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$5 paypal'd to whomever can solve this dell inspiron problem....

S

spacetrader

2[H]4U
Joined
Dec 12, 2008
Messages
2,681
94.jpg


it works! full brightness! first time in over half a year!

i ended up putting the old screen back in, to make the laptop as it was factory so i could sell it on ebay to some poor sap. turns out, after installing the old screen, its working perfectly. PERFECT!

im still selling it though. fuck this thing. im milking every dime out of it that i can. but i question now- what was the bad part? did i ever have bad parts, is this fix going to stay fixed? what do i do with my old motherboard (cant tell if its bad, dont think it is?) honestly i think ill just sell all of my extra parts as 'good, used, as is' and hopefully none come back:(

but for now, i can SEE my laptop! its been soooo long... so long.


_______________________________________________________________

original thread-





$10now. im sick of this

This is driving me crazy.

Dell inspiron 1501 laptop.

Screen brightness started going screwy 6 months ago. it would flicker from bright to dim. readable dim, the backlight works, but dim mode.
after a short time it finally stayed stuck on dim. about the same time, the a/c adapter took a crap. replaced a/c adapter. laptop works fine again but still dim screen.
replaced screen inverter. no change. popped out the keyboard and re-seated the screen's video cable. now it gets strange. it adjust's its brightness now, somewhat. it goes from dim, to medium bright, back to dim as you go UP on the slider.
frustrated at this point, i reinstalled windows thinking its a driver problem (the screen wont adjust brightness at all unless in windows, i think thats the way the inspirons are, but i also seem to remember using the brightness controls in bios- but im not sure)
no change. swapped out for a new internal video cable, no change. mad now, i changed out the screen. brand new samsung exact same model number. no change.
fucking pissed now, i bought whole motherboard. after spending over $350 now in parts and completely tearing this thing down and rebuilding, NO FREAKIN CHANGE.
im about to freak out. i cant even imagine now what is causing this. everything that has to do with video has been replaced. its basically a new laptop with the same problem!

cliffs-

screen brightness doesnt work correcty. never gets full bright.

have replaced-
internal video cable
a/c adapter twice (two OEM supplies have died on this laptop now, china-dapter still seems to work fine)
screen inverter (twice actually)
screen
motherboard
reinstalled vista twice
battery


EDIT/UPDATE- I think im at the end of the line. this has been a total loss. its going on ebay with full clarity of the situation. hopefully there are a few people out there that think they can fix it easy and will give me $300 for it. overall ill be out hundreds, but oh well. it was a journey. one that will force me to stay far away from dell laptops for at least a decade. thank you to everyone who had helped, i really appreciate this forum. hopefully this will still help someone, some way... but the more i think about it, it's all a waste of space, time, and bytes. and life goes on:p
 
doesnt the bios have brightness settings? im sure you've looked at those considering all the other stuff you have tried...

thats the only thing i can think of off the top of my head.
 
no. see i need to find out if the 1501's are supposed to. i dont remember ever having anything but very basic bios options. even this new motherboard, although designed a bit different, has the same exact options...

also, external vga out always worked great with fantastic picture.

and, it has been saying 'cannot determine the battery' along with the ac adapter warnings. this couldn't possibly be the damn battery could it? its the original one in there...
 
I had an E1505, there are brightness settings in the bios. Tried setting the bios defaults? Also, mine would always dim when going from AC power to battery and do the reverse when I plugged it in.
 
yes. when i unplug it, it dims more, and when i plug it back in, it actually stays the same, BUT if you hit the brightness UP key, it doesnt go any higher. meaning it did go back to full bright but the screen thinks full bright is supposed to be dim.

i need to find out if im supposed to be able to change the brightness in the bios post setting... if so then i must still have a bios issue, because windows seems to be trying at least... or again, maybe the battery is at fault and its not giving the bios the proper information to add the power options? im lost


edit- could it be a bad keyboard?
 
I have a feeling it has something to do with the battery/ac adapter being plugged in or not. It may be in "power save" mode. Try updating the BIOS and/or hotkey/OSD drivers.
 
have u tried making a power plan in windows? i know vista has this but not sure about xp, you can choose when the screen dims and etc, this would of course only be a temporary fix.

also try updating your BIOS on the dell site.
 
yes, i can make a power plan that actually works, but i never get full brightness no matter what i do.

say on the slider there are 8 points. 1-8 dim to high. instead of going 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 like it should work, the screen actually displays brightness levels more like 4,3,2,1,4,3,2,1 the slider shows say brightness level 6 but the screen displays more like something next to dimmest. and, all the way down is the brightest it gets (about 4) and it also gets that bright in the middle of the range.... if you get what im saying

so if i set the windows scheme to say level 7 when on battery, and level 5 when on a/c power, it works fine. but again i can never get full brightness. i havent seen full bright on this laptop since last summer. and the last time it happened was for only a few seconds- it just randomly popped to full bright, flickered bright to dim a couple times, then went back to its normal ways of half bright max. at this point i wouldnt care if it was just stuck on full bright all the time... im sick of my eyes hurting to see this screen.
 
