On Fri, 2003-02-28 at 12:57, Karsten Rothemund wrote: > On Fri, Feb 28, 2003 at 11:38:07AM -0600, Alex Malinovich wrote: > > 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 > > This may be the reason. (Why do you know this, and not the DELL-people?) > > > the laptop is suspended. A reboot stops that problem, though it's not > > NO. It didn't stop, even after the machine was shutdown for one hour. Hmm. This is strange. After you shut down the machine, did you disconnect the power and take the battery out to make sure that nothing inside could still be "alive"? If it still happens after this then it could be an actual hardware failure. > > 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. > > > > YES. I second that! > > [...] > > 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. :) > > > Workaround. OK. > > [keyboard] > > 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. > > They already did this. It does not help. So you do get "clicks" for the letters that don't show up? > [BIOS] > > There is no really "good" Dell BIOS. You just have to find the one that > > breaks the fewest number of things. :) > > > A08 was good for about 1 year. But then .... I try to go back, but how? It > seems to be not straight forward as booting the BIOS-floppy to UPgrade. It should be that simple. You should just be able to boot from the BIOS floppy and tell it which BIOS image to install. (Assuming you have a copy of the appropriate BIOS image.) > > 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. :) > > > A kind of Zen, or what? ;-) > > Thanx for the suggestions. No problem. I'm glad to (try to) help. :) p.s. I read this list regularly, so please keep replies on the list so that other people can benefit in the future from reading the mailing list archives. -- 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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