Owner's Thread: Dell Inspiron 11 3147 2-in-1

That would be *very* interesting to me. Please do report back as I plan to do the same.

 

Well, so far, things have gone well. I backed up and upgraded from my existing Windows 8.1 install, so I just let it sit till it was done installing. Haven't noticed any issues, touchpad locks, etc. The occasional hiccup is there but I suppose that's to be expected with a beta OS. I must say that the OS itself is great for a 2-in-1 machine.

 

Awesome! I can hardly wait. But since this 2-in-1 is my main machine, I want to wait until the install isn't a beta.

ADDED: So did the update to Win 10 solve your intermittent faux touches on your display?

 

Unfortunately, nope. Still haven't figured that one out yet.

 

Hmm ... that doesn't sound good. Hopefully, it isn't a hardware issue.

Did I share that I found the touchpad drivers on my 3147 don't do well when awaking from sleep? Most of the time, the mouse cursor begins to launch weird items, cursor stutters, disappears, and just acts spastic.

So I stopped using sleep entirely. With my SSD, it hardly matters. The cleanest is to reboot fresh. But even awaking from hibernation (6 sec) is still fine.

So have you tried it without using the sleep mode?

 

I think what's going on is that when the Windows wakes up the touch screen (after inactivity) something goes wrong and I get an erratic half touchscreen. The fact that I can just re-enable it when I experience problems makes me pretty confident that's the problem.

 

Yes, that's exactly what was happening to me, except via the touchpad. I could reload the mouse driver and that usually fixed it. Then I stopped it going to sleep and that seems to have fixed it.

 

Well, I seem to experience problems not only on waking from system sleep but also after some inactivity (presumably when Windows "sleeps" the driver.)

 

Bought my 3147 a month ago.

My trackpack is working fine, but I found this post by another user on the Dell website, instructing how to update to an improved driver
http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/t/19615166
Apparently it allows gestures. Has anyone else done this is? Is it worth updating the driver?
Not sure if I should follow the instructions by the user in that thread or if their is a more accurate method to update the driver.

ALSO:
has anyone else noticed that audio bass notes from the speakers sound like a tin-can? The treble and vocals sound great.
I'm not expecting great bass from these tiny speakers. But my old Acer laptop didn't have the tin-can bass sound.
Wonder if there is any fix for this also.

 

Have you checked your Dell Audio settings? The MaxxAudio stuff might be messing with your audio.

EDIT: Well, I'm getting concerned here. Today at one point I started getting false touches en masse on my machine--like, tons of them at random locations continuously for a few minutes; this closed a few of my windows but eventually I was able to reset the touch screen driver. Typically it only registers erroneous input upon me actually tapping the screen and only near the actual point I touched. (not sure if any of that actually made sense. ) This might have been some kind of interference since it was fine after I moved it away.

Another thing that I noticed is my CPU usage seems stuck at 100%, no matter what I'm actually doing. The weird part is, when I check the details tab of Task Manager, the system idle process is still "using" most of the CPU. But in the processes tab, it seems to erroneously attribute the CPU load to various things like taskmgr itself, or seemingly, basically anything that shouldn't be doing much. I actually noticed this in back in Windows 8.1, but I just figured it was Task Manager being odd. However, I noticed that my 3147 was getting hot and draining the battery oddly quickly, so I don't know what's going on. I booted into safe mode and it was fine, implying there's something rogue running in the background, but I don't know what that would be.

Right now I'm downloading a new build of Windows 10, hopefully it fixes at least something. But I'm starting to think maybe I got a defective unit, since I don't know what I'm doing wrong at this point.
I ordered this 5 months ago so if be on my own if that was the case. Assuming my problems were software issues could have been a pretty big mistake.

[/longpost]

 

Windows 10 will be available on or about July 29th. The latest preview build is 10162 and it's very stable and working quite well. Haven't installed it on my Dell 3147, prob will over the weekend. I don't know the specific details of upgrading from Windows 8.1 or if Dell will release a new driver pack.

