Inspiron 9100 Display issues

I recently received my Inspiron 9100 and it's a real beauty.

My only quibble is that when I close the screen and open it again, the display appears to shift to a lower resolution and then jump back to my settings. The effect is that all my non-maximized windows (using XP Home version) end up shifting to the upper left hand corner of the screen and the windows themsleves are resized (cropped from the right). It's an annoyance, but I can not get anywhere with Dell support - they've told me to update the drivers/bios of both the video card and the computer (done) and upgrade to XP SP 1 (done). And hit Fn-F7 (done, but it doesn't look like it did anything)

Is anyone else experiencing this? I'm running out of ideas...
Technical Specs:
Inspiron 9100
3.06Ghz P4 processor
15.4in WSXGA+ display
MS-XP home
64MB ATI Radeon 9700

Thanks,
CB

 

I'm no help...I've never seen nor heard of anything like this before but it must be extremely annoying.

Editor in Chief http://www.bargainPDA.com and http://www.SPOTstop.com

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by cbailaa

 

Yes make sure its not some software thats running when you close.
Otherwise, make sure all the display settings are set right.
I cant say I have experienced this or heard of it.

Keep trying with support. Sometimes it just depends on who you get.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by Analog

 

Your configuration very similar to mine. The only difference is that I have the 2.8GHz processor. I even use the Classic style. Everything you have described is the same on my machine. I have done all the same minor tweaks you have without any issues and lots of others. I use X-Setup to go through a long list of tweaks. One of the things it lets you change is to disallow paging of the Windows kernel and there is another one for disallowing paging of executables. Maybe one of the multitude of tweaks I did cured the problem for me before I noticed it.

It sounds like it is resorting to VGA resolution for a second, which I believe Windows is designed to do if it detects display problems or if it can't find the specified driver. I could see it doing what you describe if there was some kind of delay in finding the display driver. Did you go to Windows Update and get all the latest downloads? I did, but I don't remember anything relating to drivers or the display being in the list. Since the machine is new, it would be a good time to do a clean install of Windows and the display drivers. It might also give you the chance to opt out of some of the crap installed software like Real Player. It might be easier than going back and forth with Dell, or returning the machine.

 

cbailaa,

I just got an Inspiron XPS and I'm having the same exact problem as you are. My specs are similar to yours. The main differences are that I've got the WUXGA display and the 128mb 9700 Radeon. 3.4ghz

I have a call into Dell tech support and fortunately I got a nice, English speaking tech who genuinely seemed interested in solving my problem. He was stumped but he wants to get a 9100 or an XPS in front of him and do some research. Hopefully he'll get back to me soon but if not I've got his extension and I'll follow up. If we find a resolution (pun not intended), I'll post it here.

Thanks,
-James

 

Whew, at least I'm not going crazy.
Someone suggested that I disable the "Video Expansion" on page 4 of the BIOS settings. That didn't help but I figured I'd post it for complete disclosure.

The other recommendation I received (which I have not had the opportunity to try out) was to go to the ATI site and download the video drivers from there, not Dell's version.

Just out of curiosity, when did you receive your machine? Was it before or after the shipment freeze? I have not seen a full listing of what exactly was the cause for the freeze other than "display issues"

Thanks,
CB


<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by Sir James

 

Hi all,

I got a new inspiron 9100, and having the exact problem.....
the display reverts to 640x480 (maybe 800x600) and then jumps back to 1280x800......
this is really irritating, as it screws up the icons arrangement on my desktop.
i am going to try and reinstall the display drivers right now, and will post if anything changes...

 

I have exactly the same problem with a Latitude D600. I have seen the same problem in an Inspiron 8600 too. Both came with ATI9000.

Tech Specs:
Latitude D600
1400x1050
MOBILITY ATI Radeon 9000 AGP (0x4C66) (32MB)
1,7GHz Pentium M
XP Professional

Also looking for a solution to this annoying "feature"

 

Did a bit more troubleshooting (thanks David and Tom)
Attached an external monitor which does not support the same resolution as the i9100, so this was a good test.
Cycled through Fn-F8, the laptop display was resized to match the external monitor when both displays were selected - AND when the lid was closed with only the laptop display selected but the external monitor still attached.
The working premise now is that there's something that's telling the display driver to revert to the external display when the lid is closed - and if nothing's attached it somehow senses the lowest resolution as a false reading. The work around would either be a fix to the BIOS to do nothing if there's no external display attached - or to stop Window's XP from resizing the screen to match the display (IIRC, Window's 2000 does not have such a "feature") - sounds like a registry setting - anyone know of such a tweak?

