Dell Inspiron Micro Desktop €149 @ DELL Ireland

jonski

quarryman wrote: »

Ah you did it on easy mode!

Adding a 2.5" SSD is a bit more involved. Buying the cable, cutting off tabs to make it fit. Freaking a bit when one of the copper lines lifts off the plastic. Fixing it. Plugging the cable back, crossing your fingers. Realising there are no screws to hold the 2.5 drive in place. Use blutack to "secure" it. Screw it all back together. Install Debian.
Drink beer.

you forgot ' receive respect from the guys on Boards ' .

theShire

quarryman wrote: »

Ah you did it on easy mode!

Adding a 2.5" SSD is a bit more involved. Buying the cable, cutting off tabs to make it fit. Freaking a bit when one of the copper lines lifts off the plastic. Fixing it. Plugging the cable back, crossing your fingers. Realising there are no screws to hold the 2.5 drive in place. Use blutack to "secure" it. Screw it all back together. Install Debian.
Drink beer.

Any link to the cable, I've ordered of eBay 3wks ago and no sign yet

quarryman

theShire wrote: »

Any link to the cable, I've ordered of eBay 3wks ago and no sign yet

I think I posted the ebay link to the one I bought a couple of pages back. Took about a week i think

Last edited by Blade; Today at 13:26.

thanks!

dawidnowak2005

Does anybody who replace ssd for sata can give me advice? I got cable put all together and dell doesn't start up, power button flash red instead of white, no acces to bios or anything, when I connect ribon cable to main board another side dell start normally but doesn't see 2.5 sata in bios or nothing. Any advice? Maybe cable what I revived is broken?

Sappy404

dawidnowak2005 wrote: »

Does anybody who replace ssd for sata can give me advice? I got cable put all together and dell doesn't start up, power button flash red instead of white, no acces to bios or anything, when I connect ribon cable to main board another side dell start normally but doesn't see 2.5 sata in bios or nothing. Any advice? Maybe cable what I revived is broken?

Have you tried the instructions on http://www.atxgeek.me/2015/05/dell-inspiron-3050-micro-teardown.html ? Plenty of useful info in comments too.

dawidnowak2005

Yes I did still no solution

murphm45

I haven't tried changing it but mine flashes red if there's no display connected (I'm sure this sin;t what you're problem is but i thought i'd mention it)

I ran into a whole mess of problems with mine when i deleted a partition I shouldn't have so a way to "jump start" it might be to disconnect the drive, start the computer (i assume you're installing something off a USB key) let it pick up the USB drive but before proceeding with any sort of OS install reconnect the SSD, it should work fine from there. if you already have an OS installed on the new hard drive this obviously won't work. Not particularly elegant but it should work.

Sorry I have two totally unrelated problems. I was going to update the memory but i noted the memory module in the unit is 1.35V, can i replace this with a 1.5V module?

Also, is there any way to get a windows 10 key without upgrading the OS directly? I have a recovery drive for the windows 8.1 with bing and I have the product code but i couldn't get the OS back on the machine to run the upgrade "properly". Anyone any ideas? I'm going to try a spare hard drive and see if I can get the recovery drive to work but to be honest i'm not holding my breath!

theShire

quarryman wrote: »

I think I posted the ebay link to the one I bought a couple of pages back. Took about a week i think



thanks!

I ordered a 'HP Envy 15 DW15 6017B0421601' cable from ebay to add my sata drive, the cable is much shorter than the 'DW17' version and means that there's less of an issue trying to keep the excess cable from snagging on the case/PCB when re-assembling

I have the sata drive setup with Linux mint and the PC now dual boots with Win10.

My only problem is that Win10 cannot see the NTFS/fat32 partitions on the 2nd drive which I was hoping to use to share media between the both OS.

Has anyone encountered the same issue?

SickBoy

theShire wrote: »

I ordered a 'HP Envy 15 DW15 6017B0421601' cable from ebay to add my sata drive, the cable is much shorter than the 'DW17' version and means that there's less of an issue trying to keep the excess cable from snagging on the case/PCB when re-assembling

I have the sata drive setup with Linux mint and the PC now dual boots with Win10.

My only problem is that Win10 cannot see the NTFS/fat32 partitions on the 2nd drive which I was hoping to use to share media between the both OS.

Has anyone encountered the same issue?

Does the drive/partitions show up in disk management? If they do you might just have to assign a drive letter to them to make them visible in explorer.

theShire

No, that's the problem, there's no sign of the 2nd drive anywhere once I've booted into Win10
I did see mention of assigning it a drive letter or importing a 'foreign drive' on other forums while trying to fix the issue, but there's no record of the drive being installed under win10 - it must be something to do with windows secure boot

Sappy404

dawidnowak2005 wrote: »

Does anybody who replace ssd for sata can give me advice? I got cable put all together and dell doesn't start up, power button flash red instead of white, no acces to bios or anything, when I connect ribon cable to main board another side dell start normally but doesn't see 2.5 sata in bios or nothing. Any advice? Maybe cable what I revived is broken?

