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    New Dell e1705

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by harddoom, Jul 26, 2006.

  1. harddoom

    harddoom Notebook Geek

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    Wireless is shifty, do i need to upgrade intels drivers? i have intel 3945.

    Also do i only have 49.3 gb of space? Cause i thought 60 gig would have more. Is it cause of partioning, or do i have like a few gb more room?
     
    harddoom, Jul 26, 2006
    #1
  2. Amber

    Amber Notebook Prophet NBR Reviewer

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    Yeah it is because of partition and the natural calculation of mb into gb. Most systems come with 4 partitions:
    1: diagnostics partition
    2: XP partition
    3: backup partition (if you have norton ghost)
    4: restore partition.

    If you reformat, you can delete all of these partitions, but partition 1. Partition 1 is needed to for Media Direct to function properly (or at least it is the easiest way of getting MD to work).

    What do you mean by shifty? It is always good to update your drivers. It could be another problem such as interference from other networks/devices, too far away from router, etc.
     
    Amber, Jul 26, 2006
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  3. harddoom

    harddoom Notebook Geek

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    i updated driver, i think all should be fine now.
    And how many gb should i have when i reformat?
     
    harddoom, Jul 26, 2006
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  4. Amber

    Amber Notebook Prophet NBR Reviewer

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    when you format, you'll have about 57gb all together (assuming you lump them into 1 partition for XP - minus partition 1). Minimum XP install takes up about 5-10gb.

    You should see your standard C: drive as well as another drive ( probably labelled d :) The other drive is your backup. Dell created that so that you can store documents on there without having to backup everything up when you format.
     
    Amber, Jul 26, 2006
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  5. harddoom

    harddoom Notebook Geek

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    alright, thats not so bad. Would this site be interested in another dell e1705 review? i have these specs

    Inspiron E1705
    Intel® Core™ Duo Proc T2400 (1.83GHz/667MHz/2 X 1MB L2 Cache)

    LCD Panel 17 inch Wide Screen XGA+ Display

    Memory 1GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz

    Video Card 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 7900 GS

    Hard Drive 60GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive

    Operating System (Office software not included) Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005

    Combo/DVD+RW Drives 8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability

    Wireless Networking Cards Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 Internal Wireless and Bluetooth

    Primary Battery 53 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery

    Hardware Warranty SAVE $50 (after rebate) 4Yr Ltd Warranty, At-Home Svc, and HW Warranty Supt

    Accidental Damage Service (Unavailable in Florida) SAVE 10 %! Add CompleteCare Accidental Damage Svc to 4Yr Lim Warranty
    [412-0358]
    [982-5459]

    Dell Wireless 355 internal Bluetooth. Bluetooth 2.0 with 3 Mbps Enhanced Data Rate.

    Total: $1,374.95

    what you think?
     
    harddoom, Jul 26, 2006
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  6. Amber

    Amber Notebook Prophet NBR Reviewer

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    Amber, Jul 26, 2006
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  7. harddoom

    harddoom Notebook Geek

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    actually my wireless is still shifty, meaning it will disconnect randomly. I have updated the driver, what else could be wrong?
     
    harddoom, Jul 26, 2006
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  8. Amber

    Amber Notebook Prophet NBR Reviewer

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    do you have another laptop near you that has wifi?
     
    Amber, Jul 26, 2006
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  9. harddoom

    harddoom Notebook Geek

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    nope, not even my brothers pc (its off). there should be no interference problem.
     
    harddoom, Jul 26, 2006
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  10. Amber

    Amber Notebook Prophet NBR Reviewer

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    well i was thinking of something to test the router. You might check the antenna connections to the card (located on the bottom side of your laptop), and might even take the card out and put it back in.

    How far away are you from the router?
     
    Amber, Jul 26, 2006
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  11. harddoom

    harddoom Notebook Geek

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    like ten feet.
     
    harddoom, Jul 26, 2006
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  12. Amber

    Amber Notebook Prophet NBR Reviewer

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    hmm, another option is to change the channel on your router. This might cut out some interferance. If that doesn't solve anything, then it is will most likely be the card. How many times has it disconnected?
     
    Amber, Jul 26, 2006
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  13. phantastic

    phantastic Notebook Enthusiast

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    If you have a 2.4GHZ cordless phone it will interrupt your wireless signal.
     
    phantastic, Jul 26, 2006
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  14. Amber

    Amber Notebook Prophet NBR Reviewer

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    I didn't think about the phone. Another one that causes interferance is a bluetooth card if you have one. It shouldn't cause any problems, but I've noticed on mine that when my bt is on - my wifi disconnects sometimes.
     
    Amber, Jul 26, 2006
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  15. rjacobs

    rjacobs Notebook Enthusiast

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    Change the channel on the router to 1 or 11, 6 is usually the default and therefore will get interference from other routers around you. 1 or 11 are the strongest signals. Also download the intel drivers from the intel site, they were alot newer than the dell drivers and work a lot better.
     
    rjacobs, Jul 26, 2006
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  16. V.B.

    V.B. Newbie

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    location. location. location. ;)

    Read the bottom half of this page about dropped connection issues. There may be nothing wrong with your wireless NIC's driver.
     
    V.B., Jul 30, 2006
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  17. rydude07

    rydude07 Notebook Evangelist

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    what coupon did you use to get the price that low?
     
    rydude07, Jul 30, 2006
    #17