 

This is by far the worst laptop experience I've ever had. Has anyone every actually resolved their touchpad issues? My laptop has been shipped to Dell three times now, basically has all new internals (Touchpad, motherboard, HDD) when it's obviously a driver/software issue. When it came back the second time with its' "new internals" the left end of the keyboard had issues along with the Card slot. I called them, go through the same old routine of deleting old drivers completely and installing all new (oh this fixes the touchpad issue every time) not to mention the broken keyboard and card slot so towards the end of the call reiterating these other two new issues this must be a hardware thing (boom!! Mack truck in the face), sent it back in this last time for the three issues (card slot, keyboard, and touchpad). It returns with a working card slot, same wonky keyboard, and still the same screwy software running the touchpad. I have done everything I can to eliminate other things interfering. I've disabled the touchscreen, set it to not go to sleep... ever, do nothing when closed... ever, deleted any inkling of the old drivers and installed new latest greatest.

I will again be on the phone with the wonderful "technical"ly challenged team at Dell again today!

 

Thanks to everyone for this thread.

I picked up the 3147 for $205 from Dell as a refurb, ordered a Sabrent HDD case, 500GB Samsung 850 Evo SSD and 8 GB memory DIMM from Amazon, and a 7260NGW from China. In total, I'm into it for just over $400.

The 3147 arrived this morning. Booted it up, configured it to suit my work style, installed Microsoft Office and Norton Security Suite, Chrome, a few other tools, and made sure that it worked with my network and other office applications. Updated the bios (A1 - A5), a half dozen drivers, and about a dozen apps that are part of Windows 8.1.

Parts, except for the 7260, showed up this afternoon. It took longer for the Samsung SSD clone software to run (about 15 minutes) than it did to disassemble the case, swap drive and memory, and put it all back together.

Booted right back up (in about 3 seconds) and is running without a hitch. For a supplemental computer and something to run Office on when I'm travelling, it seems like a great deal. Especially since the price includes an external 500GB hard disk I take a lot of photos when traveling (usually shoot RAW+JPG) and the 3147 with all that storage should be an excellent travelling companion.

 

Bit of a problem here, I'm hoping someone can help. I have an Inspiron 11-3147, upgraded to 8GB and 500GB SSD. I have followed everything in the #93 Posting in regards to obtaining original restoration for our device .. I put the ISO's onto 2 x 4GB USB flash drives using the Rufus software.

Here is the problem .. I have booted off the USB with no issues, loads .. hangs with a blank screen for about 1 minute then comes back with "unable to locate recovery software" .. it has done this ALL times, no matter how I try loading it. Legacy Boot, EUFI, Secure Boot .. SSD on MBR or GPT .. USB Flash on MBR or GPT .. nothing !! I get the same response all times, that it is unable to locate the recovery software.

Any ideas ?

Thanks

EDIT: Just found this on Dell website, my Inspiron is still under warranty and Dell has a page out there that you can order a set of backup/recovery media for free and with free overnight shipping .. just ordered mine. Website is : https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/media

 

Sorry to hear your are having trouble with the recovery media, go ahead and order a set from Dell, but keep in mind when they say media, they mean media, most likely you will receive one or two DVD's, not a flash drive. I'll see what I can do from my end to get the recovery isos to work with a flash drive.

 

FWIW, I've been using this external DVD/CD drive with my 3147. I've had it for years having used it with netbooks and such. It's certainly cheap enough.

http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Portable-SuperMulti-Drive-PA3834U-1DV2/dp/B003N3BLAO

 

No need to check .. received a USB Recovery Stick from DELL, it is the full recovery with drivers back to factory build. If someone knows how to create an image of a USB Flash Drive, I will create one and post on MEGA for people to get.