I installed a 2nd drive last night using this cable. No hassle really but I'd point out two things:

- The connector on the MB has a white bottom part that slides out to accommodate the cable.
- The cable goes in connector-side up, i.e. the gold connectors should face you as you slide it in. It will kinda 'pop' in, and you then slide the white bottom bit back in to fasten. Use a tweezers or two ends of a paper clip to manipulate the white part as it's so small you can't really get to both sides of it with your fingers.

theShire wrote: »

No, that's the problem, there's no sign of the 2nd drive anywhere once I've booted into Win10
I did see mention of assigning it a drive letter or importing a 'foreign drive' on other forums while trying to fix the issue, but there's no record of the drive being installed under win10 - it must be something to do with windows secure boot

I know a lot of talk early on (especially on that ATXgeek page) was that you can't use both disks, but I'm using a 500gb drive from a broken laptop and it works fine. It was seen by the original OS without any setting changes on the Dell and is now set as my drive after the old partitions were deleted, though I had formatted the old laptop's OS partition previously.

maik3n

theShire wrote: »

No, that's the problem, there's no sign of the 2nd drive anywhere once I've booted into Win10
I did see mention of assigning it a drive letter or importing a 'foreign drive' on other forums while trying to fix the issue, but there's no record of the drive being installed under win10 - it must be something to do with windows secure boot

Does the drive show up under the bios?

Can windows 10 see linux ext2/ext3/ext4 filesystems as that could be your problem perhaps?
As far as I recall, windows can't read them as standard but you can download some 3rd party driver or use a 3rd party app.

theShire

maik3n wrote: »

Does the drive show up under the bios?

Can windows 10 see linux ext2/ext3/ext4 filesystems as that could be your problem perhaps?
As far as I recall, windows can't read them as standard but you can download some 3rd party driver or use a 3rd party app.

Drive is recognised fine by the BIOS and I can choose between Linux Mint & Win10 from the Grub loader without issue - either option will boot perfectly.
Linux Mint recognises the 32GB SSD (Win10) partitions
Win 10 doesn't show the 120GB SSD (Linux) in Explorer/Disk Manager/Device Manager at all.

I tried changing mode to AHCI via the Registry and then setting in the BIOS but the drives were already in AHCI mode and no change - drive is still not detected in Win10

Edit: I just checked Device Manager with the Show Hidden devices and my Crucial 120GB SSD is showing as if it was previously connected - I'll investigate further

marcbrophy

Sappy404 wrote: »

I installed a 2nd drive last night using this cable.

Hey Sappy! How long did the cable take to arrive, if you don't mind me asking?

Sappy404

marcbrophy wrote: »

Hey Sappy! How long did the cable take to arrive, if you don't mind me asking?

About 3 weeks.

marcbrophy

Sappy404 wrote: »

About 3 weeks.

Nice, thank you!

JimsAlterEgo

any comparable micro pcs out there?

Sappy404

There's currently a lightning deal on an 8gb DIMM that looks the part for this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B006YG8X9Y?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00

Not a huge saving but if anyone has been thinking of upping the memory it's the time to buy.

54and56

Hi Guys,

Bit of a weird one for you.

My machines display output started acting up so I sent it back to Dell. The problem was that the screen was flashing between a solid green screen and white/grey snow/interference.

I assumed it was a dodgy graphics card but Dell couldn't find anything wrong so sent it back to me. When I reconnected it to my (Old) Samsung Plasma via a HDMI switcher it worked absolutely perfectly so I was happy.

I switched the HDMI switcher to my Sky box input and watched the news for a while before switching it back to the input coming from the Dell and once again all I could see was a flashing green and grey screen. I rebooted the Dell and all was fine again but if I switch the HDMI input and switch it back to the Dell I once again get the green and grey screen. I therefore concluded that the HDMI switch must be dodgy so I switched it for a different HDMI switch but the exact same thing happens.

If I just connect the Dell direct to my TV it performs absolutely perfectly but because my TV only has one HDMI input I need to use a HDMI switch so I can use both my Sky box and Dell with the TV.

It seems to me that for some reason the output signal from the Dell works fine through the HDMI switch but won't switch back correctly and this isn't something Dell can help me with.

Any suggestions? Are there any settings to tweak/standardise the output signal from the Dell so it will work better with the HDMI switch? Has anyone else had any issues using a HDMI switch with this box?

theShire

Sappy404 wrote: »

There's currently a lightning deal on an 8gb DIMM that looks the part for this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B006YG8X9Y?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00

Not a huge saving but if anyone has been thinking of upping the memory it's the time to buy.

I ordered this on the lightning deal on Friday for £22.99, worth it for that price.

mossym

Je_suis_Jean wrote: »

Hi Guys,

Bit of a weird one for you.

