Inspiron 1520 / 8600M GT Problems

My computer came up with an nVidia Driver Error after one of my video games locked up.
I tried to reinstall the drivers, which did not solve the problem, then a system restore to before the computer locked up, which also did nothing to help. Following the orders of the Dell Customer Service Rep, I did the Hard Drive Image Restore function, but even this did not solve the problem. Next, again on orders of the Dell CSR, I did a clean install of Vista Home Premium.

Now the computer starts up fine but does not recognize the 8600M GT (it is using the integrated graphics card). In this setup it works fine, but when I try to install the nVidia driver to get the 8600 working again the computer will not complete a full boot up. When I did the system repair function at boot up, the repair program appears to remove the nVidia driver and the computer will then start up normally, but still uses the Intel integrated graphics.

My question is, am I activating the 8600 correctly (by just installing the nVidia driver from Dell), or is there something else I need to do to get it working? Could this be a hardware problem with the graphics card?

Thanks in advance for any information.

 

Reformat - > Reinstall -> Install Chipset Drivers - > Installed modified Nvidia drivers ( www.laptopvideo2go.com) -> you should be good to go. If this fails, it is a hardware issue.

 

I hate to live up to my forum title too much , but is there a link explaining how to do all that? Sorry.

 

Just out of curiosity, were you overclocking excessively?

 

No, I was just running the box stock drivers and setups.

 

were* you overclocking excessively ^^ sorry i had to

 

jesus christ , why are there so many "problems" with dell ... i know it's abig company and 'you get what you paid for' but seriously what the hell..
i will go berserk if mine has a flaw after reading all these threads with problems

EDIT: let me rephrase that...i hope i won't have to come here complaining like most other people..

 

The bigger the company the more issues that will be experienced. In all fariness its not that bad, and we dont get to hear a lot of the positive stories. Sometimes in life you gotta fight for what you want and that means if at first you don't succeed get on the phone until you get a $300 rebate.

 

Keep in mind, about 90% of the people in this forum are those with problems of some sort (myself not included in that estimate). If someone's order goes through quickly, and their system works great they usually don't even show up here unless they run into laptop driver issues, and then they usually end up on www.laptopvideo2go.com. The people in this forum likely represent a small percentage of Dell sales of the 1520 series laptops. Every company is going to have problems, don't outright expect you will too just because the people in this forum have issues.

My dell arrived in less than two weeks from purchase on the website (ok nobody throw anything at me!), and with the exception of a bit of a loose lid (latches don't hold tight when closed, but it's hardly noticable, and I have to say with use I don't notice it all all). The screen is a 1280x800 Glossy Truelife, and it has 0 grain, and looks beautiful. The screen is a bit brighter on the bottom half than the top, but so are both of my previous laptop screens (I think the glossy coating causes this to be noticable, my sister has a glossy Gateway Laptop screen of even higher resolution and it has the same brightness issue.. again it's not noticable unless you look for it).

It's fast as hell, has the normal Vista glitches that everyone in the world with Vista has, and I am 100% happy with it. Don't let all of these problems get you down!

 

By the way, the reformat process should be fairly simple if you read the CD's you got with your laptop. One of them should say OS Install CD or something like that and says (already installed on your computer). Just pop it in and reboot. Follow the instructions. I havn't even looked at my CD's yet other than to say they are all there, but if you start the process I am sure we (here on the board) can help you through the process.. and if not, Dell support should be able to.

As far as the video.. I'd say driver issues. What do you mean by "integrated graphics card"? Your laptop should have only one integrated graphics card, and that is the 8600M GT. So go into device manager, right click on it, and update the drivers with either 162.18 or 163.44 off of www.laptopvideo2go.com. They also have a tutorial as well. Just make sure you get the right drivers, there are different versions for XP, and Vista 32bit and 64bit. You likely have Vista 32bit.

 

I have already used the backup disks that come with the computer to reinstall the OS. When I reinstalled the OS the graphics card displayed in the device manager is now "Standard VGA Graphics Adaptor". When I click on it to upgrade drivers it says it is already up to date (I assume because it's not reading the 8600). When I download the driver from the Dell site (yes it may not be the best but it should at least work) the computer recognizes the 8600 but will not boot up fully for the driver install to complete.

 

Which is the beset all around drivers for the 8600GT?

 

why are bloatware bad? maybe its a dumb questions but i dont know guys

 

sometimes they are stuff you really don't need or they slow your system down. such as norton anti virus.
mcafee is better

 

Ok, try the following tutorial:

1) Go to www.laptopvideo2go.com
2) Click on "Download Drivers" at the top.
3) Click on Vista 32bit on the left hand side.
4) Click on 163.44 in the list (latest known working fast drivers, very few probs with games reported)
5) Click on "Driver" and download that file to the desktop.
6) Leave that download page where you got the driver open, and open a new tab in Internet Explorer and go to step 7. You will need that page again to download the new inf file.
7) Start with Step #1 on this web page: http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=11997

(Remember, that tutorial shows you how to install the 9727_vista.exe drivers, you are actually installing 16344_vista.exe drivers, so don't let that confuse you)

That should be all there is to it. If those methods don't work then you will want to call dell, you may have some issues with your laptop.

Edit: That guide in step 7 should lead you through the exact proceedure, if you get stuck on a part, just let me know. I'd be happy to help. If you'd like my e-mail address just send me a PM and I'll be glad to help that way as well.

 

Bump for prodigypilot.. did you get it fixed?

 

best thing that happened to me is that my computer had such a long ship time.

i have learned a lot i wouldn't have learned otherwise. you all are extremely helpful.

i agree, if I recieved my computer in less than 5 days or whatever and had no problems, i wouldn't be here either. I used to sell electronics. there are problems with everything and everyone gets some bad luck. : (

 

Thanks for the information. I did go to laptopvideo2go and tried to DL the driver you recommended using the tutorial there. I had the same result with that driver...it would recognize the card after install, but as soon as I did the mandatory restart to complete the installation the computer would not boot up.

I ended up calling Dell CS again and after another hour of messing with their solutions they recommended a replacement. It should be here sometime this coming week, hopefully this problem was just a fluke.

 

Crap! Sorry to hear that.. they replacing the vid card module or the whole laptop? Careful they don't give you a refurb if they send you a whole new laptop!