My brother had this same exact problem on his toshiba laptop. It turned out to be a driver issue and it would go away once u reinstalled all the drivers then it would just do it again once he turned it off. Turned out to be a bad motherboard and he just got a new lenovo.
 
Nick_Leo said:
did you try reinstalling windows? Because his toshiba was fine till i put xp on it aka when the driver issues started.
Click to expand...

yes, but this issue started happening before i touched anything at all on this laptop. had it for 1 month over it's years warranty and it started acting up with the screen brightness. it was original install from dell, full updated. possibly a windows update that started the whole mess, but unlikely. the one time i did notice a change was when i first tried re-seating the video cable. it helped things a little, but still is far from right.

ransom up to $10
 
after a short time it finally stayed stuck on dim. about the same time, the a/c adapter took a crap. replaced a/c adapter.
Click to expand...
and, it has been saying 'cannot determine the battery' along with the ac adapter warnings. this couldn't possibly be the damn battery could it? its the original one in there...
Click to expand...

More info please :) Is this new adapter a stock dell part or aftermarket? Is it charging the battery properly in the BIOS screen? Does it recognize the ac adapter wattage properly in the BIOS screen?

FWIW, I've seen the *exact* same problem before. It comes from switching correct model panel with a different revision. The bios does not have the correct brightness table information to properly control the backlight. However, since your problem occured prior to changing the panel (correct?), I'm leaning towards an ac adapter issue (possibly the adapter, possibly the motherboard).
 
Is there any little switch that turns off the screen when you close the lid? Maybe it is faulty. Also try to download an Ubuntu live CD, boot from the CD and make sure that it is a hardware issue, not a software issue.
 
it is an aftermarket a/c adapter... but the original one wouldnt even charge the battery anymore. this one actually works just like real one did when it was new.

could it be the battery perhaps?
 
alg7_munif said:
Is there any little switch that turns off the screen when you close the lid? Maybe it is faulty. Also try to download an Ubuntu live CD, boot from the CD and make sure that it is a hardware issue, not a software issue.
Click to expand...

the switch did go weird once before, but that problem was solved by tightening the screen hinges. the screen shuts off fine when closed.


ps- there is no option whatsoever in bios about powermanagement for the screen. i have once 'powernow' option for the cpu, and thats enabled. there is not bightness adjustment in bios, and i still cant find out if its supposed to.
 
this one actually works just like real one did when it was new.
Click to expand...

and, it has been saying 'cannot determine the battery' along with the ac adapter warnings.
Click to expand...

Am I understanding the flow properly here? The ac adapter works like the original, but you're getting warnings? I'm not trying to mince your words, I'm just trying to see if I'm misunderstanding.

Can you explain more about these warnings? What does the battery indicator in the BIOS say? Does the BIOS read the ac adapter wattage properly?

could it be the battery perhaps?
Click to expand...
I kind of doubt it. Does it adjust properly when the the battery is removed from the system?
 
jwhazel said:
However, since your problem occured prior to changing the panel (correct?), I'm leaning towards an ac adapter issue (possibly the adapter, possibly the motherboard).
Click to expand...

yes, problem started before i ever broke into this pc. used it for a year without problems. then the a/c adapter quit working consistently, then the brightness problems came.

the motherboard has been replaced.
 
I'm sorry to keep harping on this but I really want to try and eliminate the ac adapter out of the equation. Here's why: dell ac adapters are a funny breed. Aftermarket ones flat out suck. I've seen them do the following: make the mouse cursor jump around the screen, cause the audio to not work, cause the battery to not charge, destroy the charging circuit on the mobo, etc... I've never seen one cause the brightness table issue, but I wouldn't put it past it.

If you are able to find the following info, it would help:

1.) In the bios screen, does it correctly register the ac adapter wattage? This will help understand if the system is "happy" with the ac adapter. The 1501 should be registering 65watts.

2.) What does the battery charging screen say? This will help understand if the charging circuit on the mobo is okay

3.) Does the battery power the system for more than 20 minutes? I picked an arbitrary time here, but if it powers down after only a few minutes, theres something thats keeping it from charging properly. Knowing the answer to #1 and #2 will help to pinpoint it.

the motherboard has been replaced.
Click to expand...
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, (some) dell motherboards suck. The 1525/1526 have a charging issue that requires a replacement board assembly. I've had to go through as many as 4 new mfg boards in order to get a good one. It happens.
 
The only thing it can be either another bad motherboard or maybe the keyboard if u reinstalled windows.

Also have you tried contacting dell?
 
no dell contact. i hate talking to those people about weird problems like this. first action they would make me do is 'restart my pc' :rolleyes:

im going to buy a new keyboard i guess. after that a battery....
 
jwhazel said:
I'm sorry to keep harping on this but I really want to try and eliminate the ac adapter out of the equation. Here's why: dell ac adapters are a funny breed. Aftermarket ones flat out suck. I've seen them do the following: make the mouse cursor jump around the screen, cause the audio to not work, cause the battery to not charge, destroy the charging circuit on the mobo, etc... I've never seen one cause the brightness table issue, but I wouldn't put it past it.