My machines display output started acting up so I sent it back to Dell. The problem was that the screen was flashing between a solid green screen and white/grey snow/interference.

I assumed it was a dodgy graphics card but Dell couldn't find anything wrong so sent it back to me. When I reconnected it to my (Old) Samsung Plasma via a HDMI switcher it worked absolutely perfectly so I was happy.

I switched the HDMI switcher to my Sky box input and watched the news for a while before switching it back to the input coming from the Dell and once again all I could see was a flashing green and grey screen. I rebooted the Dell and all was fine again but if I switch the HDMI input and switch it back to the Dell I once again get the green and grey screen. I therefore concluded that the HDMI switch must be dodgy so I switched it for a different HDMI switch but the exact same thing happens.

If I just connect the Dell direct to my TV it performs absolutely perfectly but because my TV only has one HDMI input I need to use a HDMI switch so I can use both my Sky box and Dell with the TV.

It seems to me that for some reason the output signal from the Dell works fine through the HDMI switch but won't switch back correctly and this isn't something Dell can help me with.

Any suggestions? Are there any settings to tweak/standardise the output signal from the Dell so it will work better with the HDMI switch? Has anyone else had any issues using a HDMI switch with this box?

get a displayport to hdmi adapter, use the displayport out and i bet will be fine. its a hdcp/hdmi handshake issue

54and56

mossym wrote: »

get a displayport to hdmi adapter, use the displayport out and i bet will be fine. its a hdcp/hdmi handshake issue

Thanks Mossy, is this what I'm looking for? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cable-Matters-Plated-DisplayPort-Adapter/dp/B005H3I38Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1448756320&sr=8-1&keywords=displayport+to+hdmi+adapter

styron

Je_suis_Jean wrote: »

Thanks Mossy, is this what I'm looking for? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cable-Matters-Plated-DisplayPort-Adapter/dp/B005H3I38Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1448756320&sr=8-1&keywords=displayport+to+hdmi+adapter

Yes, but if you can live with the 3-4 week wait - for a third of that price (using it with the HP 260 G1, a similar micro system).

T-Bird

Je_suis_Jean wrote: »

Hi Guys,

Bit of a weird one for you.

My machines display output started acting up so I sent it back to Dell. The problem was that the screen was flashing between a solid green screen and white/grey snow/interference.

I assumed it was a dodgy graphics card but Dell couldn't find anything wrong so sent it back to me. When I reconnected it to my (Old) Samsung Plasma via a HDMI switcher it worked absolutely perfectly so I was happy.

I switched the HDMI switcher to my Sky box input and watched the news for a while before switching it back to the input coming from the Dell and once again all I could see was a flashing green and grey screen. I rebooted the Dell and all was fine again but if I switch the HDMI input and switch it back to the Dell I once again get the green and grey screen. I therefore concluded that the HDMI switch must be dodgy so I switched it for a different HDMI switch but the exact same thing happens.

If I just connect the Dell direct to my TV it performs absolutely perfectly but because my TV only has one HDMI input I need to use a HDMI switch so I can use both my Sky box and Dell with the TV.

It seems to me that for some reason the output signal from the Dell works fine through the HDMI switch but won't switch back correctly and this isn't something Dell can help me with.

Any suggestions? Are there any settings to tweak/standardise the output signal from the Dell so it will work better with the HDMI switch? Has anyone else had any issues using a HDMI switch with this box?

Very long shot this, I had a similar problem and it turned out to be caused by HDMI cable. I would never have guessed it.

mossym

Je_suis_Jean wrote: »

Thanks Mossy, is this what I'm looking for? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cable-Matters-Plated-DisplayPort-Adapter/dp/B005H3I38Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1448756320&sr=8-1&keywords=displayport+to+hdmi+adapter

thats' the one. i've got a Marantz av processor in my cinema room setup. had awful issues getting video from the dell to display on the projector when connected through it. no issues when connected straight to projector.

got one of those, used the DP out instead and it's been rock solid since.

Rgb.ie

Slightly off topic but picked up a 128gb micro sd card with adapter for €36 in Argos and have stuck it into the machine - perfect for storage.

Have to say am quite impressed with all the bargains for upgrading these baby's ..

Chorus_suck

This post has been deleted.

styron

Chorus_suck wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

For Black Friday only sadly


http://checkargos.com/product/4131164

54and56

Rgb.ie wrote: »

Slightly off topic but picked up a 128gb micro sd card with adapter for €36 in Argos and have stuck it into the machine - perfect for storage.

Have to say am quite impressed with all the bargains for upgrading these baby's ..

Yes, link please. All I can find is this which is twice the price - http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/4131164/Trail/searchtext%3E128GB.htm

Furzy

Similar for €45 from MemoryC:

https://www.memoryc.com/lp/bf_cards.html