The old adapter
Last week, my power adapter stopped charging my the battery on my laptop. I think that this problem originated a few months ago, when I received a “The AC power adapter type cannot be determined” message on boot, but the battery was still charged. It finally failed last week when I noticed that my battery wasn’t being charged.
Someone has a theory on why this happened, but I don’t know whether it’s true.
Also, here’s a discussion on a forum about the same problem. From the thread:
“I’ve been using my power adapter very carefully for a year and a half. I’ve always wrapped the cord back around the converter like it came packaged. Little did I know that I was repeatedly bending back and forth a small wire that identifies the power supply as authentic Dell. Presumably I have now broken this wire.”
I’ve been wrapping the cord around the adapter for two years too. It doesn’t make sense for that wire to be so fragile, so I think that Dell is to be blamed here.
More research led me to this discussion. Quotes which I agree with:
“its obviously a known issue with dell laptops, shouldnt there be some kind of product recall — or atleast a submission that they are at fault?“
“I can’t believe that dell doesn’t even let their own customers contact them if they are out of warranty without paying for it..” (Yes, I did call Dell, and was refused technical service over the phone as my warranty had expired. While it’s legal, it isn’t good service.)
So, I asked a Dell rep in charge of spare parts over the phone about the cost of an adapter, and she told me that it would cost SGD$60+. Well, I went to eBay and bought it for SGD$46 (I contacted the seller directly).
The new adapter is on the left. It's bulkier, but works perfectly fine.
The next time I’ll buy a laptop, I’ll get a three-year warranty that covers all hardware and not buy a Dell.
The two screws that secured my laptop’s hard drive to its body disappeared- they were probably loose and worked themselves out. I’m pretty disappointed by that, but kudos to Dell for sending me free replacements, which should arrive soon.
Another problem that I’ve noticed are 6 or more dead pixels on my LCD screen:
I hope that this is covered under my warranty. (Update: it isn’t.)
Update: I received free replacements for the missing screws today. They’re really tiny, so 6400 owners take note!
CHOST="i686-pc-linux-gnu"
CFLAGS="-march=prescott -O2 -pipe -fomit-frame-pointer"
CXXFLAGS="${CFLAGS}"
USE="haskell pptp openvpn pango fontconfig real id3tag mp2 rar ssse3 divx wmp realmedia gmedia mozdevelop xorg glitz opengl qt3support cursors icons kdm audacious xrandr emerald icons pixmaps grub mp3 alsa qt4 kde X aac apache bash-completion bluetooth cairo calendar cgi curl cups dbus dvd dvdr cdrw ogg xvid jpg png gif svg exif fastcgi ffmpeg lame firefox ftp lm_sensors mpeg mplayer msn mysql mysqli ncurses nls ocaml pdf perl python qt3 ruby samba spell sqlite3 sse sse2 ssl svgatcl tcpd theora vorbis tk truetype usb unicode vcd vim-syntax wifi win32codecs wxwindows xine xv xvid k3b gnupg vim-with-x djvu filter hash json zip xmlreader xmlwriter"
Enjoy the new release of Ubuntu, for hibernation works great in it. But Standby does not.
I’ve got Gentoo Linux 7.04 running on this machine! Still have a few stuff to test, such as Bluetooth, DVD/CD burning and standby/hibernate, but it’s not bad now.
I can’t describe the whole install process, because it’s too long, but here are some tips:
- Use Google and find instructions in the Gentoo Wiki for various hardware components.
- Find out the kernel options for all the hardware you want to use and configure your kernel at one shot to reduce the number of unnecessary reboots you have to do
- Similarly, find out which USE flags you need before emerging any packages, and edit make.conf accordingly.
- Find out whether the latest versions of the software you want is in Portage. If it is not, it is probably masked. Use autounmask to ease the unmasking process: (as root)
- emerge autounmask
- autounmask category/package-version.number
- etc-update is your friend, but remember to check which files it wants to overwrite.
- Use Google before asking questions to any other human being.
- Make your screen able to blank itself when you close the laptop lid as soon as you have X emerged. This will allow you to save energy and your not unnecessarily shorten your backlight’s lifespan when you leave the Inspiron for overnight compiles. Of course, follow the instructions about locking the session for security reasons.
- Be determined. Don’t give up, and make time for this time-consuming process.
This list will be updated when I think of more tips. Have fun!
This Fedora Project Wiki page shows a work-around to allow Fedora Core 7 “fedora-base” kernels to boot up. It states:
Bug 241249 – Some Dell laptops with Intel dual-core CPUs (Core Duo, Core 2 Duo, Pentium Dual Core) may require the maxcpus=1 option at installation boot time.
However, this causes Fedora to use only 1 CPU out of your dual-core system. The result is a system which lags as much as Windows XP on dual-core.
The solution is not to us maxcpus=1, but use clocksource=acpi_pm. Thanks to the folks at this bugzilla page.
Remember to edit menu.lst and insert the changes.
EDIT: Mubbasher requested for a more newbie-friendly guide here. So, the steps are:
- In the GRUB boot menu shown when you turn your laptop on, select the Fedora entry (not Xen!) and press “E”.
- Scroll to the line that starts with “kernel and and press “E” again.
- Add “clocksource=acpi_pm” to the end of the line and press Enter.
- Press “B” to boot into Fedora.
