On Fri, 2003-02-28 at 08:01, Karsten Rothemund wrote: > Hello * > > I have a big problem with a DELL Inspiron 8100. After nearly a year > working with this machine running Debian Woody, I suddenly had some > problems with the fans. After a suspend-to-RAM, and the wake-up 5 > Minutes later, it startet with running both at full speed - even after > I cooled down the computer for more than an hour (so I'm sure, it is > not too hot). > This happens all the time on my Inspiron 8000. As far as I've been able to track the problem, it happens when you change power modes while the laptop is suspended. i.e. Pulling out the AC cord or inserting it while the laptop is suspended. A reboot stops that problem, though it's not exactly convenient. An updated BIOS might help, but Dell laptops have notoriously bad BIOSs. For every 1 feature they fix, they usually break another 3. > The DELL support told me to update the BIOS (it was A08, now I updated > up to A14): Result: the fans are working correctly now (Why? Questions > over questions), but now I have problems with the keyboard and the > clock is loosing around 5 Minutes an hour. :-( > I gave up on my clock a long time ago. I have init scripts which run ntpdate at startup and then run ntpd after that to keep the clock synchronized. If I don't have access to a network with a time server, I look at my wristwatch instead. :) > But the more anoying problem is the keyboard: it swallows some letters > from time to time (around 6 letters when writing about 3 sentences). > DELL support changed the keyboard, but this did not help. > Try going into the BIOS and turning on keyboard clicks. Then start typing and listen for the clicks. Do you get clicks when the letters are "swallowed"? If you do, it's a software issue. If this is the case it could be kind of tricky to track. If you don't get clicks for the disappearing letters, it's a hardware issue. This is what I used to convince Dell's tech support a few months ago that I did, indeed, need a new keyboard. (And I had to fake my way through a "Click on Start, Settings, Control Panel" troubleshooting session...) > So my question is: is here someone around who made the same or similar > experience. > See above. :) > And of course even more interesting: is there some possibllity to cure > this "desease"[1]. Maybe some kernel options to set[2]. I would try to > downgrade the BIOS again (but this seems to be not so easy, as the > support told me, and of course not recommended by them. The new one is > better, they say). > There is no really "good" Dell BIOS. You just have to find the one that breaks the fewest number of things. :) What's really scary is that even with all of these problems, I still love my Inspiron. Go figure. :) Good luck getting yours to cooperate. Or at least learning to cope with it. :) -- Alex Malinovich Support Free Software, delete your Windows partition TODAY! Encrypted mail preferred. You can get my public key from any of the pgp.net keyservers. Key ID: A6D24837
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