannot use a standard XP home disc??

I think you have to request the disc from Dell they should send it out....

I dont know where to get the wireless card, I got it integrated:p

LegacyUser

shorty .. I think you will find it difficult to get a wireless express card. There are no companies doing express cards yet (no joke!)..

For the moment .. your only bet is ethernet (cable) or that usb dongle.

shortys94

yea have xp disc, bought it with laptop

got 15 metre ethernet cable

conzy

Is it a dell Windows XP disc?

Wont that install all the bloatware again and create the massive recovery partition?

formatman

DELL actually supply a real XP disc , that has a script to save you registering with microsoft , its not a restore disc

also go to control panel , system advance and tick the adjust for best perfomance , then go to display in control panel , appearance and set it back to winxp style , silver and nornal fonts ,

this will give you a little extra of the 256 ram

and then disable system restore , turn off indexing on the c: drive

conzy

Thanks For the info about the Dell xp disc;)

I was wondering if I could use my XP home oem CD and the Laptops's License?

If not, does someone want to send me their dell disc, I will pay postage:o

formatman

not sure if the oem keys will match up

no problem getting you a dell disc , PM details and i'll post in the morning

shortys94

very good of you to do that formatman, do you give everyone originals:P

formatman

originals , of course ! ,

Dell support have to send this disc to anyway under the microsoft licence agreement ,


bought a large order from them at the start of the year so will send a disc from that

conzy

Thanks a million formatman:o

I will send a PM now!

shortys94

asked dell rep about wireless express cards and he said dshould be available soon, in month or so, they are the future of wireless cards, so it seems good.... will used wired for now and upgrade to wireless express when available

got power dvd software free:):)

any programs which i can use to instant messgae or talk to other computers on network?


thanks

LegacyUser

shortys94 wrote:

asked dell rep about wireless express cards and he said dshould be available soon, in month or so, they are the future of wireless cards, so it seems good.... will used wired for now and upgrade to wireless express when available

hate to burst the bubble - but you will probably be waiting more than a few months for this.

What is wrong with the usb dongle? There is no reason why that should not work. Dell are probably just fobbing you off

conzy

Ok, Got the 1300 today:)

Great laptop, I just have some questions....

When I do the reinstall with the Dell disk, I will be removing the Recovery partition.....Do dell offer the drivers online? or how will i get the drivers?

And has anyone ever ordered memory direct from Crucial? They work out €15 cheaper than Komplett including Delivery.... Whats the delivery time like?

shortys94

got a blue screen once when was having dvd problem and dell rep said it may be interrupting dvd play but it wasnt, the blue screen stated something like drivers irql not less or equal

conzy

Thats usually a RAM problem.........

Dell have 256mb ram installed, but the bloatware uses 270+mb at idle so, Its not an ideal situation......

I am getting a Gig of crucial ram for mine:)

hamster

conzymaher wrote:

Ok, Got the 1300 today:)

Great laptop, I just have some questions....

When I do the reinstall with the Dell disk, I will be removing the Recovery partition.....Do dell offer the drivers online? or how will i get the drivers?

And has anyone ever ordered memory direct from Crucial? They work out €15 cheaper than Komplett including Delivery.... Whats the delivery time like?

Hi Conzymaher - I got a Dell desktop last week with XP home on it. Yep, you can get rid of the dell partition. See the screenshot with the steps to make the partition visible and then you can backup the ghost image as described before you reclaim the space.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054918619

conzy

Thanks Hamster, Do I need to back it up even if i never intend using it again?

Or can i just delete it with partition magic?

If I ever send this back to Dell under warranty, and the recovery partition is "missing" it wont affect my warranty will it?

hamster

conzymaher wrote:

Thanks Hamster, Do I need to back it up even if i never intend using it again?

Or can i just delete it with partition magic?

If I ever send this back to Dell under warranty, and the recovery partition is "missing" it wont affect my warranty will it?

No bother! Yeah... I backed up the image with the .exe files in that partition according to the notes - to a DVD for a reinstall next time. I'm sure it's ok - I did the same with a 2 year dell laptop - and the hard drive went a year later and they replaced it. Anyway - harddrives are cheaper relatively speaking.