If you are able to find the following info, it would help:

1.) In the bios screen, does it correctly register the ac adapter wattage? This will help understand if the system is "happy" with the ac adapter. The 1501 should be registering 65watts.

2.) What does the battery charging screen say? This will help understand if the charging circuit on the mobo is okay

3.) Does the battery power the system for more than 20 minutes? I picked an arbitrary time here, but if it powers down after only a few minutes, theres something thats keeping it from charging properly. Knowing the answer to #1 and #2 will help to pinpoint it.


Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, (some) dell motherboards suck. The 1525/1526 have a charging issue that requires a replacement board assembly. I've had to go through as many as 4 new mfg boards in order to get a good one. It happens.
Click to expand...


this is where im lost. i have no options like that in my bios. they are very, very basic options. nothing that talks about a/c wattage, display brightness or anything of that sort. battery will still run the system for almost two hours....
 
:confused: Your bios screen doesnt look like this?

BIOS_Small.jpg


If not, I'm completely lost. I'm Dell certified for everything but the precision line and I haven't seen a [dell] laptop made in the last 4 years that doesn't have roughly the same layout.
 
holy crap. that is not how mine is at all. mine looks more like a basic ecs desktop bios.

and even weirder, im talking both motherboards i have. identical simple bios's. im going to take a pic, hold on
 
jwhazel said:
Anyone else with a 1501 confirm this? Granted I haven't had one in front of me for awhile, but I've worked on several. I can't remember ever seeing a dell that doesn't have this screen in the bios: http://www.hanime.net/battery.jpg
Click to expand...

Dell seems to have switch to a simple Phoenix bios about a year or so ago.


OP: Try reinstalling Windows. You may even notice a speed increase if you're still on the original bloated install.
 
well comparing my pictures to the others, my system is FUCKED. how can i have this bios when i just flashed it? and furthermore, the new motherboard does the same thing? wtf?
 
ryan_975 said:
Dell seems to have switch to a simple Phoenix bios about a year or so ago.


OP: Try reinstalling Windows. You may even notice a speed increase if you're still on the original bloated install.
Click to expand...

ive reinstalled twice. first time with a rtm vista disc, sencond time with the dell re installation cd. same thing both times.
 
Dell seems to have switch to a simple Phoenix bios about a year or so ago.
Click to expand...
Every system I've worked on that was mfg warranty (read within the past year) has had the typical Dell bios screen. Examples would be the Inspiron 1525/1526, XPS m1520/1530, and whatever the Studio model was. Someone with a new dell laptop prove me wrong. Pull up the BIOS and see if you can't find the battery diagnostic screen that I posted earlier.


spacetraders pics
Click to expand...

I must be loosing my mind. I can't recall ever seeing a Dell laptop with a regular Phoenix bios frontend. Google image search "dell bios" and you'll see what I mean. Anyway, my bad, sorry for the goose chase. Does F12 at post screen give you the option for to run the factory diagnostics (should be under the list of bootable devices)?
 
actually, what led me to break down and get a new motherboard was the old one eventually got stuck in 'manufacturers mode' whatever that is. it seemed like a crazy diagnostic default program or something, i dont know if that means anything but i could never get it to stop booting in manufacturers mode. new board boots normally
 
jwhazel said:
I must be loosing my mind. I can't recall ever seeing a Dell laptop with a regular Phoenix bios frontend. Google image search "dell bios" and you'll see what I mean. Anyway, my bad, sorry for the goose chase. Does F12 at post screen give you the option for to run the factory diagnostics (should be under the list of bootable devices)?
Click to expand...

just tried it. its diagnosticating....
 
Had a battery go bad on an Acer Laptop... Took a while to figure out because the only thing that did not work upon booting to windows was the Keyboard....

If the system was run with the battery removed and only the AC everything was working fine.

New battery did the trick.

I'd try running with NO battery.


EDIT: Just re-read that, what I'm trying to say is that a bad battery could probably cause alot of random things?
 
i might have to try a new battery. do i have to get oem though? ive always had good luck with generic batteries....
 
Does it adjust the brightness properly with the battery disconnected? If not then I would lean towards no. Barring the whole BIOS thing, I'm still leary of the ac adapter. Do you have any way of testing a regular OEM one without buying it (friends, family, craigslist, etc...)?

Edit: to be clear, do what Druneau says first.
 
its flying through the tests without problems-


all tests passed. i skipped the extended memory test, i didnt feel like it pertained to this.
 
do u have another harddrive that you could try? Might be a stretch but you never know.
 
booted without battery- no change

it must be something telling the bios to run in basic mode? if it really is this a/c adapter (the FIRST thing i replaced 6 months ago) ill scream haha.. but it doesnt change when i run on battery only either....
 
but it doesnt change when i run on battery only either....
Click to expand...

All I needed to know. So it's most likely not the ac adapter. Next thing I would do is disconnect all the peripherals. Keyboard, wifi, modem, BT, touchpad (if you have a usb mouse). Boot into windows and try to adjust brightness to max via the power settings.
 
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