I have tried 1 app called USB Image Tool, did not work. The strange thing is that the Recovery USB creates 2 drive mappings (as seen in image), so the program I will need is one that will create an ISO of "DEVICE" and not mappings/volumes. Is there such a program ?

DELL Recovery USB by Android.G33K posted Jul 11, 2015 at 2:11 PM

 

I ordered Dell's backup media a few months ago. It is indeed on a flash drive, not a DVD. Very nice!

 

Received Dell's USB rescue flash drive, it has no apps and no drivers on it, all it did was install Windows 8.1 base, there was still a bunch of drivers not installed in device manager. Made a proper recovery flash drive that will be uploaded very soon.

 

I have no clue what you received.. the 8GB DELL Stick I received has ALL the drivers, demo software (Office) all included !! I found a program that will create an image of the WHOLE stick .. AOMEI Backupper Professional. Found a link that offered the full 2.8 Professional version for free. When I get home tonight, will create image and upload the MEGA.

 

This link will take to the download page for the Dell Inspiron 3147 Recovery ISO Image. Tested and it works perfectly.

 

Been enjoying my laptop but had enough with the wifi dropping signal to low and then back up. I did a quick search but 1000x posts on wifi here about changing the card. Do not want to void the warranty so any ideas on why the signal keeps dipping randomly? TYIA

 

Hi clipse79,
Yes, I can assure you this issue is caused by the cheap wireless card, the Intel 1707 wireless-N that comes standard in the 3147/48 laptop. A friend of mine with a MUCH-more-expensive HP Envy laptop was suffering the identical symptoms you describe. His laptop came with the same cheap single-band card. When I replaced his card with the much-better Intel 7260NGW dual-band wireless-AC card, the problems completely vanished:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GUNZUG0

On the warranty, since the Dell 3147 User's Guide is only about how to open up and replace parts inside the unit, I can assume opening it does NOT void the warranty. There are several good YouTube videos on how to do this. The caveat is that there are very thin plastic strips over the port areas that are easy to break while popping the inner clips to open the casing. Breaking them will void the case's warranty since it would be listed as user damage. I bought a cheap set of spudgers (plastic tools) to help in opening the case properly and had no damage to the case while opening it:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A8Q9U34

.

 

Often when my Dell 3147 has been closed in my bag for a few hours, I see smudges on the screen in the pattern of the keyboard keys when I open it back up. While mostly faint, it can be annoying on white backgrounds. I have this issue even when I regularly clean my screen and keyboard. Anyone else have this issue?

 

Okay, I just checked my 3147's display. On opening it, the only faint imprints I see are a slight line along the top from the front edge of the touchpad and a small imprint on the right of the screen from the little rubber pad along the right of the keyboard. Nothing from the left rubber spacer to the left edge of the keyboard nor from any of the keys. And both of my imprints are very faint and along the black bezel, not on the display area.

I suppose it is close so units may vary. But the keyboard keys should not be touching the screen.

I keep my laptop in a zippered, cushioned sleeve and carry it in a backpack pouch for laptops.

 

removed

 

So, since there's conflicting reports of what Dell's Recovery Media contains, where did you guys actually get it from? I only found this page.

 

Thank you.
Note that the Enterprise variant is not useful beyond a test installation because it can't be activated outside of an enterprise.
Per Microsoft's announcements, the Windows 8.1 that ships in the 3147 can be upgraded to Windows 10 Home for free during the first year following the July 29 launch.

 

I have searched this thread to no avail. Has anyone upgraded the processor on the Celeron dual core model to the Pentium quad core processor?
Thanks,
Skip

 

You can't just upgrade the processor... easily. Unless you have mad soldering skills.

 

I just received my notice that Win 10 is available for me to download & upgrade. Does anyone know if I start this process, will I be asked for a product key? My 3147 doesn't have a Windows sticker on the bottom, so I have NO idea as to what my key would be. Thanks in advance.

 

It's embedded into the sytem BIOS.