- Fire up a terminal window and type: “su” and enter your root password.
- Give the command “gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst“.
- Scroll down and locate the Fedora-base entry. Add “clocksource=acpi_pm” to the end of the kernel line. See below for an example.
title Fedora-base (2.6.21-1.3194.fc7)
root (hd0,7) This line may vary, and probably does.
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.21-1.3194.fc7 ro root=LABEL=/ rhgb quiet clocksource=acpi_pm
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.21-1.3194.fc7.img
Alternatively, you could edit menu.conf from another installation of Linux, if you have one (steps 5-7). But there’s no harm in using the GRUB temporary menu entry editor. Have fun!
P.S. I recommend that newbies should use Ubuntu instead of Fedora. But not everyone knows how to edit kernel parameters, though.
The Dell Inspiron E1505 with Ubuntu Linux costs US$599 here.
What I hoped to see is a Linux driver for the Ricoh card reader in the E1505. I then had this conversation with a Dell XPS representative:
Initial Question/Comment: Does the Ubuntu version of the E1505 come with a memory card reader? If so will the driver be avaliable for existing users?
Me: hi!
XPS_RR_Rep_Jeremy_S: Welcome to Dell’s XPS Sales Chat! My name is Jeremy, and I will be your personal consultant today. Feel free to provide your email address so that I can contact you in case we get disconnected. Please give me a moment to review your question today.
XPS_RR_Rep_Jeremy_S: Hello Michael.
Me: hi!
XPS_RR_Rep_Jeremy_S: Hi!
Me: I bought my E1505 with a Ricoh card reader and Linux support for it is not so good. Do the new E1505s come with a proper linux driver for it?
XPS_RR_Rep_Jeremy_S: Answer is yes/yes.
XPS_RR_Rep_Jeremy_S: That one wasn’t designed for linux. This system is : )
XPS_RR_Rep_Jeremy_S: Are you buying the linux machine?
Me: I am recommending it on my blog, http://linux6400.wordpress.com
Me: i help linux users get linux running on the 6400/e1505 with it
Me: so the driver would be great for everyone
XPS_RR_Rep_Jeremy_S: We’re really trying to jump in with our linux users.
XPS_RR_Rep_Jeremy_S: Tryin to show some love!
Me: =)
XPS_RR_Rep_Jeremy_S: Do you have more questions? We are working hard to keep up with linux-users technical expertise.
XPS_RR_Rep_Jeremy_S: I’m an expert on Windows-based gaming systems and peripherals. So its crazy to start answering linux questions.
Me: where can this driver be downloaded?
XPS_RR_Rep_Jeremy_S: Let me see if the drivers are available for download right now. I know they’re all open-source.
XPS_RR_Rep_Jeremy_S: Keeping in the spirit of the community : )
Me: wow… dell sure is being nice to linux users
XPS_RR_Rep_Jeremy_S: You guys have money too!
XPS_RR_Rep_Jeremy_S: I think the linux community is a great fit for Dell. We tend to do things “first” when it comes to new ideas.
XPS_RR_Rep_Jeremy_S: Ok, linux drivers aren’t up just yet for public download.
XPS_RR_Rep_Jeremy_S: (Because we started selling the system TODAY, and the drivers ship, so no one has any need for them just yet)
XPS_RR_Rep_Jeremy_S: But, we’re working. Did you know the first actual mention of linux and Dell was only 8 weeks ago?
XPS_RR_Rep_Jeremy_S: We got the entire process, start to finish, in 8 weeks! That’s insane.
Me: thats really fast!
Me: can I publish this conversation on http://linux6400.wordpress.com?
XPS_RR_Rep_Jeremy_S: Can I say hi to my mom?
Me: all right!
Me: thanks!
XPS_RR_Rep_Jeremy_S: Absolutely Michael. The XPS Chat Sales team is working hard to go full steam with Ubuntu.
XPS_RR_Rep_Jeremy_S: Take care!
Me: yup! thanks!
Session ID: 11379637
Dell is really trying hard to woo Linux users. Kudos to them for the effort!
Jeremy from LinuxQuestions.org said, “I just got the following email forwarded to me by a Dell employee:We will be launching a Linux based OS (Ubuntu) on the E520, 1505 and XPS 410 starting next Thursday, 5/24.“
This is great news for the Linux community. The E1505 with Ubuntu pre-installed should be a smash hit!
Screen resolution: 1280×800
This is a small How-to guide intended to help you get Bluetooth working in Ubuntu with the Dell 6400. Tested and works with Feisty Fawn (7.04).
sudo hciconfig hci0 reset
sudo /etc/init.d/bluetooth restart
add “hciconfig hci0 reset” to /etc/rc.local
add “hciconfig hci0 inqmode 0” to /etc/rc.local
Make sure that you add those 2 lines before “exit 0″!
sudo gedit /etc/bluetooth/hcid.conf
Change “security user” to “security auto“
Change the passkey
sudo /etc/init.d/bluetooth restart
sudo aptitude install gnome-bluetooth (optional)
Run gnome-bluetooth (Applications -> Accessories -> Bluetooth File Sharing whenever you want to receive a file.
——————–
Right-click on a file (in Nautilus) -> Send to -> Bluetooth to send a file via Bluetooth.
OR
hcitool scan to get bluetooth address
gnome-obex-send -d <bt_address> <file> to send a file via the command line
——————–