Thanks,
Baila




<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by shahken

 

OK here's the best possible fix for now until Dell and ATI release some drivers themselves to fix this...

Go to Omega Corner and download their customized version of the latest Catalyst drivers. These worked on my girlfriend's 9100 and my XPS. As far as the latitudes, I'm not sure. Use at your own risk of course but here's the link: http://www.omegacorner.com/index_ati.html

Basically what the drivers do to "fix" the problem is keep the lcd from going off when you close the lid. It sets it to literally "Do Nothing".

-James

 

Sir James,

Do you mean that the LCD will be always on? Won't that eat up my battery and reduce the life of the screen?

I went to Dell's site today and found the ATI BIOS drivers. I hope to install them soon, and see what happens.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by shahken

 

ive been trying to figure out why my screen stays lit while closed, but i installed the omega drivers to attempt to solve that problem, mine started after i upgraded my 5150s bios to A33. i used to have the same problem as cbailaa, but the bios upgrade gave me this new one, my icons stay (which is nice) but the screen stays on (which is bad) the best of all worlds was my first Mobo (which died [ !] ) it shut off the screen while closed and didnt mess with the res.
grrrrr still trying to get the best of all worlds here

 

running 1280 x 800 on my inspiron 8600 and have had this problem since day one. my only other issue with this laptop is how slowly the network drivers are loaded on startup (sometimes they don't get loaded for 3-5 minutes after desktop appears & apps can be opened). if anyone figures anything out about these issues, i'd love to know about it!

this after a clean xp pro installation with the latest drivers. everything that has been said here is true - doesn't matter what options i change. for the record, i am running a similar system config to cbailaa and Analog, but the exact tweaks are explained here. this is my 8600's specs from dell's current system configuration page:

Computer Model Inspiron 8600
BIOS Vendor Dell Computer Corporation
BIOS Version A04
BIOS Date 01-12-04
Windows Version Microsoft Windows XP Professional

Processor

Manufacturer Intel(R) Pentium(R) M processor 1300MHz
Clock Speed 600MHz
L2 Cache Size 1024

Processor

Clock Speed 600MHz

Memory

Memory Slot 1 Description [DIMM_A]: 256Mb
Memory Slot 2 Description [DIMM_B]: 256Mb
Available Memory 71.36 %
Page File Size 1249.3Mb
Available Page File 87.33 %
Virtual Memory 1760.5Mb
Available Virtual Memory 82.69 %

Memory

Memory Slot 1 Description [DIMM_A]: 256Mb
Memory Slot 2 Description [DIMM_B]: 256Mb

Memory


Memory


Network Card

Adapters Dell TrueMobile 1300 WLAN Mini-PCI Card - Packet Scheduler Miniport
Broadcom 440x 10/100 Integrated Controller - Packet Scheduler Miniport

Storage

Drive Type Drive Size Total Available Space User Available Space
C: NTFS 37.26Gb 7.173Gb 30.08Gb

Storage


Hardware

Type Description
DVD/CD-ROM Drives QSI CDRW/DVD SBW-242
Disk Drives ST94811A 37.26Gb
Display Adapters MOBILITY RADEON 9000 32Mb
IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers Intel(R) 82801DBM Ultra ATA Storage Controller - 24CA
Primary IDE Channel
Secondary IDE Channel
Keyboards Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard
Mice and Other Pointing Devices Alps Touch Pad
Monitors Default Monitor - (Standard monitor types)
Sound Devices SigmaTel C-Major Audio
USB Controllers Intel(R) 82801DB/DBM USB Universal Host Controller - 24C2
Intel(R) 82801DB/DBM USB Universal Host Controller - 24C4
Intel(R) 82801DB/DBM USB Universal Host Controller - 24C7
Intel(r) 82801DB/DBM USB 2.0 Enhanced Host Controller - 24CD

 

edit-
they were the latest drivers when i installed the os. the bios is up to a08 for the i8600, but there are no mentions of this resolution change on lid close issue in the change text doc...

 

solved my problems, although i only started using omega drivers to try to fix this problem (so they werent the cause) i found using older ones fixed it, (2514) now when i close the screen the light goes out, and when i open it up my resolution stays, as well as my icons.... (sigh of relief) of course now omega released new 4.5 drivers now and im resisting the urge to try to fix what is no longer broke.

(the only thing it didnt fix was that weird diagonal line i get in the top left corner while playing video (dvd, or avi, mpg... not d3d) when ever there is alot of movement on screen)

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by Sir James

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by jig