 

So I understand correctly, Win10 setup will skip (or insert) my code into the setup process? Sorry for my ignorance, this is more or less my first computer that will update to new version.

 

No it will not modify your BIOS. Your system already has an OEM Activation code for Windows 8/8.1 (OA3). This is used to generate an activation on Microsoft's servers for Windows 10.... Google OEM Activation 3.0

 

Did anyone upgrade through Microsoft update notification system? And any problems to report?

 

Upgraded mine using the Windows 10 Download site. The process took a while - the 3 GB download + installation. It went surprising well, and the system seems to be working just fine.

 

To address my previous question when it came to activation, did install ask you to supply your key or was it automated built into the install process because it is imbedded in bios. TY in advance

 

No, it did not.

 

Thanks for reply. I will give it a go over the weekend and pass along any comments that might apply to the update process.

 

I did an in-place upgrade to W10 on my seagate HDD (that came with the device). I want to replace it with SSD. Do I follow post #93 instructions by PDQ?

ie.,
0) Change to Legacy mode in BIOS
1) Replace HDD with SSD (SSD in MBR mode)
2) Install fresh W10 (Home?) from W10 ISO media (on USB stick) downloaded from Microsoft.
3) Activation should be automatic since Key is already in BIOS? (once connected to wifi that is)

anyone tested this or have any more ideas/pointers?

thx

 

I did my Windows 10 upgrade yesterday. Only thing that did not work right for me was the Dell Audio driver. Had to download the new version from their website to get my Maxx Wave audio options back. Other than that it went smooth! No other issues to report.

 

Heya guys, what would be the easiest way for me to install Win10 on a freshly bought SSD? Move the image from former HDD to SSD or install Win10 from a flash drive?

 

1) Upgraded the Win 8 on the old Hard drive to W10 (this step may be redundant)
2) Put in a spanking new SSD
3) Installed W10 (home edition) x64 from USB
4) Skipped the windows activation when asked to enter the prodcut key
5) Once installed, saw that the product was 'activated'.
6) I was in back in business !!

the advantage i see in installing w10 from USB/ISO is that it does not have any bloatware/crapware from Dell

 

I use a USB 3.0 enclosure with an HDD. When I connect it, the USB port connects and disconnects repeatedly, ad infinitum. Is there a fix for this?
Thanks

 

Well, I wound up having to roll my install back to Windows 8.1. Loading up any video player (including the new Movie player included in Win 10) would cause the CPU to peg at 100% and drain the battery quickly while the fan blazes. Anyone else seeing this?

 

It looks like the Windows 10 update fixed my USB ports.

 

I had a 3148 running Win 8.1 before my current 3147, and there was a touchpad icon in the systray I used to turn it on and off, etc. Now I'm running Win 10 on my 3147, but the icon in not only not in my systray, but I can't find any way to control the touchpad. I thought maybe the Win 10 update I just installed would fix it, but it didn't.
Anybody have any ideas?
Thanks

 

I bought one of these through the outlet. I replaced the hard drive it came with, with a SSD. I used a recovery & OS key that I ordered from Dell thanks to a tip from an earlier post here. I was surprised how easy it was with that key. No problems at all, and it runs great.

However, I do have one yellow flag in device manager. It says I'm missing the driver for "Intel(R)Atom(R)Celeron(R)Pentium(R)Processor Serial IO-12C Port1 OF41"

I can't identify it. I did a system check for drivers at the dell website and it tells me all my drivers are up to date.

Any ideas as to what driver I may need?

Thanks

 

Has anyone who has installed a SSD also installed Intel's Rapid Storage Technology program. I have that installed on my XPS 12 9Q33 laptop. I was wondering if there would be a benefit to installing it on my 3147.

Thanks

 

Exact same thing happened on my system, but after the windows 10 update. Now I no longer have control of my touchpad other than the default windows driver. Hopefully an update will be forthcoming to address this issue.