DellInspiron8100

Current Issues

Many issues if you don't have the latest BIOS. With the A15 BIOS, the issues seem to be reduced to the following:

- Ubuntu loads the wrong SpeedStep driver, causing the system to freeze for about 1 second every few seconds. The laptop feels very slow and laggy like this and its extremely annoying... in order to fix it, modify /usr/share/cpufreqd/cpufreq-detect.sh and hardcode PIII_MODULE=speedstep-ich after the if statement attempts to set it.

- The laptop will not wake up after you suspend it, and the system never hibernates. No known fix yet. - Hotplugging drives in the modular bay (both the removal and addition event) usually causes bad things to happen, like a crash... if it doesn't crash, it never works at the very least. - The internal WinModem has no drivers

Hardware details

in Breezy?

in Dapper (current development)?

Installation works?

Yes

Yes

Hardware Information

Screen & Monitors

Device

Works?

Bug #

in Breezy?

in Dapper (current development)?

Screen

Yes

Yes

Correct resolution?

Yes

Yes

Correct refresh rate?

Yes

Yes

3D Acceleration

Yes (with nvidia driver)

Yes (with nvidia driver)

External monitor works?

Yes

Yes

External monitor - mirrors

Yes, requires nvidia driver manual configuration

Yes, requires nvidia driver manual configuration

External monitor - extend desktop

Yes, requires nvidia driver manual configuration

Yes, requires nvidia driver manual configuration

Power Management

Battery detected?

Yes

Yes

Hibernates?

No

No

Hibernates in Dapper, doesn't restore from the saved session though

Sleep

No

Yes

Dim monitor on battery

Yes (requires A15 BIOS upgrade)

Yes (requires A15 BIOS upgrade)

Blank monitor on inactivity

Yes

Yes

Lid Close

No

Yes (fix with gnome-power-manager)

Cpu frequency scaling

No

Yes, but Incorrectly

31384

Sound

Sound works?

Yes

Yes

Correct volume?

Yes

Yes

Hardware volume switch

Yes

Yes

Headphone jack

Yes

Yes

Mic jack

Yes

Yes

Networking

Wired NIC

Yes

Yes

Wireless NIC

N/A

N/A

PCMCIA NIC

Yes

Yes

Firewire

Untested

Yes

Bluetooth

N/A

N/A

Modem

No

No

reportedly some models ship with a supported WinModem

Infrared

Untested

Untested

Touchpad & Mice

Touchpad

Yes

Yes

Touchpad - Doubletap = double click

Yes

Yes

Touchpad - Scroll down side

Yes

Yes

External mouse - USB

Yes

Yes

External mouse - Serial

No

No

Docking Station/Port Replicator

AC through replicator

Untested

Untested

USB

Untested

Untested

Serial

Untested

Untested

Parallel

Untested

Untested

External Monitor - VGA

Untested

Untested

External Monitor - DVI

Untested

Untested

Modem

Untested

Untested

NIC

Untested

Untested

PS/2

Untested

Untested

Additional Hardware

Fingerprint reader

N/A

N/A

CD/DVD drive

Yes*

Yes*

Internal drive works, hot-pluggable drive needs to be installed at boot to work, and is not removable without causing a lockup (only tested in Breezy thus far)

PCMCIA cards

Yes

Yes

Parallel Ports

Yes

Yes

Card reader(s)

N/A

N/A

Function and other keys

Fn key

Operation

Keycode

Works?

Bug #

in Breezy?

in Dapper (current development)?

+ Esc

Untested

Untested

+ F1

Untested

Untested

+ F3

Untested

Untested

+ F5

Untested

Untested

+ F7

Yes

Yes

+ F8

Yes

Yes

+ F10

Yes

Yes

+ 1

Yes

Yes

+ 2

Yes

Yes

+ End

Yes

Yes

+ PgUp/PgDn

Yes

Yes

Other special keys

Key

Operation

Keycode

Works?

Bug #

in Breezy?

in Dapper (current development)?

Volume Up

Yes

Yes

Volume Down

Yes

Yes

Play/Pause/E

No

No

Stop/i

No

No

Previous/1

No

No

Next/2

No

No

Notes

Disk drive hot-swapping causes crashes (except if you hot-swap a battery into the slot). Many features require a BIOS upgrade to fix bugs.

Latest Retest

  • Make: Dell Brand: Inspiron Model: 8100

Current Issues

Power management (still) does not work (hibernation, suspending, even closing the lid). Closing the lid will cause the system to crash.

System Info

system-manufacturer: DELL

system-product-name: INSPIRON

system-version: A15

system-ram: 512 MB

system-CPU: 1.13/0.77 GHz Pentium III

Hardware details

Screen & Monitors

Device

Works?

in Ubuntu 8.04 LTS

in Ubuntu 8.10

Screen

Good

Good

Correct resolution?

Yes

Yes

Correct refresh rate?

Yes

Yes

3D Acceleration

Yes (see notes)

Untested

External monitor works?

Untested

Untested

External monitor - mirrors

Untested

Untested

External monitor - extend desktop

Untested

Untested

Power Management

Battery detected?

Yes

Yes

Hibernates?

NO

Untested

Suspends?

NO

Untested

Dim monitor on battery

Yes

Yes

Blank monitor on inactivity

Yes

Yes

Lid Close

NO

Untested

CPU frequency scaling

Yes

Yes

Sound

Sound works?

Yes

Yes

Correct volume?

Yes

Yes

Headphone jack

Yes

Yes

Mic jack

Yes

Untested

Networking

Wireless NIC

Yes

Yes

PCMCIA NIC

Yes

Yes

Built-in NIC

Yes

Untested

Modem

Untested

Unjtested

Infrared

Untested

Untested

Touchpad & Mice

Touchpad

Yes

Yes

Touchpad - Doubletap = double click

Yes

Yes

Touchpad - Scroll down side

Yes

NO

External mouse - USB

Yes

Untested

External mouse - PS/2

Yes

Yes

Additional Hardware

CD/DVD drive

Yes

Untested

PCMCIA cards

Yes

Yes

Parallel Ports

Untested

Untested

Function and other keys

Fn key

Operation

Works?

in Ubuntu 8.04 LTS

+ Esc

Untested

Untested

+ F1

Untested

Untested

+ F2

Untested

Untested

+ F3

Untested

Untested

+ F4

Untested

Untested

+ F5

Untested

Untested

+ F6

Untested

Untested

+ F7

Untested

Untested

+ F8

CRT/LCD

Untested

Untested

+ F9

Untested

Untested

+ F10

Eject CD

Yes

Yes

+ F11

Untested

Untested

+ F12

Untested

Untested

Volume up

Volume up

Yes

Yes

Volume down

Volume down

Yes

Yes

E key

Play/pause

Yes (see notes)

Untested

i key

Stop

Yes (see notes)

Untested

1 key

Previous track

Yes

Untested

2 key

Next track

Yes

Untested

Notes

The play/pause, stop, previous track and next track buttons only work with Rhythmbox and Totem, not with Amarok.

For 3D acceleration to work, you need to install drivers.

USB keyboards work with this laptop too.


CategoryLaptop

SergioZanchetta/Old/DellInspiron8100 (last edited 2010-02-26 16:28:52 by host226-241-dynamic)