Uwe Dippel wrote:
On Wed, 28 Jul 2004 15:50:07 +0200, Kent West wrote:After several attempts to convince Dell the problem was with their hardware (firmware), and not with me running unsupported OSes, they sent me a beta version of a BIOS which fixed my problem.I'm quite disappointed by DELL; another time.
Just FYI, I sent the following message to the rep that sent me the beta BIOS version. It'll be interesting to see if he looks into this issue and/or contacts Uwe. If Dell cares about their reputation, they'll want to get this fixed so that a Google search doesn't turn up information that they ship out buggy BIOSes and then don't address the issue.
Jim:Some months ago I had trouble with a buggy BIOS on my Dell GX270. The first time I sent email to Dell I just got a "standard" disclaimer saying that Dell does not support Linux, even though the problem was not Linux but Dell's BIOS version.Later I ran into the same problem when setting up a Windows 2003 Server machine on a different GX270. When I contacted Dell this time, the message got to you. I was very glad that the message made it to someone who understood that the problem was Dell's BIOS version, not Linux, and not Microsoft's Windows 2003 Server product.You sent me a beta version of a BIOS patch that solved the problem. Thank you again for that. Very much!If you want, you might can refresh your memory by looking up "Tracking number: AT20040511_0000005523".The reason I'm writing this is so you'll know that others are having similar issues. I thought you would want to be aware that Dell's reputation stands to suffer if this BIOS problem does not get solved. For your reference, here's a link to a thread that discusses one of these situations: http://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2004/07/msg04033.htmlIn particular you might be interested in his most recent frustration:I'm quite disappointed by DELL<snip>I actually thought they'd be grateful for that (possible) bug report (theBIOS came out a few days back) and investigate if there was anything to it or a case- / machine-specific trouble.<snip>[Dell's response] is both arrogant and wrong. Once again, I'm not into asking forsupport of Linux. But referring me back to "the manufacturer or the vendor" is just that. My DELL Latitude D400 works with the originally supplied BIOS, but doesn't work with a specific, newly introduced BIOS from DELL. A minimal common sense indicates a hardware- / firmware-problem. Not one of XFree86.This reminds me of the issue 'fair use'. I don't buy a PC that works with XP only; but when I buy one, I buy a piece of hardware that is supposed towork with x86-software. Any x86-software. And if DELL is not willing to sell standard x86 hardware that runs x86-software; but instead sells hardware that is only guaranteed to run XP, I'll never ever buy or recommend this company again.--Kent
-- Kent